Birchwood Crusader 400 Flybridge Used Boat Review

While the Birchwood Crusader 400 was never perceived as polished or glitzy, it was always very practical and quite cleverly designed

Founded in the late 1960s and originally based near Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, the Birchwood Boat Company forged its reputation building cruisers for the inland waterways and estuaries markets. Initially focusing on 18 to 22ft craft, the firm expanded its range up to 29ft in the ‘70s and to 37ft in the ’80s. Later, under the name of Birchwood Marine, vessels up to 51ft were also constructed, including the subject of this review, the Birchwood Crusader 400.

Launched in 1998 and offered with a flybridge or in a hardtop format known as the Compact, the Birchwood Crusader 400 superseded the 380 series, the key changes being a revised hull design and a revamped interior.

With a pair of throaty Mercruiser D-Tronic engines pumping out a total of 500 horsepower to push its semi-displacement hull to speeds of around 24 knots, you would think (quite naturally) that the Birchwood Crusader 400 would make quite a formidable seagoing boat – and so it did for many. But as we discovered when preparing this used boat report, not everybody wants that. That’s because for some owners, including Alan Hodge, whose boat we feature here, their idea of boating heaven involves pottering around on the inland waterways at an altogether more stately pace.

Alan and his wife, Lisa, have spent much of the past three years in the Norfolk Broads, living aboard their Birchwood Crusader 400. “Our home is in the Surrey Hills but when we retired, we decided it was time to live the life,” says Alan. “We wanted to be on the Broads and we decided we would live on board, on and off, for two or three weeks at a time. Come home for a week to make sure the house is still standing and then go back up there for another couple of weeks.”

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A flybridge for inland use

Alan and Lisa began that retirement journey with a Heritage 39, a purpose-built, low air draft inland waterways cruiser. “But the problem was you could never see over the reeds when they were in full bloom!” recalls Alan.

“So you’ve got to work out whether to have a flatbed like the Heritage 39 so you can go through the bridges, like Loddon Bridge, or go for something like a sea boat instead. That would mean you’re restricted in where you can go – you can’t go to Loddon, for instance, no matter what the tide is doing. But you can go to the north side of the Broads if you get the tides right.

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“We were over that side to start off with and while the flybridge does restrict you a little bit, we weren’t really bothered. There was enough of the Broads that we could enjoy. But while we really liked it, the travelling became too much. It used to take us about three hours to get there when we started, but it got worse and worse, eventually taking up to four-and-a-half hours. So we decided the time had come to part with the boat.”

Now on sale with Brundall-based Norfolk Boat Sales, Alan and Lisa’s Year 2000 model is on the market for £99,500. For a vessel that’s 41ft long with a beam approaching 13ft, that’s a big boat for the money, especially considering it has a flybridge and is in generally very good condition.

Clever cabins

In terms of accommodation, the Crusader 400 offers two cabins. The first of these, the guest cabin, is located in the forepeak and features an unusual berth arrangement with two single beds located at different heights. This allows the port bed, the higher of the two, to overlap the lower starboard berth.

The effect of this is that the overall footprint of the two berths is condensed, thereby creating space which would otherwise be lost to the ‘vee’. It’s a clever move, which Birchwood has capitalised upon by fitting a substantial storage unit beneath the port bed and a second, even larger, unit at its foot.

There’s enough room at the end of the starboard bed for a full-height wardrobe and a bigger space to move around in than is usual for a forward vee-berth cabin. Although this configuration means separate beds, Birchwood did also offer a more conventional double-berth forward cabin as an option.

Aft of this bow cabin is the day heads, which contains the full complement of fitments: basin, toilet and shower plus a small amount of storage in a compact but perfectly serviceable space. The master cabin is a full-beam aft affair, accessed via three steps down from the main saloon.

Generously proportioned, there’s a full-size double bed, flanked by a cubicle on either side – one containing the toilet and a washbasin; and the other housing a shower unit and a second basin. In the intervening space, Birchwood has managed to cram in a full-height wardrobe, a dressing table and a set of drawers. All of this notwithstanding, there’s still plenty of floorspace to move around the cabin.

