New Boat Advice

[Hi_Tech_Hector]

Hello everybody,

I'm new here so here goes.

Looking to buy my first motorboat and the Cranchi Zaffiro 34 has caught my eye. I'm doing a sea trial very soon and would welcome some advice.

I am also looking at the Sealine S34 and would welcome any comparisons.

I have my ICC and Day Skipper Tidal (practical ) qualifications.

Pheww.. first post over .

Thanks

Hector

 

[tcm]

Hi hector

I hope you don't feel that you have to vaildate your question by saying that you have this or that ICC , or RYA etc qualification? We aren't the cops here. Or maybe you just said it anyway?

Anyway...an important aspect of the boats is the backup - after sales serrvice when it goes a bit wrong. And it will go bit wrong. in part this is down the local dealer's attitude and record of helping customers. Some are good, other flippin awful. So, ask to talk to their last five customers, see what they say.

And make sure that your boat is gonna be located close by, so it's not a "big deal" for them to go and fix things.

Here's a good one to test their attitude too - ask how they feel about hving help with the boat once you've bought it. Would they recommend somebody (who knows the boat) goes out with you for the first weekend, for example. In my opinion they should say yes.

 

[hlb]

You have not said whether your looking at new or used. IMHO
I would not buy new first time round, and even then maybe never. You need some experience of boats before you really know whats best for you and unlick cars, a boat ten years old if looked after and a good make, is still vertualy new. So you get a much better boat for the outlay and far less depreciation. Also boats that look good in the show room or moored to a pontoon when empty, look ideal, even some 20ft boats look huge and ideal for cruising. Untill you start storing lugage, fenders, ropes, spare this and that. A big hold might not catch the eye as much as something with extra bedrooms or fancy this or that. But you'll be glad you bought the one with the hold before long. Diesel and big tanks.
There that wasn't to painfull was it!!

Dont forget to order your Burgee. PM me.

Haydn

 

[toobaz]

You've been giving good advise by the other guys. Take your time, ask a heap of questions and then some more. Walk around the marina's, check out the boats that grab your attention. Most boat owners are ready enough to talk about the pro's and con's of their boat.
Where are you thinking of keeping it and what do you plan on doing with it, river, sea, coastal........what?

Baz

 

[BarryD]

Hi Hector,

And welcome to the mad house. IMHO your needs will change rapidly once you enter into the realms of boat ownership. It's a lot different from chartering or staring at hulls in the boat shows.

Case in point: Ourselves - we bought a 1990 Rinker 250 last October with the intent to have an older boat to play and learn on this season, one where we were not to worried if we bent it. About four weeks ago SWMBO declared the boat too small, too old and not as nice as others we'd seen. Or it might have been me who decided that <G>. We fortunately had the use of it over winter which helped define a bit more about what we wanted out of a boat before we spent too much money. So we went shopping and have "almost" spent a lot of money on this hobby - but we're pretty certain that what we are buying won't be chopped in next Christmas or in the middle of the season. And we can afford to get out of our current boat pretty quickly (trade sale) as it is a cheap entry model (petrol 5.7) that the boatyard thinks can be sold on easily.

So what am I saying - same as everyone else. Wander around the pontoons a bit more till you get a better idea of what you want, accept that whatever you buy is likely to be changed pretty soon so consider how easy it will be to re-sell it. Start to make a short list of what your "dream boat" would be. Or do what we did - spend £15k ish buy something that will be easy to sell and play with it while making up your minds.

What ever you do - enjoy it.

Barry D.

IMHO & FWIW, NWGOI.

 

[Guest]

I have no personal experience of these boats but i did meet a Cranchi 34 owner in a bay in Menorca last summer.

The boat was new so he obviously loved it but the interesting thing about the conversation was the size of the discount he had got on the boat. He claimed he paid about 90k new, well specified with volvo kad32's. Worth knowing if its true.

 

[Hi_Tech_Hector]

Thank you all very much for the excellent advice.

I suppose I should have explained my requirements in more detail.

I am looking to buy new, potentially even more so after the comments in this forum on Volo engine longevity and reliability !

I am only looking at coastal cruising. Initailly alot of Solent work building up to runs across to the Channel Islands.

I cant really go below 34 feet as I want two double cabins.

I started of at looking at the Sealine S37, but I gave myself a reality check in asking myself how would I feel if I dinged it against a pontoon or something. It is also somewhat overkill for my needs as a first boat. Therefore I started to look at boats in the circa 34' range.

I have no loyalty to any "brand" and remain completely objective. I tend to go on first impressions and the Cranchi 34 seem well bolted together and have the right "lines".

The Sealine 34 has better interior space but im not sure whether I can live with some of the styling cues.

From what I can gather Sealine have a good reputation for looking after their customers as well

I hope to make my decision this week but would still like to hear suggestions from the members in this forum.

Thanks again

Hector

 

[petem]

Cranchi Zaffiro 34 design is, I think, a few years old so may be worth checking with Cranchi that it's not due to be replaced in the next year or so. Cranchis do tend to be good value but can have a fairly long waiting list (poss already too late for this season).

Sealine S34 has been criticised on this forum as being a little light but would be fairly easy to sell on.

Fairline T34 is best of all. Plenty aound nearly new (some demos probably) so try an offer of 15% less than asking.

 

[KevB]

Hi Hector,

I was in a similar position as yourself regarding boat size, I too looked at the Cranchi Zaffiro but didn't like the idea of handing over a deposit then having to wait up to 3 years for delivery. Take a look at a Sessa Oyster 35 @ http://www.sessamarine.com Europes largest boat builder, they have a dealer in Eastbourne called Bates wharf Marine. Good value for money boats so good I bought one. I'm based in Chichester so if you fancy taking a look at one to broaden your scope your welcome.

