First motorboat purchase questions - mid cabin cruiser

[jcwads]

Re: Cat and Pigeons ?

I may as well jump in on the thread. I was initially purchasing a Sealine F34 until I realised I had got totally over adventurous with my budget. In the end, I purchased a Monterey 275 Sports Cruiser for the same kind of budget you have.

The boat has a Volvo Penta D4 260 which is fairly rare in that type of boat. The diesel gives me great cruising economy and if I do fancy a burn around, it will do 40 knots.

I have taken it from Southampton to Dartmouth in one crossing, offshore across Lyme Bay (20 miles offshore) and it was absolutely fine. Weather will be your only restriction, but if the conditions allow it, then France is no problem at all.

It is just the wife and I so a weeks holiday is fine, but if we had more I think a larger boat would be needed for the space. But a single screw diesel on a 28ft American boat is a great combination, and you will get a lot of longer distance cruising out of one. (if you can find one...)

 

[alandalus11]

I used to own one and I suppose am a bit biased in my review but the Regal is a fantastic boat for a starter boat. We started of with a Regal 2665 and it was one of the best boats we had. You need to look at the diesel option as they are very economical. They are roomy inside and afford a really large double berth in the V section and a very roomy double berth at the rear. A lot of boats we viewed in this size had rear berths that looked like coffins but we used the rear every time we were on the boat as it was so spacious. There is plenty of storage within the boat and and they come well equipped with a spacious heads and galley area.

The finish on these boats is also top quality and if you get a chance have a look around one. I don't think you would be disappointed.

I wouldn't agree with the post from Rafiki saying that you would need benign weather windows for a passage in this type of boat. We have had many trips on ours where we had been caught out and the weather had changed. The boat handled the conditions and we felt safe but then others could feel different.

Their handling on the water is responsive and in the close quarters of a marina I never had any problems dealing with a mooring manoeuvre and found the boat very easy to steer.

We also looked at Bayliners and Crownline and Maxums and we felt that none of these came up to the quality of the Regal.

Hope this helps in your decision and whichever boat you choose hope that you have lots of fun on her and happy hunting.

 

[BartW]

Re: Cat and Pigeons ?

Quick question: I don’t have any experience running a 220 appliance off of a 12V inverter. How quickly will using a 220V microwave or hob at anchor on an inverter run a battery down? I’m not sure of the battery size/capacity on the boat we looked at Saturday but it has two domestic batteries in addition to the engine starting battery.
-Jason

a invertor on a 28ft / 12V boat, will quickly drain the battery's,
but imo it is nevertheless very handy to have one.

we have a 1600W invertor on our 26ft Karnic (sport fisher) and that has prooved to be very handy in many occasions (when no shore power available)
but while using a microwave or a kettle, we have to run one engine, in order not to drain the batt's too far, nor to quick.
ones you have the invertor, you can ofcause use that for charging mobile phones, laptop, dive lights, etc... (without running the engine)

as rough guideline:

a 230V 100W load, will consume approx 10 amps @ 12V (exact figure is 100/12= 8.3 amp)
so a 500W microwave or kettle will consume approx 50 amps, @12V
you can run that load approx one hour from a 100Ah battery, (never use more than 50%)
but if you do so, one 100Ah battery would be practically empty.

but as long as you know what you are doing, a invertor is very usefull on a boat
when you do the investment buy Victron or Mastervolt, these are superior to others imho
(both in quality and reliability)

 

[simonfraser]

Re: Cat and Pigeons ?

I may as well jump in on the thread. I was initially purchasing a Sealine F34 until I realised I had got totally over adventurous with my budget. In the end, I purchased a Monterey 275 Sports Cruiser for the same kind of budget you have.

The boat has a Volvo Penta D4 260 which is fairly rare in that type of boat. The diesel gives me great cruising economy and if I do fancy a burn around, it will do 40 knots.

I have taken it from Southampton to Dartmouth in one crossing, offshore across Lyme Bay (20 miles offshore) and it was absolutely fine. Weather will be your only restriction, but if the conditions allow it, then France is no problem at all.

It is just the wife and I so a weeks holiday is fine, but if we had more I think a larger boat would be needed for the space. But a single screw diesel on a 28ft American boat is a great combination, and you will get a lot of longer distance cruising out of one. (if you can find one...)

What fuel use do you get on you diesel / 275 ?