BlueMoon1
New Member
We\'re in a quandary
My brother and I share a Seamaster 25. It has an ancient (1963) Perkins 4.99 engine, which we've nursed back into reasonable performance but it still only manages to push us along at 6mph. Good enough for the mid-Thames, where we're based, but we'd like to go down to the estuary and the Medway.
We went to the boat show yesterday. I don't know why (yes I do) but we looked at alternative engines: Nanni and Sole particularly. The Sole man, Adrian Taylor made us a very resonable offer on the purchase price of a Sole 44 diesel -- almost a thousand pounds less than the list price.
We were both attracted to the idea but... It's an old boat (mid to late sixties) and, although we've done a lot of improvements already, I wonder if we're not over-investing in her.
In favour of the new engine: peace of mind. We have no auxilliary and it'd be no fun to break down downstream of Richmond or in the estuary. Against: the old Perkins chuffed us all the way up from the Medway when we bought her in the wet summer of '07 (albeit it took 13.5 hours with tidal assistance!)
Would the performance be significantly improved by fitting a new engine? We've checked with Norris & Co and the prop we've got is right for a 40hp engine and a 1:1 gearbox. I'm not savvy enough to work out what the maximum speed you can expect from a boat of this type. Maybe it's design speed is 6mph!
We've got a few days to decide. We'd appreciate comments from all you boaty folk on whether to go ahead with the purchase or not.
Alan
My brother and I share a Seamaster 25. It has an ancient (1963) Perkins 4.99 engine, which we've nursed back into reasonable performance but it still only manages to push us along at 6mph. Good enough for the mid-Thames, where we're based, but we'd like to go down to the estuary and the Medway.
We went to the boat show yesterday. I don't know why (yes I do) but we looked at alternative engines: Nanni and Sole particularly. The Sole man, Adrian Taylor made us a very resonable offer on the purchase price of a Sole 44 diesel -- almost a thousand pounds less than the list price.
We were both attracted to the idea but... It's an old boat (mid to late sixties) and, although we've done a lot of improvements already, I wonder if we're not over-investing in her.
In favour of the new engine: peace of mind. We have no auxilliary and it'd be no fun to break down downstream of Richmond or in the estuary. Against: the old Perkins chuffed us all the way up from the Medway when we bought her in the wet summer of '07 (albeit it took 13.5 hours with tidal assistance!)
Would the performance be significantly improved by fitting a new engine? We've checked with Norris & Co and the prop we've got is right for a 40hp engine and a 1:1 gearbox. I'm not savvy enough to work out what the maximum speed you can expect from a boat of this type. Maybe it's design speed is 6mph!
We've got a few days to decide. We'd appreciate comments from all you boaty folk on whether to go ahead with the purchase or not.
Alan
