Classic Sunseeker advice please

[Groova]

Thanks for the responses.


@Groova, we have a Landcruiser Amazon so the Yamaha engines are a tick in the box for us. I have read the drives are really smooth changing gear but can suffer with water ingress and aren’t as reliable as the volvo outdrives. I’m not sure what parts availability/support is like for the Yamaha drives?!

The Portofino 400 is perfect inside. The second cabin is a much better layout than the M39 and the interior looks far more up to date and better finished. The revolving shower door is a big plus because I can’t stand the idea of showering all over the toilet seat like most of the others! It also features the bullet hole air intakes which I’m a big fan of. Where it loses out for us is the upstairs seating, which appears much smaller than the Martiniques but I’m yet to see one of these in the flesh so maybe pics are misleading on that. Is the Portofino 400 also available in outdrives then?


Nito

Understand it was available with both. Have seen advertised mainly Kad42 on sterndrive, Tamd63 or Cat 425hp on v-drives. The one for sale in the uk is a Yamaha boat on outdrives. Appears to have been re- engined, which in itself is becoming more common, but you’d have to satisfy yourself as to why. The boat is apparently knocking on for 12 tones so benefits from bigger, more torquier engines.
Not sure on the spares front for Yamaha. I’m sure there are others on the forum that may know.

 

[PowerYachtBlog]

Portofino 400 was available with Kad42 on standard, and Tamd63 Volvo 370hp optional. That boat had a one foot shortened Mustique 42 hull.
Boat is not a bullet but runs good with both, did 28/30 knots new with Volvo 230 and a knot more with the shafts 63s.
I am surprised to see her listed at 12000 kg and seeing reports she did 30 knots Kad42s. A Camargue 44 weighs only 500 kg more.
I remember her being at 9000 kg with stern drives and 10000 with shaft engines but a lot of time has passed so I might be wrong.

 

[Groova]

Portofino 400 was available with Kad42 on standard, and Tamd63 Volvo 370hp optional. That boat had a one foot shortened Mustique 42 hull.
Boat is not a bullet but runs good with both, did 28/30 knots new with Volvo 230 and a knot more with the shafts 63s.
I am surprised to see her listed at 12000 kg and seeing reports she did 30 knots Kad42s. A Camargue 44 weighs only 500 kg more.
I remember her being at 9000 kg with stern drives and 10000 with shaft engines but a lot of time has passed so I might be wrong.

I got the 12 tonnes from the MBY article May 15 "Find me a used £100K sportscruiser" for a boat with the Cat engines. Does sound a lot though!

Was the Carmargue 44 an extended Mustique 42 hull?

 

[PowerYachtBlog]

All those boats where born from the 1991 launched 46 Camargue hull; shortened as 42 Mustique, same size 47 Camargue (different prop pockets I think), 44 Camargue, Portofino 46, Portofino 47.
Then modified for IPS for Port 48 and SR 485/50

 

[Nito]

you see Nito, that’s how much I love the boat I just CAN’T stop telling people about it, even those I’ve already told! ? ?

@matt8442 Carry on, rightfully so!!

Understand it was available with both. Have seen advertised mainly Kad42 on sterndrive, Tamd63 or Cat 425hp on v-drives. The one for sale in the uk is a Yamaha boat on outdrives. Appears to have been re- engined, which in itself is becoming more common, but you’d have to satisfy yourself as to why. The boat is apparently knocking on for 12 tones so benefits from bigger, more torquier engines.
Not sure on the spares front for Yamaha. I’m sure there are others on the forum that may know.

Thanks @Groova . I didn’t fully appreciate that the 400mwas available in different drive configurations, I saw an ad with an out of water pic and wrongly assumed they were all shaft!

