Hello everyone - new to boating!

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P.neto7

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Hello everyone. My name is Pedro and I am new to this boating world so please forgive any silly questions of mine.

I am looking for a first boat, under 10m for mainly coastal exploration, nothing too extreme, if I can use the boat for waterskiing that would be a bonus..

Here a few silly questions, hope you can share your knowledge.

1- what best boat manufacturers should I look for, I was suggested Regal, Beneteau, Jenneau, Sea Ray, how this brands compare to car brands? I am buying used but if get the boating bug plan to shift first boat in a few years...

2-eternal fuel question... Petrol or diesel? Not worried in long cruising costs as I won't do that on my first boat but what about maintenance, engine performance, etc?

3- would like to spend <£30k

4- ideally if I could sleep on the boat now and again would be ideal, not looking for massive space just me and my misses... After all, first little boat..

Many thanks for your input
Pedro
 
P.neto7 said:
Hello everyone. My name is Pedro and I am new to this boating world so please forgive any silly questions of mine.

I am looking for a first boat, under 10m for mainly coastal exploration, nothing too extreme, if I can use the boat for waterskiing that would be a bonus..

Here a few silly questions, hope you can share your knowledge.

1- what best boat manufacturers should I look for, I was suggested Regal, Beneteau, Jenneau, Sea Ray, how this brands compare to car brands? I am buying used but if get the boating bug plan to shift first boat in a few years...

2-eternal fuel question... Petrol or diesel? Not worried in long cruising costs as I won't do that on my first boat but what about maintenance, engine performance, etc?

3- would like to spend <£30k

4- ideally if I could sleep on the boat now and again would be ideal, not looking for massive space just me and my misses... After all, first little boat..

Many thanks for your input
Pedro
Click to expand...

10 m is a great size for a boat, but generally too large for waterskiing. However, there is a forumite who has skied behind his 70 footer.
You might look at an American boat as your taster. Something like a Glastron 269, which you can get with diesel or petrol power. 30 footers are going to be £50k ish unless they are 20 years old, and needing a degree of TLC.
Difficult to relate the brands you state to car brands. They are all in the budget category, with perhaps Sea Ray as the most premium of these. That is not to decry any of them, they all make great boats.
I suggest you go and have a look at a few, then start to narrow down your choices. Good luck, and don't be afraid to come back on here with questions.
 
Welcome to the forum and boating. Keep in mind what ever you buy that you will likely want to sell it as you learn more what style of boating suits you. I bet you will soon want more cabin space, and with £30k to spend you can get into more of a fast cruiser around 28-30'.

Sounds like you want a speed boat for first experience, nothing wrong with that, but a weeks experience with a sea school will help you greatly refine what you want from boating. I would suggest you contact Solitaire, Elessar or Powerskipper of this parish.

You will pay more for a diesel than a petrol, and in theory vice versa for running costs.
 
Have a look at Parkstone Bays website. Tom (nautibusiness on here) has a number of boats that probably fit your brief.

Looking at the site there is a Doral 250 with a Diesel engine, several Crownline 250cr's with 350 magnum petrol engine, and an older Searay with twin 5.0's (wouldn't want to fuel this).

I chose an 8m Monterey with a Yanmar diesel. Good performance with reasonable economy. Il get the extra I paid back when it sells. Diesel is a little easier to get hold than petrol but you shouldn't have an issue with either in Poole.

Personally, I like the Crownline 250cr. Great performance with the 350 magnum and its big enough to sleep on with a partner over the weekend. I take my Monterey (very similar boat) to the Isle of Wight regularly.

Good luck. Where are you planning to keep it?
 
Thanks guys!

I am looking at the budget category as a starter boat, will upgrade after a few years if I like this. I will look for a 2nd boat but not too old that I would spend all my free time in the dock repairing it. I like sailing too and I am a keen windsurfer.

My plan is start with motor boats now when my free time is precious and perhaps later in life go on and get a nice sailing boat when I will have more free time to enjoy the sailing.

@rafiki - thanks for this, I do appreciate that I am looking at the cheaper part of the market but it is a first boat and I am not sure how boating really feels as I am new to this. Obviously a Fairline, Princess, Sealine, Sunseeker, Azimut are beautiful motor boats and have very nice interiors particularly 40ft plus but I believe my approach to this boating world to be sensible. Will have a look at those American brands you suggested.

