Boats...money pits???
Discussion
So said:
I am doing my power boat course in a few weeks and harboured the notion of buying a day cruiser. But not one person I know who owns or has owned a boat has unqualified said, "yes, buy a boat".
I think I'll hire for now.
I'd say "yes, buy a boat" to anyone, but do your research and have your eyes wide open before doing it.I think I'll hire for now.
There are levels of boat ownership and for me, the sweet spot in terms of hull size for running costs vs usability is about 20 - 23ft. Much bigger and the running costs grow very quickly (they do cut through chop a great deal better though) and much lower you're going to have to compromise on deck/cabin space.
I've trailered, had a swinging mooring and now have a marina berth. By far and away the best (obviously really) is the marina berth - the other two are a bit of a faff. Trailering, especially, makes getting on the water a proper mission. The marina berth for our boat is £4k a year which isn't particularly cheap, but is worth every penny and is not money I begrudge parting with (for what I get in return).
Boat ownership is like any other discretionary purchase and when it comes to them I personally have just two questions. 1) Can I afford it? 2) Will it make my life better in some way?
Every man and his dog can make a logical financial case for not doing it (most of those are either miserable, pessimists or of the 3 F's mentality) and if I had to work out the average cost of each time we take the boat out, it would probably be quite a large financially illogical number, but do you know what? I couldn't care less, because I absolutely bloody love it when we do! We (mates & family) have an EPIC time on the water, whether it's fishing, wakeboarding/tow sports, arseing about, overnighting, coastal hopping or just sunbathing. It's immense fun and enriches not only my life but those of everyone around me.
Ours, by the way is a 6.6m hull (or 7.2m with the MDL tape measure) with a 175 ETEC on the back of it. Marina costs aside, running costs are pretty negligible.
Edited by dangerousB on Sunday 5th July 20:50
Don Shead is / was a boat designer. Deep Vee hull grips well in turns.
With the greatest of respect there's a huge difference in the boats you've mentioned, along the lines of 'I'm thinking about a Caterham or a big automatic Lexus saloon, what are the pros/cons?
I would suggest more research on displacement, semi-displacement and planing hulls.
Decide what you actually need, then what you'd like. Overnight accommodation, if so, how many berths. Onboard toilet - many women insist. Cooking. Standing headroom. Open or closed cockpit. Petrol or diesel. Trailable or not, if so, weight capacity of vehicle, storage etc etc. Marina, swinging mooring, dry stack.
I know owners who get most pleasure from pottering in the marina, having a cup of tea and going home. Others cross the channel.
What is the likely cruising area, depth etc.. outboards, on balance, easier to maintain, fewer holes in the hull. However, can be stolen more easily.
If you don't have previous and significant experience, I would strongly suggest RYA course and VHF course; the sea isn't very forgiving. Generally, and its my experience only, those with smaller boats seem to use them more and have more fun. Some of the big ones become floating caravans and aren't much 'fun', but then they offer more room and facilities. People might say 'don't worry about the fuel, it's negligible'. In the scheme of things, maybe, but even small 150 litre fuel tanks can make some people wince, let alone 1500 litre ones, particularly if petrol.
Have you tried hiring a few different types to see whether they meet your expectations? Not necessarily the cheapest option but nor is buying the wrong boat.
With the greatest of respect there's a huge difference in the boats you've mentioned, along the lines of 'I'm thinking about a Caterham or a big automatic Lexus saloon, what are the pros/cons?
I would suggest more research on displacement, semi-displacement and planing hulls.
Decide what you actually need, then what you'd like. Overnight accommodation, if so, how many berths. Onboard toilet - many women insist. Cooking. Standing headroom. Open or closed cockpit. Petrol or diesel. Trailable or not, if so, weight capacity of vehicle, storage etc etc. Marina, swinging mooring, dry stack.
I know owners who get most pleasure from pottering in the marina, having a cup of tea and going home. Others cross the channel.
What is the likely cruising area, depth etc.. outboards, on balance, easier to maintain, fewer holes in the hull. However, can be stolen more easily.
If you don't have previous and significant experience, I would strongly suggest RYA course and VHF course; the sea isn't very forgiving. Generally, and its my experience only, those with smaller boats seem to use them more and have more fun. Some of the big ones become floating caravans and aren't much 'fun', but then they offer more room and facilities. People might say 'don't worry about the fuel, it's negligible'. In the scheme of things, maybe, but even small 150 litre fuel tanks can make some people wince, let alone 1500 litre ones, particularly if petrol.
