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Just by way of a final question fo rthis year ;-) does anybody know what the base engine is underpinning the Volvo 2003T? In my internet trawling I came across a suggestion that they may have been Peugeot based, but I was unable to find any evidence to support the idea. Obviously I'm interested in avoiding the 300% 'green paint surcharge' which you get from Volvo! A very happy Christmas to all on the forum and thanks again for for all the info, views and advice. David

Thanks for that clip, I hadn't seen it before. Being out on the water (as opposed to being tied up against a jetty) you can really see that there's a fair helping of windage with that design. And s/he isn't shy about using full power either! I had a Shetland 4+2 some years ago which tended to 'go walkies' when it was blowy - supposedly a 'semi-displacement' hull, it was much more managable with an auxiliary rudder added to the outboard. The clip certainly shows how useful a bow thruster can be, the pointy end really comes around smartly doesn't it. I guess it is something else to look for when it comes to trying out a few boats - a thruster would be really useful in the tight confines of a marina it there's a stiff wind blowing. Thanks for posting that! David

As part of my on-going search for the 'perfect boat' (this may take some time!) I am now looking at the Shadow 26, designed in the late 80's and apparently still being built to order. I know that there were a variety of topside designs - hardtop, standard canopy and low-level windscreen versions, but here I am interested in the different underwater profiles, ie river boat with a keel & prop tunnel vs a vee type planing hull with large engine/s. So I have two questions for anyone who may have had experience of these boats: 1) are the vee hulls as skittish as one would expect at river speeds, either with or without a bow thruster 2) is the river boat hull a compromise or an effective solution for displacement use As usual, any info is greatly appreciated! David

Two types of MD22, well that makes life easy ;-) BTW the double posting was very useful as I had only just turned the 'auto-notification' on for this thread! Thanks for mentioning the BL Maestro origins of the MD22, I had come across that nugget several weeks ago but it had been completely buried by all the other tech data I was unearthing.

That's all very interesting. So basically as long as you stick to the known names and can see a convincing service history and tidy intallation, engines are pretty good. The only other factor being whether to go for older (and therefore less refined) engines with a long track record, or a more recent and therefore smoother Kubota based design. I'm hoping to get up to the broads in a couple of weeks, but my first foray will be to take a look at a couple of small Volvo powered boats this weekend in the West country. So its MD22 vs 2003T before I take on the Kubota/Perkins boats later on. Thanks very much again to all for taking the time to offer advice - now the difficult work starts! David

Having re-built a Volvo 280 outdrive a couple of years ago, I can relate to the 'value-not-added' price hikes of the main manufacturers! Every single bearing I replaced on the 280 was a bog standard industry part - costing around 20% or less of the Volvo asking price. Even things like O-rings went from pounds to pence as you went from Volvo to standard parts. I suppose the bottom line is that, as far as the Kubota-based engines are concerned, a shorter supply line from a UK manufacturer should (hopefully!) be a better bet than an overseas supplier - in fact there was an interesting discussion along those lines in the thread on imported Chinese engines. Oh, and the Perkins 104.19 I referred to earlier is an engine code for the Perkins MC42 4 pot normally aspirated diesel. Not knowing how long it had been out of production, I was a little concerned that parts would be an issue. David

Thanks to all for the NBN welcome! I was primarily looking for people's 'engine reliability/ease of parts sourcing' experiiences so as no horror stories have surfaced, it seems that just the usual compression, leak-down and injector tests would be appropriate. Interesting comment regarding oil analysis from LondonRascal though, that's done on older light aircraft engines, but it hadn't occurred to me to do the same with a marine diesel - thanks for the suggestion. I know of a quick-check kit which would be ideal for that, I just need to make sure that it is suitable for diesel power plants as well. Our short-list is now a very short short-list, the only snag is that what we want to see is the best part of 3 hours away - in opposite directions! Thanks again to all for the suggestions/advice . . . the boat search continues David

I'm currently looking for a suitable shaft drive, 26ft displacement hull cruiser with a 30 to 40hp engine, so I would be very interested to hear people's views as to the pros and cons of the different engine manufacturers. The short-list appears to be narrowing down to an Alpha 26 or a Shadow 26 at this stage, so the area of interest now turns to power units. As I understand it, both the Beta Marine and Nanni units are built around the same Kubota base engine, so the question is whether one is any better/worse for parts. I notice that there is a good deal of info available on the Beta, but less so for the Nanni with some of it in 'Frenglish'. I have also seen a Perkins 104.19 powered craft, but info seems to be thin on the ground and in another NBN thread mention is made of spares becoming more problematic. In addition to the 4-pot engines above, I have also seen a boat fitted with 3 cylinder Volvo 2003 turbo diesel. I am wondering how that unit shapes up regarding vibration and noise levels. Essentially I am after info on general impressions, noise levels, parts availability, any 'known issues' to check for and what people think of these power units. Any thoughts/views are much appreciated, David

Thanks very much for the reply, that info was most useful; I wasn't aware that there was a MKI and MkII version of the boat and I now have reliable dimensions to work with. I need to go and have a look at the various cabin layouts, but unfortunately I can't see that happening this side of Christmas, it is quite a trek from Milton Keynes. I also want to get an idea how noisy the diesel engines are and look at the practicality of the various cabin layouts. The boat will be based on the upper Great Ouse and used by just the two of us for the most part, so an Alpha 26 looks promising. Thanks again for the reply - much appreciated.

Apologies for hijacking/resurrecting this thread, but does anybody actually have genuine figures for the dimensions of an Alpha 26? Most of the brokers seem to have a wild guess and are clueless when you phone and ask them for specifics. Beam and air draft are critical for my part of the river Great Ouse and I've seen figures for beam varying from 7'2" to 10' 6" and air draft from 7ft 10" to 8' 7". Depending upon the actual dimensions, I may have to change marina and it would be mildly irritating to find that a boat didn't fit in the lock!