Homely vibes

In between the two cabins, the wheelhouse is home to four separate areas: the saloon, galley, dining area and lower helm. Dressed in tones of beige and with two facing settees – one a five seater, the other a three – the saloon is a wide, warm and cosy space. There’s no place here for any square edges or pin-sharp lines because Birchwood’s designers were always very committed to comfort. And while that does limit the dynamism of the styling and decor, it also makes for a much more user-friendly boat.

The homeliness of the saloon is complemented by the fact that both the galley and the dining area are tucked away down a couple of steps forward, largely out of sight of anyone on the sofas. The spacious port galley is particularly well appointed, with a double sink, full-size fridge, four-burner hob, microwave and bags of storage space. Moreover, its dark worktops and solid wood cabinetry have stood the test of time well.

There’s no sense at all that the galley has dated in the last 24 years. Opposite that, the U-shaped dinette is a little less appealing but the table does drop down to enable you to convert it into an occasional third berth – and there’s a neat privacy curtain to screen off the entire area when you do so.

At the lower helm, a deeply cushioned double seat provides the same level of comfort as the rest of the saloon. While some structural mullions do get in the way a little bit, the view forward and to each side is decent. There’s not a huge amount of ventilation in evidence here, so helming from this position could also get a little stuffy but of course, this is a flybridge model, so that is where the majority of the helming is likely to take place.

Upper deck

The flybridge is accessed from the raised aft cockpit – another spacious area with wrap-around seating on the aft and port sides and a single seat to starboard. There’s also ample room here for a freestanding table and chairs. Three steps lead up to the flybridge, which has been designed more for relaxation than entertaining.

There’s no formal dining area here; just a single starboard helm seat and two cushioned seating units separated by a triangular table-cum-drinks holder. But one thing the flybridge does have that enhances its suitability for inland waterways cruising is a collapsible radar arch. Lowered manually, but on gas struts to help bear the load, this decreases the air draft by 4ft 7in (1.4m).

Cruising ground considerations

One piece of advice Alan would give to anyone looking at making the Norfolk Broads their home cruising grounds would be to spec up the boat to make sure it’s fit for purpose. In Alan’s case, that meant investing in a set of six heavy-duty batteries to reduce reliance on shore power. “When you’re just trickling around at six knots, or even four in places like Wroxham, the batteries aren’t being charged as powerfully as they would be if you were out at sea,” he says.

“While there is shore power to be had around the Broads, in the six weeks of summer, when there are lots more boats and people around, it can be a bit of a problem. In fact, before I changed them, the old batteries would be dead after two days. When I upgraded the battery bank, I also went for a monitoring system I could dial up on my phone. That’s brilliant because it shows you how much power you’ve got left – and we never had a flat battery again!”

In our original test, we concluded that the Birchwood Crusader 400 is a practical boat for practical boating people. After exploring Alan’s very clean, tidy and serviceable boat, we’ve seen nothing at all to change that view.

Birchwood Crusader 400 Flybridge specifications

MODEL: Birchwood Crusader 400
DESIGNER: Birchwood
HULL TYPE: Semi-displacement
RCD: B12
LOA: 41ft 1in (12.50m)
BEAM: 12ft 8in (4.10m)
DRAFT: 3ft 0in (0.91m)
AIR DRAFT (MAX): 16ft 9in (5.13m)
DISPLACEMENT: 8,500kg
FUEL CAPACITY: 910L
WATER CAPACITY: 273L
TOP SPEED: 24 knots
FUEL CONSUMPTION: 3.78L/Nm @ 19 knots
RANGE: 192Nm at 19 knots with 20% reserve

Birchwood Crusader 400 Flybridge cost and options

Berthing: £8,875 (based on £710/metre for a Hamble River marina downstream of Bursledon bridge)
Fuel burn: Annual fuel burn 2,145 litres (based on 25 hours at 21.3 knots and 25 hours at 10 knots)

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