Have you tried hiring a few different types to see whether they meet your expectations? Not necessarily the cheapest option but nor is buying the wrong boat.
AndrewCrown said:
Some very good advice on here....
My tuppence.....I’d advise some RYA approved training way before you buy a boat...
Indeed there is and I sincerely thank everyone who has posted on this thread for chiming in with their views. I have done an enormous amount of reading and research since being pointed in the right directions!My tuppence.....I’d advise some RYA approved training way before you buy a boat...
We have decided to get our power boat licenses first and the VHF course and go from there.
My father in law is very much fishing orientated, he has an 11m Cheetah Marine Cat with twin Honda 250vtec outboards (and had a Lochin before with inboards and trailer boats before that many many years ago). It's a fantastic boat and incredibly stable but he's been looking to sell it and it's obviously way over our budget and we rarely get out on it. Perhaps if we get our licenses he'll use it more as the whole thing has become a bit of a struggle for him. We have helped with the anti fouling and cleaning over the years and I've helped with bleeding power steering and some of the electronics and general maintenance as and when. The engine's are left out of the water and he always hoses them off so it's not particularly high maintenance in that regard.
TarquinMX5 said:
Don Shead is / was a boat designer. Deep Vee hull grips well in turns.
With the greatest of respect there's a huge difference in the boats you've mentioned, along the lines of 'I'm thinking about a Caterham or a big automatic Lexus saloon, what are the pros/cons?
I would suggest more research on displacement, semi-displacement and planing hulls.
Decide what you actually need, then what you'd like. Overnight accommodation, if so, how many berths. Onboard toilet - many women insist. Cooking. Standing headroom. Open or closed cockpit. Petrol or diesel. Trailable or not, if so, weight capacity of vehicle, storage etc etc. Marina, swinging mooring, dry stack.
I know owners who get most pleasure from pottering in the marina, having a cup of tea and going home. Others cross the channel.
What is the likely cruising area, depth etc.. outboards, on balance, easier to maintain, fewer holes in the hull. However, can be stolen more easily.
If you don't have previous and significant experience, I would strongly suggest RYA course and VHF course; the sea isn't very forgiving. Generally, and its my experience only, those with smaller boats seem to use them more and have more fun. Some of the big ones become floating caravans and aren't much 'fun', but then they offer more room and facilities. People might say 'don't worry about the fuel, it's negligible'. In the scheme of things, maybe, but even small 150 litre fuel tanks can make some people wince, let alone 1500 litre ones, particularly if petrol.
Have you tried hiring a few different types to see whether they meet your expectations? Not necessarily the cheapest option but nor is buying the wrong boat.
Thank you, yes I read up on all that, he raced boats too, I've since done a lot of reading. I'm quite clear on what boat type I'd like, I've always loved Sunseekers, my Grandfather had a small one many years ago and I used to always go down and help him as a kid before he was taken from us far too soon.With the greatest of respect there's a huge difference in the boats you've mentioned, along the lines of 'I'm thinking about a Caterham or a big automatic Lexus saloon, what are the pros/cons?
I would suggest more research on displacement, semi-displacement and planing hulls.
Decide what you actually need, then what you'd like. Overnight accommodation, if so, how many berths. Onboard toilet - many women insist. Cooking. Standing headroom. Open or closed cockpit. Petrol or diesel. Trailable or not, if so, weight capacity of vehicle, storage etc etc. Marina, swinging mooring, dry stack.
I know owners who get most pleasure from pottering in the marina, having a cup of tea and going home. Others cross the channel.
What is the likely cruising area, depth etc.. outboards, on balance, easier to maintain, fewer holes in the hull. However, can be stolen more easily.
If you don't have previous and significant experience, I would strongly suggest RYA course and VHF course; the sea isn't very forgiving. Generally, and its my experience only, those with smaller boats seem to use them more and have more fun. Some of the big ones become floating caravans and aren't much 'fun', but then they offer more room and facilities. People might say 'don't worry about the fuel, it's negligible'. In the scheme of things, maybe, but even small 150 litre fuel tanks can make some people wince, let alone 1500 litre ones, particularly if petrol.
Have you tried hiring a few different types to see whether they meet your expectations? Not necessarily the cheapest option but nor is buying the wrong boat.
