First time buyer boat owner

[daboss_uk]

Hello

After lurking and reading these cracking boards thought i'd join in so hello.

We are currently looking for our first boat and have settled on a few brands and models BUT the pricing on sh boats is starting to grate..., I have read many posts stating 20-30% is the norm when offering to purchase, form an outsiders view this seems very strange indeed. Would it not simply be better to advertise at the corrent price and make to easy for people like me to purchase ha ha, we are finding it very hard to nail down a price at the moment.

Anyway, we are after something we can use on the river and potter around the coast once we gain experience , the boats that *seem* to fit our needs and look rather nice are -

Sealine S23/34 - read bit tippy but **** a lot into a small space, will be tricky on river.
Sealine 28 - i like these a lot but slightly out of budget if the pricing is to be believed?
Fairline Sunfury - love the retro look but found out the AQ171 engines are best avoided as are old sterndrives... ( also only 7 diesel made ) - unsure about these diesel re-fits tbh.
Fairline Targa 27/30/33 - very nice but those sterndrives have me worried
sunseeker portofino 31 - stunning but those drives put me off - few diesel ones for sale tho.
Princess 33 mk1 - nice with loads of space, i like the fact they have diesel engines on shafts, am chatting to Mermaid about the 80 hp engines and if they can still get parts ( heard bombproof )
Merry fisher 805 - for me this ticks all the boxes, cheap to run diesel, shaftdrive, loads of room but the wife thinks its a fishing boat ( i guess they are ) but told her a *family* boat ha.

Want to spent sub 30k and wondering what the real prices for these boast are. We are a family of 5 ( kids 14/7/6 ) , i want to steer away from sterndrive unless boat is 2000 +, and no petrol.

Can anyone advise on prices for these boats?, could i get the 805 or s28 for 30k?

Help appreciated, only been reading/looking for a month so prob wrong on most points

If anyone has other boat ideas that would be great, in no rush tbh.

Thanks
D

PS. Don't want a bayliner after looking at a few.

 

[rafiki_]

Welcome to the forum. You will get lots of good advice on here, and some stuff to ignore too

I think any boat under 30 feet will be a bit of a crush to sleep 5 people comfortably. The Sealines, s23/24 and s28 are cracking boats, well packaged, and possible to sleep 5 if 3 will cram into a double berth, but not really conducive to peaceful nights with children squabbling. A 28 will be £40k plus, if it is any good. There may be the odd single engined one around, ok for river use, but difficult to sell. The older Fairlines are cracking boats, and if they have been properly maintained, yearly service etc, could be a good buy. The Princess 33's are also lovely boats, but getting on in age, so will need a lot of TLC and upkeep.
Many of us buy the wrong boat to start with, our first we kept for 4 months before changing to something we really wanted, so you must consider ease of sale when purchasing, as you may need to sell quickly to get what you really want. Have a look at as many as you can before jumping in. Is there a brokerage on the river you plan to use?

 

[enterprise]

Hi there,
I will try to answer as no one else has so far, 20-30 %?, well it all depends on condition and how much work you are willing to do, a boat with all receipts in top condition will be easier to sell and would guess gets closer to asking price than one that's been sitting on someone's books for a while.
Genuine bargains are hard to come bye and it would be very easy to fall into the trap of buying someone else's 'cheap' nightmare.

For £30k I would start looking at £30k (+ 10-20%) with the intention of replacing what is required by reducing the asking price accordingly, hence one that does not require much work, close to 30k, one which does, reduce the amount appropriately until you reach a compromise.

You need to look for accommodation to suit five, so that would probably mean older and bigger, newer would be at the expense of size usually hence the 805 and s23 might look good but be somewhat impractical unless using as a day boat only.
Diesels command a premium even with price of fuel being almost the same, diesels are genuinely more suited to marine environment and a well serviced and maintained example will outlast any petrol engine and give many years of reliable service.

I can think of two or three boats that would probably suit your intended use and accommodation requirements, look at Nimbus, Seawings, and Princess boats, still great boats but some models probably just in budget.

Will try and add real examples but I'm sure a quick google search will give you an idea.

http://www.boatshop24.co.uk/advert/hardy-seawings-277-chichester/41795965
http://www.boatshop24.co.uk/advert/nimbus-3003-ipswich/41907158
http://www.boatshop24.co.uk/advert/princess-286-riviera-hayling-island-jaykay-display/41644305
http://www.boatshop24.co.uk/advert/princess-30-ds-norfolk-yacht-agency/41944701

 

[superheat6k]

I have boated for a little while and would never have a boat with an outdrive above 28', even though I have had issues this year with my shafts, IMHO they are the mark of a proper powerboat (hard hat on expecitng incoming !!!).

For your budget you will likely be limited to one engine, but this is just fine for coastal cruising, but I would join seastart as a precaution.

Boats you could look at include ...

Nimbus
Aquastar 33
Weymouth 32
Fairline (some earlier models)
Princess ( " )

There is a Corvette 32 for sale asking £40 k that has been for sale a while, twin engines and what a boat.

 

[prof pat pending]

How about something like this
http://www.boatshop24.co.uk/advert/freeman-33-sport-penton-hook-chertsey/41619565

 

[enterprise]

Looking at the original 'wish list' it looks as though 'sport cruiser' style is favoured, although the MF805 is somewhat a wild card.

