Should I buy a Saga 26?

[paulbrown22]

Sadly locked out of my old account so had to start again!

Am debating getting a Saga 26 HT as an upgrade on my current Hardy 18 for use mainly on the tidal Thames based out of Greenwich, with occasional trips as children (1 and 4) get older up the East Coast or further up into the non-tidal Thames.

Seeing there's a couple of people on here who have/have had the 26's, any constructive comments, things you liked/didn't like or issues? Given main use is on the Thames between Greenwich and Chiswick I'm happy enough with an 11-12kn cruise as that nicely matches the speed limit, occasionally being able to do 14-16kn for spurts on a trip up the East Coast is probably enough. I delivered an ACM Elite 31 down from Harwich the other week, and we didn't exceed 16kn on that other than just to check it could manage 22kn flat out!

I'm thinking the layout of the Saga 26 HT is great for what we need with children, any downsides I should know about?

Thanks,

Paul

 

[Billy Blue]

I had one for 5 years. I loved it. I sold it for a couple of reasons. The main reason was I wanted the cabin to be warmer in the winter and so needed something fully enclosed not protected by canvas. The other reason was I just wanted more space. I'm a big fan of Saga boats as I think they are good all rounder for the UK weather and excellent quality so I bought a Saga 315 as a replacement.
The canvas roof for the main cabin is a bit of a pain to take off, I made a plywood hard top with 2 opening hatches to replace it which was a great improvement.
From memory, I don't think I ever achieved 16 knots, I found a top speed of 14 and maybe 15 knots is about the best you will get (96hp engine). I cruised at 12.
I did several trips up the East coast from the Medway. For their size, they are good seagoing boats and handle well and can cope well with poor weather. So good for coastal and inland with their low airheight. Plenty of lockers for storage.

 

[paulbrown22]

Amazing, thanks so much - good to know there's other local Sagas too, and you still have good memories of your 26. I love the 315 and initially thought I wanted an enclosed wheelhouse, then thought the layout of the 26 is ideal for our current family situation, and a massive price difference!

I see the factory still offer a GRP hardtop cover with hatches for the sunroof, I've requested a price to see how that turns out as I'd be tempted to swap when the canvas reaches end of life.

Thanks for the speed information, very useful - I'd spend most of the life at 12kn max anyway, so I think I'd be happy enough with 15kn on occasion. With a 1 and 4 year old long trips/holidays aren't going to happen for a little while yet, but I use the current boat a lot singlehanded and very tempted by something a bit larger and more comfortable than a Hardy 18, much as I do love that boat!

Sounds like a sea trial might be in order once we're back from Easter holidays...

 

[Sagapippa]

Amazing, thanks so much - good to know there's other local Sagas too, and you still have good memories of your 26. I love the 315 and initially thought I wanted an enclosed wheelhouse, then thought the layout of the 26 is ideal for our current family situation, and a massive price difference!

I see the factory still offer a GRP hardtop cover with hatches for the sunroof, I've requested a price to see how that turns out as I'd be tempted to swap when the canvas reaches end of life.

Thanks for the speed information, very useful - I'd spend most of the life at 12kn max anyway, so I think I'd be happy enough with 15kn on occasion. With a 1 and 4 year old long trips/holidays aren't going to happen for a little while yet, but I use the current boat a lot singlehanded and very tempted by something a bit larger and more comfortable than a Hardy 18, much as I do love that boat!

Sounds like a sea trial might be in order once we're back from Easter holidays...

I've owned a Saga 26 for 9 years and as a couple absolutely love it. Easy to handle, very economical, and extremely capable. We use ours on the East coast between the Wash and the Humber and inland. The layout is perfect for us plenty of room to stretch out, and capable of sitting six around the table. The canvas sunroof is a bonus and many spares including canopies, stripes etc still available from Saga.

 

[paulbrown22]

I've owned a Saga 26 for 9 years and as a couple absolutely love it. Easy to handle, very economical, and extremely capable. We use ours on the East coast between the Wash and the Humber and inland. The layout is perfect for us plenty of room to stretch out, and capable of sitting six around the table. The canvas sunroof is a bonus and many spares including canopies, stripes etc still available from Saga.

Brilliant, thank you for the feedback - sounds like no excuse not to get one sadly!

