A friend towed the 14' back from his parents in Pembroke to 'do up', but decided it was too far gone and brought himself a 15' ArrowFlash instead! Thus I picked up for a song and a bit of web work to save her from that boatyard in the sky...
She - 'Charlie' - needed most things really, but had an engine (30hp Evinrude with hydrofoils) and controls, seats, trailer and a fuel tank - what more could you want? So, we owned our first boat! Well to be honest, a first for me and our son, Edward (7), but my missus had a boat before (that was an easy discussion
).About £1,000 later, I had tidied up and sourced and fitted most of the essential parts (steering wheel & cable, VHF, working horn and nav lights) and the 'junk' needed for inside (boat hook, fenders, ropes, anchor, flares, life jackets, toolkit, paddles, lifeline, etc) and had the outboard serviced. Once insured we did our first run about 6 miles down the coast with the same friend who bought along his ArrowFlash. We moored up, had lunch, got soaked in a shower and then couldn't start... Dud battery. Wouldn't jump, so first tow too! It transpired that the rectifier pack was dud and battery wasn't that good either! A long saga followed with a few breakdowns and disappointments, but basically I've got to know her now and with a BIG 110Ah battery, and the threat of the 2.2hp auxiliary lurking in the ski-hole, we seem to have reached an understanding...
We've done some river runs on the Teign and Dart, and pottered about Torbay and surrounding area over the last couple of years and whilst I'm reluctant to part with her yet, started thinking on the next step, as you do (read bigger!) and realised we needed to address her limitations and shortcomings...
More room was a must as with 2 adults, a child and grub (plus aforementioned 'junk', we really couldn't move - let alone take friends out for a boating day and picnic.
Bigger boat = bigger engine = bigger fuel bill, so a 4-stroke seemed in order. Newer stuff was going to be an issue based on price vs budget, so older inboard seemed a good option and known quantity (have a track record for car engines and V8's in particular... 
)I've since diverted energy to the Arrowbolt (see other thread), but will resume this story at a later date when the Arrowbolt gets on the water and this one gets restored... I suspect a few updates will appear in the meanwhile!
R-)
) with the Arrowbolt for the next 12-18 months - perhaps longer depending on how much of 'wish list' gets implemented. 
