How a chance purchase of Motor Boat & Yachting led to David and Alison Hartley buying a first boat and enjoying a new life afloat
Living in Chelmsford in sunny Essex has its benefits for our boating-mad family – the county is blessed with the second longest coastline in the UK (after Cornwall). As a child I spent a lot of time on family boating holidays but until recently I had never owned my own boat. Instead, I satisfied my urge to be afloat by paddle-boarding around the Essex coast, joining a club and exploring countless hidden gems I didn’t even know existed.
An impromptu purchase of Motor Boat & Yachting magazine during lockdown first sowed the idea of buying a boat and what started as a trickle of interest soon turned into an avalanche of research as I looked into local marinas and the types of motor boats we might be able to afford. The seed was firmly planted and a post-lockdown trip to the Norfolk coast via a boat dealer gave the whole family the chance to clamber over a wide range of used boats and got everybody interested in taking it further.
I decided to refresh my practical skills by completing my RYA Powerboat 2 qualification with Essex Outdoors on the river Blackwater. I’d concluded this would be the best place for us to keep a boat as it’s close to our home (40-minutes drive) and has masses of interesting things to see without even leaving the estuary. Further afield there would be the potential to explore the Suffolk and Norfolk coastline to the north, and the Thames and Kent coastline to the south.
David and Alison Hartley preparing for a new life afloat
We started researching potential berthing options and enjoyed several days out on both sides of the estuary, looking at marinas and swinging moorings, pubs and restaurants, and exploring various wildlife sanctuaries and WW2 artefacts along the shoreline. We looked at other options too, on the river Crouch and Thames, but for us the Blackwater was the best balance of scenery, convenience and variety of adventures.
We initially set a budget of around £100k to buy a boat, thinking that we would want two cabins and a decent galley for spending weekends aboard. We looked at a series of rather jaded second-hand boats at the price point, most of which were 20 years old or more, and felt a little dejected about what our budget would buy.
Even if we could find a boat we liked for the right money, we would still need to spend a whole lot more on updating the upholstery, electronics and grubby teak decks. I studied mechanical engineering at university and am reasonably handy with a spanner but the prospect of constantly having my head in the engine bay battling with 20-year-old diesel engines and fuel systems did not appeal.
The goldilocks effect
We also found that many of the older boats had very little outside space – the bathing platforms were tiny and the bow area was often just a heavily-sloping sunpad cushion that was tricky to access. We looked at multiple boats from the early 1990s through to the early 2010s but none of the layouts were quite right – we certainly didn’t relish the prospect of being tucked away in a galley or saloon deep in the hull.
The pair decided that outdoor space took priority over having numerous cabins
Any boats that did have better outside spaces seemed to have endless square yards of canvas covers that would have to be stowed away before going anywhere. Alison and I both have full-on jobs and we soon came to the realisation that we needed something that was quick and easy to use with minimal maintenance or repair work. We decided it would be better to save up enough money to get a new boat than buying an older one that required masses of time to sort out.
A trip to the 2021 Southampton boat show confirmed our thinking, especially when we discovered the likes of Axopar, XO and Saxdor. Their craft offered loads of outside space, easy-to-manage outboard engines and still provided somewhere to sleep and cook if we wanted to. This started to change our thinking about how we would actually use the boat, realising that day trips and occasional overnighting were more valuable to us than multiple sleeping cabins that would rarely get used.
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We were homing in on a Saxdor 320GTC as the favourite – the fold down sides would be perfect for paddleboarding expeditions and there was no canvas anywhere in sight! We spent 2022 building a war chest to go shopping for a new boat.
A trip to the NEC Boatlife show in February 2023 gave us another chance to see the Saxdor 320 GTC in person and re-affirmed that it would be perfect for our needs. Adding the optional extras, delivery to the UK, VAT and exchange rates gave us a bit of a shock when compared to the headline price on the manufacturer’s website, but by opting for a single engine rather than twins we could bring the price down to just over £200,000.
It was double our original budget but with two teenage girls getting perilously close to being old enough to leave home, we threw caution to the wind and decided to go for it so we could share a few years on the water as a family before they leave the nest and head off to university and beyond.
The local Essex coastline has plenty of cruising opportunities
Kitting out
When it came to finalising the spec, the dealer had a 400hp engine in stock, which meant they could shorten the delivery time by fitting the engine in the UK (there was a global shortage of Mercury engines following the post-Covid boating boom). As for optional extras, we specified a bow thruster and auto trim tabs to make it easier to handle and twin plotters to aid navigation.
For winter use we went for Webasto diesel heating and cooking hob. Other options, like the side windows at £5,500, seemed unnecessarily expensive so we elected to do without them on the basis that the two doors and full-length sunroof provided enough ventilation!
We also saved on some factory-fit electronics such as AIS, VHF radio and extra speakers for the Fusion sound system, by having them fitted by Platinum Marine in Southampton. We did forget to check if antifoul is included in the price – it wasn’t, which meant an unbudgeted added cost!