Motorbikes aren't very family inclusive, however with the right boat we could probably have a lot of family fun together. The real issue is a question of affordability. I've been doing lots of research on VP out drives, the maintenance of those having read some guides and watched tutorials doesn't phase me nor anti foul or indeed engine servicing. Winterising sounds like a bit of a pain but nothing too onerous there. The fuel costs unfortunately would probably be prohibitive when combined with Marina fees. For this reason I think we'll probably wait 4 years once the kids are finished with school before taking the plunge so to speak on that type of vessel. In the meantime, I might consider a 21" trailer boat circa the £10-12k mark but again, we'll sort all our licenses out first.
I've owned or co-owned a string of small power boats, but all smaller than you are looking at.
I've currently got a 5.2 m plate-alloy trailer boat, with a 75 hp outboard. No cabin, but a Bimini and screens make it pretty rain/spray proof.
It's a lot less maintenance than a moored boat (especially a wooden one
).
One option to consider with a trailerable boat is rack storage at a marina. Boats are dry-stored in racks, and lifted down with a forklift for launch.
You book a launch the day before, drive down and step aboard.
I've currently got a 5.2 m plate-alloy trailer boat, with a 75 hp outboard. No cabin, but a Bimini and screens make it pretty rain/spray proof.
It's a lot less maintenance than a moored boat (especially a wooden one
).One option to consider with a trailerable boat is rack storage at a marina. Boats are dry-stored in racks, and lifted down with a forklift for launch.
You book a launch the day before, drive down and step aboard.
A thread resurrection!!
Well I owe it to everyone who commented and kindly gave us excellent advice on this thread to return with where we ended up.
We decided what with all the lockdowns and unlikelihood of holidays abroad for a couple of years etc that we should just take the plunge. We sold our flash car which was only doing about 3k miles per year and put that into a boat budget.
We subsequently went to view the Sunseeker in question and fell in love with it. It was pretty much everything we were looking for in a boat. However it had osmosis, so after reading a ton on osmosis, we were going to take it on in the realisation that it would be a project and we had negotiated a huge amount off the price. However it came to our knowledge that the bulkhead had also gone soft in a triangulated section in the middle lower area. This was a step too far so we had to say goodbye to that one.
We then viewed many more Sunseekers, as time went on we started looking at Martinique 36’s and lastly a Martinique 39 on lovely Yamaha 420 engines. We did a deal on the 39 but the seller pulled out just before the survey. At this point it was becoming a little frustrating, many months had gone by and it was a question of how hard can it be to buy a boat? The market was against us, being a sellers market with anything being snapped up straight away, no bargains to be had.
Eventually an advert came up for a Sunseeker Portofino 400. We spoke to the agent straight away and were the first to view. Long story short, it was a scary prospect being 40ft long running twin 420hp Caterpillar 3126 engines on shafts (V drives). It was in excellent condition and was quite a budget stretch. We have now owned it for about 7 months and it is kept in a marina.
It has been a vertical learning curve, it hasn’t all been plain sailing, we’ve had a leaking shaft seal, snapped alternator bracket and an intermittent limited max revs on one engine which I believe to be fuel related and currently trying to sort (have dosed tank/changed filters and purchased a diesel dipper - yet to fit)! . We’ve done a host of improvement work to it (new raw water hoses, wet exhaust pipes, intake pipes are waiting to be fitted, mattresses, window seals, porthole fly nets and much more), a fair bit of preventative maintenance finding all sorts of other issues in the process but it’s all a part of it. We’ve done all the work ourselves and we’ll be hauling out for anti foul in about 3 months time. I’ve literally spent most weekends down there and we probably got about 14 days glorious days out on the sea with it last year/season and about 30 hours running time with more time spent drifting or at anchor in a nearby secluded bay and plenty in the Marina. It would have been more but for some of the issues preventing us.
It was more work that I was anticipating from a maintenance point of view but being a bit OCD, as one of my boating neighbours says, “the trouble with looking for problems is that you invariably find them” but then again, a stitch in time saves nine and all that. We got lucky with the alternator as it was being kept in place by one bolt when I spotted it, that could have been messy. We also sorted the shaft leak after a full day in the bilge (fitment issue).
