Motor boat advice for newbie please!

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Paulportsmouth

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Hi guys,

Myself and my partner have just sold our yacht, as we want to come to the world of motor boats! Our budget is around the £30k mark.

We have done some research, and the boat we get needs to be a 4 berth cruiser, with a decent amount of headroom (both 6 foot!) and we also want a diesel engine too. We know it will cost more initially to buy the boat, but want the lower fuel running costs.

We have looked at a number of boats, and the one that seems to fit the bill the best so far is the Four Winns 248 Vista.

We viewed a Sealine S24 today which was very nice, but frustratingly lacked the headroom. We know that on a boat this size headroom won't always be the most, but the Four Winns manages to offer 6`3!

Any advice on the Four Winns, or any other boats that may fit this requirement would be much appreciated.

Thanks all for your time in this matter!

Paul :)
 
Paul,

A very warm welcome to the forum. And apologies if I am the first response.

I don't know the Four Winns, but have had a couple of smallish US sports in the past, Sea Ray and Sunbird. Head room in both of those was a bit of a problem, so if the 4 Winns works for you then great.

My wife and I are both 6 ft ish (I'm a bit more, she slightly less) and we value headroom too. We have a Sunline 31 which has 6ft+ in one part of the saloon, but not all all over, but it is OK for us.

In terms of the boat rather than headroom, most people on the forum would say that the Sealine is the better boat, with accomodation, sea keeping, fit and finish and residual value better than comparative US boats, if a little more expensive to buy.

Ultimately it is up to your personal preference, and consider that your first mobo is unlikely to satisfy you for long, but you need to go through a learning process to determine what your needs are.

We went:

Boat 1 = 3 months
Boat 2 = 2 years
Boat 3 = 2 years so far, and no intention to change for the time being.

Some people go through boats on a seasonal basis, but this can be expensive.
 
Welcome to the Darkside.

If you are looking for head room in a boat around 24/26ft why not look at a Chaparral 240 or 260, mind you, you are about to get a stream of ant US boat furumites views and opinions now so I would suggest you judge each boat on its merits and not peoples opinions.

Good luck
 
if I can suggest, dont overplay the headroom angle. Sailing boats might have lots of it, but mobo's dont until you get somewhat bigger. Where are you going to spend most of your time? If its down below, not having room to pass each other can be more frustrating than the fact the foredeck restricts headroom. If you expect to be up in the cockpit nearly all of the time (with or without the canvas up), then maybe you wont be below for much more than sleeping.
Have a think about where and what type of boating you want to do, bcz that will dictate to some extent how good a hull design you need, for those waters. You want to chug along, or speed about...all year, or not winter, to be out in the elements, or more enclosed.. are you both agile, or you need safe decks and ease of boarding.
6ft isnt especially tall , an of course the priority is up to you as its your boat, but personally (I m 6ft), I think there are alot of design aspects to a boat that will bring more joy/pain !!
 
Im going to echo what has been said above. Decide how you will use the boat before jumping in a buying one.

We didnt know how we would use our boat when we bought it but have been lucky that she meets all of our needs and two years on we have no plans to change her.

We bought a Sealine S23, on a whim. The headroom in the cabin is just over 6ft in the galley but less where the saloon seating is located. Not a problem as you cant really stand there anyway. The midships is well over 6ft long so wouldnt be a problem there.

We have found we spend most of our time in the cockpit even during the winter months (heating works well even under the canvas) and the headroom in the cockpit with the hoods up is huge for a 25fter.

Have a look around as many boats as you can before jumping in.
 
as an ex-raggie myself just consider if you really want to be walking through a windscreen to get to the foredeck..... and have zero side decks..

I believe the Sealine gives you side decks (just), the other American models mentioned are the opening windscreen variety..
 
Firefly625 said:
I believe the Sealine gives you side decks (just), the other American models mentioned are the opening windscreen variety..
Click to expand...


Correct; though on the S23 this is achieved by having an asymmetric coachroof I think (i.e. the deck only runs down one side)? Practical, but looks a bit odd from astern or ahead. Dunno about the S24 but if it has decks both sides, they are going to be narroooowwwwwwww.........
 
