jrudge
Well-Known Member
So what does it really cost to run a new to you ( or me! ) squadron 58.
People seem to dance around costs so I thought I would give a candid report on costs and issues over my first season.
I bought the boat at Easter with 512 hours on it. Today it has 608 so bar the rounding we did 100 hours and the season is not over. I guess another 30 hours will be added but my 2 month cruise has ended so this is a good time to report.
The boat is based in Palma. I do most things myself other than open up engines or similar. Anything speciality I get someone else involved. I have heaps of tools, spares, nuts, bolts, wires, plumbing and more on board. I even have an angle grinder which helped me fabricate a piece to mend a Williams Throttle at anchor! The neighbours did not bat and eye lid!
Pre season.
Pre season I did a lot of work to the boat. It had been looked after mechanically to within an inch of its life but the rest of the boat whilst not neglected was a little tired and had not had the love and attention it deserved.
There was a large amount of cleaning and minor repairs
- Carpets and leather clean E400
- 3 x minor teak repairs E300
- Boat top sides polish. E300 ( seems to be a trendy figure !)
- 4 x new TVs E450 for a 42 inch in the saloon and E200 each for 21 inch in the cabins. All smart TVs
- USB charging sockets £10 on eBay ( total godsend no generator the charge devices )
- The teak looked shot but cutting back the old chalking and sanding the teak gave impressive results other than the flybridge. It took 2 days but was worth it Major job. Result was impressive. Cost was elbow grease and about £25 on some decent chisels
- Clean exterior vinyl with magic sponges ( girlfriend now thinks magic sponges are amazing )
- Additional flybridge lighting high level £100 low level £ 10 for the switch and rope light I already had but only £10 if you were buying it
- Blind repairs
- Took paserelle teak grating to bits. Reversed it to expose the better bits. Re glued with epoxy. Sanded. Like new
- Replaced vacuum toilets with tecma ( JFM told me what to buy. I have learnt to just say yes John as he is normally right ... he was ) approx £2200 fitted. Toilets from Coastal rides as they had then in stock. Tecma were 6 weeks delivery.
- New ice maker £200 from coastal rides. Amazing. New they are £1400. It was new in a box but dated 2006 !
- Pressure based water level indicator. £100. The Volvo ones over read and installing a new one was simpler
And probably a heap more.
The dealer paid for things I found pre purchase
- air con overhaul Assorted air handlers , valves and filters
- Volvo Evc errors ( they still randomly come up and I just ignore them )
- Toilet repair ( this part subbed the new toilets )
- Top helm steering
- 12 v dropper replace
- Tender repair. They never did sort so I swapped the outboard tender for a new anchor and chain from boats.co.uk as the old chain was rusty and I wanted a bigger anchor
- New exhaust elbow
- Engine bay extinguisher pressure test and refill
I guess this lot cost them circa E10,000 given i know the details of what was done and snippets of the bills involved.
Tender
Bought a 2008 Williams 325 with 100 hours on it from the Mallorca Facebook group for E6250
It failed its sea trail ( it was missing) and the vendor took it off to Williams. Needed new temperature sensor. Now smooth and runs well.
Rib was sound but a little scrappy ( gelcoat, steering wheel, tubes).
Spent E300 on gel coat repairs.
The tubes were ok and cleaned up well but I had a leak in one side and then the other side failed totally at the back. I needed a set asap. They are only £1100 new from Williams but shipping was £300 and it was going to take 3 -4 days. I did not have 3 -4 days so I bought a good second hand set from boats.co.uk for E600. They leaked ahhhh so I got then repaired for E185. More importantly I was up and running.
The nav lights did not work £135. All cheap ones were big. These are small and i don’t like going out at night without lights!
New steering wheel and quick remove hub £100. Its on strops and the old on which was to be replace anyway got trapped behind the strops and ripped off. Removable hub sorts it
Second hand cover from boats.co.uk for E350
Amazing rib for an all up cost of E7750. Most ribs don’t include a cover and E600 of that was unexpected. so the real cost was some E7000 and it is in perfect order.
First Long Run ...
Other than short trips the beginning of the summer cruise was the first real bug runs it got.
The engines were running hot ( 90 ish) so in Cala Dor I got them acid flushed. It cost e800 with was excessive but it was done the next morning in peak season so no complaints. Knocked about 8-9 degrees off and then now run at 80 / 82
The generator Impeller went. I replaced it but lots of bits were missing. E50 for their removal.
I had a space for a fridge or freezer in the utility. I bought a second hand one from boats.co.uk for E300. So now 3 fridges yay. Cant resist giving Nick Barke money!
Mid season lift ...
The boat was more fouled than I imagined so I got it lifted.
Lifts in August ( I went home for 5 days) are half price so E1200 for lift 5 days on hard and spray off.
