SIBS musings

mjf

mjf

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18 Jun 2003
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w.london - boat on solent- RIB on Tidal Thames
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I had a very enjoyable day yesterday at the show, bumped into old friends and had a generally very sociable and agreeable time looking about.

• Sq 41 now Sq42 ( this is such a recent change it seems,as the enamel pendant on the yachts side still shows 41 in international code!) is an impressive boat – very light interior with cockpit seat that can be used to sit with view in or view out. Nice. F/B wonderful Nice welcome on the stand and no issues whatsoever with access – even chatted to hull #1 owners who were looking at their new baby when we arrived.
• Sealine F/B 42 next – again impressive if you like the look. Same beam as the 46 believe it or not. Loads of space inside and a great F/B and super storage throughout the boat. Met with the designer who advised that Zeus will be available it just the engine people are late with the new motive power unit…..
• Princess 42 – as mentioned before I had a sneak look last Sunday and now had a better look – nice tweaks to the F/B which somehow now looks larger with the new table nicked from the V52. Very light saloon and although nothing earth shattering it’s a fine improvement IMHO


The show appeared much less busy than previous years even with SWMBO and I being around when the Sealine was ‘unveiled’. We were able to go on any craft without being crowded out. Ditto the show stands. Enough people but never a crowd. Fab.

One thing that I noticed last night when looking through the mags / price lists that brought the MB&Y Oct piece home, is the options list and what extras are now there on most boats we looked at. The prices are something else too. £20K for the Fairline dinghy launch system – now it’s a nice looking bit of kit it has to be said but…..
 
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Just wondering how you would feel with just that settee between your patio doors and a large following sea (SQ 42 ) ? BTW i still want one !
 
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Why would that be a problem? When has anyone ever had a wave hit the transom of a planing motorboat? A rolling swell would just lift the stern as it went under, a breaking wave big enough to clear the bathing platform you'd outrun (if you had any sense), and if you had no motive power (the only reason you wouldn't outrun a large breaking wave) you'd be beam on, or bow on if you'd managed to deploy a drogue.

I remember all these "no good in a following sea" comments about transom doors. They've not been a problem either.
 
PS. Agree, Sq42 the best of the bunch. Princess is beautiful quality but getting a bit dated now (still a good boat, just an old boat), and Sealine has amazing use of space and light, but still feels a bit cheap, albeit better than they were. You're a hell of a long way up on the flybridge mind...!
 
"Why would that be a problem"

While not wishing to start an argument. :)There was for a long time the recovered remains of a flybridge cruiser sitting on the dock at Sheerness, about 35 feet..ish.It eventually was sold at auction.
Of the the three people aboard,the owner, girlfriend plus somebody else employed as skipper to get the boat round into the Thames, only one was rescued.
Not sure of the exact details,but seem to recall that patio doors either were open or failed and allowed enough water in to sink boat.Hasten to add that my memory is rubbish and the boat well have been ground and already sinking in the first place.
 
ari said:
Why would that be a problem? When has anyone ever had a wave hit the transom of a planing motorboat? A rolling swell would just lift the stern as it went under, a breaking wave big enough to clear the bathing platform you'd outrun (if you had any sense), and if you had no motive power (the only reason you wouldn't outrun a large breaking wave) you'd be beam on, or bow on if you'd managed to deploy a drogue.

I remember all these "no good in a following sea" comments about transom doors. They've not been a problem either.
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Sorry ARI , im not qualified to say if its no good in a following sea , its a fairline and bound to be ok, but ask yourself how SWMBO and kids would feel with something large and green "trying" to climb in the back with just glass doors betwixt it and them .Personally i probably wouldnt be out there , but !
 
Well, although I'm not a flybridge fan at all, I thought the sq42 was v impressive, and I really like the transom seat. (By contrast I thought the P42 changes were all a bit over-hyped and underwhelming).

Cheers
Jimmy
 
I spent Saturday mostly looking at 35-40ft boats, and one or two larger ones.

Sealine SC35: Yup, default choice in many respects. Minor tweaks, plus hull number 210 on display means that Sealine are doing something right here. Angular cockpit cushions to test your circulation and cockpit seating that has most passengers facing sideways are the only downside.

Sealine SC38: Hull number 079 on display. Slightly nicer than a SC35, but you keep wondering where your extra £40k has gone. I think this boat's days are numbered.

Sealine F42: Fab flybridge, great layout and interior, would keep hitting head on "lump" in aft cabin, but otherwise hard to see how a boat this size could feel more substantial. I think Sealine are onto a winner with this one.

Sealine SC47: I think the new styling works really well when stretched out a bit. As with F42, although everything you touch feels solid and chunky, layout fine, great ergonomics etc., some of the detail (e.g. door edges) on the interior furnishings isn't quite there. Somewhat comically, the gas oven is one inch above floor level, which is wrong, wrong, wrong.

