kashurst
Well-known member
If you are looking at the two boats at Farndon Marina they are - for river purposes pretty similar.
Engine wise they are both petrols although the Pacer has the 4 cylinder and easier to service engine. The engines are both pretty old, some some spares might be getting hard to find too. The stern drives are probably the same or very closely related.
Interior wise, condition from the pics they look similar. Its hard to tell until you get on board though. I wouldn't take either of them to sea. It's a combination of size, age and design.
It can be tempting to go for a boat near home, however around your budget there will be quite a few other choices - with outboards too, so easy to look after. Have you looked at Shetland boats? Very popular for rivers/lakes/ small ones will go down some canals too. I don't know what it costs to put a small boat on a trailer behind a land rover these days but don't discount it as you may find something better further affield. At that size/age outboards are a good choice. Easy to service, fixable, and absolute worst case you can get decent secondhand ones that will readily fit. So as a first boat choice it reduces risks/problems and I think make it easier to sell in future.
Few more thoughts n cruising area:
The trent, humber and ouse have strong currents at flood on the tidal sections.. The thing to do is to time any journeys on the tidal sections to try and go with the flow. Canal boaters often go up and down the tidal sections - they just pick the right tide times. But a bit more power is always welcome.
After the last river trent lock the next place is Torksey Lock, that earlier tidal stretch from memory is pretty straightforward and if I remember pretty. You can go up to Torksey lock, lock in and go along the river Whitham all the way to Lincoln. Depending upon the height above water I think you can carry on to Boston.
Engine wise they are both petrols although the Pacer has the 4 cylinder and easier to service engine. The engines are both pretty old, some some spares might be getting hard to find too. The stern drives are probably the same or very closely related.
Interior wise, condition from the pics they look similar. Its hard to tell until you get on board though. I wouldn't take either of them to sea. It's a combination of size, age and design.
It can be tempting to go for a boat near home, however around your budget there will be quite a few other choices - with outboards too, so easy to look after. Have you looked at Shetland boats? Very popular for rivers/lakes/ small ones will go down some canals too. I don't know what it costs to put a small boat on a trailer behind a land rover these days but don't discount it as you may find something better further affield. At that size/age outboards are a good choice. Easy to service, fixable, and absolute worst case you can get decent secondhand ones that will readily fit. So as a first boat choice it reduces risks/problems and I think make it easier to sell in future.
Few more thoughts n cruising area:
The trent, humber and ouse have strong currents at flood on the tidal sections.. The thing to do is to time any journeys on the tidal sections to try and go with the flow. Canal boaters often go up and down the tidal sections - they just pick the right tide times. But a bit more power is always welcome.
After the last river trent lock the next place is Torksey Lock, that earlier tidal stretch from memory is pretty straightforward and if I remember pretty. You can go up to Torksey lock, lock in and go along the river Whitham all the way to Lincoln. Depending upon the height above water I think you can carry on to Boston.
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