The spec list

I took the advice of the other owners and wrote down a list of things that I wanted in the boat.

I also did as much research as I could on electronics, winches, outboards etc. to get an idea on what is better and what isnt. As I mentioned in an earlier post ...I dont like having things break down on me, so I wanted to try and choose the best most reliable components that I could. After taking it to Preston Craft and discussing the list in detail, this is what came out.

SPECIFICATION
7.5m Thunderbolt as per standard specifications.
Preston Craft dual axle aluminium trailer with electric/hydraulic braking system and walkway.
250HP Yamaha four stroke outboard fitted with stainless steel propeller and hydraulic steering.
Yamaha digital controls with premium gauge.
2 x start batteries and 2 x deep cycle house batteries with BEP battery cluster.
Lewmar electric anchor winch with extra switch on the bow .
Stainless steel bow ladder.
Side Portholes in V-berth.
Offshore hatch.
Built in storage under bunks.
Side pockets in V-berth.
Bungy net on V-berth roof.
Electric flush toilet in V-berth with holding tank and digital tank monitor.
12V outlet on passenger side with input jack for audio line in.
Bench seat on passenger side with forward facing back rest .
Passenger seating layout as per drawing supplied with sink aft and fridge slide under with lockable door.
Helm seating layout as per drawing supplied with benchtop aft and storage under.
Fresh water tank +- 140L .
Electric deck wash system.
Dive tank holders in catch tank.
Cleats to be flat style with extra two spring line cleats midships.
Dive ladder with 4 x steps with grab rails.
Red LED light over helm station.
Removable full hard top extension with camper covers and fly screen covered windows.
Aft removable seat on transom.
Removable side seat on side pockets.
Removable teak table.
Volvo QL trim tabs.

Prestoncraft website has lots of photos of other boats that they had done. A particular boat had a layout that was very close to what I wanted for the front seats.

I liked the handles, to hang on to, the stove location (although I wanted a sink where the stove is in this photo. I also wanted to be able to put my 40L Engel fridge in a lockable cabinet where you see the hatch. So a few teaks were required to change it to what I wanted.

I also liked the Table behind the skippers helm. The one down side was that the boat in these photos is a 7.85m boat, while mine would be a 7.5m boat. Thus I knew I would have to compromise on the size of table and chair.

I also wanted canvas covers much like this boat has.

So we had a starting point and now the build has started

A builder found…(maybe)

I am fortunate to live in Perth, which is home to quite a few aluminium boat builders. Not only that, but there are also builders just outside of Perth as well. So from a location perspective I am very lucky to have so many builders to choose from.

When I first started looking at Preston Craft boats a couple of things stood out. These were high quality boats that the owners pretty much never sold. In 3 years of looking at boats I had seen a grand total of 3 Preston Craft boats for sale on Boatpoint, and similar sites.  Initially I thought that this might be because they were a low volume builder, but it turns out they have been in business for a while and have made quite a lot of boats. They were just a little more low profile than some of the other builders. So this was a good start. On the quality front, I haven’t seen any of their 2^nd hand boats with quality issues, and its clear when you see the final product that Preston Craft work hard to provide the best product that they can.

I initially approached PrestonCraft over a year ago, but as I wasn’t ready to buy, I pretty much sniffed around and tried to get a feel for how they operated. The co-owner, Kevin, talked me through a bunch of questions that I had and we parted ways. Then earlier this year I was at the Mandurah boat show and saw Kevin, manning a stand with one of their boats. They had just shown the boat to a whole bunch of people from a local government dept through when I popped my head in.  So we got chatting about what they could do and what I was looking for, Kevin invited me to go and see them at the shop when we could discuss particulars when we weren't being interrupted by other curious bystanders.

As I alluded to earlier, I had been looking for a boat for 3 years, so I knew what I wanted in a boat. We discussed lots of detail, and I asked Kevin to arrange for me to talk to three previous buyers, so I could get the whole truth about Preston Craft as a business, and about their boats.

http://www.prestoncraft.com.au

I spoke to 2 owners of 7.5m Thunderbolts, as that was the style of boat that I was considering. Both owners raved about the boats. I also spoke to the owner of a 7.85 Thunderbolt. Below is some of the notes I took whilst talking to the owners.

• You can pop in at anytime to see your build.
• They are open to ideas, and typically encourage it.
• No issues with any of the quality
• Build time is fast, between 3-4 months.
• A few things didnt work out as expected, but that was largely due to not listening to Prestoncraft's advice.(mental note: pay attention to what the builder is advising, there might be a good reason to do it that way)
• 7.5 Thunderbolt weighed in at 3.05T, fuelled and watered.
• Make sure you get the Prestoncraft's custom made trailer. Its a lot better than other trailers that are available.
• Make sure things are clear with what you want, because interpretation is a personal thing, write it down, and provide pictures where possible.