@superheat6k - yes you are probably right, looking for a smallish boat and I guess in this category a bit of speedboat is not a bad idea. Due to my limited experience and navigation skills, first few years will be potting about in poole harbour, etc so don't need a big cruiser, why not have a bit of fun with a faster boat? :) Due to the intended use I am not too worried about fuel costs, are marine petrol engines more refined than diesel?

@rhino_mac - nice boats, I like the Crownline too, looks nice. I am planning to keep it at Cobbs Quay

@maverickofpoole - Hi Martin, really nice boat yours, unfortunately slightly more than I am prepared to spend but more than that I am looking to buy it later in the year not just now, perhaps then if still for sale I will have a look?

I am going to do some courses with Powerboat Training UK and that will give me a feel of motor boating and will learn how to manage the boat, etc, etc.

I will keep asking silly questions so please bear with me. ;)

Pedro
 
Hi Pedro, welcome to the forum.
FWIW and my two penneth worth...we started with a small 21 footer Monterey 218, single engine petrol. Small cuddy which enabled us to stay overnight at the weekends. We wanted to start small and relatively cheap to 'suck it and see' if we really wanted to get into this boating lark. Anyway, the boat was great, relatively inexpensive to run/maintain/berth and was just a superb 'toe in the water' boat for us. She didn't have shore power or any big comforts but she did for us brilliantly and we did loads of little trips back and forth from Isle of Wight as you do which was great. She cost us 17k (iirc) and within the year, we'd got the bug badly and upgraded (we didn't lose any money in the trade in either so that was a bonus). This was 4/5 years ago and we've never looked back.
Hope you find what you're looking for. I'm sure you won't regret it.
L
:)
 
Hi Pedro..

Welcome to the forum..

I was recently in a similar position looking for my "get back into boating" boat after many years off the water..

For your budget I would say look at the 25-30 ft size range.. Obviously on the smaller end you will get much newer boats and on the upper end you will probably need to go older.. How much of an issue this is is down to you..

For me I liked the idea of a petrol engine because I know petrol engines well and the ones used in boats are just simple V8's (and V6's in smaller boats).. As it happened I found a 2002 26ft express cruiser with 243 hours on it that had engine trouble so I got it at a good price and dropped in a complete new engine.. Probably could have opened up the old engine and repaired it but a new engine was within the budget so was just easier (I doubt that would have been the case had it been diesel).. The fuel consumption is not that bad in this size boat.. Sure if you have it running flat out all day it's going to use a lot more but get on a plane and cruise at ~3200rpm and it's not bad at all..

Do some searching on the boat sites and narrow down the ones you like.. There really are so many good boats around in that size range that you will probably be spoiled for choice..

As a final bit of advice, the canopy is expensive to replace (on my boat a little over £2k) so if you can find a boat with a new canopy that's a bonus.. If the canopy needs replacing factor that into the price..

Good luck..
 
I wouldn't worry about silly questions not evryone has been fortunate enough to grow up around boats, you should have heard some of the questions I asked when I got into boating 4 years ago in fact I'm still asking them now.
 
IMHO petrols are not as refined, otherwise a lot more boats would use petrols, although until recently diesel was significantly cheaper. More recently common rail diesels developed for truck use have been applied for marine diesels.

However, looking at the threads on here concerning difficulties with excessively electronically controlled diesels I am unlikely to ever have such a thing on a boat I own - an alarm message saying 'contact Volvo Penta' mid channel is as much use as a trap door on a submarine.

I have never had a petrol engine inboard, apart from a lethal Albin Vega on my last sailing boat, which I replaced with a Yanmar diesel. That engine put me off ever having petrol aboard, apart from a limited quantity in small sealed cans for the tender outboard. However, for smaller speed boats petrol is an inevitability. If you trailer your boat be aware that buying petrol in petrol stations is becoming more difficult due to successful actions of the EU health and safety dictatorship.
 
Thanks bejay that boat does seems to fit the bill nicely. It's something like that I am looking to buy as a starter boat.

The same with your Julian except yours seems to be in Spain...

Pedro
 
Sorry Pedro, I didnt check your location (just assumed with a name like Pedro you'd be based in spain) , my boat is in spain.
 
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