Fairline Sq55 painted blue

  • Thread starter Thread starter jfm
  • Start date Start date
My tuppance worth - 58 looks great in white.

She is low / sleek and looks like she is doing 30 knots when still tied up.

Here at speed...

DSCN9102.jpg


Like you I'd have one over the 55 and pocket the change.

I still prefer the Phantom 50 over the 48 - maybe it'll grow on me.
 
Ref #1 pete, nooooo waaaaay! Taking the blue from the waterline up to the chine makes it look like those old boats where for some inexplicable reason the owners decide to paint antifoul up to the chine, so making a blue (or whatever dark colour) triangle at the bow under the chine. Looks awful, urgh.

Imho she should be left as is, or better still have the blue taken down to the waterline, ie no white at all except boot top and transom
 
Mmm.... The harder you try, the more I think that this blue hull mania is pointless.
Can't be bothered to photoshop the same pic, so I picked one of those previously published (see below).
Now, am I alone in thinking that none of the results are worth the hassle and the cost of awlgripping a perfect new boat? ...not to mention the well known drawbacks of blue hulls.
My guess is that any dealer, when faced with a prospect customer who likes the blue on a boat which is only available in white, prefers to throw in the painting in the negotiation and tell the buyer that it's a great idea, which will further distinguish him from the crowd, rather than trying to explain him that he's telling porkies.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

08-12-08_1509.jpg


sqnew.jpg


sq3.jpg


Sq55.jpg
 
Well it's pointless in that there is no benefit other than looks. It's like saying blondes are pointless - not if you like blondes they're not! :-))

But you're right. The paint is perhaps £3k cost to a dealer like Essex Boatyards with the heated shed and skilled labour already on site, so a dealer would just throw that in to get a £800k sale with 10% gross margin. In this case though, fwiw, the dealer didn't persuade the customer. The customer just loves blue hulls. I chatted to him about it last weekend. He's a repeat Essex Boatyards customer and was going to buy "my" Sq58 (which was an EBY stock boat) and paint that blue, till he saw the Sq55 and prefered it. Phew! I saw his previous boat last week, which is a Phantom 48 painted blue!

The white Sq55 in your pic is the same boat as the blue one. It's hull #1 and was on Fairline seatrials in the pic where it is white
 
[ QUOTE ]
Well it's pointless in that there is no benefit other than looks. It's like saying blondes are pointless - not if you like blondes they're not!
...
The white Sq55 in your pic is the same boat as the blue one. It's hull #1 and was on Fairline seatrials in the pic where it is white

[/ QUOTE ]Yup. I see your point re.blondes, but I like natural ones... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Re. the white boat, I'd have expected you to notice that actually she's NOT the same! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
But I'm sure you'll spot the difference if you give another look at her....?
 
[ QUOTE ]
What's the window thingy at the top of the Merryfisher aerial? Looks like it's blacked out on the painted one and missing from the white one?

Pete

[/ QUOTE ]

It's the big (glued, no s/s frame) window for the mid cabin. It's definitely there on the actual boat, both sides. Ref being blacked out, it has that black sort of tint (like some car rear windows for privacy). I've no idea why it wasn't on the 55 pictured in portsmouth cos it's the same boat - I guess Fairline covered it in white sticky-backed-plastic to hide it while the boat was pre-launch? (IIRC that was a forumite's pic, so not photoshopped out?)
 
[ QUOTE ]
Re. the white boat, I'd have expected you to notice that actually she's NOT the same! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
But I'm sure you'll spot the difference if you give another look at her....?

[/ QUOTE ]
It is same boat - see reply to petem above. At least, the blue boat is definitely hull #1 (I've been on it, met owner, same saleseman who sold me Sq58 #201, etc) and the white boat was the first sighting of a Sq55 so it must be #1 - they don't make a "hull zero" prototype as it were. Also the boat now has black decals on the tringle above the rear of the saloon window, that were not on the port side of the boat during trials. And the teak strips on the radar mast have been removed. And it has a beige bimini now. So that's 4 differences!
 
Blimey J, posting at 4am? You're not actually Brendan hacking jfm user, are you?...

Ok, I was cheating a bit.
I said I didn't photoshop the same pic, but I said nothing about the white one... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
The point behind my post was that if you compare the white and the blue one, the blue actually does look better, but only because the blue one hides the awful master cabin windows. So, it took me just a couple of minutes to achieve:
- a sleeker design (imho better than the blue one, though beauty is in the eye of the beholder of course);
- a reduction of production costs;
- better usage of internal spaces allowed by the absence of big windows;
- better resistance to mooring scratches.
Wadduthink, could I invoice Fairline for the consultancy?

Shame that most customers actually like those pointless windows, these days... /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
...though I can only blame my compatriots for that.
They had many neat ideas in boat design, but also some of the least functional ones.

Original:
DSC00926.jpg


MkII version:
Sq55.jpg
 
big improvement on the 58s where the flybridgescreens were poorly held on and the flybridge seat box filled up with water. these 58s were a very poor boat the original 55 was so much better built using more real solid wood example the handrail round the galley etc
 
I've been a bit puzzled by this second post of yours, till I had a look at your first one.
After all, in spite of this post which might appear rather derogatory, you're actually getting more positive along the road. Don't give up, I'm looking forward to your next contribution.
Maybe you'll be a big fan of UK boats and dealers by the 10th post or so!
/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
I think you can assume that this is a troll and I bet it's GC1/Happy1/Grumpy1 spreading his particular brand of vitriol
 
An intriguing troll tho. The original sq58 flybridge screens were a bit badly designed (now completely cured with an all-new design) and the flybr helms seat box in the sq58 does collect water (easily cured with some simple mods, but ex-factory they are leaky)

So this poster knows his/her fairlines. A fired EBY employee woudl be my guess!
 
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