Firefly625 said:
as an ex-raggie myself just consider if you really want to be walking through a windscreen to get to the foredeck..... and have zero side decks..

I believe the Sealine gives you side decks (just), the other American models mentioned are the opening windscreen variety..
Click to expand...

The S23 does give good side deck access from the Port side, however the starboard side deck is slightly narrower and not much use. You can get S23's within your budget. A friend of ours got his for £27k which we thought was a very good price and it is in good nick as well just needs a good polish.

The earlier S24's do have side decks but accessing them from inside the cockpit is interesting shall we say!!!
 
jhr said:
Correct; though on the S23 this is achieved by having an asymmetric coachroof I think (i.e. the deck only runs down one side)? Practical, but looks a bit odd from astern or ahead. Dunno about the S24 but if it has decks both sides, they are going to be narroooowwwwwwww.........
Click to expand...

You beat me too it, although im not sure about them looking odd

DSC00102.jpg
 
got to say a Sealine S23/S25 would get my vote, nice build quality, good KAD32 engine, easy resale value... and if you can get one (S23) for sub 30k....very good value.... I don't wish to offend anyone, but IMHO a far better boat that an American 25ft sports boat... (running for cover!)...
 
Guys,

Thanks very much for the quick responses already, it's great to see how keen everyone is to help!

With regard to the usage, obviously we don't know exactly, but when out obviously most time will be up top apart from comfort breaks down below.

During those cold nights it will be nice to be able to go to the boat and sit down below with a couple of friends, dependent of course on if it is warm enough to stay in the cockpit with the covers zipped up then that would be preferable.

I have heard that the Sealine is a very good boat in terms of build quality, and I did like the S24. It just felt quite a bit smaller (probably not in reality, only about a foot shorter overall) than the Four Winns.

We haven't found many other American boats (Rinker / Sea Ray) within our budget, which were other boats that we were advised to look at.

We could certainly get a Sealine S24 or S23 within our budget and probably have a couple of thousand back compared to the Four Winns, but I guess we have to decide what is the better package overall. The whole galley felt smaller in the Sealine, but was very nice in appearance none the less.

I take it the Sealine S24 is basically the same as the S23 (or very similar) from what I can make out? Quite a stable boat I assume for its size too?

Cheers,

Paul
 
The S23 is basically the same package as an S24 but with a newer hull design and cabin design. We prefer the cockpit and cabin layout in the S23 and the materials used are newer so it gives a more modern feel.

One thing i will say though is that on our recent trip to Wells we had 4 boats in company. 2 S23's a 310S and a S24. The S24 really struggled to keep up.
 
You may want to consider a semi displacement vessel.
Which will still seem like 'lightening' after your sailing adventures
Usually easier to move around and drop the hook etc than a sports boat.
Headroom issues better too
Don't slam as much either
Anyway
As said welcome to the Dark Side
Whilst I duck awaiting 'incoming' from the quick lads!
 
Now, Kwakers, you beat me to it! I was going to suggest exactly the same. Coming from a sailing background (the OP that is) I would have thought an SD would be a much better bet. Less slam, better sea keeping than a small planning boat. Still able to make a good speed and maintain it it in a sea that all the boats mentioned so far will be plodding along at displacement speed,
 
Nope, I don't scare that easy. I can almost guarantee that a planning boat for the OP of the size being muted will last 6 months. You, like me, have seen it happen all to often which is why you came up with the same suggestion! :D

We had a guy come into the office yesterday and chat to us about boats - thought he wanted a planning boat until we chatted. We took him down to Motala, and if she had been up for sale he would have bought her on the spot.

OP did not say what size yacht he had, but he will be used to going out in much "rougher" seas than the boats being put forward here. Needs to consider, Nimbus, Aquastar, Storebro and Mitchell.
 
jhr said:
It's been cleverly done but, to me, there's still something slightly lop-sided about them.

Nice boats, mind.

Yours sincerely,

US Sports Boat Owner :D
Click to expand...

And dead handy for somewhere to keep your bars of Palmolive and Imperial Leather during the 11 long months the boats are unusable due to rain and cold.:)
 
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