ST840
Well-Known Member
Nice looking boats but at a top speed of 8knts the kids would soon get bored!!
New to motor boating
- Thread starter MikeyP78
- Start date
superheat6k
Well-Known Member
With the way fuel prices are presently I expect most will be limiting their speed to 8 knots - I know I am !
My concern for the OP is he buys the sleek style sports boat, and finds there is not enough room to swing the proverbial cat, and finds the kids fed up being stuck in a minute cockpit and everyone tripping over each other, saying excuse me every 30 seconds, and to do anything the gear loosely placed on every surface will continually need moving. Don't ask me how I know this !
Besides a 24 - 28' sports cruiser is going to be quite uncomfortable in any sort of sea, unless cruising at wallowing speed.
This my advice is to think long and hard about what they require, and therefore do not dismiss the plethora of semi displacement boats or in the case of the CHB with it full displacement hull. These always have more internal space.
TwoHooter
Well-Known Member
99% of newbies start off looking for a boat without having a clear idea of what they will do with it. Can we know a bit more about your ideas? How do you see a typical visit to the boat working out?
Momac
Well-Known Member
I used to have a Sealine S23 . That would be way too small ,
For your budget an family needs perhaps consider
Sealine 310 Ambassador
Fairline Targa 33
For your budget an family needs perhaps consider
Sealine 310 Ambassador
Fairline Targa 33
Sianna
Well-Known Member
Have a look at the Jeanneau Leader 805, 50k ish would buy one, it has a V berth for 2 adults plus a double aft cabin and the subbed up to is useable for another double.
A great social boat with seating for 5 or six around the table up top,
have a look at Nick Burnhams tour of his
If your in The Solent and want to have a look over one, give me a shout, mines on the Beaulieu River
aft cabin
Top seating area creates sunpad or additional sleeping??
A great social boat with seating for 5 or six around the table up top,
have a look at Nick Burnhams tour of his
If your in The Solent and want to have a look over one, give me a shout, mines on the Beaulieu River
aft cabin
Top seating area creates sunpad or additional sleeping??
ST840
Well-Known Member
That's why a 28ft semi-D that's capable of 24knts is a good choice. Gets the best of both worlds.
ChromeDome
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately budgets are, and for most will continue to be, a firm frame.
You've found the budget for investment (buying) but also need understand the operation budget need.
Food for thought:
When looking at boats it's tempting to look for older boats to get more for the money - just be aware that condition, style, work needed/desired never is as cheap as one thinks and esp. engines and electronics are expensive to fix/replace.
Maybe look into the cost drivers when assessing prices:
How much effect on the price does -
boat age
boat size
engine size
speed potential
equipment
condition
required fixes
-have?
Fuel cost is linked to how many horses you put to work and for how long. Using the boat as a summer house in the marina will cost nothing on that account, but a swift 6 hour trip somewhere at max cruising speed pulled by 350 horses will put a hole in your wallet.
Crew of 5. How long before the teenager develop own interests? ? ???
?
Hence a true estimation of the use pattern becomes crucial.
Have you considered to hire something for a weekend, to test the water (so to speak)??
EDIT: If hiring, first look for a big enough (like in separate cabins, proper heads and shower, pantry et al) that probably isn't very fast. If happy with the comfort calculate fuel consumption for same size boat doing 25-30 knots for a couple of hours. He who pays make the decison - and vice versa.
You've found the budget for investment (buying) but also need understand the operation budget need.
Food for thought:
When looking at boats it's tempting to look for older boats to get more for the money - just be aware that condition, style, work needed/desired never is as cheap as one thinks and esp. engines and electronics are expensive to fix/replace.
Maybe look into the cost drivers when assessing prices:
How much effect on the price does -
boat age
boat size
engine size
speed potential
equipment
condition
required fixes
-have?
Fuel cost is linked to how many horses you put to work and for how long. Using the boat as a summer house in the marina will cost nothing on that account, but a swift 6 hour trip somewhere at max cruising speed pulled by 350 horses will put a hole in your wallet.
Crew of 5. How long before the teenager develop own interests? ? ???
?Hence a true estimation of the use pattern becomes crucial.
Have you considered to hire something for a weekend, to test the water (so to speak)??
EDIT: If hiring, first look for a big enough (like in separate cabins, proper heads and shower, pantry et al) that probably isn't very fast. If happy with the comfort calculate fuel consumption for same size boat doing 25-30 knots for a couple of hours. He who pays make the decison - and vice versa.
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oldgit
Well-Known Member
Do know where there is peach of Princess 330 about to come onto the market within a nats bits of that budget.
A comfortable flybridge twin that would sleep 6 with economical/ reliable 41 B engines on shafts.
Skipper has upgraded to a Princess 360.
Most of us do start out with "tent boats".
Some do apparently enjoy clambering aboard squeezing under the covers/the jamming zips/recalcitrant poppers/ opaque plastic window and assembling chrome tubing etc.
Providing somewhere to store the stuff while underway does seem to have escaped the designers attention as well.
Must confess a certain nostalgia for the smell of damp canvas and wiping the condensation off the windows in order to peer out at the world on wet rainy days.
A comfortable flybridge twin that would sleep 6 with economical/ reliable 41 B engines on shafts.
Skipper has upgraded to a Princess 360.
Most of us do start out with "tent boats".
Some do apparently enjoy clambering aboard squeezing under the covers/the jamming zips/recalcitrant poppers/ opaque plastic window and assembling chrome tubing etc.
Providing somewhere to store the stuff while underway does seem to have escaped the designers attention as well.
Must confess a certain nostalgia for the smell of damp canvas and wiping the condensation off the windows in order to peer out at the world on wet rainy days.
