Advice on 50 foot flybridge boats enquired please

Flyfloat

Flyfloat

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Looking for advice / opinions. I am formerly a sailor now with young children so looking to go power boating but debating which boat will serve us best. Our criteria is; two families have decided to share a flybridge boat (4 adults, 11, 10 and 3 year old children). 7 bunks required so need 3 cabin craft with extra crew berth. Dads are 6'6" tall so big people. Budget is circa £250k for a 2000-2006 era boat. Will be operating from Hamble but would like med spec incase we move it in future.

Having looked around we think there are 3 possible boats that would fit the bill

Fairline phantom 50
Sunseeker Manhattan 50
Princess 50


Things that are important are:
Safe for young children
Fun family boat
Good use of space for seating rather than sunbathing on flybridge.
Reasonable costs of operation (oxymoron?) is one thirstiest than other.
Residual values / ease of resale
Ability to use as a holiday home for a week at a time.

All thoughts greatly received, plus any advice on what we should watch out for. We woul like to be afloat by May
 
These three boats would appear to knock a hole right in the centre of the UK target; good grouping, as the military types might say...
 
Flyfloat said:
Looking for advice / opinions. I am formerly a sailor now with young children so looking to go power boating but debating which boat will serve us best. Our criteria is; two families have decided to share a flybridge boat (4 adults, 11, 10 and 3 year old children). 7 bunks required so need 3 cabin craft with extra crew berth. Dads are 6'6" tall so big people. Budget is circa £250k for a 2000-2006 era boat. Will be operating from Hamble but would like med spec incase we move it in future.

Having looked around we think there are 3 possible boats that would fit the bill

Fairline phantom 50
Sunseeker Manhattan 50
Princess 50


Things that are important are:
Safe for young children, view with children and see how they cope and you do with boat.
Fun family boat, look for storage and see above.
Good use of space for seating rather than sunbathing on flybridge.
Reasonable costs of operation (oxymoron?) is one thirstiest than other.
Residual values / ease of resale who knows what will happen but good makes so should be ok,
Ability to use as a holiday home for a week at a time. look for usability as a second home, if you find something annoying when you first see them it will only get worse with time.

All thoughts greatly received, plus any advice on what we should watch out for. We woul like to be afloat by May
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see above
 
You've picked 3 good boats there. The Princess 50 exists in various generations, later ones having central owners cabin but earlier ones not. IIRC not all manhattan 50s have the crew cabin which you'll need, but I'm not sure. I like the manhattan 50 layout but be very sure to avoid an early one with the incredibly noisy exhausts, befoire sunseeker discovered exhaust silnecers. The phantom is the oldest genre of internal layout (forward owners cabin) but a very nice boat all the same and has the fine entry bow tha the early princess also has, hence better in head sea. Compromises compromises

FWIW, I think 50 is too small for 2 families. Inside there is only one sitting area in those boats (the very last incarnation of Princess 50, like henryf's on here, has 2 inside sitting areas). On that budget I'd look for a 2004 ish Squadron 58. Has a vastly bigger flybridge that any of the 50 footers you mention and has 2 inside sitting areas, plus 5 cabins. Loads more space for 2 families to circulate in and an outstandingly good hull.
 
Flyfloat said:
Will be operating from Hamble but would like med spec incase we move it in future.
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Think carefully what JFM has said about size.
Boats tend to get bigger in the Med - consequently your boat tends to feel smaller.
If you are thinking of using it as a holiday home, size is a big consideration.
However, IMO, a flybridge boat is the most suitable and you have chosen a good range to start looking at.
 
Flyfloat said:
Looking for advice / opinions. I am formerly a sailor now with young children so looking to go power boating but debating which boat will serve us best. Our criteria is; two families have decided to share a flybridge boat (4 adults, 11, 10 and 3 year old children). 7 bunks required so need 3 cabin craft with extra crew berth. Dads are 6'6" tall so big people. Budget is circa £250k for a 2000-2006 era boat. Will be operating from Hamble but would like med spec incase we move it in future.

