Discussion
I live near Lyme Regis and have three children 8, 6, 4. I have sailed dinghys, sailboards and used to do a lot of waterskiing in the Lakes so used to speedboats. I want to get out onto the water with my family, not far out to say .. just explore the coastline. I'm thinking of a speed boat with cuddy with inboard and get me home outboard. Secondhand. Must be able to pull me waterskiing and powerful enough to pop me out of the water quickly on one ski. Budget is around £8k to £12k. Have a Discovery to tow it. Will be getting a dinghy next year to do some sailing as well at the Lyme Regis sailing club as I think the kids are too young yet and will get bored quickly and will put them off it if start too young.
What would you recommend?
What would you recommend?
i think you are on the right lines with the cuddy for the family.suggest a 5.7v8 mpi in somthing like a 21-23 footer if you want to mono.i am 95kgs and had the 5.0mpi and thought it lacked a bit of torque and that snap you need.plenty about at 12k from the yanks.one of the nicest family friendly cuddies i saw recently was a monterey 214,nicely built but over budget as not old enough yet.there was a 21ft cranchi 5.7 with duo prop on e-bay recently that was 12ish,looked mint but was 1997 from memory.good luck.
RIB's are great I used to use one everday, but exposed ride and you sit on rather than in.
Best solution is something like this http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ocqueteau+615&...
With a 115hp
Best solution is something like this http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ocqueteau+615&...
With a 115hp
Edited by Rum Runner on Saturday 21st May 11:26
I'll bite, not sure how a Rib is more seaworthy especially given that the majority are proper boat designs with top cut off and tubes welded round, but there you go that's a dispute for another thread I think.
For the OP have a look at a Regal 2250 which is probably the perfect boat for what you want to achieve but I doubt you'd find one in budget which leaves something like an older Mariah or maybe Fletcher Arrowbolt. The Regal is worth a look though for ideas as to what you want in another boat.
Just bear in mind that an older inboard petrol is potentially going to cost money in corroded headers etc so you need to look for a well maintained or freshwater example not to be spending upto a figure you could have spent on a newer boat.
For the OP have a look at a Regal 2250 which is probably the perfect boat for what you want to achieve but I doubt you'd find one in budget which leaves something like an older Mariah or maybe Fletcher Arrowbolt. The Regal is worth a look though for ideas as to what you want in another boat.
Just bear in mind that an older inboard petrol is potentially going to cost money in corroded headers etc so you need to look for a well maintained or freshwater example not to be spending upto a figure you could have spent on a newer boat.
cabbron said:
^ what you say.never quite understood the uk's hang up with ribs-and yes i have owned 2.what about a maxum,should be in budget and maybe look for one from windemere way,lots of lovely fresh water flushing through.regal would have the edge quality wise but nowt wrong with the maxum.
Ribs are good for acceleration but they slam pretty hard.Avoid boats with foam buoyancy built in below the waterline as it always goes soggy and heavy.
I'd be tempted to buy a decent second hand boat and a new engine, 50 is cheap to run, 90 not too bad, above that it's costly.
cabbron said:
^ what you say.never quite understood the uk's hang up with ribs-and yes i have owned 2.what about a maxum,should be in budget and maybe look for one from windemere way,lots of lovely fresh water flushing through.regal would have the edge quality wise but nowt wrong with the maxum.
The Maxums aren't a bad shout, but as with the Mariah they don't have a particularly deep vee being American lake boats so can pound a bit at sea. Searay, Monteray, Campion, Bayliner, Crownline and Chapparal are all worth looking at if you are not worried about that. A good Arrowbolt is hard to beat though for our waters but you have to know what you are looking at if buying one.Just meant that a lot of my customers buy used Bayliner 175's or similar expecting them to be great seaworthy boats, when they're not. But an equivilent sized RIB would be able to handle the sea a lot better. Obviously when you start getting over 22' and getting into V8 sterndrives, it's a different matter as they're a lot deeper and have a lot more weight behind them amongst other things.
danyeates said:
Just meant that a lot of my customers buy used Bayliner 175's or similar expecting them to be great seaworthy boats, when they're not. But an equivilent sized RIB would be able to handle the sea a lot better. Obviously when you start getting over 22' and getting into V8 sterndrives, it's a different matter as they're a lot deeper and have a lot more weight behind them amongst other things.
I get that Dan but that's not really comparing eggs with eggs is it? If you were to pit an evolution versus an original Steve Baker both rigged with 280s or a Revenger rib versus my San Marino both with big block chevies which would be more 'seaworthy'. Personally I would go for the hard versions not the inflatables and I'd also like to take up that challenge above on acceleration.
The Rib name for ability is built upon the fact that they take extremely successful hull designs and cut them down to make a Rib. In most cases I would say the original hard boat would give the Rib version a pasting or at least be as competent.
Strangely nobody has tried cutting down a Bayliner to make a rib version which tells the story really about American lake boats. And if they did both versions would be equally as crap at handling our seas.
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