I had many fears, biggest was whether we could handle such a boat and it has been absolutely fine, twin engines and a bow thruster make light work of mooring, I barely have to use the thruster. I’m hoping that the first year is going to be the worst maintenance wise, we’ve overdone it really to bring the boat to a certain level, I’ve replaced all the anodes, discovered a blocked water feed to one of the prop seals and both the transmission coolers were crudded up, need a couple new end caps to the heat exchanger as there was no continuity to the anodes and some other minor stuff. Shortly I’ll be fitting all new belts, impellers, annual oil and gearbox change, we’ve replaced already or will be just about every hose, fuel filters have been done and placing of the dipper and plumbing is a challenge in itself but I’m getting familiar with crawling around the engine room now!! It has been tough work with plenty to do and all the on board systems to learn and I hope after this next bit of work that we’ll be able to enjoy it for a bit while we recharge (unlikely!)!
Anyway, enough of the boring waffle…here are a few pics…
Thanks again to everyone, we have had a lot of fun with it and hope to have much more in the coming months/years!!
Well I owe it to everyone who commented and kindly gave us excellent advice on this thread to return with where we ended up.
We decided what with all the lockdowns and unlikelihood of holidays abroad for a couple of years etc that we should just take the plunge. We sold our flash car which was only doing about 3k miles per year and put that into a boat budget.
We subsequently went to view the Sunseeker in question and fell in love with it. It was pretty much everything we were looking for in a boat. However it had osmosis, so after reading a ton on osmosis, we were going to take it on in the realisation that it would be a project and we had negotiated a huge amount off the price. However it came to our knowledge that the bulkhead had also gone soft in a triangulated section in the middle lower area. This was a step too far so we had to say goodbye to that one.
We then viewed many more Sunseekers, as time went on we started looking at Martinique 36’s and lastly a Martinique 39 on lovely Yamaha 420 engines. We did a deal on the 39 but the seller pulled out just before the survey. At this point it was becoming a little frustrating, many months had gone by and it was a question of how hard can it be to buy a boat? The market was against us, being a sellers market with anything being snapped up straight away, no bargains to be had.
Eventually an advert came up for a Sunseeker Portofino 400. We spoke to the agent straight away and were the first to view. Long story short, it was a scary prospect being 40ft long running twin 420hp Caterpillar 3126 engines on shafts (V drives). It was in excellent condition and was quite a budget stretch. We have now owned it for about 7 months and it is kept in a marina.
It has been a vertical learning curve, it hasn’t all been plain sailing, we’ve had a leaking shaft seal, snapped alternator bracket and an intermittent limited max revs on one engine which I believe to be fuel related and currently trying to sort (have dosed tank/changed filters and purchased a diesel dipper - yet to fit)! . We’ve done a host of improvement work to it (new raw water hoses, wet exhaust pipes, intake pipes are waiting to be fitted, mattresses, window seals, porthole fly nets and much more), a fair bit of preventative maintenance finding all sorts of other issues in the process but it’s all a part of it. We’ve done all the work ourselves and we’ll be hauling out for anti foul in about 3 months time. I’ve literally spent most weekends down there and we probably got about 14 days glorious days out on the sea with it last year/season and about 30 hours running time with more time spent drifting or at anchor in a nearby secluded bay and plenty in the Marina. It would have been more but for some of the issues preventing us.
It was more work that I was anticipating from a maintenance point of view but being a bit OCD, as one of my boating neighbours says, “the trouble with looking for problems is that you invariably find them” but then again, a stitch in time saves nine and all that. We got lucky with the alternator as it was being kept in place by one bolt when I spotted it, that could have been messy. We also sorted the shaft leak after a full day in the bilge (fitment issue).
I had many fears, biggest was whether we could handle such a boat and it has been absolutely fine, twin engines and a bow thruster make light work of mooring, I barely have to use the thruster. I’m hoping that the first year is going to be the worst maintenance wise, we’ve overdone it really to bring the boat to a certain level, I’ve replaced all the anodes, discovered a blocked water feed to one of the prop seals and both the transmission coolers were crudded up, need a couple new end caps to the heat exchanger as there was no continuity to the anodes and some other minor stuff. Shortly I’ll be fitting all new belts, impellers, annual oil and gearbox change, we’ve replaced already or will be just about every hose, fuel filters have been done and placing of the dipper and plumbing is a challenge in itself but I’m getting familiar with crawling around the engine room now!! It has been tough work with plenty to do and all the on board systems to learn and I hope after this next bit of work that we’ll be able to enjoy it for a bit while we recharge (unlikely!)!
