Advice needed on buying a boat

Hi

I'm considering buying a boat for next season, I'm looking for something that can sleep 2 comfortably.and get to the fishing marks quickly. Been looking at the Orkney Pilot House 24, the Hardy Fisher 24 (extended wheel house), Jenneau Merry Fisher 695 and the Arvor 250 AS . My experience of power boats is very limited. I used to race offshore yachts, but power boats I have little knowledge of.
I understand that the Hardy and the Orkney's have a good reputation for their sea worthiness, the Arvor and the Jenneau I'm not sure about.
The specs of the Arvor and Jenneau far exceed that of the Orkney and Hardy, especially the Orkney where even a second wiper is an optional extra.
Has anyone any experience of these boats ? or can you recommend another make ?

Have a look at the Quicksilver range too. They are a faster boat then the Orkney or Arvor and any write ups about them in the fishing magazines have been very complimentary.
You can get them with petrol outboard or diesel sterndrive.

petrol outboard 6gallons plus/hour Vs diesel sterndrive 2-3 gallons/hour
petrol 90p/litre red diesel 40p (less if you buy it in 500litre lots)
so no guessing what the smart money would buy (not to mention that diesels are much more reliable)

Thanks guys for the replies

I was out today and took a test drive in an Orkney Pilot House 20 stern drive.
Have to say i was very impressed with its handling, the guy told me it uses about 4 gallons an our @ 20 knots cruising and 6 gallons an hour flat out.
I've realised that towing anything bigger than 20' is going to be a problem. The beam of the bigger 24's I was looking at are in excess of 9' that would make intresting towing down some of the roads in Donegal, so I may have to
stick with somthing around 20'
Im still not impressed with the outfitting of the Orkney, for the amount it costs I would expect a little bit more comfort.
I see that Johne McAleese in Portadown is the NI agent for Quicksilver. I'll be down that way on Friday maybe call in and have a look about .

b0ogaloo

Red Bay Fastfisher 21. 8)

I reckon you can buy and import a boat from the us and get much better value. look at boats.com and look at Grady White, Albemarle, Mako-all trailerable boats and built to run 80 miles offshore off the northeast. A brand new albemarle is around $65000 for a 24ft experss boat.

I have a Trophy 1802 (18ft) and it's a handful to tow, but twin berth (not that comfortable though!). Top speed of 37mph with a 115hp Mercury.

If I had plenty of money, I would buy the new Trophy 1952 with a diesel sterndrive: 45k Euro in Ireland. I bought my 1802 from Florida, but the new 1952 is too new to be seen second hand.

The 1952 has done away with berths, though. You'd have to go to a 2002 or a 2502 for that (http://www.trophyfishing.com), but you're getting out of the range of trailerability.

I think the trophy advantage is that it's geared up for fishing at its most basic spec - fishwells, livebait wells (on the 19 and above), and the standard of finish is excellent.

Thanks for the replies

I'm making enquires now into the price and tax of shipping a boat from the states.
I have a Landrover defender so towing isnt a problem ... it was the beam I was concerned about. Dont think 9'6" plus , would fit down some of the roads in Donegal :)

Most of the people i've talked to about buying a boat, tell me to go for the Orkney Pilot House 20 sterndrive. Its a lot of money for a very basic boat. But apparently its one of the safest, and lets face it, with the sea you dont get many second chance.

b0ogaloo

I'd still take a look at the quicksilver range 620 & 630 sterndrive.

Hi

Has anyone heard of an interesting twist in relation to the importation of boats from the US via the Azores (portugese control and therefore part of the EU) - my understanding is that there is a way that this can be done such that you do not have to pay any import or excise or related taxes on the boat(s)!

Anyone tracked it down yet?

I'd still take a look at the quicksilver range 620 & 630 sterndrive.

going there tommorrow m8

b0ogaloo

check out:
http://www.boattest.com/1/resultsearch.aspx

look for albemarle 24, grady white 22-24 with single of twin o/b or i/o options, mako 24 o/b. also boston whaler becoming popular in portnablagh but according to reviews can be a wet sea boat(but unsinkable), many boats have twin wheel trailers included. my choice I think might be mako from around £10,000. I get saltwater sportsman mag and there was a story of 2 makos caught 90mls offshore in a force 7 with 8 ft waves. pics of them v. scary, but made it home ok.