Sea-trialing a sea boat on the river

[Granthsmith]

Given a number of good sea boats make their way onto the Thames etc, can an engineer sensibly undertake a 'sea trial', i.e. engine under load test etc when the boat is stuck on a speed limited river?

I guess my simple question is, if I want to buy a sea boat, do I need to buy from a coastal seller to be able to get it properly evaluated?

 

[oceanfroggie]

You can buy from anywhere, but generally it's better trial and survey a fast mobo at both planing and displacement speeds (eg check for vibration, steering, engines under load, etc), and if you are unfamiliar with the make yourself a sea trial in a bit of sea gives you a much better idea of a vessels sea keeping then buzzing around in calm water.

 

[Switch]

My last two boats were 'sea' trialed on rivers (Medway and Ouse) in both cases we found stretches where the broker had special dispensation to make several high speed runs for sea trial purposes. This is fine to test the engines and systems but you don't get a feel for the ride you'd expect at sea.

 

[volvopaul]

I get this problem a lot.

Buyer buys a boat, say broom 36 thats spent its life on the Trent at 4mph, buys it because there is nowhere to test it at speed, so problem number 1, you dont know if it performs.
number 2, it overheats as the heat exchangers are clogged up with river silt.
Number 3 the tanks get stirred up in the first heavy sea, and the prefilters get blocked,

The only way to buy like that is to hold back money until a satisfactory sea trial has been carried out and all the boxes ticked, though I doubt you will find anyone that wil be that flexible.

I would buy where you intend to use it, also I find that service records on river boats are no where near as up to date as boats on the sea that rely on reliability to be enjoyed properly.

 

[blueglass]

bought my last 2 seaboats, a Fairline 32 with planing hull and atlantic 38 with s/d hull, on the Thames with intention of sea use. both were trialled at speed on the river (brokers know places where it can be done) and had no subsequent problems at sea. I agree its not perfect, but then again what do you do if trial day at the coast is flat calm? To buy only from coastal brokers is to deny access to a whole raft of perfectly good sea boats on inland waterways.

 

[omega2]

bought my last 2 seaboats, a Fairline 32 with planing hull and atlantic 38 with s/d hull, on the Thames with intention of sea use. both were trialled at speed on the river (brokers know places where it can be done) and had no subsequent problems at sea. I agree its not perfect, but then again what do you do if trial day at the coast is flat calm? To buy only from coastal brokers is to deny access to a whole raft of perfectly good sea boats on inland waterways.

or wait for a day like today!!
Bradwell Report 12th December 2009


FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT STAYED IN BED

GOOD THINKING

 

[AndieMac]

You have a lot of bait prepared on those boards Omega....... was it a productive day?

 

[sundancer9000]

not bait thats the catch lol

thats not bait thats the catch!!!!! lmao

 

[AndieMac]

oh......

 

[omega2]

thats not bait thats the catch!!!!! lmao

not quite, this was the days before result.



Bradwell Report 11th December 2009


Two of us today, Roker1 (Allan) and self, we intended to stay in the river but to be honest it was dire, only had a couple of whiting in almost two hours, so as the fog lifted up came the anchor and off we went East about 10 miles, finally setting the anchor in about 37 feet.
Allan had been busy on the way out and had prepared a large amount of ground bait, which was deposited, on the bottom via the “dropper” it did not take long for the fish to find us.

I caught it, but Allan reckoned he was unable to operate the camera. As the tide ebbed away the fishing was steady, but at slack water it went quiet, time for the bacon rolls “thanks Allan” I was head chef again.
The flood took an age to get going but as it did the fishing started up again, with Roker and Codling coming in thick and fast, the Roker nearly all small females were returned, but the codling were a good stamp of 6lb’ers the ones that go well with a plate of chips so they stayed on board.

I even managed to fluke one of these

the light began to fade and I knew we would be back to the Berth in the dark, so at 4-10pm we started for home, Allan turned out the catch for a photo call, then we were off

on the way back Allan cleaned the fish so we had not much to do at the Marina.

thanks for your company Allan.

 

[oldgit]

"I guess my simple question is, if I want to buy a sea boat, do I need to buy from a coastal seller to be able to get it properly evaluated?

