My first motor boat

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SEARANGER ANCASTER said:
welcome and only advice I would give you is ,whatever you buy , go for diesel engine(s). I would not consider a petrol boat for both consumption and safety reasons.

Some advice I was given when I looked for my first boat was to keep looking and the right style of boat or layout to suit you will become apparent and thereafter you will know the right boat when it comes along. Whatever you think your annual costs are going to be , double it and you will be more accurate.

And finally , with young kids , think about the safety of the boat which is the same position we were in when buying our first boat and we decided to go for a flybridge boat with rear "patio" syle doors as our daughter could be in there and we knew where she was and that she was safe when we were on the flybridge
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Not sure what you mean by safety reasons. Petrol is more flammable but there are thousands of boats out there that haven't blown up and are perfectly safe. And for 30k a boat with patio doors and a flybridge is going to be a dumper that needs work.
 
Darren :

We tend to go down to Tignmouth every year which is 2:15, to be honest its easy, we live by the M5, we basically get on the M5 then dont stop until we are where we are going!

Anna :

Great idea, we shall register, although the wife maybe fairly huge with baby so this may hamper efforts somewhat, brilliant idea though.

Cashbuyer :

Yeah, the only "safety" issue that concerns me is the single engine aspect, the petrol thing dosnt bother me.
Would love a flybridge sadly a bit out of my range, potentially have somewhere in Cheltenham to do one up but a bit of a pain to say the least, I think a little out of my scope for now like you said.

I have been reading the whole Diesel vs Petrol thing last night, the consensus seems to be diesel if you can afford surprise repairs which on modern diesels can be VERY expensive, if not the extra fuel costs you can call an "insurance policy" against failure which to repair or replace the engine would be very cheap compared to a diesel, this seems fairly logical.
You do get the "well ive ran mine for 3000 hours and had zero faults", which is great, but sods law, me, the one who cant afford a problem is going to get one.
 
Hi Aiden! I'm reading this thread with interest as we are currently going through the same process - upgrading from a 22ft cuddy to more like 27 ft. We also have 2 kids, and the cuddy is starting to be a bit of a squeeze! We're looking at the Bayliner 2655 and 2855, and also the Regals, Montereys and Maxums. Not much around at the moment but we're not in a hurry....
 
Keep me posted on what you end up with & thoughts an various models.
Cabin space for SWMBO and I & engine config are my primary concerns.
Going to look at an old 2655 today to gauge size and wither it can be included in the mix or if it will have to be a 285/2855 size+.
 
Would be interested to know your thoughts. I think the 2855 gives a lot more space (for generally not much more money) - and you have the added convenience of keeping the bed made up, with a separate dining area.
 
I bought a bayliner 3 years ago as my first mobo.

We bought it cos we liked the fact it had 2 permanent double beds, and came with the extras we wanted. I.e sea toilet (not a potty), electric windlass, fridge, cooker, microwave, and decent amount of space in the cockpit. We also thought it would be a good way to dip our toe in the water, to learn, and see if we would like it / use it.

Three years on, and we love it. We spend about 20 - 25 days on the boat a year - and have decided that it would be worth moving up to a targa 34 / 37. This will cost a lot more than £30k - but we're a bit more confident / experienced, and a bit better off & are going to spread our wings a little further afield

The bayliner has been great fun, and imho excels as an inexpensive floating caravan.

It's not a great sea boat, but I've taken it from Poole to Exmouth and everywhere in between - and had good time and survived.

Obviously a twin engines diesel is a better boat - but maintence costs will be double, and two engines means it costs about the same in fuel I believe

One engine gives less manoeuvrability, but berth in reverse, and just point the engine where you want to go. Mine has a bowthruster - which I think it needs.

There are lots of threads on relative merits of one engine vs two. For me the single engine thing isn't a massive safety issue. Worst comes to worst drop the anchor. If it's too deep to drop the anchor, then you're probably not in that much peril. Either way, get on the radio, and help will arrive - as it did when I embarrassingly ran out of fuel a mile short of destination.

In our three years, the boat hasn't burst into a fireball. Nor have I noticed this happening to other petrol boats.

Petrol is expensive, but when I was looking single engine diesels were c£10k more - that buys a a lot of petrol. For those saying must buy diesel - where are these tidy 25 - 28 ft boats for under £30k? I'm not sure they exist

Also petrol engines are quieter, and imho sound nicer.

