What type of powerboating interests you?

Pleasure Boating
Pleasure boating is recreational, weekend powerboating, usually for a single day but not excluding overnight stays. Common pleasure boating activities include cruising, touring, towing for recreational watersports such as tubing and basic waterskiing, and casual fishing. Pleasure boat styles include runabouts with small cabins or open-bow areas, deck boats and small cruisers.

Yachting
The ultimate in powerboating, yachting involves offshore or inland cruising, often for extended trips, entertaining and even living aboard large vessels with multiple cabins and deluxe accommodations. Motoryachts such as convertibles and sedan bridges also are used often for bluewater offshore fishing.

High Performance
High-performance boating involves boats most often capable of running 60 mph or more. Activities include high-speed offshore cruising, rallies and offshore racing. Found on inland and offshore waterways, high-performance boats include V-bottoms, stepped V-bottoms and catamarans.

Pontoon
Riding on a pair of aluminum or steel pontoons, pontoon boats present the ultimate in leisurely powerboating. Pontoons boats can be powered by outboard or stern-drive engines, and generally offer plenty of open deck space with generous seating. Onboard amenities can include full galleys and entertainment centers, tables, enclosed head compartments and more.

Sure, no question about it. Salt water is hard on a boat, especially the gelcoat, electronics, paint, metalwork, and engine room components. And while nearly all diesel-powered boats have closed cooling systems, the same is not always true of gas engines. In a saltwater environment it's wise to look for a boat with a closed cooling system since it usually lengthens engine life.

Another reason why freshwater boats often bring a premium price has to do with the fact that they generally have fewer engine hours. The boating season in most freshwater regions is shorter than many of the largest saltwater boating areas. Furthermore, the majority of freshwater vessels spend their winters out of the water — many in a protected environment with reduced exposure to the corrosive effects of sun, wind and rain.

As might be imagined, a well-maintained saltwater vessel is probably a better investment than a poorly maintained freshwater boat. One final factor that equalizes the values between the two is equipment. An East or West Coast saltwater boat is often fitted out with better cruising equipment and more elaborate electronics than a similar Great Lakes or inland waters vessel.

http://www.stealthyachts.com offer
Sport Cruiser Boats suitable for any water.

Today's Taiwan imports no longer enjoy the huge price advantage over their U.S. counterparts that they had in the 1970s and 1980s. While it's true that many of the boats imported from Taiwan during that period were cheaply built and suffered from poor quality control, others were surprisingly well built and represented long-term excellent values. The Taiwanese unquestionably had the skills to turn out a first-rate product, but most of their clients were U.S. importers whose only objective was a fat profit back home. Asked to turn out cheap boats in volume, the Taiwanese responded by flooding the market with waves of inexpensive trawlers and sailboats, usually with an abundance of interior and exterior teak woodwork.

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Yes, they're usually accurate as far as they go. For example, the performance figures — speeds at various RPMs, fuel burn data, etc. — are quite reliable although it's always wise to keep in mind that these are new boats with light loads and plenty of factory preparation.

Don't look for a lot of hard-hitting criticism in these tests, however, because boating magazines depend upon high perfomance boat manufacturers for a major part of their advertising revenues.

Propeller tunnels (commonly called prop pockets) are often employed by designers to reduce shaft angles and draft requirements. Manufacturers like Sea Ray and Phoenix have used them for years, and they're a common characteristic in the hull designs of many European models.

While reduced shaft angles and draft requirements offer significant advantages in many hulls, there are some potential downsides to their use. Among them is loss of lift at the stern which may result in a bow-high running attitude, poor high-speed steering, and an increased turning radius. Finally — and this applies primarily to fishing boats — prop-pocket hulls generally require more finesse in tight-quarter handling.