Anyway, enough of the boring waffle…here are a few pics…
Thanks again to everyone, we have had a lot of fun with it and hope to have much more in the coming months/years!!
NITO
Great thread resurrection... Congratulations.
There can't be many PH'ers who have a conveyance with 2x 7.2 Litre straight sixes...
If you can do this, then why the hell not..
Have you considered doing a Reader's cars type thread on this? Would be great to see the actuals vs the money pit nay sayers.
Great thread resurrection... Congratulations.
There can't be many PH'ers who have a conveyance with 2x 7.2 Litre straight sixes...
If you can do this, then why the hell not..
Have you considered doing a Reader's cars type thread on this? Would be great to see the actuals vs the money pit nay sayers.
NITO said:
A thread resurrection!!
Well I owe it to everyone who commented and kindly gave us excellent advice on this thread to return with where we ended up.
We decided what with all the lockdowns and unlikelihood of holidays abroad for a couple of years etc that we should just take the plunge. We sold our flash car which was only doing about 3k miles per year and put that into a boat budget.
We subsequently went to view the Sunseeker in question and fell in love with it. It was pretty much everything we were looking for in a boat. However it had osmosis, so after reading a ton on osmosis, we were going to take it on in the realisation that it would be a project and we had negotiated a huge amount off the price. However it came to our knowledge that the bulkhead had also gone soft in a triangulated section in the middle lower area. This was a step too far so we had to say goodbye to that one.
We then viewed many more Sunseekers, as time went on we started looking at Martinique 36’s and lastly a Martinique 39 on lovely Yamaha 420 engines. We did a deal on the 39 but the seller pulled out just before the survey. At this point it was becoming a little frustrating, many months had gone by and it was a question of how hard can it be to buy a boat? The market was against us, being a sellers market with anything being snapped up straight away, no bargains to be had.
Eventually an advert came up for a Sunseeker Portofino 400. We spoke to the agent straight away and were the first to view. Long story short, it was a scary prospect being 40ft long running twin 420hp Caterpillar 3126 engines on shafts (V drives). It was in excellent condition and was quite a budget stretch. We have now owned it for about 7 months and it is kept in a marina.
It has been a vertical learning curve, it hasn’t all been plain sailing, we’ve had a leaking shaft seal, snapped alternator bracket and an intermittent limited max revs on one engine which I believe to be fuel related and currently trying to sort (have dosed tank/changed filters and purchased a diesel dipper - yet to fit)! . We’ve done a host of improvement work to it (new raw water hoses, wet exhaust pipes, intake pipes are waiting to be fitted, mattresses, window seals, porthole fly nets and much more), a fair bit of preventative maintenance finding all sorts of other issues in the process but it’s all a part of it. We’ve done all the work ourselves and we’ll be hauling out for anti foul in about 3 months time. I’ve literally spent most weekends down there and we probably got about 14 days glorious days out on the sea with it last year/season and about 30 hours running time with more time spent drifting or at anchor in a nearby secluded bay and plenty in the Marina. It would have been more but for some of the issues preventing us.
It was more work that I was anticipating from a maintenance point of view but being a bit OCD, as one of my boating neighbours says, “the trouble with looking for problems is that you invariably find them” but then again, a stitch in time saves nine and all that. We got lucky with the alternator as it was being kept in place by one bolt when I spotted it, that could have been messy. We also sorted the shaft leak after a full day in the bilge (fitment issue).
I had many fears, biggest was whether we could handle such a boat and it has been absolutely fine, twin engines and a bow thruster make light work of mooring, I barely have to use the thruster. I’m hoping that the first year is going to be the worst maintenance wise, we’ve overdone it really to bring the boat to a certain level, I’ve replaced all the anodes, discovered a blocked water feed to one of the prop seals and both the transmission coolers were crudded up, need a couple new end caps to the heat exchanger as there was no continuity to the anodes and some other minor stuff. Shortly I’ll be fitting all new belts, impellers, annual oil and gearbox change, we’ve replaced already or will be just about every hose, fuel filters have been done and placing of the dipper and plumbing is a challenge in itself but I’m getting familiar with crawling around the engine room now!! It has been tough work with plenty to do and all the on board systems to learn and I hope after this next bit of work that we’ll be able to enjoy it for a bit while we recharge (unlikely!)!
Anyway, enough of the boring waffle…here are a few pics…
Thanks again to everyone, we have had a lot of fun with it and hope to have much more in the coming months/years!!