Ultimately, it depends on what you want to use the boat for. We mainly use ours as a floating caravan, for bay hopping & pootling up the river dart. I think it's great for this.

There are lots of makes out there. They are all similar, but have their own quirks. Find the layout / design that meets your needs / taste. And make sure you fit a windlass / proper toilet for swmbo

Written on my iPhone whist sipping an ice cold beer on my bayliner :)

DW
 
As you are not completely sure what you want, how about buying something smaller (25')? It will be considerably cheaper & still have a cabin.

If you get one with a camper top the kids can sleep in the cabin and you two can sleep on the sun pad. If you find you like the boating thing you can use the experience gained and a few more years of saving to buy the boat you're looking for now.

Also; don't forget, with a single engine boat you can always stick a small aux outboard on the back to get you home in an emergency.
 
One thing that confuses me - the debate seems to be 1) Single engine Petrol vs 2) Twin diesels.....

Why not a single diesel??

There are plenty of decent boats that have one decent diesel for the OP's budget, which would meet many of the reasons to go diesel but wouldn't cripple on maintenance such as better availability of fuel etc.

I don't buy the safety thing with a petrol boat - (i've only ever been able to afford to buy petrol boats) and have hardly ever been killed to death by them blowing up as soon as we step aboard. However having run a 26' with an old carb 5.7 V8 I do think once you're over about 25' running a petrol can get a bit pricey if you want to do extended runs...

For e.g. - here are some (no connection and not saying these are the ones to have but just an e.g.) - http://www.theyachtmarket.com/boats...currency=gbp&saleorcharter=sale&countryid=250

All diesel, all about 25-30' in length and all in budget.....

Just a thought - diesel doesn't have to be twin...
 
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DazzyWoo said:
I bought a bayliner 3 years ago as my first mobo.

We bought it cos we liked the fact it had 2 permanent double beds, and came with the extras we wanted. I.e sea toilet (not a potty), electric windlass, fridge, cooker, microwave, and decent amount of space in the cockpit. We also thought it would be a good way to dip our toe in the water, to learn, and see if we would like it / use it.

Three years on, and we love it. We spend about 20 - 25 days on the boat a year - and have decided that it would be worth moving up to a targa 34 / 37. This will cost a lot more than £30k - but we're a bit more confident / experienced, and a bit better off & are going to spread our wings a little further afield

The bayliner has been great fun, and imho excels as an inexpensive floating caravan.

It's not a great sea boat, but I've taken it from Poole to Exmouth and everywhere in between - and had good time and survived.

Obviously a twin engines diesel is a better boat - but maintence costs will be double, and two engines means it costs about the same in fuel I believe

One engine gives less manoeuvrability, but berth in reverse, and just point the engine where you want to go. Mine has a bowthruster - which I think it needs.

There are lots of threads on relative merits of one engine vs two. For me the single engine thing isn't a massive safety issue. Worst comes to worst drop the anchor. If it's too deep to drop the anchor, then you're probably not in that much peril. Either way, get on the radio, and help will arrive - as it did when I embarrassingly ran out of fuel a mile short of destination.

In our three years, the boat hasn't burst into a fireball. Nor have I noticed this happening to other petrol boats.

Petrol is expensive, but when I was looking single engine diesels were c£10k more - that buys a a lot of petrol. For those saying must buy diesel - where are these tidy 25 - 28 ft boats for under £30k? I'm not sure they exist

Also petrol engines are quieter, and imho sound nicer.

Ultimately, it depends on what you want to use the boat for. We mainly use ours as a floating caravan, for bay hopping & pootling up the river dart. I think it's great for this.

There are lots of makes out there. They are all similar, but have their own quirks. Find the layout / design that meets your needs / taste. And make sure you fit a windlass / proper toilet for swmbo

Written on my iPhone whist sipping an ice cold beer on my bayliner :)

DW
Click to expand...

Well posted and how refreshing to read an answer that has been thought through and posted by an experienced owner in the sportsboat market.
I get tired of people posting answers on this forum which start 'Don't have that particular model but...' Or 'not familiar with..'
 
To be fair there is a bayliner 265 in the list with a single Diesel engine :) However it has 170hp compared to 350hp on petrol version. Great for trawling, I can't see it getting up on the plane well with full tanks and four aboard, but 'I don't have that particular model' ;) .... Perhaps someone else has experience?
 
Thanks for the recent reply's all, In regards to getting a smaller boat to try it, I would agree for a first time boater but I have a rich history with sailing boats 23-50ft and man ski boats 75-240hp so I am 100% sure I will enjoy a boat as I have done in years gone by on other peoples vessels.

