Which European production boat to buy??

If he is attracted to the Beneteaus, please make sure he pays close attention to the keel bolts.

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PhoenixStar said..
If he is attracted to the Beneteaus, please make sure he pays close attention to the keel bolts.

It's not just Bennies that have the keel drop off, it's happened to Jennies as well as the odd Bav. None of them seem to be immune from dropsy.

Hanse of course some good features for singel handeling

Hanse 455 is currently the top selling yacht in the world for a very good reason, Easy to sail, quick, nice to sail, roomy, reasonable cost for a new boat and the Australian agent, Windcraft provide great pre and after sale service. If your friend wants to go for a sail on a Hanse he is welcome to come for a sail on my 575 which is much the same, just bigger.

Thanks everyone for the input.

Nah, haven't sold the kids OR won lotto OR gotten back into sailing. Did sell the Folkboat to a lovely man who I know will treat her well.
Having a bit of a hiatus (read...lost my mojo) from sailing and exploring some other pasttimes. Haven't taken up golf or gardening just yet...shoot me if I do.

Jode, I'm sure my friend would love to have a sail on your Hanse. Maybe we can talk him into something just a little bit bigger and/or more expensive than he's budgeting for haha. I'd personally like to see that .

If he has the money, Super Maramu or Halberg Rassey, and if he has the time there are some bargains in the Med.

150 is in his ballpark :)

Seriously, lets put things in perspective here.
This French ****ter has 6000 plus hours on the engine.
Not too many posters here would even put 200 hrs a year on their own.
It is not a Gardner!

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lydia said..
Seriously, lets put things in perspective here.
This French ****ter has 6000 plus hours on the engine.
Not too many posters here would even put 200 hrs a year on their own.
It is not a Gardner!

Here is a bit of perspective for you. Driving a car at 100 kmh for an hour = 100 klm. Assuming the boat engine is running mostly at cruising speed it is equivalent to driving a car at 100 kmh, therefore a marine engine with 6,000 on it is equivalent to a car with 600,000 klms on the clock.

Does that make sense??

Being a diesel and a Yanmar at that, I don't think 6,000 hours on it would mean it is worn out. With those hours at 6 knots, the boat has travelled circa 36,000 miles. Possibly that boat has been in a charter fleet for some time.

I saw a similar sized Kubota engine that had been running in a trawler as an auxiliary 24/7 and only ever shut down for oil and filter changes so similar running as a taxi and always hot. It had 26,000 hours on it and was still running fine.

The workshop stripped it, de-lipped the bore, linnished the crank, relapped the valves and reassembled it with new rings, bearings, seals and gaskets and sold it to a farmer to run his irrigation pump.

More marine engines in yachts die from underuse than overuse.

The Kubota driving an 8kva generator on my fishing boat had just under 17,000 hours when I sold it. It had an oil change about once a fortnight. It's the sitting about with no use that does the damage to most marine engines.

Engines just seem to need alot of maintenance to get them going again after theyve been sitting for a while.
Im not real sure but you get condensation in fuel lines for eg. the longer and engine sits, the more water ends up in the system.
An engine expert will pipe in. Personally ive never had engine issues. as long as you do regular maintenance , change certain seals, change oil regularly, spark plugs, remove carbon build up - especially if engines been used in short spurts.
On the yacht(power) i was working on we had about 3 engineers. This boat travelled all over the world 100's of thousands of nautical miles over 15 years. In my time on the boat it was all about maintenance to the engine and with a round the clock engineer this wasnt an issue.
I reckon its all about keeping an eye on things. If for eg an oil seal blows, then this leads to lack of oil pressure leading to a lack of lubrication which can cause a bearing to blow which can cause a whole in the crank case which means you need a new engine pretty much. All because of a $2 oil seal.
Regular oil changes and maintenance can show what if anything is in the oil.
Engines are amazing things. They just wanna go but its a good idea to know the age of things like seals so they can be periodically checked.
This is why i prefer to do everything myself because some mechanics - especially in the city like to keep you in the dark about whats been done and the quality of such replacement items. Youre just better off doing it yourself i reckon.

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theselkie said..
I don't know whether this boat is in a charter fleet now, however, the ad says she arrived from Europe via Atlantic and Pacific Oceans 4 yrs ago.

The advert appears to show a sound boat appropriately priced. My advice to people considering purchasing a boat is to decide on what boat or boats suit your intended use, from a size, sailing performance, layout, particular builder or model etc. Then work out your budget. Then can start shopping to see if the two can match.
i highly recommend against picking a budget and looking for a boat that fits that budget As in we have here a boat for $170k, I have $170k to spend, should I buy this boat? Answer is depends but most probably not until you have worked out the first part of the equation.

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samsturdy said..

Love this chat about engines...use vs idle...what is it about using an engine that preserves it and what
is it about an engine sitting that destroys it ???.

High sulfur diesel plus condensation in a sitting engine leads to sulfuric acid - not good. A constantly running engine just doesn't get water in the crank case.

Short runs where everything and particularly oil does not get up to temperature is death as well.
Start and run for 3 hours is good.
Start and run for 20 minutes is bad.
Running under light load charging batteries and fridges also very bad with a small diesel.

You mean its a production boat managed to get 6000 hours on the motor without the keel falling off. Better tell all the haters, must have been sitting in the marina on idle.

I have a production boat from '03 and its still strong and not tired at all. Has plenty of engine hours on it too. Still goes well. Looks better than most I have seen in the Med.