thejonesey
Well-Known Member
Following the article in MB&Y on running costs last year I sat down and worked out how much our lovely Prestige 46 was costing us and realised that we needed to have a rethink. The decision was made to downsize, allowing us a bit more cash to spend on guaranteed sunshine in the summer. We put her up for sale with Derek at Solent Motor Yachts who found a buyer almost immediately subject to the usual conditions.
I spent the next few weeks scouring the internet and country to find a smaller replacement, with signicantly lower running costs and was sufficiently different to ensure that we did not hark back to the old boat. We settled on an SC35, a great boat, until I filtered out the man maths and realised that, while cheaper to moor, was not a lot cheaper to run.
Felling rather dejected, we popped back to clear the last bits off our Prestige and say hi to Derek. Cue “I have just had a boat in that might work for you... but it is a bit left field.” To his amazement my wife, a boating fanatic herself, guessed first time, meaning we viewed a rather lovely Marex 320 ACC. She was perfect, lots of room but shorter in length, big single engine, sports boat style with sliding roof, great sea manners and in excellent condition. Brilliant!
We love our new boat and especially the fact that it costs us 40% less to run! Longer trips beckon, as does the first family holiday (not on board) for five years this summer... guaranteed sunshine at last!
A word of warning. Those of you who know me will know that I am thorough when it comes to buying and maintaining our boats. Well let’s just say that if I ever buy abroad again, I will pay to fly over a UK surveyor. A few things came up on our Prestige that, I believe, were missed when I bought her and had to be rectified before resale. Thanks should go to Solent Motor Yachts and Osmotech for sorting these out quickly. In fact, I cannot recommend both these firms highly enough!
For those of you looking abroad, I say again, UK surveyors are a must!
Anyways, all’s well that ends well. We have a great new boat (and a Motor home or land yacht!) for the cost of the Prestige. The latter was sold with everything sorted and ready for the new owners to love her as much as we did. Roll on the summer...
I spent the next few weeks scouring the internet and country to find a smaller replacement, with signicantly lower running costs and was sufficiently different to ensure that we did not hark back to the old boat. We settled on an SC35, a great boat, until I filtered out the man maths and realised that, while cheaper to moor, was not a lot cheaper to run.
Felling rather dejected, we popped back to clear the last bits off our Prestige and say hi to Derek. Cue “I have just had a boat in that might work for you... but it is a bit left field.” To his amazement my wife, a boating fanatic herself, guessed first time, meaning we viewed a rather lovely Marex 320 ACC. She was perfect, lots of room but shorter in length, big single engine, sports boat style with sliding roof, great sea manners and in excellent condition. Brilliant!
We love our new boat and especially the fact that it costs us 40% less to run! Longer trips beckon, as does the first family holiday (not on board) for five years this summer... guaranteed sunshine at last!
A word of warning. Those of you who know me will know that I am thorough when it comes to buying and maintaining our boats. Well let’s just say that if I ever buy abroad again, I will pay to fly over a UK surveyor. A few things came up on our Prestige that, I believe, were missed when I bought her and had to be rectified before resale. Thanks should go to Solent Motor Yachts and Osmotech for sorting these out quickly. In fact, I cannot recommend both these firms highly enough!
For those of you looking abroad, I say again, UK surveyors are a must!
Anyways, all’s well that ends well. We have a great new boat (and a Motor home or land yacht!) for the cost of the Prestige. The latter was sold with everything sorted and ready for the new owners to love her as much as we did. Roll on the summer...