Anti foul. Fitting of under water lights and water maker fittings for e1200 and e800 for the anti foul.
The lights came from forumite EME and eBay ( two from each) The eBay ones were new and boxed so a total of £400
The cutlass bearings were changed for e3000 ( most quotes were e7000. Mallorca in august !). This was on the survey and expected.
I noticed there was water in the bilge and bought a new sump box as the one servicing the air conditioning had given up the ghost.
Generator ....
The generator started surging - there is a related forum post. Wow what amazing people on here who will help you. This was the only real fault the boat had during the summer. It turned out to be a faulty actuator which I found a pre installed but not used one from forumite Aquatom . Also bought filters etc and total cost was E500 and 5 days with a dodgy generator. I can see why people have 2 of them!
Engine Oil Leak....
Leaving Ibiza for Mallorca I checked the engine room. Quote a lot of oil spatter - but a small amount of oil.
Onto Volvo. There is a relief valve that will release oil if the breather filters are slightly blocked. Don’t worry be happy.
Back to mallorca. Small amount more oil. Cleaned it up and breathers replaced. Sorted.
Not had the bill yet but I guess E200 ( there are 2 filters for each engine and they were all replaced).
Crew
I always hire a crew person for the summer. I am on the boat for a long time and have lots of guests. As such they do the wash downs. cleaning, washing, ironing and cooking and i get a holiday as opposed to acting a a B and B host!
Cost E2500 per month - E5000
Fuel and moorings are discretionary so I wont list them and I probably don’t really want to know to be honest. I spend half my time at anchor so the mooring bills are not so bad.
Ibiza Town cost me E640 for the night, but i was anchored, it was very rough, the kids did not like it ( nor did dad) and they sensed my desperation on the phone!
I wont add up the totals as you can categories the spend in a number of ways.
I will have left off a list of small expenditure and have not included anything like water toys that have cost money but really have little to do with the boat itself.
As some know I previously had a 2014 Squadron 65. To be honest more went wrong with that in a season than this one which is some testament to how it was built and the care of the prior owner.
Now i cant tell you if this representative but the boat has had a lot of hours / miles put on it and has caused almost no trouble. This was to be honest a slight surprise to me, but equally the pre season prep it had from me was pretty extensive.
I chose not to conduct minor fixes with people on board, instead using 2 periods of 2 days where there were no guests/ children on board.
The boat is now in Palma cleaner and with more working than it started the season which is quite an achievement ( helped by crew of course).
I hope the numbers are of interest to fellow forumites
People seem to dance around costs so I thought I would give a candid report on costs and issues over my first season.
I bought the boat at Easter with 512 hours on it. Today it has 608 so bar the rounding we did 100 hours and the season is not over. I guess another 30 hours will be added but my 2 month cruise has ended so this is a good time to report.
The boat is based in Palma. I do most things myself other than open up engines or similar. Anything speciality I get someone else involved. I have heaps of tools, spares, nuts, bolts, wires, plumbing and more on board. I even have an angle grinder which helped me fabricate a piece to mend a Williams Throttle at anchor! The neighbours did not bat and eye lid!
Pre season.
Pre season I did a lot of work to the boat. It had been looked after mechanically to within an inch of its life but the rest of the boat whilst not neglected was a little tired and had not had the love and attention it deserved.
There was a large amount of cleaning and minor repairs
- Carpets and leather clean E400
- 3 x minor teak repairs E300
- Boat top sides polish. E300 ( seems to be a trendy figure !)
- 4 x new TVs E450 for a 42 inch in the saloon and E200 each for 21 inch in the cabins. All smart TVs
- USB charging sockets £10 on eBay ( total godsend no generator the charge devices )
- The teak looked shot but cutting back the old chalking and sanding the teak gave impressive results other than the flybridge. It took 2 days but was worth it Major job. Result was impressive. Cost was elbow grease and about £25 on some decent chisels
- Clean exterior vinyl with magic sponges ( girlfriend now thinks magic sponges are amazing )
- Additional flybridge lighting high level £100 low level £ 10 for the switch and rope light I already had but only £10 if you were buying it
- Blind repairs
- Took paserelle teak grating to bits. Reversed it to expose the better bits. Re glued with epoxy. Sanded. Like new
- Replaced vacuum toilets with tecma ( JFM told me what to buy. I have learnt to just say yes John as he is normally right ... he was ) approx £2200 fitted. Toilets from Coastal rides as they had then in stock. Tecma were 6 weeks delivery.
- New ice maker £200 from coastal rides. Amazing. New they are £1400. It was new in a box but dated 2006 !
- Pressure based water level indicator. £100. The Volvo ones over read and installing a new one was simpler
And probably a heap more.