Portofino 400 was available with Kad42 on standard, and Tamd63 Volvo 370hp optional. That boat had a one foot shortened Mustique 42 hull.
Boat is not a bullet but runs good with both, did 28/30 knots new with Volvo 230 and a knot more with the shafts 63s.
I am surprised to see her listed at 12000 kg and seeing reports she did 30 knots Kad42s. A Camargue 44 weighs only 500 kg more.
I remember her being at 9000 kg with stern drives and 10000 with shaft engines but a lot of time has passed so I might be wrong.

@PowerYachtBlog, thanks again for the info.

We went to look at a Sunseeker boat today. What a beautiful day it was and the owner took us for a quick trip out. Without wishing to give too much away at this moment, we have 2 concerns.

1. Brown/orange water in the coolant, not frothy or anything, coolant level a little low on both engines and one had evidence that it had come out of the overflow, which had no pipe or expansion bottle or anything. Don’t think the coolant has been changed for 4 years. It didn’t appear to be a proper coolant, just plain water by the looks of it with a bit of orange/rust tinge. The heat exchangers were cleaned out etc 4 years ago. Maybe just needs a couple of flush and refills with proper coolant with anti freeze? Here’s hoping. Ran beautifully with no warnings and gauges reading well, approx 45 minute runtime.

2. The steering had about an inch of rotational play at the helm , I have no reference to know if this is normal? It’s on outdrives, I think it’s power steering, looked like a pump in the engine bay. There is an old autopilot fitted also. Otherwise appears a sound boat which we’re strongly considering making a ‘subject to survey’ offer on!

Thanks

 

[Mr Googler]

What engines? My outdrive setup had play in the steering....I too have no reference but never bothered looking into it. I think it’s pretty normal.

If the engines are painted green....employ @volvopaul to check them over....or any other colour too!

 

[Nito]

Thanks @Mr Googler, They’re painted a bluey grey

I wonder if the steering is by design to absorb any kick back, like old LR Defenders had steering slop so if you hit a rock off roader it wouldn’t break your thumbs!!

Also one of the tacho’s wasn’t working!

 

[Mr Googler]

Yamaha! Go steady there. Outdrive parts are getting difficult to source

 

[Nito]

Yamaha! Go steady there. Outdrive parts are getting difficult to source

I’ve been phoning around, Bottomline in IOM have been incredibly helpful as have BBMS Swanick, parts are still available, especially service items. I believe the main parts that may pose an issue are heat exchanger and exhaust downpipe which are no longer made, (there may be other parts too). It’s incredible that no company has yet remanufactured them, if I have an issue I guess I’ll have to get a specialist to re-fabricate them. I can’t believe how smooth, quiet and smokeless they are and the gear transition from forward to reverse is seamless, quiet and silky smooth. Pity they stopped making these.

 

[Mr Googler]

I’ve been phoning around, Bottomline in IOM have been incredibly helpful as have BBMS Swanick, parts are still available, especially service items. I believe the main parts that may pose an issue are heat exchanger and exhaust downpipe which are no longer made, (there may be other parts too). It’s incredible that no company has yet remanufactured them, if I have an issue I guess I’ll have to get a specialist to re-fabricate them. I can’t believe how smooth, quiet and smokeless they are and the gear transition from forward to reverse is seamless, quiet and silky smooth. Pity they stopped making these.

I know Dean at Bottomline well. Very knowledgeable chap ???

 

[Groova]

I’ve been phoning around, Bottomline in IOM have been incredibly helpful as have BBMS Swanick, parts are still available, especially service items. I believe the main parts that may pose an issue are heat exchanger and exhaust downpipe which are no longer made, (there may be other parts too). It’s incredible that no company has yet remanufactured them, if I have an issue I guess I’ll have to get a specialist to re-fabricate them. I can’t believe how smooth, quiet and smokeless they are and the gear transition from forward to reverse is seamless, quiet and silky smooth. Pity they stopped making these.

Did you establish why it was re-engined? Like for like engines or a change in size/manufacturer?

 

[Nito]

Did you establish why it was re-engined? Like for like engines or a change in size/manufacturer?

