brittish bloke wants info on Regal 320 commodore - The Hull Truth

ninjapirate · 01-15-2005, 02:42 PM

hi, im looking to ship a regal 320 1990 to england, (as its much cheaper) but before i do i just wanna make sure im making the right choice, so any opinions, facts or owners comments good or bad greatly welcome!!!

terranova · 01-15-2005, 04:22 PM

Sorry that i cannot say from personal experience, however, the slip next to me is occupied by a Regal Commadore 32. Hes had nothing but problems with the boat. Its a 1989 with twin outdrives. The seats in the cockpit are vinyl over wood which rotted, the headliner fell out, the screw-drive engine hatch is worthless. Maybe the straight inboard would be better. I have another dock mate with a 36 Regal and he has dumped a fortune in the boat. Its a 1991. Maybe you can search this powerful forum for some firsthand experience. good luck-- j.p

ninjapirate · 01-16-2005, 08:33 AM

thanx for the feedback, thats the exact type of comments im lookin for, everyone else seems to think regal are great and then try to sell me there boat!! so come on owners tell me the truth so i can at least make an informed choice!!

ninjapirate · 01-16-2005, 08:34 AM

thanx for the feedback, thats the exact type of comments im lookin for, everyone else seems to think regal are great and then try to sell me there boat!! so come on owners tell me the truth so i can at least make an informed choice!!

dek · 01-16-2005, 02:08 PM

You might also try consulting with an experienced U.S. surveyor. You can find lists of them on the web: National Association Of Marine Surveyors (NAMS) or Society Of
Accredited Marine Surveyors (SAMS). You can find a well regarded surveyor (Pascoe) at his website, yacthsurvey.com. He has a strong preference for high quality boats. I could recommend a strong surveyor here in the Pacific Northwest if you're interested.

If you don't find what you need here, try posting on some other sites as well. This is an excellent site with an emphasis on offshore fishing boats. If you need another site suggestion, I could do that by e-mail. Good luck.

David

Scali62 · 01-16-2005, 03:36 PM

If your looking for a 31' family cruiser class boat that's of high USA quality consider shipping a Tiara over the pond.
{ How many British people would spell it brittish ? }

dek · 01-17-2005, 01:02 AM

For what it's worth, one of Pascoe's books (Mid Size Power Boats) lists some of the bigger boat builders by quality level: entry level, mid level, and high quality production builders. Regal is shown as an entry level builder. (See page 451.) Among the comments regarding entry level boats: "Overall quality levels, and often engineering, are below what I consider to be a reasonable minimum that would ensure a reasonably long service life. Certainly there will be owners of these boats who will not agree with my assessment, but that is my take on these builders." This is a very experienced surveyor; and that's an outstanding book.

David

goincatchin · 01-17-2005, 07:21 AM

My business partner has 2003 Regal 3060 and has been chasing gremlins in that boat since the day he bought it. The first time he went out in the ocean many of the screws in his cabin backed out and he lost 2 cabinet doors and the mirror in the head shattered. The overheat alarms sounded sending his engines into Fail-Safe mode and he had to come home from Bimini at idle. The boat has spent many hours at the dealer and Regal has sent reps from the factory to his slip on 3 different occasions. All that being said, the boat is finally somewhat trouble free after 2 years of getting the bugs out and some seriously frustrating times.