Fairline Phantom 50

Cozzy said:
Thinking of the jump from 38ft to 50ft.

Anybody see a problem here particularly berthing in tight spots and draught ?

I previously jumped from 28ft to 38ft. Similar boats so not the issue I feared ;)
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I did just that. I had a 38, looked at a P40 then a Princess 45 and ended up with T51. Best thing I ever did.

I was worried that I would never be able to drive something that big. Everybody told me it would not be a problem and if anything it would be easier to berth. I didn't believe them but guess what? They were right. Berthing it is no problem. It is a bigger lump to manoeuvre about but whereas wind and tide pushed the 38 where I didn't want it to go the 51 stays put and only go where I tell it.
 
PEJ said:
I did just that. I had a 38, looked at a P40 then a Princess 45 and ended up with T51. Best thing I ever did.

I was worried that I would never be able to drive something that big. Everybody told me it would not be a problem and if anything it would be easier to berth. I didn't believe them but guess what? They were right. Berthing it is no problem. It is a bigger lump to manoeuvre about but whereas wind and tide pushed the 38 where I didn't want it to go the 51 stays put and only go where I tell it.
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+1
Plus we often get a hammer head when visiting and it seems easier to book a 50' boat in to a marina than a 40' in our experience....
You have a wife Cozzy, she will find plenty of things to fill the extra space with...go for the big boat :)
 
sonvida2 said:
We owned a 2005 P50 with a similar specification to the one you are looking at and we sold it in 2011.
In the 5.5 years we regularly travelled up, down and across the Irish Sea and logged 480 hours.
We always serviced with authorised Volvo engineers and the boat was 100% reliable. The handling is terrific in most sea states and it took a few nasty trips when the wave height was more than anticipated. Cruising speed is nice at 24 knots with a slight bow up in flat seas and easily trimmed down with powerful tabs when it got rough.
Personally I cannot fault the Phantom 50 or the powerful D12 engines. If the one you are looking at is under 250k then it must be a serious contender.

We are looking to return to boating from 2015 and like you, it's just me and SWMBO as the family have moved on from parents to girlfriends, boyfriends, fiancée, husband and children. Yip, big family however, they only visit the boat rarely and anything more than two cabins is a waste for us. Also, we have bought a weekend / holiday apartment so we are unlikely to use a boat as extensively as before. Fair weather boating here we come :cool:

The perfect boat for our use going forward is the new Princess 43. At 46ft x 14ft I suggest this model to you as a perfect compromise between the 42 and 50 however, it is very expensive. I will respond more on this in your other thread.

Please keep us posted as this is a very interesting conundrum and one not easily answered.
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Great information thanks.

Agree about the Princess 43 but the price is more than I am willing to spend.

A used Princess 42 seems to fit the bill until the Phantom 50 appeared over the horizon.

As Deleted User said above, the Phantom is well specced then I factor the competitive asking price and all the positive comments here it seems that suddenly this is a serious contender.

Any problems berthing the Phantom 50 into tight spots ?
 
benjenbav said:
in about 2006, my next door neighbour in Chi marina was a P50 and I can remember being impressed with the smoothness of the handling when docking. May just have been a superskilled helmsman but it did seem like the boat was not un-handy too.
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That's good to know. Hopefully the boat is easy to handle in tight spaces.
 
PEJ said:
I did just that. I had a 38, looked at a P40 then a Princess 45 and ended up with T51. Best thing I ever did.

I was worried that I would never be able to drive something that big. Everybody told me it would not be a problem and if anything it would be easier to berth. I didn't believe them but guess what? They were right. Berthing it is no problem. It is a bigger lump to manoeuvre about but whereas wind and tide pushed the 38 where I didn't want it to go the 51 stays put and only go where I tell it.
Click to expand...

Thanks PEJ
Exactly the info I'm searching for ;)
 
Nigelpickin said:
+1
Plus we often get a hammer head when visiting and it seems easier to book a 50' boat in to a marina than a 40' in our experience....
You have a wife Cozzy, she will find plenty of things to fill the extra space with...go for the big boat :)
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Indeed, plenty of space for more handbags ;)
 
Thanks one and all for the advise.

I've just booked our flights to Glasgow and the owner is acting as chauffeur for the day which is nice.