BTW make sure you can find somewhere to keep a new boat, anything above 10mtrs and you may have trouble finding space in a marina.
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by KevB on Tue Mar 19 14:11:22 2002 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[tcm]

Bigger is better and easier

Hector

One good piece of advice (that I took, but most don't) is to buy as big as can possibly want/afford because

1 you'll lose money by "trading up" from the smaller boats.

2. you'll sell the smaller boat anyway - either cos you don't like it , or cos you do like it but want to trade up.

3 There's a significant step up to a boat with "shaft drive" instead of "outdrives". Outdrives are gearboxes on the outside of the hull, needed by designers to get the prop in the water - harder to control than shaft drives which have conventional props and rudders.

4. Bigger boats have slightly more windage (ie ability to get blown about by the wind) but loads more weight. So they go where they are driven, less where they are getting blown.

5. People help you at the shore with bigger boats more than with a little boat, becos they notice you, they think its tougher (it isn't) and you get masses of space.

6 Donking the boat on the pontoon isn't like crucnhing the car a bit. Boats are plastic, and even if you whackem on the pontoon its only a few quif to polish it up. Whereas small clunck costs a massive pile of cash in a car.

7. Nubile young women rip all their clothes off to get on a bigger boat! The brochures don't actually say this, but it's scientific fact! Look at all the ads in the boat brochures: whatever the size of the boat there's the same amount of clothes, but shared amongst increasing quantities of spare wimmin just lolling about! The bigger the boat, the more spare wimmin sharing the same limited clothes supply. On smaller boats they have most of their clothes on, and there are very few wimmin (often only one). And where do these wimmin come from, you may ask? My careful research shows that they are married or related to trudgier and/or smaller boat owners especially Brooms. No Broom ever has any wimmin on board, they're off on the sunseekrs with only their bikini bottoms, leaving the broom with loads of storage space to trundle around the east coast, it looks like. This also explains the crap storage on sunseekers etc - it's simply not needed. I note that Sealine 37 and fairline targa 37 seems to attract reasonable qts of women. Open boats also "score" much better than flybridges. The princess v52 was excellent with three wimmin at the back, altho you can only get them 2nd hand (the boats and praps the wimmin too, I presume) .


Finally, make the boat purchase dependent upon getting a space in the marina of your choice. They ALWAYS find a space.



I trust that this is of use. After all, get the wrong boat and you'll be a rather sensible but grumpy old Hector....

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Boring Brooms

Phew, tcm, thats a relief now that you've told me that its my boring old Broom boat which is keeping all the girlies away and not my beer belly, bad breath, balding bonce or banal banter (wow, thats a lot of alliteration for this time of the morning, pass me the Sanatogen) but yes its true that Broom are too tight to use models in their brochures preferring to drag OAP's off the streets for publicity photos

 

[tcm]

Re: Humbers

...are even worse! All v old blokes, in waterproofs and lifejackets. Probly the wimmin have skipped off to er Portugal. I'll get lynched for this. Good job she's away hehe.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Re: Humbers

Don't worry Matt we won't saya word!!!

 

[Hi_Tech_Hector]

Thanks again people for the advice and kind offers of help (KevB)

Looks like I will be going Italian this time round. It had better be more reliable than a new Fiat Punto I bought for the girlfriend a few years ago. What a shed that was, always breaking down and loads of electrical problems. Needless to say we moved it on and vowed never to buy an Italian car again !

I am really pleased I found this forum, and that I am not the only boating newbie trying to get to grips with this daunting pastime/hobby/obsession.

Will let you know the final score.

Hector

 

[paulineb]

She\'s back ....

.... and she doesn't have a Humber - ner ner nerner ner.

Pxx

 

[tcm]

Re: Humbers

umm oh yes. Must be somebosy else. You're all Riva-y? Which are very sugestive boats indeed, in fact impossible to drive unless there's a hardly-dressed girly or two aboard as far as I can see from the brochures....



Ahem


Posh Spice gets home and David Beckham is dancing for joy. "57 days! 57 days!" he's shouting jubilantly

"what this about 57 days?" asks Victoria.

"This jigsaw - I finished it in 57 days - and look! - at the side of the box - it says normally 3-5 YEARS !!!"

 

[paulineb]

Posh & Becks ....

.... are watching a news item about a guy threatening to jump off a bridge. Posh says 'Bet you £5000 he jumps', David says 'OK yer on'

Sure enough the guy jumps and David hands over the £5000. 'I can't take your money David, I cheated. I saw this item in the news earlier' says Posh. 'No, no' says David 'You won fair and square, I cheated too. I saw it on the earlier news but I didn't think the silly sod would jump again'

Pxx

 

[ArthurWood]

Form over functionality - think about it long and hard before buying. If you must have two cabins it seems you need SPACE
and as tcm says, you should buy as big as poss or you will be trading up in no time, with inevitable expense. IMHO, Cranchi is v. stylish but very cramped, compared w/say 33ft Sea Ray. I'm probably peeing in the wind, but take a very close look at all boats in this category and have well thought out lists of MUSTs(must have) and WANTs (nice to have, but not essential) before making your decision. And finally, why buy new and have to swallow the deprec? Good luck in your decision making.

 

[tcm]

Re:searays looking good

agreed that sea rays look better and better these days - must be a bargain in US without xchange rate ouch ouch. Went in a 450 (?ish) flybridge which was huge and made our targa 48 look crappily cramped. Good aircon too.