hi all,

I'm investigating getting a small family boat to fish and play primarily in and around the hauraki, currently looking at somehing like a sea nymph gullwing 14.6. They seem to be fairly well regarded and fit into the affordable first boat budget .

Apart from the initial cost of the boat, coastgaurd courses, fuel and expendables etc, what are the sort of onoing costs that I'll need to budget for?

outboard service
trailer warranty & reg
general maintenance
coastgaurd membership
????

If you can give me rough figures that'd be great

cheers guys

B

EditB wrote: hi all, I'm investigating getting a small family boat to fish and play primarily in and around the hauraki, currently looking at somehing like a sea nymph gullwing 14.6. They seem to be fairly well regarded and fit into the affordable first boat budget . Apart from the initial cost of the boat, coastgaurd courses, fuel and expendables etc, what are the sort of onoing costs that I'll need to budget for? outboard service trailer warranty & reg general maintenance coastgaurd membership ???? If you can give me rough figures that'd be great cheers guys B

there are several fixed costs which dont vary much from boat to boat.

coastguard is about $100 per annum and trailer rego is about the same. you might allow $500pa for boat insurance. trailer COFs are about $50 a pop.

general maintenance and outboard servicing could be variable depending on the existing condition of hull, trailer and outboard. outboard servicing is probably an annual event for most people, and you might allow $1000pa. trailer might be a few hundred per year and perhaps another grand spent on the hull itself annually.

what you probably cant budget for are 'big unexpected's' - that might include serious repairs to a rotten hull or trailer, right up to complete replacement of the outboard - which is a real possibility considering that many v146's are approaching 30years old and some of the motors are pretty old too.

if your boat budget means youre looking at 30year old 14ftrs, i suspect that upkeep will cost you every spare dollar youve got.

Nah bro what ever the boat cost you, double that cos you will want all the electronic toys and live bait tanks and then you will get a taste of gamefishing and will have to buy a full set of blingy gold reels and standup rods plus the harnesses and then outriggers and tuna tubes then about a thousand lures and and and then your budget will keep going up and then you will buy a bigger boat and and...I better shutup

Dont forget initial safety things - including - life jackets, VHF radio, ELB (locator beacon), flares, riding light, nav lights, spotlight

Heaps of glue bro heaps

i have a nice first boat for sale on the forum if your interested, would even deliver it to aucks for you.

SWMBO lolol..who asks them? :P just buy one and say merry xmas to me! (like i did..and no, i didnt sleep on the couch).

Huggybear wrote: If you get a good Sea Nymph 14.6 you won't be disappointed. Best boat you can get in that size. Don't worry about the age. There's plenty of good examples out there. Just get one with a modern outboard.   Black Max's run-down of costs is pretty spot on.

agree - the hulls are good, but everything else will need to be replaced - the trailer will be shot, every fuel line, all the wiring, controls etc - and don't even think about trying to get a 40 year old outboard running reliably! I know it sounds a bit depressing . If you can find one that has been updated, go for it, but if it's a 40 year old lawn ornament, I'd leave it.

some of the ones i saw when looking for mine were on the original trailers and ot too bad. very few had the original motors. most hulls have been updated. a couple were updated so much as they wouldn't likely need much done at all, but they were asking over ten grand. the cheaper ones all needed something fixed or replaced.