Sea or river question.

[kashurst]

might be worth doing a training course before you buy, try a power boat level 2 course to get a good idea how to handle a boat well. It will also give you an insight into what issues you need to consider when choosing a boat and how you feel out at sea.

The good thing about starting out on a river is that you get loads of experience of close quarters handling - which is often the most difficult part of boating. Blasting along on a calm sea at 25kns is really easy.

Its tricky choosing your first boat, so as others have said pick a popular model in your chosen area that will be happy pootling on a river and easy to move around on when you go through locks, (wide side decks, well thought out rails) and will be able to do 20kns when you want to go out on the estuary and beyond. The other plus of river cruising is that you are less troubled by the weather.

When you find your boat concentrate on the condition of the boat hull and the engines, don't worry about the interior and electronics as they are easy to change.

 

[HONEYMOMMY]

We are off to Windsor tomorrow. Also on the agenda are Penton hook, Bray, and Harleyford. All we need is a a star treck transporter to beam us round.

The decision has been made. River Thames to start with mooring at Windsor which is close to home. We have found a couple of Sealine 305 Statesman built 1990 ish, and a couple of Bayliners 2855/285 Ciera yrs1999/2003 We have also printed off a mish mash of boats in order of cheap to acceptable to have a mooch.

Our thoughts are perhaps to buy a cheaper boat, older but in acceptable condition to start us off. It would also be bigger giving us time to get used to the handling.
There is also the benifit of me not having a breakdown if (when) we (as newbies) ding it... LOL. With a cheaper boat there is no need for a loan. This means later when we wish to buy a massive engined boat for hubbie to become James bond of the ocean, we won't be allready tied in and will have had time to save for my designer bikini and sunglasses.. ROFL.

Just out of interest how do you all rate a Bayliner? We would get the 6 berth.

 

[martin]

good choice

My first boat was in the solent...to be honest i didnt know what i didnt know and bombed about enjoying myself and wondering why everyone else hated it..doh..also had no idea what risks I was taking because despite taking a day skippper course..didnt sink in how quickly an incident at sea can become very serious..luckily never found out as moved to the Thames after 6 months and spent 4-5 blissfull years chugging up and down with two very small kids on board ..happy days

Then moved to the sea for 3-4 years...Orwell for 2 ...as mentioned earlier...great for all weather cruising and complete freedom to open up the throttles and get those ray bans out..(mid life crisis by then)..great for families too with BBQ's on sandbanks and lots of places to moor up and walk about..

Currently, were are in St Kats so best of both worlds...

For a couple of years at the end of our Upper Thames mooring we used to truck the boat down to Salterns or Tourquay for the summer hols.. this really was the best of both worlds

Currently we are on boat no 10! So as mentioned earlier..dont fret too much about boat no 1 as your needs and wants will change..

Three boats on river were all about 40 ft so you wont stic out...but remember flybridge boats will have Bridge issues...and shaft drive boats have depth issues...they dont like touching the bottom where as outdrive boats can lift the propeller up and out of danger if it starts getting shallow. If you do want to truck the boat to the south coast then again flybridge boats probably require more thought/work.

 

[oldgit]

Without wishing to pick an argument

"but remember flybridge boats will have Bridge issues...and shaft drive boats have depth issues...they dont like touching the bottom where as outdrive boats can lift the propeller up and out of danger if it starts getting shallow. If you do want to truck the boat to the south coast then again flybridge boats probably require more thought/work."


A,hem grumpy mode

Moving boat...that is the delivery mans problem.
Most flybridges will fit under most bridges on the Thames ,it is the radar arch that causes the problems.
Simply hinge or remove the arch.

Depth........ shaft vs outdrives.
Taking care when mooring along the bank is a no brainer but whatever is deepest in the water will hit the bottom first.
The first thing to hit the bottom wether mooring or in midstream in an outdrive boat will be your props as they always stick down at least 2/3ft under the boat.Ask any outdrive owner if they have ever had there props repaired then ask any shaft owner.
Shaft drives will have some sort of keel below the line of the propellers.

A home truth,a comparison of relative prices will give you an indication of how well boaters regard various makes of boat,compare for instance the prices of a 30ft Broom and similar Bayliner as an example.Identical money for boats with an age difference of a decade or two.
There are several people on the forum who moor at Windsor.Welcome to the boating world.

Ps.Time for you nip across to the "Thames Forum" where all the nice boaters hang around.

 

[HONEYMOMMY]

Thanks so much for all the advise. I shall nip over to the Thames forum as advised. Looking forward to our new adventures.

 

[martin]

Issues

Not sure what outdrives you have had but on my ones if you raise them they were not "still 2/3 ft lower than the bottom of the boat" they are almost at the surface? on tick over i could then moor the boat at any bank or island and not have to worry about repairs...

IMHO having a hinge fitted to a radar arch is an issue...in my case it would be a 3k issue and even if i did.. raising and lowering the dang thing would still be be an issue. removing a fixed radar arch is expensive and where would the radar go?

IMHO all these are issues and better to be aware of them before making a purchase..

 

[HONEYMOMMY]

We just had an exhausting day boat shopping, but think we have found the answer.
We found a Sealine 305 Statesman 1989. It's older than we were looking at but sizewise it will fit our needs. Off to the Thames forum to ask questions now.

 

[tinkicker0]

Well this pic below.

Should tell you something about a yorkshire inland waters marina and the typical boat - FL Targa 37' +, Princess / Sealine / Fairline flybridges 40' + are all very common, so no, you would not look out of place

I do assure you, that although we are much further north than you propose, the ice does melt in the summer.