Hot Property

[NickT]

Browsing the forum and thought I should put some pics of my boat up. ..

This is a Fletcher 19 Sports Cruiser with the quite rare outboard option.

The boat originally had a 75 two stroke Mercury but this was changed within the first year of ownership to a 4 stroke version. This is not a performance boat by any stretch of the imagination but more a sedate cruiser!

22kts @ about 4200 revs and she is happy all day with 4 people on board. Max speed recorded is 27 kts with following wind!

I bought her in North Wales and towed her 266 miles to the South Coast.

During winter she lives on our drive but summer she is on a pontoon mooring 4 mins from home.

This means we spend a lot of time on the water during the week as well as weekends.

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These pics were taken by others on the 2014 round the island cruise with other forum members.....

[Carl]

Great photos

we nearly bought a fletcher 19gts .... but I didn't like the way the engine sounded .. so walked away ... the next day this sweet little bayliner 175gt appeared on a popular auction site in stoke ....... so the missus rang the phone number and the owners just happened to be in devon on holiday ....

[Ianfs]

Nick

I've got a few more photos of Hot Property for you, Got to get to work now but I'll try to post them later.

[annageek]

Looks great. I do love the red version. Had we have bought new, we'd have almost certainly gone for the red. Still... adds to the rarity! Red and outboard... there won't be many of those out there!

Which outboard do you have on her? What's your top speed? Do you know what fuel burn you get at cruise? I'm just interested to know how you compare with our 3.0l sterndrive.

In hindsight, we sort of wish that we'd held out for the outboard version. Although I love the lines of our stern drives, there's something about having to rig up a harness so you can dangle over the engine to do even the most basic maintenance task that really grates!

[Ianfs]

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[NickT]

Hi Ian,

Thanks for the additional photos you put up!

Must get another meeting organised for the Solent brigade - time just flys by.

Anna, on the round island trip I averaged 4MPG with speeds in the 22 kts range (except by St Catherines point where we scooped a huge green wave which filled the cockpit up to the cuddy lip!!).

We just pointed the bow up and waited for the self draining thing to do its work which took a few mins.

Fletchers are good (no - great), at seakeeping and even with the big seas round the Needles I/we were confident to press on.

Engine is 75hp 4 stroke Mercury - a heavy lump on the back but great for maintenance and of course the leg is out of the water when moored.

We manage to flush the engine out after each trip now as there is a hose on the pontoon, just attach muffs for engine with hose attached, drop into water, turn on tap and start engine. I let it run for about 5 mins so that the thermostat opens up and flushes everywhere.

Acid test is that I taste the water coming out of the tell tale and it is OK!

I have been looking for a 115 x 4 stroke to replace but rare as rocking horse p** and it would probably be easier to sell and purchase one with it fitted (if you can find one that is).

Having said that, I am fully aware of the "bigger, faster boat" syndrome and wish to avoid that if possible.

So I have cancelled my fleabay alerts for a 115 engine as a result!