I have a Dream....

[JPJordaan]

Ever since I can remember I always dreamed of owning my own boat. As a youngster over the December holidays I would always try and be the first to spot Sanjan or Advantage in St Lucia. When Sanjan stood outside the Spar on their way out for the day I would imagine what it would be like to captain my own Sanjan.


Now that was a 22Ft (Thx Nooduck) or so off shore boat which grabbed the dreams of a little boy.


Today I have three sons and as we all know having kids means toys are no longer an option. Especially the 15ft+ variants which you chase  ,    and    around with. But my dream has never faded. So with my oldest getting stuck into Gr12 next year and my youngest turning 7 today I decided that maybe the time has come to start thinking of working towards my dream. Now to be honest at this moment in time I do not have the means to own a boat. And this is now both the financial and the knowledge aspect of it.


What I do know however is what I would like to do with the boat.

• Towing a tube for the kids over weekends
• Having a fish in harbour, estuaries, lakes, dams, etc. (try for    which I see are in some estuaries)
• Seating for 5 with tackle
• Tow from Rustenburg to the coast without having to take a second loan on my house

In all honesty I was shocked to see what these toys cost which obviously moved my dream out a bit but still something I am aiming for.


I have been looking at ducks in the <4.5m (70 - 90hp) range as a start, but I can't seem to figure out if that is the best option for my "needs"


Over to the clever people here to help me dream my dream.

case in point, just the location is a problem.
https://www.gumtree.co.za/a-boats-jet-skis/kingsborough/rubber-duck-for-sale/1006041236410910037756109

[Nooduck]

Sanjan- now that brought back MANY GREAT memories.
I do think Peter's boat was a 22ft.
5 people with tackle requires a 20+ft boat.
The duck you looked at on gumtree will be ok for dam and towing a person on a tube.
It has only one engine, so you are restricted to go out to 1 sea mile.

[FishStyx]

A single motor at sea really sucks, particularly if you have the lives of your young ones in your hands... But it's great in terms of cost, weight, maintenance fuel economy (only slightly though) etc. So if you do go this route, get a small (10-15Hp) aux motor for when you go offshore.


Main thing is... Live your dream. Happiness is worth far more than money.

[Visenvryheid]

When you realize what a boat costs and nevermind maintainance and running costs, you realize that good charters are really quite cheap. But ja with a boat you just go..But do you have the knowledge to avoid trouble and get out of trouble if you need to.. it helps to get experience first with someone experienced. But ja second that..Live the dream..As much as one can. Before you know it life has gone by and you're old and can't do it anymore..

[stephenrplumb]

Out first boat was a mallards classic 170 with yahama 200. It was great and the kids enjoyed skiing etc. We kept it at the Vaal river beach club and towed it to  dbn, used at Inanda dam, used it in the bay quite a lot. Towed it to Knysna and used it there which was awesome. Towed it to Kosi bay a few times.

Eventually decided that we were not using it on weekends and the kids preferred the sea. I think I paid 110k for it and sold it for 80. Services was pretty much replacing plugs so not expensive.

Bought a 4.9 duck and have been using that for a while. Great for offshore fishing and spearfishing. We have not bothered with towing,skiing etc anymore as we prefer to be in the sea. I did the services myself and again, plugs, oils and now replacing the zinc anodes becomes more nb. Still not expensive.

On the point of costs consider this. I was sending the kids out with Casea charters in Umhlanga and that was around 800-1000 rands every time they went for around 3 hrs. With the little duck we would go out for the day and seldom use more than 250rands of fuel. That was dbn, out to the ships, into umhlanga and back along the beach to the ski boat club. When we were in Knysna we used the boat every day and probably used less than one tank of 60lts. We were able to get to places that you could not get to without a boat, and spent some time fishing and the boys tried some spearfishing. My wife actually bought up how cheap the holiday was and I have two boys. Imagine what you would spend entertaining 3 boys with activities, food etc, for a few days on holiday.

I have just bought a ace glider 530 and am not sure but may sell the duck (which I paid 80k for by the way - and sent a few bob on fish finder etc) My boys are in high school and I figure I only have a few more years with them, so stuff the money and make memories. You should be able to sell the boat later and recover most of that money anyway.

I will say that off shore is more expensive. You need to factor in a skippers and radio license. More expensive and difficult than an inshore license. The maintenance on anything going into salt water, is heavier than fresh water, but as mentioned, we were able to go to a lot of places with our Classic before we got properly into offshore and you can have a lot of fun in the bay in dbn, kosi, knysna etc.

I would highly recommend you take the plunge and do it. Some more pointers based on my experience. Don't skimp on trailers esp if you are going to launch in sea water. Every time I launched in sea water I had to replace the trailer lights. My adivce. Forget the trailer lights. They are rubbish. Rather get a removable light board, around 500ronts and just take it off every time you launch. Never had a problem with lights since then.

