Discussion
Evening
Looking for a bit of a multipurpose speed boat and wondered if there were any recommendations...
Would like it to be powerful enough for watersports - waterskiing wakeboarding etc, large enough for a couple of folk to fish off the side with, and the tough part is I'd quite like it to have a cabin if possible, although obviously nothing too glamorous. Will be used on coastal waters. I am looking at the cheaper end of the market...
Many moons ago I had a Fletcher Arrowbolt? 21 that sort of fitted the bill, wondering if there were any other suggestions?
Cheers
Looking for a bit of a multipurpose speed boat and wondered if there were any recommendations...
Would like it to be powerful enough for watersports - waterskiing wakeboarding etc, large enough for a couple of folk to fish off the side with, and the tough part is I'd quite like it to have a cabin if possible, although obviously nothing too glamorous. Will be used on coastal waters. I am looking at the cheaper end of the market...
Many moons ago I had a Fletcher Arrowbolt? 21 that sort of fitted the bill, wondering if there were any other suggestions?
Cheers
Just had a quick look at cuddy boats.
Brother in law used to have one which he took to the Gower each year.
Can't remember the make but it had a decent sized outboard so could motor.
Caught some decent fish off it.
Made for a very chilled day.
They are cheaper than I thought or is something like this a money pit?
I can imagine it's bloody expensive to run with a 200.
https://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/Cuddy-Boat-for...
Brother in law used to have one which he took to the Gower each year.
Can't remember the make but it had a decent sized outboard so could motor.
Caught some decent fish off it.
Made for a very chilled day.
They are cheaper than I thought or is something like this a money pit?
I can imagine it's bloody expensive to run with a 200.
https://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/Cuddy-Boat-for...
Edited by GreatGranny on Thursday 4th October 09:15
AC123 said:
Any thoughts on Maxum boats?
I have one. It is a 2500SE 4 berth sportscruiser. It is actually quite good for its size. Have not pulled a skier with it but it is quite happy to drag inflatables.
It has a 350 mag efi on a b3 leg and quite happily lifts its skirts and runs out of steam in the high 30kts. Like any other V8 boat, is a bit thirsty at WOT < 1mpg compared to about 2.5+ on a “weather dependent” cruise (25ish kts).
Seakeeping is ok for a little 25-6 footer too, seemingly cutting the Solent chop better than my old Bayliner although both are really designed for US lakes and not the Solent chop.
Fit out is quite decent, although I have a couple of bits which have let go. One cabin door stop and the cabin hatch stay pivot had sheared before I bought it - really poor place to put any plastic IMO.
Note Maxum have not made boats since 2009 so hull spares can be difficult to come by, and the 2500SE is too big to trailer unless you have a very capable and heavy 4x4. So you are looking at mooring fees unless you have a free pontoon at the bottom of your garden (which thankfully I do
).SeeFive said:
I have one.
It is a 2500SE 4 berth sportscruiser. It is actually quite good for its size. Have not pulled a skier with it but it is quite happy to drag inflatables.
It has a 350 mag efi on a b3 leg and quite happily lifts its skirts and runs out of steam in the high 30kts. Like any other V8 boat, is a bit thirsty at WOT < 1mpg compared to about 2.5+ on a “weather dependent” cruise (25ish kts).
Seakeeping is ok for a little 25-6 footer too, seemingly cutting the Solent chop better than my old Bayliner although both are really designed for US lakes and not the Solent chop.
Fit out is quite decent, although I have a couple of bits which have let go. One cabin door stop and the cabin hatch stay pivot had sheared before I bought it - really poor place to put any plastic IMO.
Note Maxum have not made boats since 2009 so hull spares can be difficult to come by, and the 2500SE is too big to trailer unless you have a very capable and heavy 4x4. So you are looking at mooring fees unless you have a free pontoon at the bottom of your garden (which thankfully I do ).