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ontheplane
Well-Known Member
Where do intend keeping this boat.Have you done any research about moorings?
Your choice /size of boat could well be dependent on where you can afford to keep it.
One word of caution, petrol boats are cheap for good reason.
You will pay around £2.50 a litre at most marimas.IF you can find anybody that still sells the stuff.
Forget the whizzy tippy tent boats ,they are all about image and precious little else
Corniche/Princess 330 or 35.
Folks with these will be able to go boating when sports boats are hiding under their blue canvas covers
Sleeping on the floor ,you cannot be serious.
Forget the image thing think about gettng a proper boat.?
Forget the boring 8knt pottering borewagon... Get a nice sporty flying machine that on a nice summers day (when else would you boat) won't roast you like an oven ready chicken in it's wheelhouse.....
Every view has a counter-view.
Seriously though - whatever you get, probably won't be perfect - but till you use it in anger, you won't find out what you need/want.
There is a looming crisis - the multi-millionaires in their 70' yachts won't be very affected - but those who bought boats in Lockdown, and perhaps were ok financially but not loaded have found running a boat a bit dearer than they thought may well start to really struggle now the bills and mortgage are going up. I think a large number of these people will be taking a long hard look at their finances and if the wife says "well I think we could sell that boat, because now we can go abroad again we don't really need it. We'll get back what we paid for it so why not and precious can't get the internet on her tablet so in fact we'd rather stay in a hotel anyhow and look what it costs a year and we could have lots of holidays in hotels for that and blah blah blah....."
I think in the next 2 years we'll see a lot of mid-size, mid price boats re-appear on the market - all the stuff that was about £40,000 5 years ago and is now £60,000 may well pop back up.
I love to browse theyachtmarket and I've noticed an increase in availability. Not so much prices dropping yet - things still buoyant (excuse the pun) but these may well be the early boats coming back to market. Wait till winter and the fuel bills really hit added to the dearer mortgages.....
I wouldn't buy a boat now - I'd wait till the middle of winter, when it's cold and wet - I think prices in the range you are talking about are going to fall - it might be this year it's more likely to be next year....
But take it from me - you don't want a carburetted v8 in a 25+ ft boat.
I had a Rinker 260V back in 1998. It was a 24 / 25 ft boat with a 5.7 mercruiser and Bravo 2 that weighed about 2700kg roughly - so slightly larger / heavier than the S23 type being mentioned here.
At cruise it burned 15 GALLONS (not litres) an hour - flat out 20-22 gal per hr.... that's 68-70 litres per hour at cruise, so at todays prices £170 per hour to run...... I did 50 hours one year and back in 1998 burned over £8000 of fuel!
I couldn't bear it so converted it to LPG (it was a growing thing then - all but completely gone now) it still cost £100 an hour to run because although LPG was then 68p per litre - it burned 20gal of it at cruise and 30gal per hr of it flat out - so only 2 hours cruising time on the 40 gal twin tanks....
I sold the boat.
I have said on here recently my basic idea on engines is....
Up to 23' of boat maybe petrols are ok - but they would have to be the latest gen injected engines - so on Volvo look for GXi (Gi is ok - that's single point injection, but GXi is multipoint and much better or MPi) on Mercruiser I don't know the designations - Some say EFi - but I don't know if that's single point or multipoint - or outboards (make sure they are latest "lean burn" type outboard.
Over that size of boat or a weight of about 2000kg or so - for me, has to be diesel.... The running costs just get ridiculous otherwise....
But I disagree you need to spend much more than £50k to get a boat to do the job.... Here are a few I think would do it for you. Every single one has SOME sort of compromise, some are older and bigger or smaller and newer, but every single one could also work.... Some will depend on whether you want performance, space, to tow it, etc etc etc
Fairline Targa 33 Used Boat for Sale 1990
Nimbus 31 Coupe Used Boat for Sale 1994
Bayliner 2858 Cierra Fly Used Boat for Sale 2000
Beneteau Flyer Viva 9.20 Used Boat for Sale 2000
Regal 2465 Used Boat for Sale 2005
Monterey 245CR Used Boat for Sale 2004
Sealine 310 Statesman Used Boat for Sale 1991
Glastron GS279 Used Boat for Sale 2004
Sealine S23 Used Boat for Sale 2002
Sea Ray 290 Sundancer Used Boat for Sale 1997
Rinker Fiesta Vee 270 Used Boat for Sale 2005
https://www.theyachtmarket.com/en/boat-for-sale/2291052/?searchid=31267031&page=4
https://www.theyachtmarket.com/en/boat-for-sale/2235647/?searchid=31267031&page=5
https://www.theyachtmarket.com/en/boat-for-sale/2336508/?searchid=31267031&page=5
And this is probably the most rounded...?
https://www.theyachtmarket.com/en/boat-for-sale/2325449/?searchid=31267031&page=5
Also, I think there are a lot more on there than when I last looked a month or so ago - so perhaps my prediction is already coming true - but whether that leads to lower prices, doesn't seem to be as of yet.
And for good performance, a rule of thumb is that something with about 150hp per 1000kg of weight will go really well, be really quick - 100HP per 1000KG will perform pretty well,
Anything with 75hp - 100hp per 1000kg may struggle a little to get up and on the plane (I had a Fairline weekender with a 120 hp 4cyl engine and it was about 1400-1600kg I think from memory. It would plane, but only with tabs down and someone in the cabin - once planing it was fine, but it was a struggle.
Anything with under 50hp per KG will be a chugger fine for rivers and pottering about, but perhaps won't plane (although not sure if this rule of thumb follows with much bigger boats....)?
Keep us posted on what you find....
