Sealine 215 or Fairline Sprint

[tontol]

I am looking to replace my Shetland with a slightly larger boat. at the moment Sealine 215 or Fairline Sprint seem best choice. Also which is the best engine for these boats ?

it will be used mainly in the Solent.

your views welcome.

 

[ianduff]

We owned a Fairline Weekend (same hull, different layout to Sprint) from 1982 to 1989. We had great fun with it, including towing it on a trailer to the South of France several times. The only problem with our boat was the engine-a horrible little 4 cylinder Volvo petrol. It was underpowered and rattled and shook at all speeds. Go for a V8 petrol. I suspect that the diesel options would be either under powered or too heavy. Try to get one with indirect cooling.

 

[Sneds]

We have just part exed our Sealine 215. Great boat, loads of room for her size and will handle the waves ok.
We loved her.
She had a V6 petrol 175A and was good for 30kts, OK 28!
She is now listed at Essex Boat Yards, PM me if you have any more questions.

 

[AdeOlly]

I owned a 215 a few years back, and if my experience is anything to go by I should have bought one of the Sprint's I looked at. Build, on mine anyway, was poor and the hull layup very thin - you could flex the hull at the waterline with you forefinger and easily work out where the stringers were. Slow speed handling was a nightmare as it was so light any cross wind would send it spinning. It did have lots of space for it's size though, and seemed bigger than it was.

We traded up to an S24 after one year, and it was a far, far better boat. Much better build with superior finish throughout. You'd be able to get an early S240 for not that much more than a Sprint/215 and IMHO a much better boat, than the 215 anyway.

Happy hunting!

 

[Sneds]

Good point about the slow speed handling and being taken by the wind (sounds painful!)
Problem with budgets is that they keep going up! If you have £10k to spend everything you like will be £15k, so you save up, beg, steal or borrow another £5k and low and behold, your £15k is not quite enough!
Happy searching and please let us know how you get on.

 

[Doods]

Just Put my 218 up for sale. Its the same as the 215 but new model. Have had her for two years and loved every day out on her. Have been out in some rough stuff and had no problems. We looked at the Sprints first but prefered the layout of the sealine. Must agree that low end speed the handling is not perfect, so changed the props and that improved it considerably, and can still reach 30 plus knots on the 205 V6. All boats of this size on a single engin will get pushed by the wind.

 

[atlowers]

Hello Tontol,
I was in similar position 2 yrs ago and was set on a sprint but then looked at a Falcon spc 23 and felt it offered benefit of a larger mid cabin berth over the sprint and was a far better build finish than the 215. I have a 165 yamaha diesel and manage 27knots wot. Consuption not bad We have been delighted with it. Ref handling I just get impression as a newbie that pretty much any 2.5 ton boat with a singleleg will be a bugger at slow speed but with practice and patience not a major issue.
Just a thought and maybe offers another boat for comparison. Good luck with the search.

 

[AdeOlly]

I think we had a bit of a Friday afternoon 215 and I was too green to notice it or read the survey properly. Ours used to slam really badly in any sort of head sea and sounded like it was going to self destruct. Given the 215 and Sprint are going to be getting close to 20 years old, condition is likely to be the biggest factor.

Having had both a 215 and S24 (aka S240), I still think an S240 like this would be a much better bet if you can find the extra £5k.

 

[AdeOlly]

Yes the handling on any small single engined boat is tricky in cross winds, esp those that have high windage like all those that've been mentioned. My 215 though was just incredibly lightly built and very skittish, and was noticably worse that my S24.

 

[tontol]

Thanks for all the replies - they are really useful and give me a bit to think about.

one more question. Is the 218 or 220 any better build quality than the 215 ?

regards