Cuddy or Cruiser?

[Ianfs]

Here's the thing.

A sports cuddy with a big engine will go fast but at the detriment of fuel consumption and not much space in the cabin with usually no seperate toilet. With a smaller size engine you get good fuel consumption, not quite so fast but still limited space, but a round the island trip won't hurt the pocket as much.

Then their are Cruisers, which have good space and living area and with a big engine or twins and will not top out quite as fast as a cuddy but not far off but again at the detriment of fuel consumption. Then their are cruisers with diesels which are slower but better consumption so you can go further but in general you are lugging about a home when you may not be using it as a home. However will diesel engines be outlawed in the future because of the NOx issues???

These are thoughts out loud, but I have my reasons.
Any thoughts?

[sprocker]

Those are exactly the questions we are asking as we start to plan our next boat!

Our current cuddy has limited space,but is relatively cheap to run. We want to do more longer distance cruising, with the odd overnight stay.

We don't mind trading off top end speed, as Mrs Sprocker is not very comfortable with lots of hull smacking.

My thoughts so far are 24' Max length cruiser with 4.3 Mercruiser would potentially give not too much a hit on the pocket, or even the Merry Fisher style boat with 150hp outboard would give reasonable fuel usage at cruising speeds.

Early stages of the upgrade path for us, but I will watch this thread with great interest for others comments.

[mlines]

I don't think diesels will be outlawed retrospectively , it will be new ones that are affected. I also think that for boats it will be easier to clean the emissions . Diesel cars with the particulate filters are a lot better and I think boats will get similar set ups.
What they will do is increase the tax on diesel claiming that they want to encourage people to change, when they really want more tax revenue

I think the resurgence of outboards will continue with bigger cruisers sporting out board's



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[Xboatboyx]

I think 28ft is the cut off point for Petrol engines as from there onwards you are looking at twins which will need to be diesel. I don't really see the point in diesels in sportsboats as you loose the sports element and you won't really see the economy for short blasts out. 25ft starts to become cruiser territory as you get standing headroom with separate toilet and aft cabin, as well as cooking facilities.

Our Regal is a cuddy as you can't stand up inside it and you only get a bed, whereas Matt's 25ft Crownline gives you a bigger cabin with standing headroom and 4 berths. You really need to go in both to see the difference and once you go above 22ft you start to loose the ability to trailer easily.

[shibbs]

I think 28ft is the cut off point for Petrol engines as from there onwards you are looking at twins which will need to be diesel. I don't really see the point in diesels in sportsboats as you loose the sports element and you won't really see the economy for short blasts out. 25ft starts to become cruiser territory as you get standing headroom with separate toilet and aft cabin, as well as cooking facilities.

Our Regal is a cuddy as you can't stand up inside it and you only get a bed, whereas Matt's 25ft Crownline gives you a bigger cabin with standing headroom and 4 berths. You really need to go in both to see the difference and once you go above 22ft you start to loose the ability to trailer easily.

I agree with all said above, for me, I wanted to be able to tow, mainly to be able to take out of the water and take home over winter etc etc but as said above, it is too big to tow and launch, it had to stay in the water ( or dry stack)
That said, if I could I would go to 28ft for that extra little living space as 25 is still 'cozy' for anything more than the one night.
But, that is all we really want from it, 2 on a longer run to break the journey of required.
Fuel wise, I know I've moaned about it in the past but at cruising speed (for us) of about 20 / 25 it's, it isn't actually that bad.
At the time, had I been able to afford the extra for a diesel lump, then yes I probably would have but in hindsight, I'm not unhappy with the petrol.
The extra boat I got from the 18 cuddly we had to the 25 we now have is an absolutely huge increase in usable boat, with where our use is at now I wouldn't want to go back to a cuddly.
But.. Everyone's use is different and for different reasons.

[shibbs]

To add to that, my last had a 2.5l Volvo straight 4 and although only 18ft, did struggle somewhat with a full boat etc to get on plane and so on,
This one has the V8 and manages effortlessly,
With the last one being a little under powered and having to work hard, it did drink fuel when pushed which did make the change over far better than I was expecting as this one doesn't have to work hard if that makes sense?

[Ianfs]

I don't think diesels will be outlawed retrospectively , it will be new ones that are affected. I also think that for boats it will be easier to clean the emissions

I suppose outlawed is probably the wrong word, I'm thinking that if the Governments Clean Air Proposal heads towards diesel engines, there is a distinct possibility that future values will decrease especially if the start adding more tax to fuel.

The Sealine S23/25 is a very attractive package but they all seem to have a KAD32 170 diesel and the later versions Volvo D3's.

11475_sealine-s25-_photo_0_1409588920_img.jpg (124.22 KiB) Viewed 12909 times

Then there is the Monterey 250CR

IMGP4949.jpg (88.7 KiB) Viewed 12909 times

And slightly bigger, looks like superb quality the Bavaria 29 and as James said we are getting into twins.

P1140726.jpg (86.15 KiB) Viewed 12909 times

[mark101]

I consider a cuddy to be like camping and a cruiser to be like caravaning. You get places faster with a tent in your boot but lack creature comforts, whereas a caravan can be nice even when the weather is not so nice. It will however cost you more and take you longer to get anywhere.

It depends how far from the coast you live I suppose. If I could drive to the sea in under an hour, I would go cuddy with the convenience of sea heads but any longer or regular overnighting, I would go cruiser.

My realistic ideal boat would be a late Sealine S28 with twin KAD32's but I have considered several times a Bayliner 285 with a 350 Mag. A lot of boat for the £, despite people slating Bayliners.

On balance though, I am enjoying the RIB. Cheap, fast, tow anywhere, store at home (although I don't) and massive fun.

In an ideal world and you'll all hate me for this. I would have a 30' + yacht and a 5m RIB alongside. Running for cover!


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[shibbs]

In an ideal world and you'll all hate me for this. I would have a 30' + yacht
Running for cover!


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[ColinR]

In an ideal world and you'll all hate me for this. I would have a 30' + yacht and a 5m RIB alongside. Running for cover!

Shhh, don't tell anyone but so would I. Small jet rib for fun, yacht for cruising.