Owning his own boat was a long-held dream
With the boat due to arrive in late May, it was time to get ready for life afloat. We began to accumulate lifejackets, first aid kits, fire extinguishers and kitchenware in a large pile in the shed. I also frantically started studying the RYA Day Skipper Theory course with Skippers Online, realising early on that it needed to be treated as a marathon and not a sprint!
I would strongly recommend this course to anyone heading out onto coastal waters, it has proven its worth time and again during our first summer of boating – especially the mental maths required to calculate tidal heights in the notoriously shallow and tidal river Blackwater.
I also completed my Marine Radio VHF Certificate with Premier Sailing in Chelmsford and with their guidance managed to register with OFCOM for an MMSI number. Alison also completed her PB2 training, gaining a reputation for being the speed freak of the cohort!
Ironically, having specified twin electronic SIMRAD chart plotters, one of our favourite purchases was a set of paper charts for the Essex and Suffolk coasts. We spent ages poring over details of the local area, fascinated by the names and features of all the tiny creeks and tributaries that we would be able to explore.
Our neighbours, who are very experienced sailors, also gave us masses of helpful tips on the best places to anchor, eat and sleep as well as the mishaps that might occur and how to deal with them – huge thanks to (another) Alison and Dave for their advice. The East Coast Pilot guide book has proven to be a brilliant resource as well, with an active Facebook group for the very latest updates and observations on local conditions, and some lovely photographs as well.
The Saxdor 320 GTC turned David’s head at the Southampton Boat Show
Annoying delay
The end of May delivery date came around fairly quickly but unfortunately the boat did not! Due to several mystery delays on the production line, the boat eventually arrived from Poland into Southampton at the beginning of July, which in hindsight doesn’t sound like a long wait but was painful at the time due to fever-pitch levels of excitement.
We had arranged for some boat-handling tuition on the Solent immediately after our handover session with the dealer. Unfortunately, due to 45-50mph winds, the session was cancelled. With road transport from Southampton to Essex already booked for the following week we’d now have to take delivery of it without ever having driven it.
My back-up plan was to quickly order some dock fenders and get them screwed on to the corners of our pontoon berth to avoid any parking mishaps. Alison and I also made a pact that there would be a no-blame culture on any scuffs to our new toy, and that we should just get on with enjoying it.
David’s daughter helps with the boat’s first spring clean
Practice makes perfect
The first few weeks of ownership were blighted by relentless westerly winds blowing through the marina, but we survived our first few close-quarter manoeuvres in and out of our berth without any damage to our boat, and most importantly anyone else’s! The bow thruster was whizzing away at first but we quickly got the hang of how she would move in the wind and were soon sliding in and out of the berth under engine alone.
Each time we went out on the water, we tried to tick off a different bit of practical training for our newly-formed family crew. On our first full day trip, Alison needed to dial into a work meeting, so it was a good opportunity to practise anchoring. We bobbed around off Osea Island for a couple of hours, with me frantically checking the chart plotter to see if we were drifting while the girls sunbathed on the bow.
On the next few trips we practised launching a paddleboard from the side platforms, lassoing a mooring buoy and getting picked up by the launch at Mersea Island to take us ashore to the island festival. Each trip slowly built our confidence and we soon felt able to invite friends onboard for some gentle cruising around the Blackwater.
Taking in the sights on the boat’s maiden voyage
Because we live so close to the boat, at the end of the working day there was still time to rush down to the boat to get an hour or two on the water to soak up the sunset and creep back into
our berth in the last dregs of daylight.
So far the boat has behaved impeccably (fingers crossed), the only minor glitches being a poor installation of the hose that protects the fuel and hydraulic lines going into the engine, and some adjustment of the mechanism that locks the port folding platform into place. I was able to sort both of these snags myself using a basic tool kit that I keep on board.
The task that I did massively underestimate was the amount of time it would take to get up to speed on the various electronic gadgets. The excitement of trying to get out on the water as soon as possible after the boat arrived meant that the time required to properly learn how to use the chart plotter, radio and engine information systems seemed like an eternity.
Sunset trips along the River Blackwater are a perfect way to end the working day
Decisions that paid off
Despite having some concerns about whether a single engine would cut the mustard, we are really pleased with the performance of the boat – we get just over 30 knots fully loaded with the trim tabs activated. However, we are coming to realise that pottering along at 8 knots into a setting sun with everybody chatting is much more relaxing than racing around. That said, it is nice to be able to make solid progress when needed, especially if it is starting to rain or the tide is ebbing away. We also love the outside space that the Saxdor offers – our decision to prioritise this over cabin space was the right choice.
All in all, it has been a high-intensity start to our boating career, with training, logistics, planning, organisation and plenty of trepidation all giving way to a huge amount of enjoyment and learning opportunities. We’re now looking forward to our first full season on the water as fully fledged boat owners and wondering why it took us so long to take that first step.
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