Which leads me onto this, at the weekend I went to the marina and tried a few boats on for size, my findings :

Balyliner 2655 - Although this was quite and old one and needed a complete refit we were only looking for "size", I could stand up in the middle in the cabin, just about but that was about it, certainly too small. I do want to be comfortable inside, so the 2655 is a no.
At this point ill remind everyone im 6`2.

Sealine 270 - Nice boat but couldn't stand up in the cabin at any point, so that's a no.

Sealine 310 - Well, this was lovely, huge deck area, nice looking boat nice cabin separate master cabin. 1990 but didn't look it.

So with that brief look around I dont think ill be looking at anything less than 30ft to suit my size.

Engine wise Ill have to see what is around once the funds are in hand, all the boats ive seen of this size tend to be twin petrol (if they are older) or twin diesel, or the likes of the 285 with a 350MAG v8.
I think ill try and learn the maintenance myself with a friend to save on that either way and if I can get a twin KAD32/42I might go for that which will allow for further cursing and save an upgrade.

Definitely need to have a look round some more for size / layout, will keep an eye out in my local marinas for some more and hopefully find a 2855 locally at some point.

Thanks again for everyone responses.
 
Yeah, I like being tall, however its certainly not helping my wallet by discounting all the "smaller" boats!
I think if your going to spend this sort of money though you have to be comfortable for those rainy days where you want to huddle in the cabin and play cards etc.
 
I have to say as well, unless you have stupidly deep pockets, 31+ foot boats with petrols will become very tiresome cost wise fairly quickly - paying out £2k per year for a mooring, plus a couple of thousand for maintenance means you will be shelling out a lot of money - therefore you will want to use the boat a fair bit to get your moneys worth - which will then mean huge fuel bills.

I think you should consider this carefully. If you are going to discount boats under 30ft, you may by default also end up discounting petrol boats purely from the fact you need to go bigger.
 
I agree its a bit of a conundrum, id be happy with a 2855 (assuming im happy with the size whenever I get to test it) as the 350Mag is a good unit and cheap to replace / fix should issues arrive, however like you say this limits me to pottering around doing 20miles< trips a weekend but this was the main idea anyway, we just lack "the option" to go further / do more.

I think I would be happy with that, if however I can get a twin diesel within budget (if not a little over) I think I would prefer that as it simply gives me "options" as fuel should still work out cheaper being able to run lower RPM and the obvious diesel savings.

It means not having to upgrade should we want to do more and I think it would hold its value a little better.
 
I've often found boat size and headroom are not very well related. At 6'6" I can stand up in my MF645, but many larger boats including JFM's Squadron 78 I can't stand up in. I would worry more about berth length as that is critical and again many simply don't have the length!
 
Does anyone have a Bayliner 285 circa 2005 that can comment on headroom?

Yet to find one locally to look at but wondered if anyone knows the headroom / height in the cabin?

Being 6`2 im interested to know what this is seeing that the boat seems to fulfill most other requirements.

Cant see to find a definitive answer online.
 
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Welcome. I have this year bought a 30ft (just over) Diesel for under 30k which is about 10 years old. Most definitely go for a diesel, it is well within your budget and you will save a fortune of fuel which allows you to use it more :). I can sleep 4 on my boat, six if you throw 2 out onto the deck at night on the sun lounger. I done lots of window shopping online (for about 18 months), then went to see a few boats in on day. Spotted 2 boats I was interested in went back a further 2 times with some friends and they all chose the boat I preferred (without any guidance or hints from me). the boat was bought within 5 weeks, after a full survey and sea trial, I unfortunately had an accident with it (hit something submerged in the water) and so have had a new bottom section of my outdrive fitted (luckily fully insured) But I have had some great fun on it and have even managed to bring the wife round to enjoying here time on it
 
Sorry mine is a single engine Diesel 240HP, gets on the plane fully loaded with 5 adults on board easily when adjusting the trim tabs, My friend is 6'2 and can stand in the cabin. I have a rinker 270 vista vee, it has 2 seating area's on the deck and the helms seat, so is more than big enough to entertain on. I do have a big swim platform fitted so plan is to get a tender so that we can have it fitted on the back. when we went on other similar sized boats they all felt smaller I think the came down to the extra few inches in the width which makes a big difference (which just goes to prove what my wife says "size does matter") :(
 
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