Gordmac

Saw that thanks, looks a decent enough boat. Will be a month or so before we are allowed to travel, ideally if I am doing the thousand mile odd round trip I would be able to look at a few different boats. It seems a seller's market and a lot of boats being sold, are people buying without looking or a sea trial?

No idea what it is called, didn't notice a name but then not something I would look for. Located in Gairloch, used commercially.

Thanks Maveric. The rarity of the legs are a concern, the one in question has been rebuilt apparently, the advert months ago mentioned a spare, the current one doesn't. I didn't realise they were out of production so long. I need to ask the seller a few more questions. His cabin picture is not very informative but it looks like the heads may be in the cabin rather than in a separate room, was that the case with your friends?

Oops, Yamaha rather than Yanmar mechanicals!

Chap with an Osprey 26 got back to me. Anyone know anything about them? What about the Yanmar engine and leg?

Carpet tiles?

I am a serious buyer, money sitting in the bank. I want some pictures that have not been posted in the ad, perhaps because they show things in a bad light. Email gives seller somewhere to send pictures to at their convenience. A phone call, quite possibly at an inconvenient time, then spelling out an email address probably several times over the phone is an inefficient way to achieve getting pictures. I am a customer, are we not always right! The boat has been for sale maybe six months, I asked for information a long time ago, at that time I could have gone to see it. If you want to sell something why not respond to enquiries? Interesting how people have different ideas.

That is interesting. I would always respond with an email asking for some pictures of what they have not included. To me a written communication is a much better idea than some random phone call!

If you have a few makes you are interested in Google will come up with quite a few. Can be time consuming to trawl through but what else can you do locked down! I have found brokers tend to leave sold boats advertised. I am also surprised at the number of advertisers who don't respond to an enquiry.

You can't drift very far, particularly if there is another boat!

When buying secondhand you have had no influence over it's previous life. Our club pontoon has a 6-7m hammerhead to park on, not quite so simple as a 10m finger!

I never found sticking my boat on it's mooring a problem (unlike rowing back against the wind!), the problem was putting it on the club pontoon. Getting from the wheel to get a line on a cleat before the bow got too far away was sometimes tricky! I have to say I am a bit scared of the risk with an outdrive but as Maverick says, there is also a fun factor to the higher performance outdrive boat. I also like the extra manoeuvrability of twin engines. Terrible these first world problems!

From what I am told an outdrive costs about the same as an engine to service so twin shaft costs would be similar to a single outdrive. I do my own servicing, £1000 buys an awful lot of oil! The difference in fuel cost is significant but not huge. As I said, if you are spending £4-5k on parking your boat another £700 or whatever on fuel is not significant, fuel will be my biggest cost though. The Benny 9, Rodman, Starfisher etc all have the same internal layout, a double berth in the forecabin and a smaller bed made from the seats and table. Some have better side decks than others. Some have twin engines and a better turn of speed. The layout makes getting from the helm to the side deck slower which will make it more difficult to single hand, particularly if the side decks are tight. How susceptable to windage is also an issue, hard to guage. Without having a look around them I can't really decide on suitability or desirability. Single outdrive boats like BT, Nordstar etc have decent walkaround side decks and side doors allowing quicker access for single hand use. The outdrive gives better economy as they go faster on the same power than a shaft drive. The outdrive is a bit more of a risk than shaft drive though. Problem is these boats are scarce and out with my price range! The Tarfish is more or less in my price range but needs a galley module (gas is apparently a real pain to retrofit) and is a bit on the basic side. I really need to have a look at a few boats. The only one I am familiar with is the BT, my friend has a 35. We took it up from Cornwall and have been to Stkilda so know what it will do (and how much fuel it uses!). I have also had a look round a 27 and a 29, inside and out. I had a look round the outside of the Rodman 1120 for sale near here and the 810 parked beside it but not anything else.

Indeed compromise is always needed, not just with boats! My previous boat would sit about 15kn but quite greedy on fuel. I would like the ability to do 25kn but the compromise there with shafts would be 20kn. Maybe modern medium vee hulls don't do well in a bit of weather, I don't know, the Levi I had would do pretty well any speed in anything and my friend's BT35 seems able to do over 20kn in pretty bad seas, big boat though. With a single on an outdrive you can get speed without heavy fuel consumption, the compromise being the outdrive costs. As an example a Seaward 25 uses about 1.8l/m at 20kn whereas a BT25 would be about 0.8l/m at that speed and would be at about 1.4l/m at 34kn. The differences are because of the different hull type as well as propulsion. I don't have figures for a planing hull on shafts at that size. Of course the other compromise is size and weight.