Very helpful, thank you.It is a 2500SE 4 berth sportscruiser. It is actually quite good for its size. Have not pulled a skier with it but it is quite happy to drag inflatables.
It has a 350 mag efi on a b3 leg and quite happily lifts its skirts and runs out of steam in the high 30kts. Like any other V8 boat, is a bit thirsty at WOT < 1mpg compared to about 2.5+ on a “weather dependent” cruise (25ish kts).
Seakeeping is ok for a little 25-6 footer too, seemingly cutting the Solent chop better than my old Bayliner although both are really designed for US lakes and not the Solent chop.
Fit out is quite decent, although I have a couple of bits which have let go. One cabin door stop and the cabin hatch stay pivot had sheared before I bought it - really poor place to put any plastic IMO.
Note Maxum have not made boats since 2009 so hull spares can be difficult to come by, and the 2500SE is too big to trailer unless you have a very capable and heavy 4x4. So you are looking at mooring fees unless you have a free pontoon at the bottom of your garden (which thankfully I do
).Would you have any suggestions of boats more suitable to chop? The old girl won't be best pleased if it goes under...
I thought they would be thirsty but hadn't realised quite how bad! Hmmm... might have to rethink this.
Something with a deep-vee hull will make short work of Solent chop. And if running costs are a concern, get something with an outboard(s) over a petrol V8 inboard. Twin outboards is a great option as you also have redundancy. Horsepower for Horsepower outboards they are much less thirsty and much cheaper and simpler to maintain. An inboard diesel will have better fuel economy, but performance will generally be lower and purchase price will be higher. Maintenance costs are still up there in line with an inboard petrol.
dvs_dave said:
Something with a deep-vee hull will make short work of Solent chop. And if running costs are a concern, get something with an outboard(s) over a petrol V8 inboard. Twin outboards is a great option as you also have redundancy. Horsepower for Horsepower outboards they are much less thirsty and much cheaper and simpler to maintain. An inboard diesel will have better fuel economy, but performance will generally be lower and purchase price will be higher. Maintenance costs are still up there in line with an inboard petrol.
Thanks Dave. Will be mainly on the N Wales coast so a deep vee hull seems sensible. I'd rather go for the outboards or the diesel from what you are saying. Don't mind a higher purchase price to be honest, have enough cars that take too much juice as it is! Would the reduced performance of an inboard diesel still be ok to lift a skier?AC123 said:
Very helpful, thank you.
Would you have any suggestions of boats more suitable to chop? The old girl won't be best pleased if it goes under...
I thought they would be thirsty but hadn't realised quite how bad! Hmmm... might have to rethink this.
With boats, it really is the epitome of opinions and assholes. The opinions will differ markedly based on the user and focus.Would you have any suggestions of boats more suitable to chop? The old girl won't be best pleased if it goes under...
I thought they would be thirsty but hadn't realised quite how bad! Hmmm... might have to rethink this.
To be fair, with the type of performance you are looking at, waterline length and weight is gonna be almost as important as the shape of hull to ease nasty chop - not big waves, but sharp buggers of a metre or so in a little light boat.. The less it weighs and the quicker it goes, the more uncomfortable it will be. A 24 to 26 footer will not resolve this unless you have a wave piercing hull, and that is typically more than a bit damp aboard.
Mine is a deep vee, also having a reasonable deadrise for a lake boat and it is stepped to get it out of the water quicker from a holeshot - helps acceleration which you will need for skiers. The chop issue I t is not about sinking, it is about slamming into waves at speed and the associated dental and osteopath bills
. You are more likely to sink in waves with an open boat with a low freeboard (the side height above water that stops the waves coming in).If you have a longer lwl then you have a bit more flexibility on matching your speed to the wave crest frequency... kind of just clipping the tops. When the lwl is shorter, it is easier to fall into the troughs and get slamming.