Congratulations on a lovely looking boat.Well I owe it to everyone who commented and kindly gave us excellent advice on this thread to return with where we ended up.
We decided what with all the lockdowns and unlikelihood of holidays abroad for a couple of years etc that we should just take the plunge. We sold our flash car which was only doing about 3k miles per year and put that into a boat budget.
We subsequently went to view the Sunseeker in question and fell in love with it. It was pretty much everything we were looking for in a boat. However it had osmosis, so after reading a ton on osmosis, we were going to take it on in the realisation that it would be a project and we had negotiated a huge amount off the price. However it came to our knowledge that the bulkhead had also gone soft in a triangulated section in the middle lower area. This was a step too far so we had to say goodbye to that one.
We then viewed many more Sunseekers, as time went on we started looking at Martinique 36’s and lastly a Martinique 39 on lovely Yamaha 420 engines. We did a deal on the 39 but the seller pulled out just before the survey. At this point it was becoming a little frustrating, many months had gone by and it was a question of how hard can it be to buy a boat? The market was against us, being a sellers market with anything being snapped up straight away, no bargains to be had.
Eventually an advert came up for a Sunseeker Portofino 400. We spoke to the agent straight away and were the first to view. Long story short, it was a scary prospect being 40ft long running twin 420hp Caterpillar 3126 engines on shafts (V drives). It was in excellent condition and was quite a budget stretch. We have now owned it for about 7 months and it is kept in a marina.
It has been a vertical learning curve, it hasn’t all been plain sailing, we’ve had a leaking shaft seal, snapped alternator bracket and an intermittent limited max revs on one engine which I believe to be fuel related and currently trying to sort (have dosed tank/changed filters and purchased a diesel dipper - yet to fit)! . We’ve done a host of improvement work to it (new raw water hoses, wet exhaust pipes, intake pipes are waiting to be fitted, mattresses, window seals, porthole fly nets and much more), a fair bit of preventative maintenance finding all sorts of other issues in the process but it’s all a part of it. We’ve done all the work ourselves and we’ll be hauling out for anti foul in about 3 months time. I’ve literally spent most weekends down there and we probably got about 14 days glorious days out on the sea with it last year/season and about 30 hours running time with more time spent drifting or at anchor in a nearby secluded bay and plenty in the Marina. It would have been more but for some of the issues preventing us.
It was more work that I was anticipating from a maintenance point of view but being a bit OCD, as one of my boating neighbours says, “the trouble with looking for problems is that you invariably find them” but then again, a stitch in time saves nine and all that. We got lucky with the alternator as it was being kept in place by one bolt when I spotted it, that could have been messy. We also sorted the shaft leak after a full day in the bilge (fitment issue).
I had many fears, biggest was whether we could handle such a boat and it has been absolutely fine, twin engines and a bow thruster make light work of mooring, I barely have to use the thruster. I’m hoping that the first year is going to be the worst maintenance wise, we’ve overdone it really to bring the boat to a certain level, I’ve replaced all the anodes, discovered a blocked water feed to one of the prop seals and both the transmission coolers were crudded up, need a couple new end caps to the heat exchanger as there was no continuity to the anodes and some other minor stuff. Shortly I’ll be fitting all new belts, impellers, annual oil and gearbox change, we’ve replaced already or will be just about every hose, fuel filters have been done and placing of the dipper and plumbing is a challenge in itself but I’m getting familiar with crawling around the engine room now!! It has been tough work with plenty to do and all the on board systems to learn and I hope after this next bit of work that we’ll be able to enjoy it for a bit while we recharge (unlikely!)!
Anyway, enough of the boring waffle…here are a few pics…
Thanks again to everyone, we have had a lot of fun with it and hope to have much more in the coming months/years!!
You've answered the question you posed in the thread title, though, haven't you.
dudleybloke said:
Very nice!
Thank you Sir!AndrewCrown said:
NITO
Great thread resurrection... Congratulations.
There can't be many PH'ers who have a conveyance with 2x 7.2 Litre straight sixes...
If you can do this, then why the hell not..
Have you considered doing a Reader's cars type thread on this? Would be great to see the actuals vs the money pit nay sayers.
Ha, it would probably prove them right Great thread resurrection... Congratulations.
There can't be many PH'ers who have a conveyance with 2x 7.2 Litre straight sixes...
If you can do this, then why the hell not..