Having looked around we think there are 3 possible boats that would fit the bill

Fairline phantom 50
Sunseeker Manhattan 50
Princess 50


Things that are important are:
Safe for young children
Fun family boat
Good use of space for seating rather than sunbathing on flybridge.
Reasonable costs of operation (oxymoron?) is one thirstiest than other.
Residual values / ease of resale
Ability to use as a holiday home for a week at a time.

All thoughts greatly received, plus any advice on what we should watch out for. We woul like to be afloat by May
Click to expand...

Your indicated budget means a MK II (or MK I) Prin 50, so the Manhattan 50 would be my personal favourite of the three. Very good storage in the galley and cabins (galley storage in the Phantom 50 is very limited by comparison), and the mid ship master cabin is huge with plenty of floor space to accommodate a three year old, for instance.

The fly coamings are a bit on the low side, iirc.

I think the Manhattan is the thirstiest of the lot and the exhaust is a bit T-72 as jfm said.

PM me for further info on these boats. I also did a video walkaround on the manhattan, which i can share with you (if you don't mind the narration in Finnish :) ).
 
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Having one of the kids in the crew cabin is not ideal imho. They'll manage of course, but they may feel quite separated from the rest of you who are "inside" the boat, and if the adults are sitting in the cockpit late into the evening you'll be directly above them, so you'll have to watch your language and they may not get to sleep easily if you're noisy. You'll also struggle for storage space if you have to keep the crew cabin clear. We're considering a boat share with another family, and are looking to sell our 57' flybridge to get a four cabin + crew boat for exactly these reasons.

jfm's suggestion of a Squadron 58 is a good one, as the utility can be easily converted to a single berth so would work very well for seven. You'd also really appreciate the extra space if the two families are spending long periods on board together. It would of course cost more to run and maintain, but early ones should be within budget.
 
Nick_H said:
Having one of the kids in the crew cabin is not ideal imho. They'll manage of course, but they may feel quite separated from the rest of you who are "inside" the boat, and if the adults are sitting in the cockpit late into the evening you'll be directly above them, so you'll have to watch your language and they may not get to sleep easily if you're noisy. You'll also struggle for storage space if you have to keep the crew cabin clear. We're considering a boat share with another family, and are looking to sell our 57' flybridge to get a four cabin + crew boat for exactly these reasons.

jfm's suggestion of a Squadron 58 is a good one, as the utility can be easily converted to a single berth so would work very well for seven. You'd also really appreciate the extra space if the two families are spending long periods on board together. It would of course cost more to run and maintain, but early ones should be within budget.
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I have to say that I really like the Squadron 58. I stand to be corrected here but I think it even probably fits into the Med 50' +10% category - using SoF capitainerie math
 
Nick_H said:
Having one of the kids in the crew cabin is not ideal imho. They'll manage of course, but they may feel quite separated from the rest of you who are "inside" the boat, and if the adults are sitting in the cockpit late into the evening you'll be directly above them, so you'll have to watch your language and they may not get to sleep easily if you're noisy. You'll also struggle for storage space if you have to keep the crew cabin clear. We're considering a boat share with another family, and are looking to sell our 57' flybridge to get a four cabin + crew boat for exactly these reasons.

jfm's suggestion of a Squadron 58 is a good one, as the utility can be easily converted to a single berth so would work very well for seven. You'd also really appreciate the extra space if the two families are spending long periods on board together. It would of course cost more to run and maintain, but early ones should be within budget.
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Yup, you have 4 cabins inside the main part of Sq 58, before you get to the 5th cabin at the transom. Inside the main boat you have one single, one twin, 2 doubles, so it's perfect for OP's sleeping requirements bearing in mind the budget

With the central little cabin off the galley, you can have it fitted out as (1) utility room and Pullman bed with WC and 3 appliances (eg wash, tumble, freezer), (2) single cabin with one appliance (usually combined washer/drier) plus WC and basin, or (3) full mini twin cabin with shower room but no domestic appliances

#3 is rare - they did only a few. #1 is most common (though the bed and 3rd appliance need custom upgrading, which is easy). #2 was quite common - they built maybe 30 or so of these (out of 210 boats total built)
 
All the advice greatly appreciated. The Manhattan 50 seems a great boat but there are a couple of downsides. 1. They are rare in our budget esp in UK. 2. Headroom is poor given that both Dads are 6'6" tall.