We are just going to have a look in general to decide whether to pursue the Phantom 50 or the Princess 42. As my wife says, we will know when we see it.

Is there anything we should look out for in particular ? Our experience is sports cruisers with out drives only which we used mainly for day trips and occasional overnights so to be honest, we are not sure what to look for specifically except general condition, comfort, service documentation etc.
 
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Cozzy, I agree the other comments. Phantom 50 is an excellent boat. The D12s are excellent too, and if anything slightly overpowered on this boat so they wont have worked hard. (I've had 4 of these engines). That genset is good too; I've had 000's hours on that model (actually the heat exchanger is only good for 5 years but <1000 to replace so don't worry). Just check service records and likely all is ok
This boat isn't Med spec so you will not attract that part of the market at reseal time, if you care about that. It has passerelle, because that is needed to launch the dinghy (and is a very convenient way to do that task btw, and allows you to have a pretty decent tender if you want)
Don't worry about handling a 50 footer. Within a week you'll wonder why you ever worried about it and you'll find it a piece of cake. You'll love the space on board because 50 feet is much more than 20% bigger than 40 feet, and the weight will be good in waves
Good luck
 
Cozzey
The Phantom is very easy to manoeuvre at slow speeds and also if you use the upper helm to berth you have a great view all round the boat. The difference you will notice is that everything happens real slow.
A couple of things to be aware of. 1: the boat pivots around the centre and 2: the idle speed in gear with these engines seems fast at first (6 knots if memory serves but happy to be corrected).
Neither are a problem as the trick is to center the rudders and just kick one engine in and out of gear for slow and precise parking.
Another good thing about the upper helm is that you FEEL the wind direction and strength modulate and this soon becomes like a sixth sense and you automatically compensate with throttles or thruster.

My previous boat was a 39ft hardtop and I too fretted about berthing initially. What I did was take a couple of hours tuition and could park with ease in no time. Do not let this concern you ;)

What to look out for when viewing the Phantom 50, working from memory here so I might miss something...
Weeping port holes (look out for stains directly underneath)
Leaking windscreen washers (look out for drips stains in master cabin - check inside wardrobes)
Glass case opens easily (not good when the sea gets up)
Fridge opens easily (same as above)
Mould in unused crew cabin
Water ingress into stern thruster controls (we had them moved)
Charging to engine batteries (we fitted upgrade but cannot remember what it is called - keeps trickle charge to engine batteries when on shore power)

There you have it - not much to complain about really.

Thanks for PM - I have replied with email address and happy to help ;)
 
JFM/sonvide2

Thank you for your comments. It's good to see the Phantom 50 and D12 engines are highly regarded by people with experience.

BTW, this boat was berthed near Barcelona for a few years. The owner had brought her home and she is now sitting inside a big warehouse near Glasgow. This might explain the extra fridge, anchor chain, passerelle and big generator ?

I will look out for window leaks etc during my visit.

Regards
Cozzy
 
Cozzy said:
JFM/sonvide2

Thank you for your comments. It's good to see the Phantom 50 and D12 engines are highly regarded by people with experience.

BTW, this boat was berthed near Barcelona for a few years. The owner had brought her home and she is now sitting inside a big warehouse near Glasgow. This might explain the extra fridge, anchor chain, passerelle and big generator ?

I will look out for window leaks etc during my visit.

Regards
Cozzy
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Hmm. the reason for big genset is usually to power aircon, which can take 30 amps or thereabouts @230v on a boat this size. But this boat seems not to have airco, so the big genset is a mystery. If you turned on EVERY 230v appliance on this boat, I doubt you'd use the 70 Amps that genset can provide!

Maybe the boat has airco and the guy has forgotten to mention it :-)
 
jfm said:
Hmm. the reason for big genset is usually to power aircon, which can take 30 amps or thereabouts @230v on a boat this size. But this boat seems not to have airco, so the big genset is a mystery. If you turned on EVERY 230v appliance on this boat, I doubt you'd use the 70 Amps that genset can provide!

Maybe the boat has airco and the guy has forgotten to mention it :-)
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I thought the same. My guess is that it has but the owner/broker just failed to mention it. Mind you, in Scotland the owner has probably forgotten that he ever had it:D
 
Cozzy said:
JFM/sonvide2

Thank you for your comments. It's good to see the Phantom 50 and D12 engines are highly regarded by people with experience.

