Bayliner 265

I enjoyed yakking to Barry Warn, the proud owner of Bayliner's new 265 cruiser. A former car-service manager, he seemed more aware of the details than your average new boatie. Boatbuilding giant Bayliner, which builds boats to go to a price, would do well to take some of his observations onboard.

Warn didn't take the decision to buy his "first big luxury boat" lightly. Instead of spending the rest of his life saving up for a gilt-edged casket - or worse, watching his superannuation be whittled away by incompetent funds managers and their exorbitant fees - he decided to buy a boat. But not just any boat.

Captain-to-be Warn went shopping for an overnighter to use on his nearest waterway, the mighty Hawkesbury. He also wanted a boat that he could take to Sydney Harbour via an offshore passage for New Year's Eve or the start of the Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race.

He was originally shopping for a pocket weekender, a 24-footer, but upsized to a 26 because his finances allowed for it. He also optioned up the boat to better suit his needs. Freshwater cooling was chosen to maximise motor life, an inverter allows the microwave oven to be used at anchor, and the windlass is plainly convenient.

Inside the boat, Warn has added his own personalised touches, as one might to a favourite car. There is a 240V fan for fresh air, a jug so he can make a cuppa, and non-skid rubber matting on the working surfaces so things like the jug stay put when people like me drive the boat in circles.

Under a lounge resides his Quicksilver 240 rubber ducky - in deflated form, of course. The owner modified the top of the hatch to create the room to put it there. The transom was fitted with a davit kit for carrying the tender while cruising.

He also planned to do a spot of fishing with his octogenarian dad, who I understand has a knack of pulling a feed of bream and flathead from the Hawkesbury. To this end, a removable cutting board was fitted to the transom. He also went for full camper covers so the clan can kick back in the cockpit regardless of the weather.

DESIGNED AND DECKED
Although the changes to the 2004-model 265 are largely cosmetic and minor, they are welcomed with open arms by this scribe. Gone is the boring beige dash, and in its place are blue dash panels, matt-grey surrounds and a matching blue-sided hull.

The boat looks plainly more European, less tired, and somewhat more nautically themed thanks also to its stripy mattress protectors.

In physical terms, the 265 is a high-volume cruiser with a wide 2.87m beam and an almost oblate-shaped amidships as a result of its full deck and cabin sides. There's headroom below to create comfortable indoor living and a thoughtfully designed moulded liner for cruising and entertaining by day.

The transom is traced by a full-length boarding platform, the aforementioned aftermarket davit clips for the ducky, handy cleats, water and waste connectors, and useful grabrails. The swim ladder is tucked under the platform, which itself has room to sit and dangle the toes. A hot/cold handheld shower is nearby for post-swim rinses and early morning showers.

Access to and from the cockpit is via the wide starboard-side transom door or by stepping on the non-skid gunwales and using the moulded internal step. The self-draining cockpit sole should be easy to keep clean. Clip-in cockpit carpet was fitted as an option for those family days aboard.

There are moulded steps in the dash and a centre-opening windscreen. The bowrail is a one-piece design, but a split rail with a gate-style lifeline would allow you to take guests over the bow. The non-skid-topped foredeck is flat for secure footing. There is room to dangle a line or sit with a sundowner, providing the orientation is right.

While the optional windlass makes light work of anchoring, the local waterway's mud bottom leads to dirty ground tackle. The owner created an ingenious washdown facility using a length of hose connected to the internal shower. He runs this through the cabin and out the anchor well. A clean anchor, as quick as that!

However, the owner did let slip that he inadvertently leant on the opening windscreen panel one day and broke the glass. While there is a rubber stopper, support along the length of the panel would provide better insurance against such mishaps.

OUTDOOR LIVING
Bayliner has built the 265 with Catholic family cruising in mind - it is rated to carry 10 people. But it works really well with six people, says the owner. Four can sit round the removable lunch table in the aft cockpit and there's room for two more up front behind the windscreen. The Cleopatra-style sunlounge to port behind the windscreen is the best seat in the boat.

The owner made two points about the seating. First, it would be nice if the helm seat was somehow reversible - I have seen some nifty swivel mechanisms for seats on boats from other US boat manufacturers. Second, when you push the reversible backrest for the mid-cockpit lounge into the travelling position to create more seating around the helm, it falls back and rests on the table edge.

But in the overall scheme of things this is a well-designed layout for doing other things like fishing. With the rear lounge removed but the full-length cover on, the owner and his dad can wet a line all day long. An esky comes with the boat - it rests under the lounge base - for stowing the catch, if not the bait or some eating prawns.

