Got Scared

[Bigplumbs]

From my other posts you will know I have been looking for a sports cruiser. I have to report that I have 'perhaps ' come to my senses and realised that I cant afford one. It is not the initial cost it is the yearly costs that have frightened me. I wanted a 24ft ish boat for both sea and rivers and the minimum yearly cost with Marina (£1500) Insurance (£300) Broads Licence (£500) was at least £2,300. I think I was letting my urges override my sense. We had a trial and I looked at 2 other boats and they were lovely and I could easily afford the purchase price but it was those running costs and I have not even included servicing and breakdowns and that really scared me. So that part of my dream has gone for the moment.

I have another idea through. Remember always that I will keep my 17 foot fletcher bow rider for wild moments.

My idea is to get a 18 - 21 foot cuddy or weekender that I can trailer and we can stay on for long weekends. This will remove the huge marina cost (as I have storage space) and make it affordable. OK the sleeping will be a sort of crawl in (as her indoors calls in) but it should be fun. A bit like camping but more luxury.

We have a 2.5 litre Vauhhall Vectra and I was wondering what is the largest that can be trailered practically.

My ideal would be a fletcher 19 GTO cuddy but you try and find a decent one of those or a Bayliner Cuddy is ok, but I want an outboard those big blocks scare the heck out of me re servicing cost etc.

I feel rather deflated but sometimes we need to face reality

Off out in the fletcher today so that should cheer me up

Dennis

[Ianfs]

Sorry to hear Dennis.

A cuddy of some sort will weigh between 1200 - 2000kgs ish. A fletcher GTO is about 1400kgs I think and with a trailer it'll be more like 1900kgs, plus kit. Your Vectra will probably tow something like 1400kgs all in, which is pretty good for a non 4wd. Consequently you would probably have to look at a 4wd to tow with.

What about still having your dream of a boat on the Broads and using your Fletcher for fun. As I said previously you could have the best of both worlds. If you have about £20k to spend what about looking at a cheap older cruiser type, a Seamaster, Birchwood, Shetland 4+2 or something like that at say £10-15k then use the balance for running costs etc. Look here for a couple of ideas......................

This old Seamaster has twin diesels on shafts with next to no servicing costs
Seamaster


This Birchwood is on a planning hull with a single diesel
Birchwood


I'm not suggesting you buy either one, but its an idea of which you may reach your dream and even with the cost of the Seamaster you would have 2 maybe 3 yrs running mooring to play with and it probably wont lose any money either.

PS Oh and I would think both these boats would be ok for quick trips out on the Sea on calmish days.

[NickT]

Hi Dennis,

I have a Fletcher 19 Sportcruiser GTO - outboard and I tow it with my Mondeo hatchback!

Boat + Engine is around 1038kg (850 boat + 188 Engine) in DRY state, so 1038 kg all up.

Trailer doesn't need to be a twin axle one - I am using the SBS 1800 trailer which came from Fletcher. Load capacity of the trailer is 1320 kg so it's got a safety margin on the boat load.

Total weight of boat + trailer is therefore 1038 + 480 = 1518kg.

Mondeo weight is 1564 so just 50kg more than the towed weight.

Good practice suggests that the towed load should be no more than 85% of the weight of the towing vehicle. In my case this is not true.

In mitigation though, I have towed caravans for many years so have reasonable experience towing, I also only tow the boat twice a year for a total of 8 miles!

So, if you don't travel far then your car may be OK. If you plan longer trips then a heavier car (not necessarily a 4wd) will be needed. I have a mate who brings his landy along once a year to pull it up the slipway.

SBS do make a 1600kg trailer which would knock another 80kg off the total and still give you 1200 kg capacity - more than enough for the GTO. You will then have a 130kg difference in the towed weight vs the car = better!

Only problem is that the 19 GTO sportscruisers are very hard to come by - 99% are sterndrive types. I like the fact that I can lift the whole drive out of the water which eliminates fouling and maintenance.

Good luck with your search!

[Ianfs]

Boat + Engine is around 1038kg (850 boat + 188 Engine) in DRY state, so 1038 kg all up.

I got that wrong then!

[NickT]

Hi Ian,

I think the figure you quoted is for the sterndrive version. Anna will no doubt put you right on that sees

[NickT]

Score not sees!

[Ianfs]

Bless you for coming to my aid Nick, but I'm pretty certain that a 3.0l stern drive engine weighs about 400kgs and a 150 Mercury (to use as an example) weighs about 230kgs, a 170kg difference, so my estimation of 1900kgs all up was way out! Thank you anyway.

FYI Nick, the left hand Icon in the post title bar is the edit icon (looks like a pen nib). Just in case you ever want to alter a post in the future. From my own experience, it does save a lot of embarrassing moments!

[Bigplumbs]

What about this an option

http://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/Cudd ... pobxmdK.97

Dennis

[NickT]

Thanks Ian,

I now know how to correct my mistaks......

[Ianfs]

I now know how to correct my mistaks......

Love it!

Dennis,

Sorry back on track..

They are great boats, often thought of as more basic, but if you look hard at all similar types they all have there own idiosyncrasies.

Looks like a good buy to me. The 3.0l 4 cyl is a good unit with good economy, dpd101 had one for a while but a newer version I think. The good thing about the 3.0l is that there is only one manifold and one bank of cylinders and not much to go wrong. One or two electronic issues I think but easily solved.

So you don't like my idea of a river boat come a bit of sea boat with your fletcher as a play thing then?