Have you considered doing a Reader's cars type thread on this? Would be great to see the actuals vs the money pit nay sayers.
Thank you very much, I think some of the best advice was if you enjoy it don't think too much about the costs (provided you can afford them of course!) I am actually keeping a full spreadsheet and usually keep a blog on all my vehicles just so I can remember what I have and haven't done, I have an initial blog for the boat and will be working on updating this with further posts including detailing some of the maintenance work. If you're interested, you can find it here;
https://nitosport.com/blog/2021/05/16/life-on-the-...
It's protected for the moment so it'll ask you for the password which is; WSII
peterperkins said:
Cool. Being PH how fast does it go?
We've had it to 32knots with a full tank of fuel and water and about a crew of 5 iirc at max revs of 2800rpm. Book speed back in the day was 35 knots. The Caterpillars are 7.2L each with 420hp a piece, so we're talking a total of 12 pistons, 14.4L and 840 total hp. Each engine takes about 25L of oil and each gearbox a further 8L each. Fuel tank size is 1000L. Louis Balfour said:
Congratulations on a lovely looking boat.
You've answered the question you posed in the thread title, though, haven't you.
Yes, I think it is on this thread that I learnt that apparently a boat is a hole in the water into which you pour your money. In all seriousness, some of the things that freaked me out at the beginning have not been as bad as I thought, such as fuel consumption which was a biggie for me. I would say that I would get back everything I've spent on it maintenance wise and upgrading, except my time! If I was having to pay someone to do everything owning such a boat would just not be sustainable. This takes a big sting out of ownership but it is also hard work, rewarding some times and draining others. I have quite a few motorbikes and since owning a boat they have been totally neglected and it's a struggle to balance my time at the moment but I've put into my head that this first year will hopefully be the hardest as we get the boat where we want it and we're still learning. I just hope that the preventative maintenance will serve to protect us as best as possible from any catastrophe's later down the line, pay off little Bill to stave off big Bill as they say! You've answered the question you posed in the thread title, though, haven't you.
Earthdweller said:
Is it on a pcp?
No, paid with BST. (Blood, sweat and tears ) dhutch said:
Epic thread update, good work and thanks for posting back!
A 'readers boat' thread on the work done would be amazing, but I also understand they can become another burden over an above the actual work.
Thank you. As above, I have started a blog and to tend to use them, but it's hard to find the time to tap those blog entries in! I must get up to date with them before I forget them. I can update here when the next entry is done if there is interest. I do them for my own benefit, keeping an online diary for each vehicle. Ever since photobucket stuffed all the forums up I decided to host all my info on my own site so I wouldn't be at anyone else's mercy, particularly after putting lots of work into so many forum posts that got ruined over the years!!A 'readers boat' thread on the work done would be amazing, but I also understand they can become another burden over an above the actual work.
Edited by NITO on Tuesday 11th January 14:27
Edited by NITO on Monday 17th July 11:09
Nice one, really enjoyed reading the thread and the final update!
I must say I remember the years we owned a boat as some of the best in my life. Ownership comes with some bads, but a lot of goods: time spent in the bilge trying to sort out that non-working pump, checking here and there "for peace of mind" and finally finishing the day with a good pint with the neighbours.
Oh yes, sometimes it happens to sail too....
Enjoy it
I must say I remember the years we owned a boat as some of the best in my life. Ownership comes with some bads, but a lot of goods: time spent in the bilge trying to sort out that non-working pump, checking here and there "for peace of mind" and finally finishing the day with a good pint with the neighbours.
Oh yes, sometimes it happens to sail too....
Enjoy it
OP said:
Yes, I think it is on this thread that I learnt that apparently a boat is a hole in the water into which you pour your money. In all seriousness, some of the things that freaked me out at the beginning have not been as bad as I thought, such as fuel consumption which was a biggie for me. I would say that I would get back everything I've spent on it maintenance wise and upgrading, except my time! If I was having to pay someone to do everything owning such a boat would just not be sustainable. This takes a big sting out of ownership but it is also hard work, rewarding some times and draining others. I have quite a few motorbikes and since owning a boat they have been totally neglected and it's a struggle to balance my time at the moment but I've put into my head that this first year will hopefully be the hardest as we get the boat where we want it and we're still learning. I just hope that the preventative maintenance will serve to protect us as best as possible from any catastrophe's later down the line, pay off little Bill to stave off big Bill as they say!