Thanks. The Benny 9 is a nice enough boat but slow. I like the Rhea, they apply more power to the SD hull than Benny do so they have a turn of speed but as normal with a SD hull at huge fuel cost, 3-4l/m at 20 to 25kn. Scarce and out with budget too. The Tarfish 820 is a lot more basic than the equivalent BT27 but correspondingly cheaper. Had a chat with the owner, 2005 model with 2800 hours. Engine has had the sump replaced for rust, is that normal? Leg has been South for checking and repairing, new seals and props. I am not sure how well maintained it has been, chap hasn't owned it that long. Strangest thing is it has a fridge but no galley module. I suspect it may be costly to retro fit that. Interesting boat.

Thanks for that. Shetland would be easier and more pleasant to get to than the South coast! Problem with the Tarfish version of the BT is they have no accommodation or flybridge, accommodation may be an option apparently. Worth a chat.

Thanks for the comments. A Starfisher is certainly interesting. I suppose the double berth on one side of the cabin is more space efficient than one berth each side. Compromise is certainly the name of the game for most things, not just boats! Interesting comment that a single outdrive cost more to look after than twin shafts. You guys are paying crazy sums to keep a boat somewhere! I see now why some were wondering why I was so concerned on fuel costs.

Interesting figures, thanks. The anodes only last one season? I take it you pay someone to do the service work? £1200 buys an awful lot of oil and filters!

From what I can see the Starfisher comes in two forms walkaround or flybridge, you can't have both. My biggest issue with the accommodation on it and a lot of others is that they only have one fixed bed. I may take you up on your kind offer, they are one of the boats on the maybe list.

Thanks again! Lots of Benny 9s about, more SD I think, at the moment I want the ability to sit at minimum 20kn so I can get somewhere if I want to and those are 15kn boats. Not much info in that ad for the MF 925, worth finding out more but it's smaller sibling is another 15kn boat with a small fuel tank. Bayliner has been mentioned before, not that far away so could gland Lok when it becomes legal. The Nimbus is another of those boats with a tiny cockpit designed for living space, been there and don't want to be there again! I suppose if you pay someone to do the work maintenance can be costly. My last boat, 8m with twin 6cyl Fords on shafts cost around £1k a year for winter storage and maintenance. Outdrives are the unknown, they allow a faster speed on the same fuel burn so fuel costs are significantly lower and you get to go faster. From what I have gathered an outdrive service costs about the same as an engine so for similar service cost you can have two engines on shafts. You go more slowly for the same fuel burn though. Unknown is that outdrives could be more unreliable and you could be hit with high repair costs. I do like the manoeuvrability of twin engines and the slightly better redundancy.

The 9.80 is a nice boat but getting a bit big. Big boat, big fuel bill! From figures I have seen 2.7-3l/m. As I said, I don't have much income so running costs come from capital, one of those would need to be a fair bit cheaper to be affordable. Normally there would only be two or three fishing a rod each, I don't need space for six rods! I appreciate the input (well except the fancy rounders input!), Keep it up!

Thanks. I think the BT 25 would be too small for me, the 27 I had a look at and I wouldn't want a smaller one as the cabin and wheelhouse would be too cramped. I think that one has been advertised for a while, brokers don't seem to remove ads when a boat sells! Big semi displacement boats like the Aquabell tend to use a lot of fuel for not a lot of speed. Far too much wood in that one, not a fan of wood in boats. The Rodman is on my interesting list, a bit over budget but ono, been advertised for a while. Would like a look at it. The Starfisher has twin 150hp, how would that compare to your single 260hp? My thinking was not that much more than the twin 120s in my previous boat and it would maybe do 17kn flat out. I quite like the Aquador 28C, would like a look at one. Looked at a 25C which was a bit cramped. That one has been advertised for a very long time, I suspect it has sold as it doesn't seem to be on the brokerage. Thanks for the suggestions.

Thanks for that. My preferred style would be Botnia Targa/Nordstar but rare and well over budget. Rodman seemed a reasonable option with walkaround decks and twin shafts about the same maintenance costs as single outdrive. They seem well thought of and decent quality. I will have to travel far, not much here and a South Coast round trip would be over 1000 mile. Problem is of course higher travel and delivery costs mean less to spend on a boat! The one in Spain would be near enough £80k with vat added. Starfisher 840 looks good although maybe a bit underpowered? Tiny cockpit in the Aquastar is not for me, been there before. Bimax looks like an open boat, not for me. Thanks for finding those. I suspect we won't be able to travel for quite a while yet so looking at anything is impossible!

Budget around £60k. As I have some capital but a low income, running the boat comes from capital so for something cheaper to run I can spend more and vice versa.

I am not keen on buying something I have never seen. Enough of a pain going to the deep South never mind a trip across the ocean! It is certainly a thought though if nothing turns up. I take it that there would be an import tax on top of vat? And some work for whatever replaces CE?