Gas guzzling and the dreaded Binliner

[petem]

Now, I consider myself to be a veteran of this site, poss even a founder member. What's become clear is that there are many newbies to boating who are more than happy to start with a cheapo binliner or petrol guzzler. They're probably even prepared to take the hit of high fuel prices.

However, we all scoff at the vessels and say that they'll never get rid of them after they've fallen in love with boating and wish to move up to something bigger. Now, are they hard to get rid off because we on this forum perpetuate this hard to sell rumour?

For example, a mate of mine had a 10 year old Targa 27 with big old V6 Petrol Volvos. Paid £30k for it. I had a brand new Targa 30, got around £8k discount and paid £95k. My boat had KAD32's (diesels). His engines were as smooth and as quiet as anything. Mine were typically smokey, noisy and a bit rough.

Come re-sell time. Both boats took six months to sell. He got all his money back, I lost £10k. He had just as much fun as me. So, was he wrong to buy his old petrol boat?

Likewise, the Binliner owners on this forum love them, so why put anyone off who wants to buy them.

Discuss.

 

[Guest]

i bought a petrol monster, for on reason only it was cheap!
i often drooled over nice diesel boats but they were way out of my league.
so after a quick grovel at the bank, i got a lot of boat for relatively small money.
the down side is obviously the running costs of a petrol (and filling jerry cans at tescos!).
why does every thing have to be split sail/power, diesel/ petrol, cruisers/ speed merchants,
lets make it simple and divide it in to two groups, people who got boating in one form or another, and those poor souls who don't.
it is easy to tell them apart (as long as no-one metions costs) we are the one who smile a lot!

 

[Guest]

Re: ah but

Your mate's boat took 6 months to sell cos it was petrols. Yours took 6 months to sell cos you started advertising in November, it was near-new so took a deprec hit tho not as bad as if it had been petrol, and it was up for a pile of cash for newbie-sized boat with 2nd-time buyer spec diesels, and a F'line so probly the model changed.

Now, if it had been a um well a differnet boat praps or even better (aha!) erm, not a boat at all, but say a house (but with still with diesels, not nasty petrol) then of course you'd have got twice the all the money back and even more. Unless it was a Fairline house, in which case it would have nearly worked most of the time but not very much, or a sealine house made of cardboard, or a sunseeker house with just one massive tarty bedroom and nothing else, or a bayliner house in which case it wd have had all the stuff but a bit roughly finished so it was dead cheap...oops, case solved I think. I wasn't expecting to get anywhere with this posting which very nearly fell off the rails in the middle, but sorted itself out in the end.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Pete, thats not a valid comparison. How much would a brand new petrol engined T30 have lost - a hell of a lot more than £10k, I reckon? How quickly would a 10yr old T27 with diesels have taken to sell - a lot less than 6 months?

 

[BarryH]

Sorry i know its a bit late to reply, the way i look at it is not from a cost point of view but ease of use type thing, OK my boats only got one engine a volvo AQ145. Now if this things going to break down then 9 times out of 10 i can repair it(touch wood) but if a oil burner breaks down/stops running its normally fairly difficult to grt the thing running again. Hike the power! easy with a petrol just change a few relatively inexpensive parts or sprint to your local car yard to wip the turbo etc of the relivant road going model(as most petrol engines are based on car/van units. Now you try doing that with a oil burner or is it Im just a little biased!!

 

[andrewa]

Hi new to forum but picked up on this thread. I own a small petrol boat a 98 Bayliner lovingly refered to as Binliners. Had no problems with it and the 2 minor spares I have required got hold of easy via Bayliner Aquatic. Looking to move up now and will be buying another Bayliner probably a 2855, my point though is that it will be petrol, I can't afford a diesel boat or for that matter a fairly new fairline etc. I enjoy my boating with my family and this way I can afford to do it and other things. I will be having the craft either converted to LPG or have it re-engined to a diesel to help with the added costs, probably a GM unit but will buy the boat first and worry about that later.

 

[petem]

Good on you. My sentiment was that Petrol/Bayliners aren't ideal but we shouldn't be quite so vociferous in criticing them as there's plenty of people out there enjoying them.

 

[petem]

If you were buying a car what would you buy, a straight 4 diesel or a nice V6 petrol?

Surely the comparative smoothness of Petrol engines goes some way to compensate for the extra fuel price.

 

[BarryH]

Point taken. I drive both a four pot oil burner ans a V8 petrol. Like most things in life it isnt that easy. Ive been on friends boats with oil burners under the hoods and once up and running were surprisingly smooth, then again ive been on boats with petrol V8 the feel like ans old routemaster bus on cobbles, i suppose its all down to age wear etc.

I still must be biased towards petrol engines, never had any problems in obtaining fuel unlike some of the people here say, but then i have more options open to me than the larger boats that are soley reliant on quayside fuel berths,

 

[Guest]

Re: fair enuf but

petrol costs at marinas seem towards to more lunatic end of the spectrum. BarryD is quoting £1.11 a litre. yahoo.

 

[BarryD]

Re: fair enuf but

Matt sorry not checked out in the caluclator technology - should have read 0.90p a litre.

OK still 0.60p more expensive than diesel. So assuming 100 hours a year @ 7gph (or 32 litres?) - so every hours cruising costs a further £20 (19.20 actually) that is £2,000 over the year. If you like the boat then LPG it, easy on the south coast, if you don't like the boat sell it and get a diesel.

What about the servicing / maint. costs of a diesel over petrol? I fear if everything is added in including the purchase price the annual running costs of the Bayliner crowd may be closer to the diesels.

Barry D.

 

[peterg]

ah but

don't forget at the end of say five years the diesel boat will (probably) be worth proportionately more than the equivalent petrol boat - servicing cost of a diesel engine is, in my experience, hardly any more than a petrol engine and it will tend to continue running in conditions where particularly an older petrol one might not (ie. cold and damp - remember Lucas the Prince of Darkness!)

 

[Guest]

Re: humm

dunno. Nice new diesels cost lots, especially when Mr Expensive turns up to do maintenance and charges an amount of foreign money that is difficult (and best not) to convert into sterling. Hence 5 year g'tees on walloping big MAN and mtus well worth it for the manufacturers cos the main agent gets to make up massive invoices for a full five years.

Much the best is to get SWMBO to do the credit card thingy when paying for fuel, to get her involved ahem, and to fuel up in the mornings, not in the afternoons. This has the nice side effect of minimising her other expendiure cos she has already had the adrenalin rush of signing off a load of credit card loot on something. Under no circumstance is she to tell you how much "she" has spent. It can be her secret, and it wouldn't be gentlemanly to pry.

 

[BarryD]

Re: humm

You're giving me pearls here Matt. SWMBO on the credit card in the AM - I shall remember that trick.

Barry D.