One of the owners then offered to take me out for a few hours, for a test drive. As luck would have it it was a relatively rough day, with 2-3m seas and a decent breeze (which I prefered as it would show up any short comings). Although we started out from Point Peron near Garden island

Which being sheltered by Garden Island afforded us calm waters for part of the test. Nice for high speed testing, and getting a feel for how the boat sat in the water. I also took the opportunity to walk around and see how the boat dealt with a nearly 100kg guy transferring his weight around. Than answer is, surprisingly well, yes it moved but not as much as many other boats I've been on. After doing some anchoring, to see windlass operation. we moved out to the ocean side of Garden Island. This was where the decent seas I mentioned earlier were. After flying over a few waves, we decided to slow it down a little I brought the boat to about 2-3knts and turned beam too the wave direction. Some might say that it is poor seamanship to do this, and in principle I would agree, but the purpose of doing this was to see how much roll I could induce in the boat. Again I was surprised, yes it rolled, but not much, it tended to float relatively level up and over the wave tops. I get seasick easily, and in many other boats I would have been rushing to the rail, so from and hour or two out on the water I was impressed enough to negotiate a deal. So I had found myself a builder.

The search…

Based on what I’d discovered about Ali boats, I set about looking for a 2^nd hand boat that ticked all the boxes.  This lead to a whole new learning curve on quality and manufacturer related issues.

                The quality of some ali boats is dubious. When I was looking around at 2^nd hand boats I often saw cracks in welds, especially on stress points like ladders and near window frames. I am actually glad that I looked at the 2^nd hand market, because if you are considering new, it will give you a good indication of how long a new boat of certain brands will hold up before it starts looking tired.

                Some builder have gone out of business a number of times, a bit like those Rug shops with the “closing down” banners permanently mounted out the front. A particular WA builder has changed owners at least twice that I am aware of, and won’t warranty boats that were made by previous owners.

                Some “well known” builders have fundamental design issues. I was particularly keen on certain builders style of boats, they had a good reputation. Had good after sales support and their default boat was 90% of what I wanted. After talking to at least 3 owners I discovered that this particular make of boats would rest bow down when not moving. I didn’t think that this was too much of an issue until they all said that if water came over the side or into the back of the boat, then it would head straight to the v-berth at the front. When the manufacturer was consulted about the apparent issue, they pretty much said its not a problem with our boats…just work around the problem by keeping the fuel and water tanks full. I genuinely considered this as a workaround, but the owners said that once the fuel got below ¾ the boat would nose down. I got suspicious when the sales guys started telling me that I should put twins or a 300-350hp motor on the back because “these boats love weight on the rear”.

                The salesmen at some dealerships wont take you out on the boat unless you put down a deposit. In this case I liked a certain 2nd hand boat enough that I would consider buying it. When I asked if I could be taken out on it to see how it performed the salesman basically said, sure, just sign this “contract to purchase” …. When I challenged him and said you wouldn’t buy a car without driving it, he basically gave me a bunch of excuses about his costs and time, and how buying a boat is different. Needless to say it put me off enough and I  walked away. I am surprised that they are still in business, given that attitude.

                Some boats are built in China and shipped to Australia for fitting.  This last point wasn’t so much of a concern, more of a “it doesn’t suit me”. The reason that it didn’t suit me is that I wanted to be involved in the building of my boat, I wanted to see it progress and see how things went together. If a boat was made overseas then I wouldn’t get the chance to be involved.  It was this factor that made the decision for me. On the other hand for the owners of this particular brand of boat,  I had heard of quality issues with the aluminium and some owners were concerned about workmanship. So if I had decided to forgo the “being involved” aspect, then I would have looked more into the quality and workmanship concerns.

As a side note: I have consciously avoided putting the manufacturer names or any specific descriptions into the post above. The simple reason is that it could open me up to litigation, specifically libel. So if your reading this, then do your own digging and see what you find. The above examples were easy to find out just by asking the right questions.

Lessons Learnt

I’ve been wanting a boat for a while and have finally come to a point in my life that I have time, and most importantly I can afford it. I made sure that in the build up to buying a boat that I went and got my skippers ticket, volunteered to be a deckhand on friends boats, and generally offered to help with anything boat related.

This approach taught me a few things. 

                I love boating and all the activities that it can offer me. Diving, Skiing, Fishing, Socialising, etc.

                I don’t like spending lots of money and time on maintenance

                I don’t like it when things breakdown, especially if it interferes with boating activities.

                I enjoy exploring places that are off the beaten track. Like rivers and estuaries.

