Ken,

I hope you don't mind another question. With the holidays we haven't really
proceeded much further than my original post except that I continued looking
at boats and have since talked with another boat dealer. This guy claims
that this type of boat was good for tying up to the dock and staying on it
for the weekend due to a high center of gravity. He claims it rolls a lot on
any type of water except for glass seas due to so much of the boat being out
of the water and having such a shallow draft.

You mentioned the shallow draft as a positive but you experienced a lot of
windage. Did the windage you experienced cause the boat to roll? Do you
think it could be due to a shallow draft? Have you had any handling problems
when you were under way with 2 -3 ft seas and a crosswind?

We live in Chicago and Lake MI is our primary body of water. Its unusual for
it to be perfectly calm. The norm is 2 -3 footers, sometimes we go out in 4
footers. That's about our limit...so far. Winds vary.

I know the other salesman I talked with is trying to sell me a boat he has
in stock (Tiara express cruiser) but he did hit on some things you mentioned
in your description. Any add'l info you can give me would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Dennis

"Ken Ibold" wrote in message
. ..
I owned a 1996 3650 for several years. It was equipped with the 350 hp
Crusaders and a great suite of electronics. We loved it, despite its
prodigious appetite for gas. Construction quality was very good. We had no
issues with cheap hardware or subpar glasswork. No window leaks

There are a few gotchas. The vent line from the hull to the waste holding
tank has a tendency to kink, leading to head odor. Not pleasant. The
mechanics I consulted simply wanted to keep replacing the inline filter,
but finally I traced the line and found that there was a poorly designed
hose routing inside the undersink cabinet in the guest head. The hose made
a 90 degree turn and wold collapse there.

Other than that, we had more or less typical problems with electronics you
find on a boat this age, especially the climate control panel. The buttons
started working intermittently. This was right around the time we sold it,
and I never did get around to fixing it.

The boat will make about 15-17 knots, unless you really want to push it,
then you might get 24 if you have a nice clean bottom. We ran among the
shallows of SW Florida and were really pleased with the shallow draft.
Handling is as you would expect given a boat with such a high center of
gravity. Definitely not a sport boat, but oh, that interior room is nice.
(We have a family of 5 and would routinely spend a week aboard at a time.)
There is also a lot of windage. Docking in a crosswind is quite the
adventure the first few times. However, I got to the point where I almost
couldn't dock when the wind was calm. Control authority is pretty good.

You need a swim platform if you plan to do much fishing or haul a dinghy.
Ours was not equipped with one and that was one thing I missed. We ended
up using an inflatable on the bow, but that was not ideal. There is a snap
in carpet for the aft deck, and we found it easiest to just leave it in
the dock box.

As for resale, I believe they're not as bad as some boats, but my
experience was affected by timing. I put mine on the market on Sept 10,
2001. As you might imagine, the bottom fell out of the market the next
day.

I could ramble on for hours. Any other questions, feel free to contact me
offline.

Ken

"Dennis T" wrote in message
m...
I'm looking at a 1998 3650 Motoryacht and was wondering if anyone out
there has any experience with this vessel. Its winter in Chicago and I
won't be able to sea trial until spring. Is there something I should be
looking for that is peculiar to this boat?

The boat appears to be well maintained, low engine hours, everything
looks like new. It was out of the water all last summer as the owners
moved.

Any experience with resale? Does it hold its value?

Any info would be appreciated.


--

cell 708-601-4847

Dennis

The center of gravity is indeed high -- the penalty for having all that
cabin headroom. And, yes, it does rock when the seas are not calm. That is
probably the biggest drawback to the design. In our use in SW Florida and
primarily Intracoastal/near shore cruising, this was seldom a big deal.
However, it was somewhat uncomfortable to be on the flybridge if we were
cruising at trawler speeds and hit the wake of a similar-sized boat on plane
going the opposite direction in a channel.

The tradeoff was such that we found the shallow draft and huge interior room
to offset the handling issues, given the way we used the boat. You might
come to another conclusion. Having sold the boat, though, I can say that if
I were to buy another for that purpose, I'd readily consider the same model.

Compared to an express model, any sedan style boat is going to exhibit worse
handling. But try to spend a weekend on an express with a family of five and
handling becomes the least of your worries.

Ken

"Dennis T" wrote in message
m...
Ken,

I hope you don't mind another question. With the holidays we haven't
really
proceeded much further than my original post except that I continued
looking
at boats and have since talked with another boat dealer. This guy claims
that this type of boat was good for tying up to the dock and staying on
it
for the weekend due to a high center of gravity. He claims it rolls a lot
on
any type of water except for glass seas due to so much of the boat being
out
of the water and having such a shallow draft.

You mentioned the shallow draft as a positive but you experienced a lot of
windage. Did the windage you experienced cause the boat to roll? Do you
think it could be due to a shallow draft? Have you had any handling
problems
when you were under way with 2 -3 ft seas and a crosswind?

We live in Chicago and Lake MI is our primary body of water. Its unusual
for
it to be perfectly calm. The norm is 2 -3 footers, sometimes we go out in
4
footers. That's about our limit...so far. Winds vary.

I know the other salesman I talked with is trying to sell me a boat he has
in stock (Tiara express cruiser) but he did hit on some things you
mentioned
in your description. Any add'l info you can give me would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Dennis

"Ken Ibold" wrote in message
. ..
I owned a 1996 3650 for several years. It was equipped with the 350 hp
Crusaders and a great suite of electronics. We loved it, despite its
prodigious appetite for gas. Construction quality was very good. We had no
issues with cheap hardware or subpar glasswork. No window leaks

There are a few gotchas. The vent line from the hull to the waste holding
tank has a tendency to kink, leading to head odor. Not pleasant. The
mechanics I consulted simply wanted to keep replacing the inline filter,
but finally I traced the line and found that there was a poorly designed
hose routing inside the undersink cabinet in the guest head. The hose
made
a 90 degree turn and wold collapse there.

Other than that, we had more or less typical problems with electronics
you
find on a boat this age, especially the climate control panel. The
buttons
started working intermittently. This was right around the time we sold
it,
and I never did get around to fixing it.

The boat will make about 15-17 knots, unless you really want to push it,
then you might get 24 if you have a nice clean bottom. We ran among the
shallows of SW Florida and were really pleased with the shallow draft.
Handling is as you would expect given a boat with such a high center of
gravity. Definitely not a sport boat, but oh, that interior room is nice.
(We have a family of 5 and would routinely spend a week aboard at a
time.)
There is also a lot of windage. Docking in a crosswind is quite the
adventure the first few times. However, I got to the point where I almost
couldn't dock when the wind was calm. Control authority is pretty good.

You need a swim platform if you plan to do much fishing or haul a dinghy.
Ours was not equipped with one and that was one thing I missed. We ended
up using an inflatable on the bow, but that was not ideal. There is a
snap
in carpet for the aft deck, and we found it easiest to just leave it in
the dock box.

As for resale, I believe they're not as bad as some boats, but my
experience was affected by timing. I put mine on the market on Sept 10,
2001. As you might imagine, the bottom fell out of the market the next
day.

I could ramble on for hours. Any other questions, feel free to contact me
offline.

Ken

"Dennis T" wrote in message
m...
I'm looking at a 1998 3650 Motoryacht and was wondering if anyone out
there has any experience with this vessel. Its winter in Chicago and I
won't be able to sea trial until spring. Is there something I should be
looking for that is peculiar to this boat?

The boat appears to be well maintained, low engine hours, everything
looks like new. It was out of the water all last summer as the owners
moved.

Any experience with resale? Does it hold its value?

Any info would be appreciated.


--

cell 708-601-4847