How easy do you find the canvas roof to use? Is it a case of undo some external poppers and then lift up and pull from the inside on the handles?

Agreed - I really like the 26HT layout which seems to pack an awful lot of living/entertaining space into the hull size, with the downside that a lot of it is under canvas. Much as I also love the enclosed boats, I'm not into fishing and don't think I'd ever make much use of the separate external cockpit, so seems to be lost space for my usage.

I did send some queries on parts and prices to Saga late on Friday, looking forward to seeing their answers hopefully this week.

Thanks,

Paul

 

[Sagapippa]

Brilliant, thank you for the feedback - sounds like no excuse not to get one sadly!

How easy do you find the canvas roof to use? Is it a case of undo some external poppers and then lift up and pull from the inside on the handles?

Agreed - I really like the 26HT layout which seems to pack an awful lot of living/entertaining space into the hull size, with the downside that a lot of it is under canvas. Much as I also love the enclosed boats, I'm not into fishing and don't think I'd ever make much use of the separate external cockpit, so seems to be lost space for my usage.

I did send some queries on parts and prices to Saga late on Friday, looking forward to seeing their answers hopefully this week.

Thanks,

Paul

The sunroof is fitted with a quick release at the front, will open halfway in seconds. The rear half has poppers. The beauty for us is the use of space up top, easy to stretch out,eat and cook without any patio doors. If you go on Saga website they have a spare part section with each boat listed and prices. I've found them really helpful and efficient.
Mark.

 

[paulbrown22]

The sunroof is fitted with a quick release at the front, will open halfway in seconds. The rear half has poppers. The beauty for us is the use of space up top, easy to stretch out,eat and cook without any patio doors. If you go on Saga website they have a spare part section with each boat listed and prices. I've found them really helpful and efficient.
Mark.

Excellent, thanks for that Mark - the roof certainly sounds easier than my current Hardy one! Similarly - I'm imagining a peaceful life upstairs in the sun, although a 1 and 4 year old might impinge on that a little bit...

Yes, I have the price list from the Saga website, I just asked them to clarify a few things, get some pictures of the fixed hard top to see if I would want to potentially move to one of those, and get an idea on delivery costs/timelines for some of the larger items so I can plan better.

 

[j24jam]

I've had one now for almost 4 years, very pleased with it.

Mine is based in Poole so used for local coastal cruising, and it handles it very well. Came back from Weymouth in a F6 and it went through the weather like a champ.

Ive got the 88Hp engine and realistic top speed is 13-14knots, so cruising at 8-10knots. It barely uses any fuel which is great.

I have done a lot of work to mine, including extending the bathing platform (more useful for swimming off, so may not be a concern for river work), changed all the sea cocks/ skin fittings, replaced the canvas roof slats with s/s 'ribs' which will last forever and make it easier if you wanted to fully open the roof, new nav kit, replaced the galley worksurfice, added solar, shore power.. all sorts.

No real complaints about it, I dont think you will find another boat this size which such a sociable cockpit seating layout.

Any questions or want to see pics of what I've done please send me a pm.

 

[paulbrown22]

Wonderful, thanks for the info - the more I hear the better they sound, and yours does sounds amazing after all that work . Most of the time on the Thames 10-12kn is all I can do anyway, so even if 14kn is top speed I think I'd cope with that fine for now, and as children get bigger then in another 5+ years I might need to upgrade to something slighter larger as well with the Yanmar 230hp engine.

Would be great to see some pics as I'm try to gather as much information as possible - will drop you a message.

Thanks,

Paul

 

[paulbrown22]

To update, we viewed this lovely boat today in Essex, offer made and accepted and deposit paid, so hopefully go back to collect in the next few weeks once I've moved my current boat out of it's berth to make space!

Very much looking forward to bringing it to Greenwich, using regularly with the family during the Summer and eventually starting some work to modernise its electronics and tidy some of the additional wiring.

 

[AllanG]

Congratulations on purchasing the Saga 26, which looks a very nice boat

 

[Sagapippa]

I'm sure it will give you a tremendous amount of pleasure. Have fun.

 

[paulbrown22]

Thanks all - going to sea trial and hopefully complete tomorrow (Monday), as the vendor viewed a boat today that he wants to proceed with, so is keen to complete this sale and be able to move ahead with his next boat!