Buying a boat which is out of its natural habitat can be a smart move pricewise.A small slow displacement cabin cruiser with a weeny engine will not be in much demand in a south coast marina miles from anywhere,but would sell quickly and be priced accordingly on an inland waterway,vice versa on a large expensive powerful fast sports boat miles and miles from the sea.*
The downside is,no weedy little 30 sec half throttle dash between locks,will go anywhere near a half hour 30 knot WOT,testing cooling/turbos/oil pressures to see if stuff will break the first time you are on your own 3 miles offshore in your nice new bought and paid for boat.!

*The Thames is mysterious exception to this rule

 

[AndieMac]

That's better

Omega

Good result....looks like a smaller version of trawlermen.

Did I read correctly....10miles east and 37 feet deep!

 

[omega2]

Omega

Good result....looks like a smaller version of trawlermen.

Did I read correctly....10miles east and 37 feet deep!

correct, take look at this, then you will see why we cast away from the boat.

the depths are in feet. the outlined area is a wind farm under construction.

 

[AndieMac]

That is indeed some shallow water, so far out.

A potentially nasty combination of tide, wind and sand banks in that area of the channel, no doubt!

 

[ian38_39]

The big question is where do you intend to use the boat.
if you are to be coastal based then buy one from a coastal marina. As already said inland boats tend to be maintained safe in the knowledge that your nearest land fall is 20 feet.
if you are planning to use it on the river then take advantage of lower hours and an unstressed hull. Of course this only applys to boats that have spent all or most of their life in fresh water.

 

[Adrianwool]

I bought my current boat from its last home on the Thames, it had in previous ownerships been based on the coast as the majority of sea going boats found on the Thames have been at some time. The way I approached buying was as follows


1). Made a keen subject to survey offer

2). Had the engines surveyed by the local main agent BEFORE conventional survey.

3). As the engine survey was satisfactory (but with some recommendations for work to be done) proceded to the conventional survey.

4). Again a broadly satisfactory survey (but again with some work recommendations).

5). Renegotiated the price based on the survey work recommendations

6). Had the boat shipped to a marina near my old base in the UK placed under cover and over the course of the next ten months had all recommended work carried out, using tradesmen I had previously used to carry out the work I could not do myself, whilst I engaged in doing the 'donkey work', e.g. revarnishing, bilge cleaning, fixing small blemishes e.g. broken fittings etc. I should add perhaps, this was an elapsed 10 months.

7). Had all electronics brought upto date, new radar, autopilot, depth and speed gauges, etc.

8). Had the diesel in the tanks 'polished' to remove any sediment/water in the fuel.

9). The boat was then shipped to Lagos here in the Algarve where she has proved fine in use.

Rules of thumb as far as I am concerned are

A). The equivelent boat Thames based should be a measure cheaper than its coastal cousin.

B). Have a budget set for what you are prepared to pay for the boat and stick to it.

C). Allocate a realistic budget for remedial work and updating (I allocated 40 % of the purchase price of the boat), and managed to get within 5% of this budget. Yes I kept a costing spreadsheet!

What you will end up with is a boat you know inside out (believe me!), in good fettle and (in my case) brand new electronics. This narrowed the margin of course in price with an identical model coastal based that I looked at, but I still saved about 10 - 15K (comparing bid not 'for sale' prices), know my boat intimately, & have modern electronics to boot.

 

[CX54WEK]

I get this problem a lot.

Buyer buys a boat, say broom 36 thats spent its life on the Trent at 4mph, buys it because there is nowhere to test it at speed, so problem number 1, you dont know if it performs.
number 2, it overheats as the heat exchangers are clogged up with river silt.
Number 3 the tanks get stirred up in the first heavy sea, and the prefilters get blocked,

The only way to buy like that is to hold back money until a satisfactory sea trial has been carried out and all the boxes ticked, though I doubt you will find anyone that wil be that flexible.

I would buy where you intend to use it, also I find that service records on river boats are no where near as up to date as boats on the sea that rely on reliability to be enjoyed properly.

Very few use their boats at 4mph on the Trent. With the exception of the sewer tubes of course.