We've just sold our boat, as you may know. We enjoyed it, but the ongoing (and accelerating) cost of ownership was going to play on my mind. Essentially because I am tight.dhutch said:
Sounds good. And yes, remember the photobucket watershed greatly.
I run a forum, and like many others, now host all photos ourself in-house so speak, well it's actually all stored on AWS but we have off-site 3rd party backups etc. Too much good information to risk loosing it.
Best way to go. Sadly it killed off so many forums which have now largely gone FB based but it's really not the same. I run a forum, and like many others, now host all photos ourself in-house so speak, well it's actually all stored on AWS but we have off-site 3rd party backups etc. Too much good information to risk loosing it.
AlexIT said:
Nice one, really enjoyed reading the thread and the final update!
I must say I remember the years we owned a boat as some of the best in my life. Ownership comes with some bads, but a lot of goods: time spent in the bilge trying to sort out that non-working pump, checking here and there "for peace of mind" and finally finishing the day with a good pint with the neighbours.
Oh yes, sometimes it happens to sail too....
Enjoy it
Thank you very much, it's been great to have it in a Marina, just passing time there can be incredibly peaceful, it's basically a bolthole by the Sea!I must say I remember the years we owned a boat as some of the best in my life. Ownership comes with some bads, but a lot of goods: time spent in the bilge trying to sort out that non-working pump, checking here and there "for peace of mind" and finally finishing the day with a good pint with the neighbours.
Oh yes, sometimes it happens to sail too....
Enjoy it
Louis Balfour said:
We've just sold our boat, as you may know. We enjoyed it, but the ongoing (and accelerating) cost of ownership was going to play on my mind. Essentially because I am tight.
I didn't know, did you have it long, what was it? Did you do the work yourself or have it done? I know if I was having to pay for the work I simply wouldn't be able to justify it, well I don't think frankly I could afford it. We budgeted for the marina fees and that's a fixed cost, and we had accurately budgeted regular maintenance and anti foul, it's the unknowns where the stress factor lies. The previous owner had to have a new port engine fitted a few months into his ownership. He took the opportunity to fit 2 new turbos and alternators, had all the coolers cleaned etc, then proceeded to put 500 hours on it in 5 years including taking it to the bay of Biscay. He had his value out of it, he did most of the work himself apart from the engine out stuff.ecs0set said:
NITO said:
Upto 30k ish budget
NITO said:
was quite a budget stretch
NITO said:
Ahem, yes that post didn't age well. When we started looking, we were kind of dipping a toe in the water, there's an awful lot to consider and we approached it cautiously. The available budget grew considerably after selling my car (which was a mistake to buy and I have to say I don't miss it one single bit, at all) and the intervening time between when we started looking and when we bought which allowed us to save some more.
As we viewed boats and more and more time passed by we got a better understanding of what ticked our boxes, there is one school of thought that you start small and work your way up, you could say we jumped in at the deep end, although, shaft drive will be less maintenance on the whole and we won't need to be changing boat anytime soon. The fuel consumption has been a revelation. She'll cruise at 24knots at 79.5L/Hr which includes the odd higher excursion but how we use it, which is trundling out to our favourite anchor point at around 13 knots, we consume about 33L/hr total! I dare say we ended up with the right boat for us in the end, it has been absolutely perfect for our needs.
It's clear that you can never financially justify a boat, I guess it comes down to, is the juice worth the squeeze? When it no longer is then I guess it's time to get out!
[quote]I didn't know, did you have it long, what was it? Did you do the work yourself or have it done? I know if I was having to pay for the work I simply wouldn't be able to justify it, well I don't think frankly I could afford it. We budgeted for the marina fees and that's a fixed cost, and we had accurately budgeted regular maintenance and anti foul, it's the unknowns where the stress factor lies. The previous owner had to have a new port engine fitted a few months into his ownership. He took the opportunity to fit 2 new turbos and alternators, had all the coolers cleaned etc, then proceeded to put 500 hours on it in 5 years including taking it to the bay of Biscay. He had his value out of it, he did most of the work himself apart from the engine out stuff.
[/quote]
It was a new Merry Fisher 695 and no, I did not work on it myself. But even new boats need stuff doing and if it had been sitting in a marina just going green over winter I would not have been happy.
[/quote]
It was a new Merry Fisher 695 and no, I did not work on it myself. But even new boats need stuff doing and if it had been sitting in a marina just going green over winter I would not have been happy.
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