 

[paulbrown22]

Sea trial complete and it's all mine! Sadly the now ex-owner was being very diligent before my arrival, cleaned the sea strainer out over the back of the boat to avoid messing up the beautifully clean sinks, and it promptly went swimming never to be seen again... A quick cutting up of a kitchen sieve from a helpful Dutch barge owner opposite to create a temporary strainer mesh let us do a sea trial, but we were slightly careful given the non-standard very fine mesh and the amount of weed in the Crouch so only stayed out for 30-40 mins. Other than that, and an absolutely knackered house (actually a random car starter) battery needing constant support from either engine or mains charger, all seemed to work perfectly. Even the Wallas meths hob sprang into action on my first attempt . New strainer and AGM leisure battery arriving tomorrow, to be fitted when I next visit the boat.

Having completed the purchase in the early afternoon, I spent a few hours crawling around playing with things, checking spare parts, identifying random wires and fittings and finding all the hidden spaces onboard, of which there are many.

Overall super happy with the boat, it's a very clean and well looked after example in great condition, and with these few parts should then be ready for a trip down to Greenwich in a few weeks, as soon as I move the current boat off my berth to make space!

 

[Sagapippa]

Happy Boating, may you have many trouble free adventures.

 

[paulbrown22]

Thanks - with a lovely new AGM house battery and Osculati sea strainer basket sitting in my garage now, hopefully they will indeed be trouble free!

 

[paulbrown22]

A great day today using Caroline as a floating office and doing some jobs in between meetings.

New AGM house battery fitted, while replacing that noticed some very strange wiring from the battery charger connecting the dual charging circuits to terminals on different batteries with no commonality so corrected that, then found the physically wrong size (and incorrect amperage) fuses in the inline fuse holders from the charger meaning there was no electrical connectivity from the battery charger anyway, which might partially explain why the house battery was completely shot... New fuses of correct sizes ordered from Amazon!

Sea strainer basket dropped right in and engine purrs like a kitten and keeps nice and cool under load. The sound insulation on the engine box of these Sagas does seem to be excellent, with the engine hatch closed it's very quiet. Sadly I'm carrying a forest on the bottom so top speed is slightly limited, but will do a lift out and pressure wash back in Greenwich where it's much cheaper for me. Water system was fully drained for winter so filled that up, bled the pump as it had an air lock and terrified myself that the calorifier had a minor leak when full and pressurised. Thankfully after taking a few litres of water out of the previously perfectly dry bilges I found the pressure relief valve open on the calorifier where it had been drained - closing that and I think we are bone dry once more . Pulled the top of the pump off the brand new toilet as some weed was trapped inside preventing the switch from moving to the dry bowl position, that now dries nicely.

A quick trip to Burnham Yacht Harbour at lunchtime for 100l of diesel to fill the tank proved everything works beautifully, although interestingly the bow thruster is wired back to front so pushing the stick left moves the bow to starboard... Something to correct another day!

Still exceedingly happy with the boat overall. Definitely lots of random wires to investigate/remove and sort out properly in the future, but the boat itself is in amazing condition, lightly used, very well cared for and everything works.

Hopefully first night aboard with the family this weekend over the bank holiday to see how the children like it.

 

[Sagapippa]

All sounds positive.

 

[47GC]

Always a job to do! Lovely boat.

 

[paulbrown22]

A great ~65NM passage in the sunshine today delivering the boat from where I bought it at Essex Marina down to London. Also had a super peaceful first night onboard last night to allow me to catch the last of the morning ebb out the Crouch and then the flood up the Thames. Everything ran faultlessly for the duration, although I kept to to an average of ~9kn/2700RPM given the amount of growth on the hull from the Crouch and I didn't want to push the engine until I've hauled out and thoroughly cleaned/checked underneath. Some slightly lumpy conditions between the Crouch and Thames given the northerly winds which meant the windscreen wipers and washers got good action, but nothing particularly exciting and she handled beautifully. Lovely to open the front of the sunroof on the stretch up the Thames, and overall was just a very comfortable boat to be on! Now it's back home I can start picking off some minor improvement jobs particularly on the electrics, hopefully get a lift out asap to remove the garden from underneath, and start regularly using .