Schionning Waterline

[SeaCol]

Hello,

Has anyone heard any news on the catamaran called Schionning Waterline ?

Is there any commonly know issues?

[cwjohm]

Kit boat designed by a highly reputable Australian cat designer. Quality will vary with the builder. Many are home built. Great boats, but you need to research extensively the builders capability and reputation.

[Factor]

Schionning is the designer. Waterline is the series, Jeff Schionning has a number of ranges,

Wilderness - simple cruisers with performance, flat panel construction
Cosmos - a little more criusy
Waterline - skinnier hulls more performance less load carrying, still a good cruising boat but you probably need to be a metre or two longer in the waterline than the wilderness to carry similar load.
G Force - loger and skinnier than the waterline, more performance less load carrying, need to go up another metre or two for similar load carrying.

EG A wilderness 12.5 metre will cart similar loads to a 15 metre gforce and the gforce will be quick.

As Chris says, its all about the build quality.

[Seaslug Caravan]

Originally Posted by SeaCol

Hello,

Has anyone heard any news on the catamaran called Schionning Waterline ?

Is there any commonly know issues?

[/URL]

Interesting that you posted a picture of Ross McCombes' waterline Freedom Express.

Ross built it and recently (last couple of years) repainted and tarted it up. Lovely boat and Ross is a good builder.

All balsa as per Schionning plans.

The price is well... just let me say its been for sale for a while. If the sails and motors (outboards) etc are original then it will all need replacing soon. If not then its ready to go.

[P.Eriksson]

As has been said, Schionning is a very reputable designer.

You may have difficulties finding a layout you like, since the interiors are custom made. Schionning boats are outfitted to fulfill the original owners desires, so some have galley up while others have it down, some will have two cabins and other four, the number of heads vary from boat to boat and so on.

Another thing that will vary greatly (as the previous posters pointed out) is build quality. Some are built in Australia, some in South Africa, and some in all the places in between. Some are built by people in their back yards. Quality of materials vary greatly, and since it's a "custom" boat, things like rigging, engines and electrics/plumbing are not the same on two different boats.

I'd recommend having reputable surveyors look at hulls,electronics, engines and rigging. Depending on the size of your investment, it may be worthwhile to have separate surveyors who all specialize in certain "fields" of construction, so they can take an in-depth look at the boat in question.

In an attempt to summarize, like most boats Schionnings probably have a few "issues", but since no two boats are alike, no two boats will have the same problems. This is why it is extra important to have good surveyors and experienced people at hand on sea trials and so on.

Last but not least, welcome to CF!

[Dave_S]

Ditto everything above.

I just bought a 1480 Waterline built by Schionning themselves. There are at least 2 versions. The One I have is a series One. A little lighter and the hull ratio is leaner at 14.8:1 but has a lighter load capacity. I understand there is at least one other for sale in Darwin.

A great source of information is Schionning themselves. They know each boat and will happily part wth information about the build quality as Jeof visited most during construction.

They are happy to assist with any modifications you might like to do and where you should put them for best weight and functionality. They then treat you as if you were the original customer. Fantastically refreshing to deal with.

I rang them about 6 or 7 boats and they knew each one.

[Johnathon123]

Ring the Schionning office, they were extremely helpful to me and advised on each boat that I looked at as to whether it was built well, the history that they knew and issues that may have arisen.

As I said, very helpful and very approachable. They are based in NSW just up near Port Stephens.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by SeaCol

Is there any commonly know issues?

P.S.

No issues that I could find and I did a fair amount of research. There are a lot of Waterline models out there and they have a very good reputation.