Current favourite is the Fairline. We did look at a Fairline 55 however discounted this and bigger boats as we are new to boating and didn't want to get too massive. Also advised that in Uk it gets more restrictive over 50'.

When first viewing potential boats before survey, is there anything to look out for!
 
Given the recent thread on how cheap boats can be had for in Italy and then transporting/sailing them back here, this boat looks to be good value. Always providing that it gets a clean bill of health from a survey.
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A few Italian boats would fit the spec as well. The Ferretti 46/48 or 53 both have 3 cabins with a master cabin double, 4 single berths in 2 guest cabins plus a single berth in the crew cabin to make 7 in total. Of course, I'm biased but Ferretti are generally considered good quality boats and if the OP wants to move to the Med eventually, any Ferretti will already be in a Med spec. Another potential candidate is the Azimut AZ46, one version of which has 2 double berth cabins, a small third guest cabins with 2 bunks and a single berth crew cabin. Another boat worth checking out is the Cranchi 48 which has a similar layout
 
Deleted User said:
A few Italian boats would fit the spec as well. The Ferretti 46/48 or 53 both have 3 cabins with a master cabin double, 4 single berths in 2 guest cabins plus a single berth in the crew cabin to make 7 in total. Of course, I'm biased but Ferretti are generally considered good quality boats and if the OP wants to move to the Med eventually, any Ferretti will already be in a Med spec. Another potential candidate is the Azimut AZ46, one version of which has 2 double berth cabins, a small third guest cabins with 2 bunks and a single berth crew cabin. Another boat worth checking out is the Cranchi 48 which has a similar layout
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Yup. I would look at what Italy has to offer -in boats and price -keep an eye on future Med mooring costs if UK weather disappoints when you are fed up of the Solent ?You will need a 18 M birth for Sq 58 this will cost 2x the price for this 14m Ferretti below -food for thought !
Eg--- http://www.mondialbroker.com/Barca.aspx?pk=36774fe0-56d6-47a1-9603-4b6fa3562aeb
 
having 4 x cabins makes holidays with 2 x families really easy and enjoyable.

using the saloon on a 3 cabin boat becomes a pain for longer periods.


We looked at a Manhattan 50 when my kids were younger and my wife really didn't like the way the flybridge felt in terms of saftey. The rail around the cockpit was very low, about knee level from memory when standing up so you felt quite vunrable when walking around upstairs.
 
MRC said:
having 4 x cabins makes holidays with 2 x families really easy and enjoyable.

using the saloon on a 3 cabin boat becomes a pain for longer periods.


We looked at a Manhattan 50 when my kids were younger and my wife really didn't like the way the flybridge felt in terms of saftey. The rail around the cockpit was very low, about knee level from memory when standing up so you felt quite vunrable when walking around upstairs.
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The converse is also true
We have a large boat with only 3 cabins (plus crew)
The advantage is that all of the cabins are huge and (in our case) each has its own bathroom.
In the 7 years that we have had the boat, only twice did we need to use the crew cabin.
The rest of the time, we have enjoyed the extra space that any 4th cabin would have taken.
Horses for courses.
 
The bloke with the 3y old may be on his second younger fitter wife .:):cool:
They may not be 2 families cruising together for long if the wives have a bit of an age gap -making the cabin "thing" rather academic?--just saaaaaying
 
Portofino said:
The bloke with the 3y old may be on his second younger fitter wife .:):cool:
They may not be 2 families cruising together for long if the wives have a bit of an age gap -making the cabin "thing" rather academic?--just saaaaaying
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My my, what an exceptionally presumptive comment! This group did a day out with me a couple of weeks ago to see if boating was something they could all enjoy; they all enjoyed the day even though the weather was not that great. I can say that both families know one another very well and get on. The issue of a "gap" is actually quite offensive.
 
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