That's not the boat we're looking at. On that one (P400), it looks to me like they are most definitely not a matched pair. They are a different colour for starters, one has an ME420STI decal, the other has no decal and I wonder if it may be a 421 or 422 engine. That boat was re-engined for economy reasons, it had Volvo's previously. They've not been forthcoming at all with any information and we've been in dialogue with the broker since Feb and been on their case. First they were new engines 2 years ago, then it transpired they were reconditioned engines and we've asked numerous times re details for invoice etc but nothing. Although it looks like a boat with potential, it just makes me think the worse when there's no information coming back, we've asked how many owners many times and still no response to that. The broker has apologised and said he is waiting on the owner for info, couple that with what they're asking for it, it doesn't fill me with confidence. The missus wanted to look at it tomorrow but it's a long way away and I don't want to waste my time if they can't even answer basic questions.

The other one we're looking at, similar size, we're both happy with, there's some work to do but it's mainly effort more than anything and silly stuff, so if we can reach a deal on that and get a successful survey, it could be the one for us! Again though, it's top money, we don't mind a project but this isn't project money, it does appear to be a good sound base and an honest boat with full history which with some effort should be a perfect barge for us but it's a sellers market so we'll see if we can reach an agreement.

 

[Nito]

Thank you to all who posted on here, just to update this thread. The boat we looked at and tried to buy above was a Martinique 39 on Yamaha ME420STi engines. We had a survey booked but the seller backed out at the last moment. As a result we were gutted and it was back to the drawing board. Then a Portofino 400 turned up, it was in another bracket budget wise but after a year of looking we were probably on the rebound somewhat and decided to go and look at it. We managed to get a very early booking while the boat was being prepped and were the first to view.

I honestly went to look to keep the Mrs happy as in my mind I thought from the photos that the horseshoe seating layout up top was much smaller than the all around seating of the Martinique and therefore it wouldn't suit our needs. When we actually got on board (boat was on the hard as having the antifoul done), I couldn't believe how spacious it was on deck. Although the layout wasn't all around seating (as the P400 featured a wet bar instead), I wasn't prepared for the sheer extra beam it had over the Martinique. At 0.5m wider and also a foot longer, volumetrically there was so much extra space that it was actually quite overwhelming. So much so that the Mrs dismissed it in her mind as 'too much' boat and went back to the car. I spent a further 2 hours on board poring over it.

Long story short, after some fast deliberation, we ended up making an offer, it was rejected but a counter offer was proposed and accepted, the survey/sea trial was organised and the sale completed in a month. We've now had her for coming up to 8 weeks. It's been a busy few weeks and a bit of a roller coaster journey, in fact the whole boat searching process has been fairly exhausting but I believe we bought the right boat for us in the end! Fortunately the previous owner looked after her fastidiously and had left her in a very good place for us. There's been an awful lot to take in, with every boat we looked at having different on board systems but once again, I feel we've ended up with the best configuration for our needs.

So without further ado...our new to us 1997 Portofino 400 fitted with twin Caterpillar 3126 (420hp ea) on shafts

 

[Groova]

So without further ado...our new to us 1997 Portofino 400 fitted with twin Caterpillar 3126 (420hp ea) on shafts

View attachment 118539

Many congratulations, looks lovely! Is this Wandering Star?

 

[Nito]

Thanks @Groova, indeed it is.

 

[Portofino]

Wisest pick of the crop congratulations.

 

[Groova]

Thanks @Groova, indeed it is.

Great, I spoke to the owner when I was looking at a P400 a few years back. Rather envious!!

 

[Nito]

Thanks chaps, we're very pleased it was a big step and more than a little overwhelming at first, I'm much happier now that I'm getting stuck in, weekends haven't been the same since!!

 

[jct1981]

Fantastic, looks great. More pics please

 

[markc]

Congrats, great boat! yes, more pics required