We know of no trawlers using propeller tunnels in the hull. In motor yachts (or convertibles), prop pockets are often used in conjunction with V-drives. (Without prop pockets, the shaft angles resulting from a V-drive installation would be prohibitively steep.) It's worth noting that many of the high performance yachts reviewed in this book use propeller tunnels. In most cases, we believe the advantages inherent in a well-designed prop-pocket hull can outweigh the potential disadvantages mentioned above.

A modern, properly powered motor yacht (above 45 feet) should be capable of cruising in the neighborhood of 16 - 17 knots. Those that cruise at 20 knots are considered fast and a 25-knot cruising speed is seen only in a very-high-performance model.

Many motor yachts under 45 feet — and that includes a lot of the late-model Taiwan imports — are not able to attain these numbers because they were built with too-small engines. While this tactic allowed importers to sell them at seemingly low prices, the performance of these boats runs a poor second to a properly powered model.

I know that engine hours are important, but When it comes to gas engines (inboards and I/Os), most dealers and brokers figure those with over 1,000 hours are probably tired. With turbocharged diesels 3,500 hours is a lot of running time, and with naturally aspirated diesels it's not uncommon to pile up 5,000 hours before an overhaul is required.

Unfortunately, a good many of today's ultra-high-performance diesels never see 2,000 hours before an overhaul is required. Sometimes this is a manufacturer problem, but premature marine diesel death usually results from improper owner care and maintenance. Lack of use and poor exercise habits may be the number-one killer. Humidity (moisture) on cylinder components can be avoided with regular running and engine heaters. Diesel engines should be run under a load whenever possible. If your mechanical surveyor suggests new oil, fuel, or water hoses, do it. Trying to save money here can be very expensive in the long run.

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In many cases the answer is going to be yes. All trawlers — regardless of size — come with diesels and most motor yachts above 40 feet have them as well.

Range is often a factor in a
cruising yacht and diesels can deliver up to 50 percent more of it than the same boat with gasoline engines. It should be noted, however, that it is not at all uncommon to see gas-powered motor yachts over 40 feet in the Great Lakes and inland waterways where range is of less importance.

In a smaller hydrofoil supported catamarans the choice between gas and diesel isn't always so clear. The added expense of diesels in a 35-foot boat could easily add up up to a quarter of the purchase price. Fortunately, diesels are becoming more affordable as new technology allows manufacturers to reduce both the size and weight of diesel engines while increasing their performance.

In resolving this question, keep in mind that the resale value of a diesel-powered boat will often go a long way toward justifying the added up-front expense.

In general, motor yachts are built on the same kind of all-purpose modified-V hull forms used in the construction of many
sportfishing boats. A modified-V hull — with its moderate transom deadrise and hard chines — provides a combination of performance, comfort and stability not available with any other configuration. It's a compromise, but a good one.

The difference between a modified-V hull and a semi-displacement hull is oftentimes difficult to distinguish. In general, the semi-displacement design places less emphasis on performance in favor of economical, lower-speed operation. The chines are sometimes softer and a true semi-displacement hull is often narrower of beam than a modified-V design. These hull forms offer little fuss in the transition from displacement speeds to planing speeds, and they can operate efficiently at the transition speeds of a conventional modified-V model. Other semi-displacement designs are trawler-types capable of speeds above hull (displacement) speed but not necessarily in an efficient manner.

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Recommended that you purchase your
high speed power boat http://www.stealthyachts.com from reputed charter or manufacturing company to avoid these techincal design snags..

1. Badly made deck-to-hull joints. Leading the pack of serious faults is badly made deck-to-hull joints. So much so that I have a dedicated article dealing with this rather complex subject. When buying a new or used boat, it pays to research this issue carefully. Read the article and you'll find out why.

2. Sealed off hull compartments. Meaning that the new trend in boat building is to eliminate all access to areas of the internal hull. This often results in compartments between stringers and bulkheads that are sealed off by the cabin sole. If water leaks into these compartments, this can result in filling up with water and cause deterioration of structural hull members such as stringers and bulkheads. Why Internal Hull Areas Should Be Accessible

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