New to boating and looking a first new boat, Advice required please

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carroz

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Hello,

I am totally new to boating and considering purchasing a new Doral 265 Elite Cuddy, petrol with Mercrusier 496 MPI petrol, 375hp.

I intend to trailer the boat for family use on the south coast of England.

I would be grateful of any tips, comments, advice or experiences of Doral boats, especially if any other 265 Elite cuddy owners are members of this forum.

Thank you

Carroz
 
just some things to consider
-how popular is that brown vinyl on second hand market
-496 will drink alot of petrol;have you done some sums
-Doral (like some others) have a habit of having an oversize swim platform that they include in the boats length-but it adds nothing to sea handling. Quite what is the "real" length for price comparisons?
-Id guess that sunpad is quite exposed to the wind when at anchor;ok when the breeze is 30degrees, but I m not sure how much use you will get out of it in UK.
-I havent worked out the weight in kgs, but you will need a fair sized 4*4 to tow this, and certainly to launch+recover.
-Get a trailer will rollers, not bunks;alot more expensive, but a godsend. Not a USA trailer, which is usually illegal in UK.
-new is nice but expensive. 15-20pct loss in first year maybe.Can be an idea to let someone else sort out the new boat faults and take the loss for you.
-you need to consider where you are going to launch and recover;you ll need a decent slip for a boat this size.
20degrees deadrise is OK, but its probably not going to to be that smooth a ride in our waters, though the boat does have some length and weight.
If you are not familiar with launching, do a search. There were some good pointers earlier this year.
 
Re: New to boating and looking a first new boat, Advice required pleas

I quite like Dorals and think that would be a very nice boat - but... that is a big boat to try launching and recovering on a regular basis (even on a roller type trailer). The biggest boat I've seen on the slipway down here is a Rinker 232 on a bunk trailer - he drives the 4x4 and she drives the boat off the trailer That is on a steep well sheltered slip.

Its also a big boat to have on a petrol engine, diesel would be preferable and will make a big difference to resale value. Are you sure you want something that big/want to trail it?
 
Re: New to boating and looking a first new boat, Advice required pleas

Dont know anything about this boat, but I like the quality of other Dorals. Easy boat to trail with a real 4x4 (Disco, Rangie, Toyota etc) it will weigh about 3000kg dry on the trailer. Launching is easy on the right slip with practice. Lots of peeps launch boat/trailer combos upto 3500kg on a regular basis. But if this is your first go at towing gets some training and practice or it could ruin your day.

Mark
 
Hi Carroz,

I looked at this boat at SIBS...it was awesome for a Cuddy! Yes it has 3 berths but it is a day boat. In the Uk we tend to shy away from these boats because of high running (Petrol) and mooring costs. Although you are willing to trail her, few others will be. It is much more suited to sunnier climes. It will depreciate a lot, and I would recomend getting the slightly less sexy Doral Montichello, even with a Petrol. Resale will be easy and she is a pocket cruiser.

Lovely boat for the Med, naff for rainy days on the South Coast with a miserable SWMBO! There is a Regal 2865 doing the rounds with a single 8.1 litre Petrol. She is a glorified cuddy as well. Cost £77k...2 years later was sold for £29k. This year (3 years old) up for sale for £25k!

I would stay clear, but if you have a "I want a toy" attitude I think she is the best in class!

Cheers

Paul /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Thank you David,

Yes I did read the article and wished the aprrox $90k dollar price for the 425hp boat was available from UK dealers.

Carroz
 
Hello gjgm,

Thanks for the information which really helps as I have not really considered some of the points you raised. I have a good 4x4 which is capable of towing the maximum allowance and the boat is approximately 2.2 tones dry weight.

The extendable aft sun deck does not protrude beyond the extremities of the boat and therefore the 26.5 feet/8.08 metres is the actual boat length.

I have not read much on this forum about lunching and recovery which I will now look into.