With this criteria in mind I set about looking for a style of boat that would suit what I wanted to do.  I tried to be honest with myself as much as possible, because I have seen lots of people say I “need” this particular feature…then in reality they never use it, so it becomes a waste of money. I also tried to consider all options (within financial reach) that were available to me.  By doing this I’d hopefully end up with a boat that ticked the right boxes.

So what did I consider.

                Big Boats:  By this I mean boats that are too big to fit on a trailer and need to be stored in a pen, mooring or hard stand in some way. Given my budget, I could afford older boats like 35ft Bertrams or old cray boats. This however meant an older boat and therefore the maintenance requirements would be higher. It also restricted some of the activities that could be done, like skiing (have you ever seen someone skiing behind a 35ft Bertram?) or getting to those off the beaten track places. As most of the bigger boats have at least 4-6ft of draft, this can limit where you can go. Not to mention Air Draft, like getting under bridges. Finally boats of this size meant finding a place to keep it, and that means joining sailing clubs, or paying big fees to stack it.

                Imported Fiberglass Boats: By this I mean, Bayliners, Wellcraft, Gulfcraft etc. Now this style of boat offered a lot of appeal. They were big, cheap and had a lot going for them. Usually they have large cabins with smaller aft deck spaces with lots of lounges scattered about the place. This is great for the socializing aspect of boating, but I started to wonder where I would put dive gear and if I would be able to manage putting all my gear on without smashing a steel tank into the lounge fiberglass. The answer I gave myself was ”I could probably do it”…but then if I add in my dive buddy …its going to get a lot harder to get in the water without adding a few dents to the fiberglass.

                Other aspects of this style of boat appealed though, like being able to tow the boat wherever I wanted to go. The down side was that by the time the boats got to the 22-25ft range, they tended to be over the 2.5m width limit for towing. If the boat was from the U.S. then they were often in the 2.7-2.8m range. I know that you can get a permit to tow overwidth boats as long as they are under 3.0m, but you are not allowed to tow when its dark, which is an issue for me. Also when the boats were that size, they also tend to be heavy… My max towing limit is 3.5ton and a lot of the boats weighed right on 3.5ton, not including fuel or water…or all the “extra stuff” that ends up in a boat. I had spoken to a weights and measures officer, the guys who check heavy vehicles for oversize or over weight issues. He effectively said to me that if I didn’t appear to be obviously oversize or overweight then it was unlikely that I’d ever be stopped. He then went on to say that they do conduct random checks now and again, but the real issue was Insurance. Basically he had seen plenty of cases where people had an accident, and their claims were denied because they exceeded limits of the towing laws and their vehicle limits. That discussion made it apparent to me that if I wanted a boat like that…I’d have to shrink it’s size to around the 20-22ft range based purely on its likely weight. Length was something that I didn’t want to compromise on so that was a cross against this style of boat.

The other aspect of fiberglass boats that I had an issue with, was because most of the builders focused on the socialization aspect of boating, the designs ended up being “all couch and house”. In other words, if I wanted to go fishing, I’d have to contend with standing on a couch. As much as this is an asthetics problem I couldn’t go to the builder and say remove the couch, mainly because the builders didn’t allow custom designs…at best you can only choose option A or option B. This lack of flexibility messed with my goal of trying to get the boat to do everything.  In fairness there are some layouts that come close, like Boston Whalers 255 Conquest.

Though as with all boats there is compromise in designing layouts, it just happened to be in the case of the Whaler, I’d have to settle with a crappy ladder, very close to maximum weight, overwidth permits and a few other layout niggles that didn’t quite work for me.

                Aluminium Boats: In the early stages of me looking at Boats, I largely ignored aluminium boats because they looked ugly.  In retrospect this was a little naïve perspective because they offer specific advantages over fiberglass boats, as well as a few disadvantages.

I started by looking at Trailcraft, Noble,  Surtees and all of them are nice boats, but they had the exact opposite issue that the imported fiberglass boats had, too much deck space and a clear focus on fishing. They were also a lot smaller on average, with most boats being in the 5m- 6.5m range.

A friend suggested that I look at his 7.0m Goldstar, and began by telling me that he had built his brand new and had specified a bunch of things that the builder put on the boat for him. This peaked my interest, because if I could custom build a boat then I could get a layout that I wanted.  So I started quizzing him on weighs and dimensions of the boat. It turns out that his boat is 2.5m wide, so less than the oversize towing limit, and fully fueled and watered weighed in at about 2.7ton. After a bit of research it became apparent that an ali boat for its size is a significant amount lighter than a fiberglass boat.  So far this was two big ticks in favour of aluminium, a custom layout and the light weight allowed a bigger overall boat, given the limiting factor was weight. They were still a bit ugly, but I could live with function over ugliness.