Sea Trial: what should I look for?

[peterg]

don\'t know, sorry Byron..

I've only known Frank for the last four years since we've been at MYH and then only as a near neighbour on A pontoon - we're now at the other end of the marina and I haven't seen Frank or his missus since mid-summer

 

[Guest]

Awkward Squad: is p42 right for the med?

The P42s I have seen are super. But this is where I have an argument with prosp. buyer of boat they are considering, and wonder if right for their purpose. If already bought, it's a super boat, if not, then here's why it's for sale.

What goes where?
I question a small flybridge yacht (except a Massive one with big stairs up, lots of fridges up and good bimini up top + slaves) purpose-bought for the med. Of course, I do, I'm the awkward squad, but hear me out! Alternative is a sport cruiser . Consider (if Fairline) T43 or suchlike, which have two areas to live : outdoor party fun area, bimin-only for 2 weeks solid incl nighttime. Down below snoozing etc darker for crappo brit aircon to take effect, sort of. Also hideawy tender in garage PLUS excellent facilty to run straight off sunpad and leap over swim platform into water yahoo. This feature on sport irrelevant for brit boats, need nice indoors, cup of tea? Hence we had T48 in solent, zips every blimmin night, but perfick when taken to med. Likewise mate who insists on buyionmg boats from UK to use in Med has lovely flybridge azimut BUT need foldy out chairs all uncomfy for out doors and no shade on rear deck facing south and teak hot on feet so sloosh with water, blistering on top deck so towel on legs but others having party below, plus occassional sit indoors for cool down in aircon

None of the places (top deck, rear deck, indoor saloon) on flybridge is ideal for relaible hot med weather. On bigger fbridge, have shade over rear deck and space for megasofas. Tho can't see where going...

In UK, dodgy flaky weather so flybridge ooh nice and sunny sit on top, bit evening coolish so sit in aft deck protected from wind/driz, bit rainy so indoors, many days do all three, so buy one of them for UK.

Aircon
You need need need aircon for permanent-based med boat. P42 "obvious hello + entertaining area" is main saloon. Med is hot - except in Nov Dec jan like now for seatrial. So lovely in saloon now. Not so ace to base boat in Med permanently in Med when all Fairlinies have cars with no aircon, most Failiney boats have no air, Fairliney boats with air have crappo sepret machines under saloon bzzz floor and uurgh under main cabin dble bed bBZZZZZZZZZZZ all nite, needed if hotter than Sof France eg Spain. The air feeds for these are wobbly flexy plastic bending all around, not a "standard fit". Result due to erm various ahem fluid flow and dodgy very unsmooth sides to these pipes is distinctlty a Brit Aircon type of air ("ooh, yess I see what you mean, it is a bit cooler if you put your face here" whereas yank/eytie boats can freeze the sofa solid, and I wore a jumper indoors in an azimut when 38deg C outside.

First Boat.
Aargh. I wd not buy flybridge then, ESP for med. Cos driver up top, novice crew below god knows where with lines, and you can't helpem, same for mooring or on the move.

Buy a Targa 43 for the med! Or similar dunno the models. BUT...twill be lovely anyway, so please let me on board and no hard feelings I just want it to be super-lovely.

 

[Guest]

Re: regular features on boats

No, diesel engines themselves are genrally pretty reliable, same as most houses made of bricks normally stay standing up. But it's all the other stuff. Imagne taking two large engines, the entire contents of a luxury 2/3-bed flat, with airconditioning, and a small computer system, gluing these in a plastic bucket and then zooming over waves and leaving the lot out in all weathers protected by a bit of canvas. Soo, lots of boat probs possible: genrally the thing will start and also (generally) not everything will work as it should, and some things won't work at all. The man will come and look at it, and pronounce it busted, requiring a new one or he'll fix the old one. Eighteen months later the new one will go a bit wrong too, or if he fixed it, it'll go wrong again in a few months - long enough not really to be able to complain.

Nonetheless, all wonderful fun, specially in the med IMHO.

 

[Guest]

Re: P42 comments

Thanks for those details: should prove very useful.

We've just come back from a long weekend starting Friday morning before I read your posting and taking in south coast! Remind me. Where are you based?

I've seen a P42 with a crack starting around the hinge for the lid above the flybridge steps. I think the hydraulic struts holding the lid in the up position were quite strong and when pulling the lid down, there was quite some presssure exerted on the plastic to which the hinge was screwed. Are yours OK? Have you seen any other P42 with this problem?

 

[Guest]

Re: Awkward Squad: is p42 right for the med?

Originally we wanted the boat for semi-live aboard, floating/moveable hotel room, semi-retirement, exploring, bit of adventure. So space for money important. Fbridge type more space than targa type. Also wanted cockpit to be extension of saloon living area and all on one level(ish). Targa type = smaller living area, different level, smaller galley. Tried 43 targa and fbridge one after the other in med. Confirmed fbridge better view underway, confirmed prejudice targa not as good. Originally we were to be South Coast based couple of years and then to Med.

Driver/crew will both train/qualify ICC equally. No problem with one of us being novice/incompetent crew.

Expect to use boat more Spring & Autumn rather than in the heat of the med summer. 24,000 BTU OK? (Don't know make). Will listen carefully to a/c at sea trial.

Hot teak in summer. Hmmm. Anyone got any better solution than sloshing water? Some kind of carpeting?

We've rejected a new boat and almost new on grounds of cost. Bit older nearly as good and save many £££££. This boat's the type we want, the size, the manufacturer, the spec and seems very good value. We never found our ideal boat (Leopard at RIB price) but we seem to have found our best compromise, including the cost.

Thanks for your continuing comments/help. Certainly no hard feelings. You and other posters will be very welcome aboard (if we buy it, please keep your fingers crossed for us!)

 

[jfm]

Re: P42 comments, gas struts

Richard, hi. We're in Lymington. The gas strut that holds the fb hatch open is quite stiff, as there is no other catch to hold the lid open while underway. We do not have any cracking where you mention though. Not sure what to suggest, praps they put more reinf in later boats (ours is 1999), dunno? But as matts says these boats are low tech diy construction jobs, nothing like the detailed design and finite element stuff that goes into designing a car body. So I expect bits to break, and most can be fixed easily enough. Like in your case, fix a polished s/s plate over the crack and re attache the gas strut, sounds a bodge but actually it's perfectly ok and par for the course