When the grandchildren come onboard there is seating for everyone, says Warn. The tykes apparently love the 265. They run through the cockpit, down the companionway, and pop up through the deck hatches like rabbits in a warren, he says.

The cockpit sole doubles as the engine-bay lid, which lifts on gas struts. There's heaps of room around the single V8 block. Storage also exists down here and under the cockpit seats. The skipper's seat base harbours the battery switches and main circuit breakers for the windlass. The hatch isn't lockable and perhaps should be.

SLEEP CITY
On the owner's first night aboard, the bugs were biting. So he made a beeline for the hardware shop and fashioned a flyscreen for the companionway door. The small portholes recessed under the portside lounge in the cockpit, which help ventilate the aft cabin, need some kind of hard cover to stop dangling heels from damaging their flyscreens, he adds.

A broad companionway leads down to the accommodation, which will suit two couples or a family of four. Bayliner says you can sleep six but I reckon it'd be a bit too cosy. The aft cabin, which is largely one big double mattress with a storage locker nearby, is the pick of places to sleep, says the owner.

There is, of course, less noise in the aft cabin than in the bow cabin due the water playing on the chines. Also, as a couple, you won't have to disassemble the dinette before lights out. The dinette, incidentally, can seat four people for meals, with 12V and 240V systems providing excellent lighting.

The obtuse-shaped bed in the bow is big enough to sleep a couple. Because the bed over the dinette has a separate footprint, you could sleep a young child in close proximity to his or her parents.

Anyway, I sat comfortably down below on what was a scorching summer's day, shooting the breeze with Barry. Ventilation was good thanks to a big hatch up front, opening portholes, big companionway and the aftermarket 240V fan on the galley top. I found plenty of storage spaces under the lounges and beds too.

COOKING AND CLEANING
Think of the midships galley as a kitchenette of sorts. Here you will find ample headroom while assembling lunch or dinner. The 12/240V bar fridge is opposite near the dinette.

The galley houses a microwave, single-burner electric/alcohol stove and a sink. Methinks most weekend warriors will fire up the rail-mounted barbie and serve chickens or prawns and salads for lunch.

The imitation-wood laminated MDF joinery has a reasonable amount of storage space for crockery and cutlery, cooking utensils, remote appliances, cleaning products and so on. But an extractor fan wouldn't go amiss.

Across the way is a fully-moulded head lacking only a facility for keeping your towels and clothes dry when showering. The owner rigged up a second shower curtain to keep these things dry between the two layers while using the handheld rose.

The raised chrome drain doesn't rid the floor of all the water however, and despite an opening port, an extractor fan here would be a welcome addition too. Also, an electric loo is preferred these days to manual numbers. The internal moulded surfaces of the head make for easy cleaning. While the 30lt hot-water service should suffice for a shower or two, it would be best to bring your drinking water to make the most of the boat's 76lt water capacity.

CRUISING FOR VIEWS
One thing I have learned over the years of testing Bayliners is that I never grow tired of touring around their Sydney base at Berowra Waters - an anabranch of the Hawkesbury river. The 265 offered a good view ahead and to the sides through the five-piece windscreen.

The new blue-and-grey dash is well equipped with Faria gauges, switches, trim-tab buttons, a VHF radio and adjustable steering wheel. There was room left over to flush mount a Navman Tracker 5500 GPS unit. The windlass button was handy.

Due to full tanks, the 265 exhibited a bit of bow lift when we shifted from displacement to planing speed. But the boat cruised along just fine at 18.5-20kt at 3500rpm. At 4000rpm, the boat delivered a nice fast cruise of 24kt. Top speed out of the box is 31kt, I'm told.

Despite being fitted with a powerful multipoint-injected 5.7lt V8 MerCruiser petrol engine, the owner typically uses just $40 an outing, he says. He beats the waterfront bowser prices by bringing a few jerry cans with him.

To these running costs, Warn pays $435.60 a month to moor his 26-footer. But while in his possession - there were 47 hours of engine running clocked up - the 265 hasn't been idle for long. It was delivered by sea and has been upriver, around to Pittwater and parked in Refuge Bay for an overnighter or two.

Typical of many Bayliner owners, Warn treats his boat as a movable weekender for his extended family. Going boating, he says, sure beats watching your super head south. A recent Bayliner price cut due to the strong Aussie dollar isn't bad news for would-be buyers either. The boat is more than $10,000 cheaper than last year's model.