Marino and Skibsplast

[barrie]

I have just returned from the Boat show in Stockholm and saw 2 boats which caught my eye, a Skibsplast 675 HT ( a Norwegian boat ) and a Marino Rocca ( a Finnish boat ). I have scanned the archives and found a little information on Skibsplast although not the right model, and I can't find anything on Marino. If anyone can give any help or info on either or both of these I would really appreciate it.

By the way, is it usual for your planned budget to go rocketing up when you're looking for your first boat, mine seems to have !!

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[powerskipper]

Can't help on boats but yes budget goes out the window.


Welcome to the forum.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://powerskipper.mysite.freeserve.com/>http://powerskipper.mysite.freeserve.com/</A>
Julie

 

[jhr]

There's a poster on here called Chris771, who used to own a Skibsplast and seemed very pleased with it. He's a spasmodic poster - I think he works abroad for long stretches - but a p.m. to him might yield up some info. Never heard of Marino Rocca, I'm afraid, but if they're built in Finland, chances are that they will be built like a brick convenience but, like the said convenience, may be a bit short on life's little luxuries.

Yes, budget goes ever upwards. Think of a number, and quadruple it; there is always something just that little bit better and nicer, just above your price range........./forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>Je suis Marxiste - tendance Groucho

 

[Elza_Skip]

Hi,

I have a skibsplast 660 that I bought second hand this year. It is 7 years old and I am only the third owner. In many ways she is still like new (at least until I got my hands on her!) and the build quality and fittings are much better than some of the cheaper new boats we saw.

Her last owner sold her to get a new boat, possibly the same model as you are looking at (shaft drive version?)

Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with, I guess you know the sole UK importer is wessex marine in poole. You can get to their website from the Skibsplast site (www.skibsplast.com)and they are very helpful.- Good luck

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[stefan]

Try this: http://www.marino.fi/english.html

Marino is an old family business. Quite popular in Finland and Sweden.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[barrie]

Thanks for the replies, I will check out the UK dealers to get some info and will review the Marino site

Elza_Skip, I noticed your boat in the brochure it looks pretty useful. Is your experience of them good in terms of how they behave in the wet stuff ? This will be my first boat so I am looking for something well behaved and "easy to use". One of the attractions of these boats is that I live in Sweden ( West Coast) and here they seem to rate Norwegian boats as being able to deal well with less than mirror-like seas.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[gonfishing]

There is no such thing as a budget when boats are concerned!!! All normal fiscal controls that you would apply to your normal day to day life, do not apply to boats.
I too am becoming a Fan of Scandinavian boats they are built for use in our grotty European waters and miserable weather!!

Welcome to the "Mad House"

Julian

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Chris771]

Hi Barrie,

I just happen to have popped up again. Spent the last couple of months working on a little Norwegian Survey vessel in the Ekofisk field and only had email and not internet facilities. Now on a much larger construction vessel in the Jotun field, which has internet cafe even!

Anyway to Skibsplast, I owned a Skibsplast 710 for about 4 years. It was one of only a couple of the hardtop variety imported into the UK. The build quality was superb, much better than the new Beneteau 760 I replaced it with two years ago. It was the only smaller cruiser I have ever seen with a DNV classification (Det Norske Veritas - similar to Lloyds 100+A1 or ABS - American Bureau of Shipping) plate fitted as standard, which has to be a recommendation of quality. All the bulkheads were made of fibreglass faced marine ply and the boat was broken up into sections with watertight bulkheads, rare in a craft of this size.

The one that I owned was bought at 2 years old and was fitted with all the toys hot water, Eberspacher Heating, Chart plotter GPS and Autopilot, so was well fitted out for cruising. I did several trips across the Irish Sea from Preston to the Isle of Man and along the North Wales Coast.

Fitted with a 150hp 4LH Yanmar Diesel she was economical and reasonably fast she would cruise at about 25 kts on 3.5gph and flat out (light boat) would do a tad over 30 kts in flat water at about 5gph.

Even crossing the Irish Sea in quite lumpy weather she would maintain about 17 knots cruising and one always felt safe in her. The only fault, if any, was being a fairly light craft, when manoevring in marinas in a stiff breeze the bow tended to blow around, which required a faster than prudent approach to maintain steerage. Even though only 7.1m she did have a proper seperate sea toilet compartment with a shower.

Another advantage was that she was shaft drive, just a bit of grease for the stern gland and rudder and occasional shaft anode and none of the grief of outdrives. The Screw was four bladed in a semi tunnel construction to reduce draft and had a small skeg underneath to protect and reduce the possibility of picking up ropes etc.

So, even these days I sometimes wonder why I sold her. The Beneteau 760 has much more room
but uses twice as much diesel. With the Skibsplast, it was also easy to load her onto rollercoaster trailer and take off to other end of country towing at a very stable 60mph behind a large 4WD.

So, in all I can thoroughly recommend Skibsplast build quality. Now that I spend a lot of my time living in Cyprus I wish that I still had her. Wessex Marine of Poole used to be importers/agents for them.


Chris


www.paphosholidayapartments.co.uk

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.paphosholidayapartments.co.uk>http://www.paphosholidayapartments.co.uk</A>

 

[Elza_Skip]

Barrie,

Happy to give you more info, feel free to email me at vernon.martin@orange.co.uk.

As for performance at sea, this is our first boat although I have done some cruising sailing.

We went for this rather than a river type cruiser so we can do coastal work and have had her since endof August.

We have taken her out in a force 4-5 with 2m seas (it was not planned that way!). At that level she gets a bit uncomfortabe as the short length tend to pitch into the waves. She can plane at 17kn on a choppy sea but what she hates are rolling seas. I think this will be common with any small, fast planing boat the Skibsplasts seem better built to handle it

I hope this helps

<hr width=100% size=1>