Trailer tyres. Make sure you replace at 5 years. The tyres never wear out on trailers, but the rubber gets knackered. If they are older than 5yrs just get rid of them. Then wheel bearing. I replace mine after every trip in salt water. At least repack them at the very least. Also travel with a spare set of bearing and seals and keep them with you. If you are only in fresh water, you can probably get away with service once a year. The coastal guys probably scoff at this, but we tend to use our boats, then return them to Gauteng and they sit for months, while they tend to use them every second weekend.

If you are even vaguely handy or are wiling to learn, then this is all cheap and easy DIY maintenance. if you repack the bearings, it is just a bit of time and grease. If you replace it is only a few rands for new ones. I also invested in a yamaha pump that is pretty handy for replacing the oil in the gearbox lower unit. You would also do this annually. You can also buy the oil in the tube like a giant toothpaste tube and just use this to fill the lower units. If you are doing the lower unit, it is as well to replace the impeller.

Some of this maintenance is not an necessary as frequently if you are in fresh water only, but with beaching and launching you tend to suck some sand through the impeller, so I like to do that and the gearbox oil every year. With my Classic, i never did the impeller and just did the gearbox oil when I first got the boat, so I knew what I was dealing with.

In short I am saying that it does not cost a fortune to keep the boat in good shape and youtube is your friend in terms of maintenance. On holiday you will probably end up saving a lot of money by having your own boat.

[FishStyx]

@ Stephen 


Great info there, thanks. This is what UA is all about.

[JPJordaan]

Thank you so much guys! I am now even more motivated.


Offshore I am not sold on yet. But would love to do the DBN harbor/ bay, Richardsbay, lagoons and estuaries for fishing over our annual holidays and have the weekends running tubes on the dams and rivers.


I agree, my time with my kids is becoming more and more limited, but that being said, seeing the grandparents enjoying the kids, something like a boat could also have so much benefits and memories to be had. Tell me what does a child enjoy more than the outdoors, sun and water?


 

[stephenrplumb]

Its great that you are thinking this way. You don't need to spend a fortune and there are good deals out there. I drove from JHB to Dbn to Kimberly and when loosing hope, eventually found the Duck I bought in Pinetown while I was down in Dbn. Having looked at a few, I knew this was the one and did not even bother to haggle as the owner was asking a fair price.


Having done what you are after, I will offer some comments on my experience with the mallard Classic 170. If you google it, you will see that it has very low gunnels and can easily take water over the bow straight into the boat. Generally this is not an issue in the dams, but some thoughts. We were in 3rd lake in Kosi and coming across from Bhanga Nek. The wind had picked up something fierce and the chop on the water was big. I had to drive across just off the plane with the nose pointing into the air to keep the water from coming over the front. I would lie if I said that i was not a little concerned. The bay can also pick up very quickly.


Most of the typical dam boats are not wet deck. Ie they don't have scuppers out the rear so that any water that comes on board just drains off. If you can find a wet deck, this would be preferable in my view. This is not to discourage you from a dam boat in the waters you are talking about, just bear this in mind.


I would give serious thought to a bay boat. Growing up a friend of mine had a Baronet 17. I think similar brands are caliber, interceptor etc. These typically have a cabin up front and look more suited to the sea but are built for estuaries etc. You could probably pick up a fixer upperer for very little money. They will not look as cool on the dams, but will be more comfortable in the bay and similar. The Bay boats will also probably be heavier to tow and use a bit more fuel for skiing. We used to Ski in all the dams in KZN behind the baronet and go for overnight fishing trips in the durban bay taking turns to sleep in the cabin.


A lot of the recreational boats these days also have wet decks so you may find a good "dam" boat that will also do well in estuaries, bays etc.


I am not sure what sort of budget you have  in mind, but try and get someone familiar with boats to give it a once over before you decide. Also based on my experience, it is actually very difficult to access dams in Gauteng. In Durban you signed up with a golden rhino or whatever and off you went to Hazelmere, Midmar, Albert Falls etc with no issues. When I bought the boat up here I discovered that you pretty much have to buy a house in order to access the water. Based on my experience, the Vaal Dam was awful and you have to reverse your vehicle about 200m into the dam before you will float the boat off the trailer. The public facilities are non-existent and the ablutions are best avoided at all costs. The Vaal River is much the same and so full of excremenet that I would be nervous of going there. Bufflespoort was tiny, over crowded and expensive to get it. Brokhorstpruit was great and very clean in winter, but also very overcrowded and had about 10m of waterfront at the caravan park that people would fight over in summer. Again you pretty much have to buy a house there.


I am not sure about the Dams in your area and how they are run, but this is one of the other reasons that we decided that we prefer the sea to the inland options. In our experience you had to join a club to really make use of your boat up here and so we joined the riverside beach club on the vaal river. Check out options in your neck of the woods before you decide what boat to get and how easy it will be to get in the water. Also we had skiing life jackets and the last time we were in dbn bay they wanted the orange offshore ones. Not sure what the current thinking is, but it literally does not cost a cent to put your boat into the harbour at the PYC slipway.


Not sure what else to mention, but I would go and look around at a lot of boats and try to figure out the pros and cons of each option before you commit. I have just bought a ski boat, as I also looked at a lot of boats and when I saw the right one I knew it pretty much immediately, but only because I looked at quite a few lemons first.