So, from what I hear, if you want to do water sports then you are going to struggle to find a truly comfortable boat. Anything under 26 foot is gonna be uncomfortable at times at sea - any sea, no matter what a brilliant vee and deadrise it has. If you go over 26 foot with a cabin, you typically add weight which isn’t good for getting a skier out of the water. So over 26 foot for skiing, replace the Volvo/mercruisers with a pair of Lambos (slightly exaggerating but you get the drift?)
Sealine always used to have the adage “British boats for British waters”, but when you go shorter in a Sealine they do tend to get a bit tippy. Personally, I wouldn’t touch a Sealine shorter than an S28, and you probably won’t ski too excitingly with that with any of the lumps they put in them.
So you will need to start to make compromises... drop the cabin for proper skiing, or have slightly less agility but a lot more comfort for cruising, and space for fishing. But I f course, it isn’t that simple as a small deep vee at anchor or standing still with roll all over the place compared to a dory (fishing type small hull) but a dory will slam like hell at speed and you won’t go skiing too successfully - so again, compromises.
Basically, to find one boat that does all the things you want really well is gonna be difficult. I guess it is about making up your mind about what is most important, and then having another punt at finding a candidate. Basically, I wouldn’t buy a heavy sports cruiser if I wanted to fish seriously all the time or ski with agility, but if I wanted some inflatable type sport, bit of fishing and fair quality cruising and overnighting capability combined, then perhaps that is a way to go - depending on which of those is your focus.
Talking about the missus and it sinking, remember that the day you take her out about an hour away from your berth, it starts pissing down and you don’t have a cabin will be the day you lose your admiral on board for future trips unless she is a very hardy type.
Just to add to the fun, mine started overfueling recently and I (or the engineer) found out what it was today. The engine has done about 100 hours, 4 years old. It is a generation 3 Magnum. The bright buggers at mercury marine decided to paint the inside of the cold fuel system pump system. Well, that may ease corrosion for a while, but today I found out that there is a known fault with those pumps - they have issued a maintenance bulletin but of course won’t stand by their engineering errors which is, that the paint flakes off INSIDE the fuel system.
So I now have a complete fuel system full of paint flakes that have corroded away from the inside of the pump which of course mercury have now fixed by replacing the design with an unpainted pump, but will not do a recall on, meaning they would pay, not me. The net-net is that I have already spent around 600 quid on obvious bits he engineer recommended (and he is well recommended) before finding a high fuel pressure problem which wasn’t there when he tested before. The useless poor design painted fuel pump will set me back over a grand to replace. I just hope it hasn’t shagged the injectors...
Echoing the earlier poster, (remembering that my opinion will be one of many differing) maybe a big compromise across the three areas could be a vee hulled sport fisher cuddly with twin outboards for reasonable economy, lifespan and resilience built in. Inboards and legs are a royal pain in the wotsit, and with an outboard you can get them out of the water even when moored on a pontoon. Inboard / outdrive legs stay in the water and corrode between the different metals all the time you aren’t using the boat, meaning a lot of preventative and sometimes unexpected maintenance £££ above an ob setup.
So I now have a complete fuel system full of paint flakes that have corroded away from the inside of the pump which of course mercury have now fixed by replacing the design with an unpainted pump, but will not do a recall on, meaning they would pay, not me. The net-net is that I have already spent around 600 quid on obvious bits he engineer recommended (and he is well recommended) before finding a high fuel pressure problem which wasn’t there when he tested before. The useless poor design painted fuel pump will set me back over a grand to replace. I just hope it hasn’t shagged the injectors...
Echoing the earlier poster, (remembering that my opinion will be one of many differing) maybe a big compromise across the three areas could be a vee hulled sport fisher cuddly with twin outboards for reasonable economy, lifespan and resilience built in. Inboards and legs are a royal pain in the wotsit, and with an outboard you can get them out of the water even when moored on a pontoon. Inboard / outdrive legs stay in the water and corrode between the different metals all the time you aren’t using the boat, meaning a lot of preventative and sometimes unexpected maintenance £££ above an ob setup.
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