Channel Islands 22 Cabin Cruiser, A Great All Round, Seaworthy Weekend Boat

Here for sale is our family Channel Island 22 ft cruiser. The Smuggler Although she has been in the family for the past 15 years + I don't know a whole lot of its history, the boat was owned by my step father who unfortunately passed away 18 months ago and only being taken on by me since then. Being a novice boater in those early days we decided to keep her to see if it was something we enjoyed or not, well we did and now have our eyes on a newer, faster, bigger, more modern cruiser which is the only reason she is up for sale. She is far from fast and plods along all day at around 9 or 10 knots at quite low revs, to give an idea of running cost we regularly take her from her current mooring in Southampton to the Isle of Wight and back on 3 to 4 gallons of red with 6 on board. We have had 8 on her for the odd day out here and there.

She sleeps 4 but again we have only used the front cabin which sleeps two converting from the dinning/ seating area, the other bed doubling up from the bench seating on deck and covered by the rear canopy so suggest this only to be a nice weather bed!! She is a very seaworthy boat in which you feel safe in all weather conditions which is something I would want in any boat. She has a very roomy wheelhouse with 5ft 8in headroom and as I say happily fits 6 seated within the wheelhouse/rear deck. The cabin is equipped with a separate compartment with hand basin and sea toilet, seating area that coverts to the bunk, sink with cold water tap, two ring cooker with oven /grill, storage cupboards and all the normal stuff you would expect to find in there. All items work as they should.

She is powered by a Mermaid ford 4 cylinder diesel engine which I don't believe to be very old and to date not missed a beat for us. She has two batteries being a starter and an auxiliary so you can rest assure that there is always power to start it after a nights fishing with all the lights on! When running the engine the aux battery is also re charged by the alternator. A complete new hydraulic steering system was fitted prior to going back into the water this summer. The canopy cover was replaced for a new one (£900) last winter by Custom Covers and is in very good condition, it can be dropped or raised in less than a couple of minutes by one person.

She is equipped with anchor and chain, search light on the roof and all navigation lights, bilge pump etc. Unfortunately after my step farther passed away someone decided to steal the fish finder, GPS, radio and compass from the dash just leaving me the brackets and wiring!! I have replaced most with identical equipment being the Garmin Fishfinder 240 with depth gauge and the Furuno GP-30 GPS, both worked as they should as soon as I plugged them in, all wiring is there for the radio and the unit could easily be found quite cheaply on classifieds board if you wanted one? I think I have covered most things you may wish to know however if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask, she is currently lying on a paid up mooring till March 2019 which includes winter boat yard storage. This can be extended annually for the ridiculously low cost of around £300 per year if required.

All in all this is a very nice boat and one that wont be a money drain as many are, in fact from what I see a good Channel Island 22 is likely to start increasing in value rather than reduce! I see they sell from one in poor condition 8k to top condition 15k, as I wish to move it on I have started the auction at £8000 which is a ridiculously cheap starting point and would expect it to make much more as it is far from poor condition. I do have a few odd bits like, ropes, fenders, life jackets, spare gearbox (never fitted) which I will include in the sale. I also have a very nice, practical, steerable 4 wheel launching/winter storage trailer which I will happily negotiate selling if the new owner requires one. I have included a picture of the boat on the trailer from last winter, rest of the pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago.

Please note that in the picture the trailer is jacked up and on blocks as this allows us to strip and re pack the wheel bearings with grease which we do every year. The boat is also registered with Sea Start till mid 2019 which for anyone who doesn't know AA/RAC on the water! Should you ever have a problem you just give them your location coordinates from the GPS and they come and either start you or get you back home.. never needed it but great peace of mind!! This is a great little boat and ready to use, and as equally important it will not be a drain on your pocket!!! As I say a great economical little boat that's well worth considering.

Currently lying Southampton Thanks for looking Gary