The dealer paid for things I found pre purchase
- air con overhaul Assorted air handlers , valves and filters
- Volvo Evc errors ( they still randomly come up and I just ignore them )
- Toilet repair ( this part subbed the new toilets )
- Top helm steering
- 12 v dropper replace
- Tender repair. They never did sort so I swapped the outboard tender for a new anchor and chain from boats.co.uk as the old chain was rusty and I wanted a bigger anchor
- New exhaust elbow
- Engine bay extinguisher pressure test and refill
I guess this lot cost them circa E10,000 given i know the details of what was done and snippets of the bills involved.
Tender
Bought a 2008 Williams 325 with 100 hours on it from the Mallorca Facebook group for E6250
It failed its sea trail ( it was missing) and the vendor took it off to Williams. Needed new temperature sensor. Now smooth and runs well.
Rib was sound but a little scrappy ( gelcoat, steering wheel, tubes).
Spent E300 on gel coat repairs.
The tubes were ok and cleaned up well but I had a leak in one side and then the other side failed totally at the back. I needed a set asap. They are only £1100 new from Williams but shipping was £300 and it was going to take 3 -4 days. I did not have 3 -4 days so I bought a good second hand set from boats.co.uk for E600. They leaked ahhhh so I got then repaired for E185. More importantly I was up and running.
The nav lights did not work £135. All cheap ones were big. These are small and i don’t like going out at night without lights!
New steering wheel and quick remove hub £100. Its on strops and the old on which was to be replace anyway got trapped behind the strops and ripped off. Removable hub sorts it
Second hand cover from boats.co.uk for E350
Amazing rib for an all up cost of E7750. Most ribs don’t include a cover and E600 of that was unexpected. so the real cost was some E7000 and it is in perfect order.
First Long Run ...
Other than short trips the beginning of the summer cruise was the first real bug runs it got.
The engines were running hot ( 90 ish) so in Cala Dor I got them acid flushed. It cost e800 with was excessive but it was done the next morning in peak season so no complaints. Knocked about 8-9 degrees off and then now run at 80 / 82
The generator Impeller went. I replaced it but lots of bits were missing. E50 for their removal.
I had a space for a fridge or freezer in the utility. I bought a second hand one from boats.co.uk for E300. So now 3 fridges yay. Cant resist giving Nick Barke money!
Mid season lift ...
The boat was more fouled than I imagined so I got it lifted.
Lifts in August ( I went home for 5 days) are half price so E1200 for lift 5 days on hard and spray off.
Anti foul. Fitting of under water lights and water maker fittings for e1200 and e800 for the anti foul.
The lights came from forumite EME and eBay ( two from each) The eBay ones were new and boxed so a total of £400
The cutlass bearings were changed for e3000 ( most quotes were e7000. Mallorca in august !). This was on the survey and expected.
I noticed there was water in the bilge and bought a new sump box as the one servicing the air conditioning had given up the ghost.
Generator ....
The generator started surging - there is a related forum post. Wow what amazing people on here who will help you. This was the only real fault the boat had during the summer. It turned out to be a faulty actuator which I found a pre installed but not used one from forumite Aquatom . Also bought filters etc and total cost was E500 and 5 days with a dodgy generator. I can see why people have 2 of them!
Engine Oil Leak....
Leaving Ibiza for Mallorca I checked the engine room. Quote a lot of oil spatter - but a small amount of oil.
Onto Volvo. There is a relief valve that will release oil if the breather filters are slightly blocked. Don’t worry be happy.
Back to mallorca. Small amount more oil. Cleaned it up and breathers replaced. Sorted.
Not had the bill yet but I guess E200 ( there are 2 filters for each engine and they were all replaced).
Crew
I always hire a crew person for the summer. I am on the boat for a long time and have lots of guests. As such they do the wash downs. cleaning, washing, ironing and cooking and i get a holiday as opposed to acting a a B and B host!
Cost E2500 per month - E5000
Fuel and moorings are discretionary so I wont list them and I probably don’t really want to know to be honest. I spend half my time at anchor so the mooring bills are not so bad.
Ibiza Town cost me E640 for the night, but i was anchored, it was very rough, the kids did not like it ( nor did dad) and they sensed my desperation on the phone!
I wont add up the totals as you can categories the spend in a number of ways.
I will have left off a list of small expenditure and have not included anything like water toys that have cost money but really have little to do with the boat itself.
As some know I previously had a 2014 Squadron 65. To be honest more went wrong with that in a season than this one which is some testament to how it was built and the care of the prior owner.
Now i cant tell you if this representative but the boat has had a lot of hours / miles put on it and has caused almost no trouble. This was to be honest a slight surprise to me, but equally the pre season prep it had from me was pretty extensive.
I chose not to conduct minor fixes with people on board, instead using 2 periods of 2 days where there were no guests/ children on board.
The boat is now in Palma cleaner and with more working than it started the season which is quite an achievement ( helped by crew of course).
I hope the numbers are of interest to fellow forumites
