Ian Kavanagh asks about bow a thruster, trim tabs, air-con & radar.

Martin,

I'm interested in buying my first boat which is a Sealine SC29 with twin 160hp Volvo duo-prop stern drive engines, the boat however does not have a bow thruster! You mention in your video "Buying a boat" that you do need a bow thruster especially with stern drive engines, which can be difficult to manoeuvre in the marina, would this advice also apply to a 29 ft boat or would I be ok without one? Also looking at trim tabs too, are these important on a boat this size? There are other options too, and I'm looking at what's important and what's not such as, air con, heating, auto pilot etc, so I have some reading up and decision making to do.

Thanks, Ian Kavanagh.

Ian,

Thanks for your email. The boat that you are thinking of buying is a very good boat, I have not driven one yet, but have just looked at the Sealine web site (http://www.sealine.com) and it looks very nice.
It will certainly be much better than a lot of other boats of that size that don't have a bow thruster. However berthing stern-to in anything other than a light wind will not be easy, particularly if the wind is blowing your bow away from the pontoon when you go into ahead to stop her. If I was buying one I would certainly ask Sealine for a quote for fitting a bow thruster, both 'Max-Power' (http://www.max-power.com/) and 'Vetus' (http://www.vetus.com/thrusters/bow_thrusters.cfm) are very good, it may not be as expensive as you think.

I am surprised that the SC 29 doesn't have trim tabs as standard, as the boat has stern drives the engines will be right at the back of the boat and the weight therefore in the stern so you will need trim tabs to bring the bows down when you get up on the plane and with a big following sea they will be useful to bring the bows up.

Unless you are going to bring the boat down to Portugal or the Med, I don't think air conditioning is necessary and if you have it you will have to have a generator too. Auto pilot is a nice thing to have if you are going to do any short hande long trips. If you are going to use the boat often in the winter in northern europe and spend time at anchor then 'eberspacher' is probably the best type of heating (http://www.eberspacher.com/marine1.php?section=marine), but if you are only going to stay in marinas then an electric fan heater is fine.
Please email me again if you think I can be of any more help.

Martin.

Thanks for the advice Martin. Have taken your advice about the bow-thruster and I am making enquiries about cost etc. According to Sealine's website trim tabs were under options! It did mention they were electric trim tabs so I don't know if they're different from normal ones, but if what you said about controlling the pitch angle of the boat/bows is right and I'm sure it is then I suppose it must have trim tabs of a sort. I thought trim tabs were to balance the boat longitudinally while under way, you know, if there was too much weight over one side of the boat than the other with people moving around etc.

Now seeing as my cruising area will be the Mersey and Irish Sea and that the SC29 is basically an open boat with a convertible top, useful in our inclement weather I think, then air-con is probably not really needed but the eberspacher may very well be so I will look into it. A generator may also be useful while at anchor. I will also specify a vhf radio and colour gps/chartplotter. It amazes me that a vhf is not standard fit on a boat of this size and price. Not sure about a radar, what do you think?

Thanks, Ian.

Ian,

Yes, you are quite right, trim tabs are for controlling sideways heeling caused by weight distribution or wind or both, but also for fore and aft pitch, in that when they are down they bring the bows down and the stern up placing the boat's hull evenly on the surface of the water to give you more speed and greater economy when planeing on relatively calm water. In bigger seas, particularly with a following sea you may find the boat is often easier to steer and less likely to 'trip over her keel' if you bring the trim tabs up and therefore the bow up.
Regarding the best make to fit, Bennett are by far the best and most reliable (http://www.bennetttrimtabs.com/), get the type that has a visual indicator NOT the automatic version. They are electric and hydraulic in that they have a small electric motor which drives a hydraulic pump on each one.

I completely agree with you re the importance of having VHF and chart plotter. I also think that it is very important to have Radar, whilst it is very usefull in the dark and in fog, it is also a very valuable tool for navigation in good visibility in that gives you a distance off which is so useful for avoiding shoals and rocks, whilst it may not tell you exactly where you are, it does tell you where you are not!! 'Raymarine' (http://www.raymarine.com/raymarine/) make a very good multifunctional chart plotter, radar and fish finder in two different sizes.

All the very best, Martin.

Links that are conspicuous by their absence!

I have added quite a long list of links to this blog. Most of them are builders of good yachts and motor cruisers. There are several very well known boat builders, mainly German and French, who are conspicuous by their absence. This is because in my opinion the boats that they build are complete rubbish and I would not recommend anyone to buy a boat from them.

One new owner of a yacht made by a very well known German boat builder complained so much about the defects on his boat that the local dealer in Portugal persuaded the company to send a representative down here to talk to the owner. After listening to a long list of complaints about the quality of this new boat, the representative from the company replied ‘You have bought the cheapest 50 foot boat on the market, what do you expect?’

Another horrifying story that I heard a few years ago from a delivery skipper was concerning brand new 44 foot yacht made by a very well known French boat builder. The delivery skipper and his crew were taking the yacht from La Rochelle to the Canary Islands. Unfortunately they were caught out in very bad weather (Force 10) for two days off Finistere, the volume production methods of this company involve bulkheads that are not properly bonded into the hull but instead just slot into pre-moulded slots in the hull and as a result of the hull flexing so much in these extreme conditions the bulkheads popped out and by the time the yacht reached the shelter of Vigo it was so badly damaged that it was decided by the boat builder and their insurers that it was a complete ‘right off’.

Needless to say I have not included the two boat builders described above in my list of links on this blog.

Exclusion from my list of links however does not suggest that a boat builder does not produce good boats. There are many I am sure that I have overlooked and also many excellent American yachts and motor cruisers that I don’t know anything about. Please email me and tell all about any good boats that you know of and include the web site, so I can look at their boats and include them in my list of links.

To hear more about my views on various types of boat see my video ‘Buying a boat’ on http://theiberianseaschool.com/content/view/15/26/