Thank you

Carroz
 
In my area (inland lakes) almost all boats are trailer boats. So we all have a lot of experience with those. Whether we wanted it or not! Anyways, for a trailer boat for a novice, I really would recommend not exceeding 22 foot in size. Even if your mighty 4x4 can handle more. Running the bigger boats over the road is just that much more difficulty and stress. Call this first boat your "trainer boat", the big boats can come later. We routinely tow boats up to 40 foot here. But this is done only by guys with a lot of experience (not to mention huge trucks). Not by novice boaters.

Kelly Cook
 
Rubber Duck is a Doral, all be it a bit bigger than the one you are looking at. We took delivery in may this year & the build quality & after sales are excellent. Try Essex Boatyards as a dealer, speak to Nick, first class IMHO. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
I second RD reccomendation for Nick at Essex Boat Yards - very good dealers and will do what they say they will, which is all important.

I would look at the Monticello as well though. I spoke to Nick at the show about the 265 and EBY wont stock them as they reckon they are a difficult boat in the UK market. Doral quality is very good though, whatever you buy I am sue you will be happy /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re: New to boating and looking a first new boat, Advice required pleas

Hi - no info on 265 or trailer boats, but we have a Doral 250SE (now the Monticello). Been very please with handling and build quality. We bought ours second hand through a broker, so can't offer much help on aftersales. Have had some dealings with Simco (UK Doral importer) and they have always been very good.
 
Re: New to boating and looking a first new boat, Advice required pleas

Hi Superscuffer

I have friends who regularly launch and recover 26 foot boats with the help of a rigid tow hitch extension which allows the trailer and boat to be reversed further out, without the tow vehicle even needing to reverse into the water.

I accept your point on better resale values for diesels, but do you recoup the initial premium outlay for a diesel engine, considering I am not going to be covering too many miles per year.

Interesting discussion, but the Doral 265 only comes in petrol flavour with options of Mercruiser or Volvo. After speaking to various non biased service centres, most reckon that Mercruiser have the edge when it comes to petrol engines. But perhaps this is another topic???

Carroz
 
Thank you jezbanks,

Good to know that EBY have a good reputation and that experienced people acknowledge that Doral quality is very good.

Carroz
 
Re: New to boating and looking a first new boat, Advice required pleas

Hello landlockedpirate,

Thank you for the optimism. !!!!!!!!I need it. I tow on a regular basis, but not boats. Good to hear that someone feels that launching a 2.2 tonne , 26 foot boat will be easy, ish!!!!

Carroz
 
Good to receive your thoughts from the USA KCook,

I seem to get so many different opinions on the subject of towing and launching and yours about sticking to a maximum of 22 feet seems to be a common thought, whilst others say it can be just as difficult to launch a 22 footer as it is to launch a 26 footer?.

Then there is the view taken by landlockedpirate earlier in this posting, stating that it is easy to trail and launch such boats, perhaps for the more experienced, but we all have to start somewhere!.

I don’t have a mighty 4x4 as mentioned in your posting, well not to your American standards, just a petrol Land Rover which is a good towing vehicle for the UK where I often tow plant and equipment.

There are a few tidal slipways within 10 miles of my home and therefore long towing distances are not on the agenda for the time being.

Interesting to read that 40 footers are towed on a regular basis in the USA.


Thanks again,

Carroz
 
It's not the launching that is so difficult, as simply parking the beast! I would agree that launching a big boat is no more trouble.

You already have experience towing, and that makes a huge, huge difference. Most of the time when somebody posts that they are new to boating it also means they have never done any towing. So I hereby lift my 22' restriction. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

An example of a 40 footer that we tow (not me personally!) -

http://www.bajamarine.com/index.asp?display=brochure&tab=0&modelid=104533

Note that the beam is only 8'6". Which means no special permits are required for most of our states. Anybody with a big enough wallet can hitch one of these up and head down the road.

Kelly
 
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