Fairline Squadron 42: Very high quality internal finish and fittings. Not too sure about the flybridge layout, and visibility from the lower helm would not be as good as Sealine F42, but a fine effort overall. Strong competition to Sealine F42.

Fairline Targa 38: Sorry, but whoever designed the helm on this needs tasering. I'm 6'3'', and if seated I can only reach the non-adjustable steering wheel with both arms stretched out horizontally. The steering wheel obscures half the gauges, and the rest of the gauges are so far away you can't see them. If you stand, the top of the windscreen is at eye level. I'm sure this drives really well, but I just can't see past the huge shower compartment intruding into the lower saloon, and the disastrous helm ergonomics. Not a boat for me at any price.

Jeanneau Leader 10: Layout fine, but some really flimsy ceiling trim panels in the mid cabin, and rough fibreglass around the companionway don't give the impression of care and attention to detail.

Windy Maestro 40: Detailing on internal furniture not quite up to Fairline standards, and wow, scary price tag, but who cares. I still want one. Yes, and Yes.

Sessa C38: I can see why people like this. The bronze hull option isn't for me, but otherwise, it's the only other boat that I would actually consider buying instead of an SC35.

Sunseeker Predator 60: I'm really not qualified to comment on boats this size, but my thoughts were: £1.2 Million? "Yes", and "No!"

dv.
 
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I went back to all three again yesterday having got over the first impression 'thing'.

The sealine is well designed and is clever - the storage is wonderful. Sq 42 I still like but the odd's and ends storeage in/around the galley is **** and the cutlery and crock storage non opening draws a joke - we use the the galley on our boat!

Went back finally to the Princess and the light in the saloon and galley is great - the larger windows do make a huge difference - better storage than the Sq and two people could use it too - hop is four ring as opposed to Sq42 two.
 
oldgit said:
"Why would that be a problem"

While not wishing to start an argument. :)There was for a long time the recovered remains of a flybridge cruiser sitting on the dock at Sheerness, about 35 feet..ish.It eventually was sold at auction.
Of the the three people aboard,the owner, girlfriend plus somebody else employed as skipper to get the boat round into the Thames, only one was rescued.
Not sure of the exact details,but seem to recall that patio doors either were open or failed and allowed enough water in to sink boat.Hasten to add that my memory is rubbish and the boat well have been ground and already sinking in the first place.
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How would the water get there? Can you imagine the size of breaking wave you'd need!? And would you sit stern on to that?

Technically it's possible I guess, but equally you could argue no boat is sea worthy ifit's possible to dump enough tonnage of water onto it to sink it, which would equate to probably 90% of private pleasure motorboats.
 
bamboleo said:
Sorry ARI , im not qualified to say if its no good in a following sea , its a fairline and bound to be ok, but ask yourself how SWMBO and kids would feel with something large and green "trying" to climb in the back with just glass doors betwixt it and them .Personally i probably wouldnt be out there , but !
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I think you've answered your own question there really. Yes, technically, if you decided to sit and motor slowly stern on to a huge tidal wave of thundering breaking water then you could probably get enough of it into the boat to sink it.

But why would you be out there in what would need to be absolutely extreme and horrific conditions, and even if you were, why would you sit stern on to it and travelling slowly?

No boat is completely invincible, even lifeboats have been lost.
 
ari said:
if you had no motive power (the only reason you wouldn't outrun a large breaking wave) you'd be beam on
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A breaking wave in open water would be locally wind driven, and the same wind would be trying to turn the boat stern on, so it's quite possible that a wave would break onto the transom of a planing mobo if it lost power in a heavy sea, and wasn't carrying a drogue.

I agree the large majority of planing mobos are unlikely to find themselves in such conditions, but it is possible.
 
Nick - I agree but also a lot depends on the back end build.

If its a simple add on bathing platform I reckon you are more likely to get 'pooped' than in say a boat that has the swim platform as part of the hull structure ie has inherent bouyancy right to the stern so in a following sea the stern will lift more than in the former design.


What does surprise me lots is that in my boat the stern cockpit door is solid and the back end is quite substancial - the cockpit door is not watertight but it stops cold wind etc in the winter and would stop serious green water too I guess.

On more modern boats these doors are glass and have huge 'holes' in them esp at the base - so in the winter when you are using the cockpit as we do (with the covers on and eber outlet on in the cockpit) how do you stop the draft from the door?
 
jfm said:
Beam on, surely???
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well iirc, in flat water with a strong wind a planing mobo wouldn't sit beam on, it would probably have an aft quarter to the wind or more likely yaw from beam on to stern on, because the bow is much lighter, and less hull in the water, than the stern. (Just tried an experiment with a tip-ex bottle in the sink and this is what it seems to do!)

In waves, but no wind, the boat would sit beam on for sure, so in waves with high winds i'd expect the boat to be beam on most the time, but to yaw round at least partially stern on some of the time, so it's possible for a wave to break on the transom.
 
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