You would be hard pressed to find a twin shaft drive diesel sport cruiser for under £30k, the closest would be the outdrive powered Princess 286 as above.
However your intended river cruising start with coastal predicted would favour a single engined Nimbus or Seawings, don't be put off by the styling as they are great looking boats.

An alternative to Fairline Targa's is the Falcon range, the Falcon 275 being a well respected example.

see here; http://motorboats.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=376397

 

[vandy]

If you could afford a Merry Fisher 805, it is a cracking boat - but at 30k you won't find a decent one as all good ones are £40k+.

The other boats you named are sports/speed boats - MF805 is cheap on diesel and Cat B. best view and the most stable boat in rough seas in your list.

 

[Solent_Boating]

+1 for Merry Fisher 805 - and agree with Vandy - you should stretch your budget to get a decent one and they are between £40k-£50k. If you saw one around £30k they are either low spec, or been used commercially.

I own a MF805, they are by far the most stable boat we ever owned - and the best compromise when it comes to a day boat, family boat, and something which you can go long distance and gives you a lot of comfort. When it came out it was the Motorboat of the year (I think 2004).

 

[neale]

Using your own criteria and boat shortlist, you have narrowed it down to the Sealine S23 and the Princess 33. The others are either too expensive for your sub £30k budget (MF805, Sealine S28 newer than 2000), or too old on the basis that they have drives (Sunfury, Targa, Sunseeker).

The S23 and the Princess 33 are very different boats, so it shouldn't be too hard for you to pick your favourite

 

[daboss_uk]

Many thanks for all the advice , much appreciated.

Spent yesterday up at Burton looking at various Sealine S23/28/34 etc , lovely boats indeed but after leafing though the paperwork on the S28 and seeing £2k service bills a few months ago and others for 3.5k of engine work have been really out off by the sterndrive system. If buying new i'd not be fussed but these boats are 12+ years old so will need £££ spending without doubt.

We have also had a bit of a re-think regards the sort of boat we might buy, we live in Warwickshire so great for rivers but not so great for sea ha, so now pondering a riverboat on shafts then when we gain experience venture onto the sea ( theres lots of training i wish to do beforehand tbh ), we could get a rib as a tender and use on the sea to potter about bays, would be cheap and can tow this.

Anyway, looked at few riverboats and ones that i love the look of are Broom, being a *noob* knew nothing about them and read 120 year old brand that make very good boats so all cool. I've seen a few wooden boats from the 60's and 70's with simple engines on shafts and now looking into this option. Appreciate looking after wood will require lots of graft but i'd enjoy this aspect tbh, and i feel GRP would need the same sort of graft looking at the state of the stuff we've seen!. A lot of the riverboats don't appeal to me if honest but the Brooms ( in wood ) look stunning indeed.

Thoughts appreciated please

Thanks
D

 

[daboss_uk]

I'll have a look over the boats listed above also, cheers guys.

 

[daboss_uk]

I posted the above over weekend but have since chatted to various people regards wood boats and got answers ranging from *dont touch* to * need to replace all planks every two years ha ha* to *if you can do work yourself (paint/vanish) they are about the same as a GF boat maybe a bit more time if you buy a good un *

Interesting indeed.

Anyway out the boats listed i like the seamaster 30 and Broom 30, both seem to have plenty of room and can be taken on the seas.

 

[rafiki_]

I posted the above over weekend but have since chatted to various people regards wood boats and got answers ranging from *dont touch* to * need to replace all planks every two years ha ha* to *if you can do work yourself (paint/vanish) they are about the same as a GF boat maybe a bit more time if you buy a good un *

Interesting indeed.

Anyway out the boats listed i like the seamaster 30 and Broom 30, both seem to have plenty of room and can be taken on the seas.

Both good choices and nice boats, with the sort of accommodation you are looking for. They will be quite old now, so expect a goodly amount of maintenance and replacement parts. If you can do much of the work yourself, then this will be ok if you have the time. If you are not very mechanical, this can become expensive, assume £50 ish an hour for charges.

 

[macnorton]

I posted the above over weekend but have since chatted to various people regards wood boats and got answers ranging from *dont touch* to * need to replace all planks every two years ha ha* to *if you can do work yourself (paint/vanish) they are about the same as a GF boat maybe a bit more time if you buy a good un *

Interesting indeed.

Anyway out the boats listed i like the seamaster 30 and Broom 30, both seem to have plenty of room and can be taken on the seas.

A lot of early GRP boats were styled on the wooden cruisers, the engines are more basic than modern ones so can be fixed diy without a computer. have a look at Birchwood 33, Senior 32, RLM 32, Project 31, Princess 32, Ocean 30 (like the Broom) + many others, these will all take the sea and can be maintained well by an owner with a little mechanical knowledge.
If you want to go inland think about air-draught where you wish to go.

 

[CX54WEK]

Welcome to the world of boating.

You will soon get used to bills for £2-3k regardless of the drive system, hull design, hull construction, engine choice etc etc.

To keep a boat well maintained and in tip top condition is not a cheap pass time.

What ever boat you buy you need a big bag of receipts to go with it to prove it has been well maintained. When buying a second hand boat you are buying someone else's to do list as well. The more receipts you have the more that you can prove has been crossed off that list.