The story so far…
So, having been bitten by the boating bug a few Years ago, we have been researching which boat would be the best option for us. Which is, the Fairline Turbo 36. Nothing we’d looked at came close to competing in terms of layout, and they’re a lovely looking boat.
Phoenician Princess was for sale on the hard at Penton hook marina. We had a look around her, there were bits and bobs that needed updating, but the engine bay was immaculate and both engines glistening with new filters. The upholstery was good, the woodwork generally good and she just had an air of being well cared for. So, put an offer on on 21st December 2015. The vendor refused, and asked for another £1K on top which we agreed to.
As she was on the hard, and needed antifouling, we took a real gamble and paid for her to be antifouled, the boot-top raised, the anodes changed, a rope cutter to be adjusted and the topsides polished before she was craned in for the engine survey (refer to invoice.) Quite a risk as we stood to lose £1500.00 if she turned out to be a lemon but it did save all the hassle and expense of craning her out when she was safely back on the Medway. Plus, of course, we could start enjoying the boat straight away if all went well with the surveys. It’s all relative though, the cost of buying a duff boat made the pre-purchase work look like peanuts so it was a risk we felt was worth taking.
With Christmas in the way, there were delays getting the surveys done but the pre-purchase survey was carried out on 5th January 2016. We had to wait until Friday 8th for the written report, which gave us the go-ahead to proceed with the engines survey (Please refer to survey.) This was scheduled for 21st Jan, but unfortunately my chosen engineer (Paul Steel from PJS marine; “VolvoPaul of YBW fame) was suffering from flu so the survey and sea trial weren’t carried out until 26th Jan.
This went well. In Paul’s own words, “I’ve got a good feeling about this one, there’s very little to put in the report.” The testing he could carry out was limited with the 4 knot speed limit on the Thames, but he ran up each engine hard individually and it pulled smoothly and cleanly with very little smoke (unusual for TAMD61A’s) Oil and coolant were all fine, no funny noises, no knocks or rattles and Paul seemed very impressed. Only issue seemed to be the slight oil leaks from the oil coolers which are typical of these lumps.
In all, Paul spent about 4 Hours looking over the engines and gearboxes, the only major issues found (please see report) were slack belts on the port engines, and a leaking seawater pump on the stbd one. The seawater pump was rebuilt by BW marine a couple of days later (excellent service!) and they also changed the impeller on the port engine as it was unlikely to have been changed in a couple of Years.
So… She was bought and paid for 😀
fairlineturbo36 