Newbie, so please be gentle!

hello
when I bought my first boat (princess 37 @ £45K) I was suckered into looking at the radios and all the elctronic gizmos it had on it. SWMBO was into the decor. Slowly discovered that the things to look at properly are:
1) the engines - v.expensive to fix - not like a car very difficult to get out and rebuild
2) the condition of the hull. - can be v.expensive if a bit osmotic or cracked.

get the best mechanically maintained boat you can - don't worry how neat and tidy the curtains etc are or if there is too much beige - just rip it out later.
interior decor is usually easy to DIY or get help with and the electronic gizmos are getting cheaper all the time - buy a decent radio and antennae (simrad or icom)
and avoid petrol engines
hope you find what you want /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Well how about all that then.As a Princess man I would recommend that you try to look at a the 30Ds(not flybridge version) which should be within your 30K budget.In your now mandatory hunt for a diesel of some sort,try to avoid any of the posher inland river marinas (esp Thames)if you want to find a boat at a sensible price.Loads of overpriced petrol stuff quietly turning green with algae in most of the marinas.Be prepared to travel to the corners of the country at the drop of a hat.Your 30K boat will be out there,but you have got to go and find it.
How are your haggling skills.Unlike cars which can just sit in your garage if not sold,boats cost real money to keep idle and if the previous owner is up to his eyeballs in debt,a scary insulting low bid followed by a merely outrageously low one could get you a boat. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
 
First of all thanks to everybody for your welcomes and the time spent replying. Looks like diesel is the only way to go from what you all say, what a pity.

Everything most have stated makes common sense, so I have started changing course slowly, although will still take up the sea trial & owner grilling next Sunday as I have agreed to.

If as it seems likey, diesel prices shoot up next year, I suppose the gap will close somewhat, I shall have to get the abercus out & do some calculations based on that likelyhood.

Many thanks again.

Peter (currently in Essex but shortly to move to Norfolk)
 
Hi Peter

enjoy the ride on sunday but be really really careful of petrol engines, even if diesel does go up next year (I hope not). Petrol engines have a limited range because of consumption and fuel tank capacity but they need to be looked after very carefully, especially older ones. If diesel leaks it just smells and is very difficult to set on fire. If petrol leaks you are potentially siting on a floating bomb. In a car if petrol leaks it usually drips onto the road and evaporates. In a boat it drips into the bilge and floats on top of any nice cold water in the bottom of your boat just waiting for a spark.....
try not to fall in love with the first boat you see, enjoy the selection process.
good luck
 
Re: excellent

afaik, nobody has ever made those comparisons - the pro-petrol types have said "the car is petrol, so what's the problem with the same for a boat?"

other aspect i spose is that boats are invariably more heath-robinsonish, so leaks etc more likely.
 
Keep it in perspective though, other threads have researched figures that 2/3rds of boat fires involve petrol powered boats - which means that petrol is twice as dangerous as diesel, not 100's or 1000's of times more likely.

No argument with the consumption/range comments though /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Now gas vs electric ovens.........
 
But when you say fires involve petrol powered boats, do that mean they are petrol fires? It could be gas which could mean that petrol is even less of a risk. Of course once you have a fire on a petrol powered boat you do have a problem.
 
I think the stats were just around the fuel used rather than the ignition source or specific cause. Agreed they could ALL have been gas fires to start with....without more detail is is impossible to tell however you could surmise that most other risks are equal between petrol and diesel-fuelled boats....

My point is that a petrol-powered boat isn´t automatically a bomb waiting to explode in comparison to drop-a-lit-mnatch-into-the-fuel-tank safe diesel...

Personally I don´t like gas onboard but there you go......

Of course ANY fire on ANY boat is a problem, can´t remember the last report I saw of a small fire on a yacht or mobo that was put out, the vast majority seem to end in abandoning ship and a total loss.....
 
[ QUOTE ]
2/3rds of boat fires involve petrol powered boats -

Agree that petrol is more hazardous than diesel but as I said a while back in another thread, the majority of fires that are fuel related are as a resuilt of the skipper not doing the checks before starting up.

If owners respect the fact that the fuel could be lethal, they may treat it with more respect. The analogy with cars is good as some skippers think the boat is just like the car and the risks are the same. Typical example, you don't smoke on a garage forecourt so why do it on a petrol boat near the fuel tank breather. Personally, I dont let anyone smoke on mine and fuel lines etc are checked for leaks regularly. Its all good sense stuff but lots cant be bothered to do it.

Do agree with the running cost thing though. I reckon on about £30-40/hr at cruising speed of 22Kn with my 210hp V8. I would go out more and go further if cost was lower and fuel more available. If budgets can run to it, definitely go diesel. For me and the number of hours I run the extra cost of buying the diesel boat would buy a lot of petrol. There is a numbers game to play here and I worked out that based on my current usage of the boat, it would take me about 4-5 years to break even. If I increase my hours though, that figure drops quickly due to petrol costs.

So there it is.

Welcome to our newbie on the forum too. I haven't been here long either but its a great place to be and folks will make you welcome.

Cheers

JH /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
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