Change of plans - looking for Med boat now...

I take it you're ok with a petrol engine vs diesel? If it's a quality open day boat at 100k you're after nothing from sea ray regal etc will beat mastercraft on quality. Have a look at their 35 and 55 series boats.
 
Whopper said:
I take it you're ok with a petrol engine vs diesel? If it's a quality open day boat at 100k you're after nothing from sea ray regal etc will beat mastercraft on quality. Have a look at their 35 and 55 series boats.
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The problem is the buyer wants something for use in choppy water and mastercraft with their low freeboard and small screens are designed more with inland waters in mind
 
I would have thought a nice used Windy would fit the bill. Solid construction, excellent seakeeping and street cred too
 
Deleted User said:
I would have thought a nice used Windy would fit the bill. Solid construction, excellent seakeeping and street cred too
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Yep. I can't be accused of opportunism as OP has clearly stated he wants a new boat, but if I had £100k to spend on a day boat for coast hopping in Southern Spain, I'd buy my Khamsin and pocket the change! :D
 
Nick_H said:
Yep. I can't be accused of opportunism as OP has clearly stated he wants a new boat, but if I had £100k to spend on a day boat for coast hopping in Southern Spain, I'd buy my Khamsin and pocket the change! :D
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Just trying to help but actually it would be a good choice. If I was looking for a Med day cruiser, Windy would be the first marque I'd look at
 
I walk past a Sessa and Bayliner dealer at La Napoule ( on the way to the patisserie in the AM ) they have dedicated pontoons - see loads of new stuff shifting around this price / size piont .
So if you insist on " new " - perfectly understandable then have a look ( google) -Sessa quite cool infact looking
 
stelican said:
The problem is the buyer wants something for use in choppy water and mastercraft with their low freeboard and small screens are designed more with inland waters in mind
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The larger mastercraft boats are far from inland ski boats. The following link gives an idea. I've no doubt it's better able to handle the rough stuff in comparison to any c.25ft regal etc. Again there is no comparison on quality! I would also say resale is probably better.

http://www.mastercraft.co.uk/boat-stock/details/2013-X-35-Switch-05-13
 
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I recently replaced my Sea Ray that I keep in the med. My budget was not as large as the OP's ,but my requirements were similar. I was looking for a good mid 20's foot day boat with overnighting capability . I had a limit of about 26 foot LOA in order to fit on my mooring. I didnt want a petrol inboard, so that rules out most of the second hand american boats.

I'd narrowed it down to a couple of boats (all used) , a Sessa Key Largo 27, or a Windy 25. The sessa appealed because for my budget it would be newer, plus it would be powered by outboard so in theory less service costs, but would be petrol powered so more fuel costs. The windy appealed because of the styling, Excellent ride & handling, and diesel powered, but it would be much older than a sessa for the same money and would be inboard/outdrive powered, so probably cost more to service.

I went for the Windy in the end, its a great boat, not had it long enough to comment on long term stuff, but it handles excellently, is very good in a rough sea, and does the overnighting thing well, and is very solidly built. Its a nice answer to the what day boat for the med question, but I think the Sessa would also have been an excellent choice.
 
sailfish 2660_1.jpg

Open, open, open is what I would suggest. The cabin on pretty much all of the day cruisers gets to be a storage of life jackets and towels, while consuming half of the boats net available space.

A deep V on this type of "saltwater boats" takes care of Med choppy seas easily.

Choose any colour on the hull - and the upholstery - and the seating layouts - and the electronics - and the engines twin 150 / twin 200 / single 300 - and still stay well within your budget. Add 10 year warranty on the hull, plus 5 on the Merc engines, that should cover most of your needs.

I sound like a salesman, because I am, and have imported these Sailfish boats into Europe for a few years, so dear forumites please accept my apologies :cool:
 
I'd start looking first in which area of S Spain .... and buy where it makes sense ... ie Mar Manor is very different from Marbella etc., but as you mention Puerto Banus, I suspect you are on Costa Del Sol. Remember what sells in the UK may not sell again as well in the Med, so do some investigation into what sells and what does not...
 
Coustea1 said:
I'm not familiar with Mastercraft. What makes you say it will be better to handle the rough stuff than a Regal?
Is the build quality that much different from the other boats mentioned here?
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Perhaps saying that they'll handle it better might be unfounded. But I would certainly say no worse. Regal/Sea Ray/Bayliner around the 25ft mark aren't exactly offshore racing boats either way. As regards to quality, you're best bet is to go "kick the tires" on whatever brands you fancy. If you're the kind of person who can appreciate that an Audi is better build quality than pretty much anything out of Korea then you should have no problem getting a feel for what boats are better quality than others (objectively). With regards to engines, I would take an ilmor from a mastercraft over a mercruiser from a Regal. That's my gut feeling as I'm no engine expert so maybe someone would correct me on that one?

Either way I think you should try out each of whatever boat you are considering and then make the decision.
 
Divemaster1 said:
I'd start looking first in which area of S Spain .... and buy where it makes sense ... ie Mar Manor is very different from Marbella etc., but as you mention Puerto Banus, I suspect you are on Costa Del Sol. Remember what sells in the UK may not sell again as well in the Med, so do some investigation into what sells and what does not...
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It will indeed be the Costa Del Sol - maybe not the greatest cruising ground, but at least I'll be out on the water and that's where Mrs wants to have her little retreat.
I went several times to the marina in Estepona and Puerto Banus. Especially in PB there are a lot of Sea Rays, hence why I mentioned them in my post. But I'm open (and soliciting) other views. Windy is definitely a good suggestion despite being at the top end of the budget I had in mind. I didn't know Mastercraft before, and do like Regal.
Keep the good ideas coming, I'm a good listener :)
 
Whopper said:



Perhaps saying that they'll handle it better might be unfounded. But I would certainly say no worse. Regal/Sea Ray/Bayliner around the 25ft mark aren't exactly offshore racing boats either way. As regards to quality, you're best bet is to go "kick the tires" on whatever brands you fancy. If you're the kind of person who can appreciate that an Audi is better build quality than pretty much anything out of Korea then you should have no problem getting a feel for what boats are better quality than others (objectively). With regards to engines, I would take an ilmor from a mastercraft over a mercruiser from a Regal. That's my gut feeling as I'm no engine expert so maybe someone would correct me on that one?

Either way I think you should try out each of whatever boat you are considering and then make the decision.
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Couldn't agree more. I do appreciate quality and prefer higher quality and less bells and whistles than the other way around.
Can't say much yet about the engines, as I do know VP a bit, Mercruiser less so and Ilmor not at all. I used to sail so we had these flappy things to move us forward...at about 5 knots.
 
Just had a look at Mastercraft. Difficult to judge quality by browsing a website, but from the description and specs it looks to me that they are essentially designed for wake boarding, not really for day cruising or bay hopping. Nothing wrong with wake boarding but not necessarily what I had in mind. They do provide a salt water version of their boats, but the hull seems to be aimed at lakes, not the sea. Am I wrong?
 
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