Well remind me not to buy a Riviera 48 then.
A mate of mine has this classic Moreton Bay cruiser which is a "Flemming 40". Flemming was a contemporary of the Wright brothers in Brisbane who were legends in timber boat building.
Tarana is not an open sea boat but we took her from Bundaberg down to Brisbane and copped a bit of a blow on the way to Hervey Bay.
She handled it quite OK when we pulled back on the throttle a bit to stop her pounding. With that lovely flared bow I think she will handle most seas if directed into it and throttled back as appropriate.
After the morning blow in Hervey Bay we took her down the Great Sandy Straits and out over the Wide Bay bar the next morning and continued through to the Brisbane River, anchoring there about 9 pm that night. So it was a two day trip, one night anchored on the way.
She is powered with a 6 cyl Perkins, about 3 or 4 litres displacement and turbo charged which pushes her along quite comfortably at eight and a half knots with a bit more available in reserve. We did hit 12 knots coming through Spitfire Passage off Bribie Island with the tidal stream.
As you can see, there is not a lot of her in the water and John has since had the rear roof lightened down and dropped to wheelhouse height, a definite improvement.
I really love this boat. She is a beautiful thing.