BTW, this boat was berthed near Barcelona for a few years. The owner had brought her home and she is now sitting inside a big warehouse near Glasgow. This might explain the extra fridge, anchor chain, passerelle and big generator ?

I will look out for window leaks etc during my visit.

Regards
Cozzy
Click to expand...

Regarding Aircon if fitted. The saloon one is very noisy and I had a split gas unit with the compressor in the crew cabin to combat this.
 
Thank you again gentlemen.

I will check this out during my visit. I'm flying up there next week and no doubt I'll have more questions.

Your assistance is very much appreciated :encouragement:
 
sonvida2 said:
Cozzey
The Phantom is very easy to manoeuvre at slow speeds and also if you use the upper helm to berth you have a great view all round the boat. The difference you will notice is that everything happens real slow.
A couple of things to be aware of. 1: the boat pivots around the centre and 2: the idle speed in gear with these engines seems fast at first (6 knots if memory serves but happy to be corrected).
Neither are a problem as the trick is to center the rudders and just kick one engine in and out of gear for slow and precise parking.
Another good thing about the upper helm is that you FEEL the wind direction and strength modulate and this soon becomes like a sixth sense and you automatically compensate with throttles or thruster.

My previous boat was a 39ft hardtop and I too fretted about berthing initially. What I did was take a couple of hours tuition and could park with ease in no time. Do not let this concern you ;)

What to look out for when viewing the Phantom 50, working from memory here so I might miss something...
Weeping port holes (look out for stains directly underneath)
Leaking windscreen washers (look out for drips stains in master cabin - check inside wardrobes)
Glass case opens easily (not good when the sea gets up)
Fridge opens easily (same as above)
Mould in unused crew cabin
Water ingress into stern thruster controls (we had them moved)
Charging to engine batteries (we fitted upgrade but cannot remember what it is called - keeps trickle charge to engine batteries when on shore power)

There you have it - not much to complain about really.

Thanks for PM - I have replied with email address and happy to help ;)
Click to expand...


Jaysus ! where the hell have you been matey ? great to see you back :-)
 
Friends of ours, along the pontoon have one.

Very nice boat but a few silly bits of nonsense.

The washing machine empties the limited water tanks far too quickly and is only really practical in a marina.

The "crew" quarters are far too cramped.

The puney anchor and light chain, as a result of needing massive fuel tanks just don't work.

Their builder applied antifouling had disappeared within a few hundred miles leaving the bottom looking like a chart of the middle of the Med.

Tiny rudders mean he had to retro-fit a stern thruster to have any control when backing up to a quay.
 
Steve C Cronin said:
Friends of ours, along the pontoon have one.

Very nice boat but a few silly bits of nonsense.

The washing machine empties the limited water tanks far too quickly and is only really practical in a marina.

The "crew" quarters are far too cramped.

The puney anchor and light chain, as a result of needing massive fuel tanks just don't work.

Their builder applied antifouling had disappeared within a few hundred miles leaving the bottom looking like a chart of the middle of the Med.

Tiny rudders mean he had to retro-fit a stern thruster to have any control when backing up to a quay.
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Hi Steve
Thank you the information.
These items do not concern me too much at this stage as I can't imagine the washing machine being used too much and we do not leave the boat when anchored nor anchor overnight. The crew cabin will never be used for anything more than another store.
I don't know what to say about the rudders :-/
Regards
Cozzy
 
Cozzy said:
Hi Steve
Thank you the information.
These items do not concern me too much at this stage as I can't imagine the washing machine being used too much and we do not leave the boat when anchored nor anchor overnight. The crew cabin will never be used for anything more than another store.
I don't know what to say about the rudders :-/
Regards
Cozzy
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On any shaft drive planing boat the rudders have to be small otherwise they would produce too much drag. Shaft drive boat don't need rudders to steer in reverse they don't work that way as water is being pushed the opposite way going backwards. Steer in reverse using each engine, I always try and face backwards when reversing so use of each control steers the boat the opposite way. 50 is a great boat as long as it's the mark2 version.
 
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