Next Boat ; What to Buy ?

beejay190

beejay190

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I have had the bowrider ; the cuddy ( Fletcher 19 GTS diesel ) is for sale and I am looking for a boat in the 25 - 30 foot range. Single diesel, stern drive . Electric windlass and bow thruster most desirable, but top of the shopping list is side decks as my knackered knees are just about incapable of climbing up through a central screen.

Three boats come to mind : Jeanneau Leader 805 , Bavaria 27, and Sealine S23/S25 , although I am not sure whether the Sealine with the KAD 32 is the right boat for trips to the Channel Islands or from Poole to the West Country.

Although my mind set is single diesel I have a soft spot for the Sealine S28, but am wary about the extra cost of running a second engine.

Any pointers / advice much appreciated.
 
The extra beam & the twin engines on a S28 makes for a far more stable boat - I seriously considered a S23, but thought for me at least, the additional purchase & maintenance costs were a lesser burden, than comprimising on what is IMHO, a far better boat.

We also started out on a Fletcher 19GTS (diesel), and quickly sold it, as although it's a great boat, was far to small for what we really wanted to use it for. As a fast, well fitted out floating caravan, the S28 is an ideal compromise between cost, and what it has to offer. With regards accomodation, for a 28footer, it really is lacking in very little. It must rate as one of Sealines all time best boats taking it's cost into account.

It really does depend on what you intend to use it for, and more importantly, your budget.

Just to add, with regards to the KAD32, you really are not going to get a much more reliable engine - with good servicing, they are pretty much bullet proof!
 
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beejay190 said:
I have had the bowrider ; the cuddy ( Fletcher 19 GTS diesel ) is for sale and I am looking for a boat in the 25 - 30 foot range. Single diesel, stern drive . Electric windlass and bow thruster most desirable, but top of the shopping list is side decks as my knackered knees are just about incapable of climbing up through a central screen.

Three boats come to mind : Jeanneau Leader 805 , Bavaria 27, and Sealine S23/S25 , although I am not sure whether the Sealine with the KAD 32 is the right boat for trips to the Channel Islands or from Poole to the West Country.

Although my mind set is single diesel I have a soft spot for the Sealine S28, but am wary about the extra cost of running a second engine.

Any pointers / advice much appreciated.
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What about a Doral 250SE with KAD300 - oh and by the way I have one for sale - see the link ! :)
 
An S28 is in a different class to the other boats you have mentioned.

It's 28ft 11inches, with a comparatively small bathing platform for it's size: this is a good thing in my book, as it keeps marina fees down, but is actually a "big" boat for it's overall length, weighing 4500kg.

Manouevring with twin engines is a doddle.

If you can do most of the servicing yourself, then running two engines is not too wallet busting, unless you keep running aground: four new props = £1200. Fuel consumption is around 2.5mpg with twin KAD32's.

Our S28 has been around a bit. West down to Plymouth, Normandy Coast, up the Seine to Paris, but mostly lurking around the Solent.

The main competition around this size I would consider would be a Fairline Targa 30.

dv.
 
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We were in a similar spot looking for a 25ftish boat and had the same boats in mind as you're thinking about - particularly thought that the S25 was ideal on paper.

But the more we looked round the boats the more we thought they would always be too much of a compromise. In the end we ended up going in size one notch and buying an S28.

So glad we did, the amount of space is amazing for the size of boat and we feel that bit safer with what seems a much bigger boat when at sea and the twin KAD32s are great for manouverability and effortless when powering up.

Haven't had the boat long enough to know about service costs yet but as others say KAD32s seem to have a good reputation so hopefully won't be too bad.
 
We looked at the bigger boats but ended up buying the S23. The extra marina fees, running costs, maintenance and servicing just didnt add up for us. There are only two of us however we do spend a lot of time aboard. The smaller size has also given us a much improved cruising range (we keep her inland)

The single KAD32 is very economical, easy to maintain and bomb proof.

We have had Naughty-Cal for 20 months or so now and still dont imagine us changing her any time soon.
 
Another vote for the S28 here.

We moved from a 24 footer to something similar in size to the S28. That bit of extra length, beam and weight makes quite a difference when things get a little rougher. We would have bought an S28 ourselves but the accommodation didn't quite work out for us on account of having two little ones.

At the time of buying our 24 a certain dealer in Chertsey and Eastbourne told me that the boats of that size are known in the trade as Yo Yo boats. They go out and they quickly come back on account of their buyers soon wanting a bit more. We had our 24 for 10 months before going a bit bigger.
 
Ianj68 said:
Another vote for the S28 here.

We moved from a 24 footer to something similar in size to the S28. That bit of extra length, beam and weight makes quite a difference when things get a little rougher. We would have bought an S28 ourselves but the accommodation didn't quite work out for us on account of having two little ones.

At the time of buying our 24 a certain dealer in Chertsey and Eastbourne told me that the boats of that size are known in the trade as Yo Yo boats. They go out and they quickly come back on account of their buyers soon wanting a bit more. We had our 24 for 10 months before going a bit bigger.
Click to expand...

We where also told they where yo-yo boats, but when we looked through the paperwork for ours, she had 3 owners in 3 months before even being launched (all comany directors!!!) and then her first "real" owner had her for 5 and a half years before we bought her. So they are not all yo-yo's. Just depends if you buy the right boat for you and if it stays the right boat for you.
 
Ok the S28 is a far bigger boat and in that respect will offer lots of cruising comforts.

But,

I remember a flotilla cruise from Poole in around 2005.

All sorts of boats headed from the Harbour and steered towards Cherbourg.
Sunseekers, Azimuts, Princess', Botnia Targas... and a Leader 805 and an S28.

It was a choppy ride with a stiff F5 knocking up steep seas right the way across.
The Leader 805 spent the crossing nipping in between and around the much larger cruisers, but comfortably held the 28 knot cruise that they were sustaining. The owners were tied up and wrestling with the covers before the other boats entered the marina.

The S28 stayed with the flotilla for the sake of safety rather than comfort.
The owner of the S28 came home on one of the large cruisers as his back couldn't take anymore of the pounding it had received on the way over. A professional skipper collected his boat.
The Leader 805 whizzed it's way back to Poole, again nipping in and out of the bigger boats.

Tom
 
Maybe the Leader skipper had stronger knees?

I wouldn't really fancy going x-channel at the upper end of an F5: there would be complaints from the crew.
 
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Bassplayer said:
Sorry, but have I stumbled accross the Sealine owners club forum again??
Click to expand...

You might well have done :) , but the driving force of the thread did stem from the fact that the OP said that they had a soft spot for the S28, but was considering a S23/25 amongst others.
 
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