Fairline Targa 27 or Falcon 27

A

archiekaren

Member
Joined
16 Aug 2006
Messages
34
Location
Guernsey, Channel Islands.
Visit site
Can anyone please give me some advise, i`m looking at buying one of the above boats 89 / 90 models, ive been told all sorts of things from different people, some fairline lovers and others say the falcon, any owners out there could give some help, with good and bad points, ( i thought buying a house was stressfull ) Thanks
 
you can either give us more details about what you are hoping to do with the boat ie so that we can comment gererally or the relative suitabilities or be more specific about the 2 craft you are comparing; engines and drives would be a great starting point for that.............
 
living in guernsey, so mostly used for weekend breaks in herm, jersey and france, non are for sale at the moment with local brokers, so looking at boats around the south coast, having to travel to england to take either of these boats out, i`m just digging for advice on layout, build quility, sea keeping etc.
 
I believe that they are pretty similar down below but the Falcon has a circular rear cocpit set up that apeals to some but others dislike!
Farlines of that era have a reputation for being heavily/solidly built and good hulls. The falcon was a much newer construction but both people I have known with them over the years have comentated favorably on build and sea keeping.

May well come down to engines
 
I looked at a number of Falcon 22/23 before I brought my last boat and the build quality simply did not match that of the Fairlines (I ended up with a Fairline Carrera). I have since looked at a number of Targa 27's and these truly are a well fitted out boat.

Ultimatley though you need to look at both and the condition of the examples you see may well dictate which you buy but the Targa 27 hull is a cracker (as commented on as a direct rival to the Sealine 260 review in the new MBM).

Good luck all the same

Will
 
Simple... look in the marina... lots of T27/Sunfuries, not many Falcons. Reckon that most boat owners in Guernsey cant be wrong. BTW saw a sunfury there with twin 275hp petrols... must be ballistic.
 
Hi Mla,

I also looked at the Falcon & agree with Will33 the build quality is not as good. As already mentioned the targa also has an oustanding hull which feels like a much bigger boat in the rough.
Mine came with twin AQ205 petrols which probably burn't 25-30 gph at 25knts which took the fun out of it for me so have now re-engined with single yanmar 315 giving 30knts wot & around 5-6 gph at 25knts.
Would definately buy same again for this size boat & currently thinking of Targa 33 for a little extra space as the 27 has sold me on the targa range.
PM me if you want any more info.
Kevin.
 
Blimey! That's juicy. When we had our T27 with 205s I reckoned on about 12 GPH when driven sensibly & around 18 GPH when hurried. I think it only had a 90 gallon tank. Great boat though.
 
Is that per engine? If so then not far off, if not then thats about the same as my single deisel! (5-6 gph). Hope I haven't spent all this dosh for nothing. Tank is about 90 gallons.
 
No. Those figures are for both engines. 25-30 galls per hour at 25kts does seem a little excessive. We used to achieve about 2.2 miles per gallon. You would be suggesting around 1 mpg.
 
I thought my 16 year old engines were a bit thirsty but didn't realise they where that far off the mark. Thanks for the info.
 
Now I am going to be accused of bias here as I have the Falcon 27. I have also owned a Fairline Sprint (baby version of the Targa) so i can compare build quality and fitout. in my view, they are very comparable and the Falcon is very heavily built and well constructed. the transom on mine when I removed the drives was over 2 inches thick and laid up so a bomb wouldn't shift it.

The targa 27 is also a good boat and will perform well at sea. the targa hull is designed by Bernard Olesenski and the Falcon by Andrew Wolstenholme, both very reputable designers with a reputation for good hulls. the falcon hull must be good as the mould for it was being used for the Birchwood 290 so its stood the test of time.

The cockpit layout on the targa is in my view less sociable as the helm seat has to be swung over to make the dinette. the falcon has seating all in place and plenty of room to move around too. Down below, the Falcon has more space in the main cabin but less worktop space to the galley area. Both feature a lot of nice woodwork but some targas use very dark wood and this makes the cabin feel quite cramped (again only my view). I can only speak of the Falcon at sea and I have to say that its great. I have been out in some big waves and its a dry and very solid boat that didn't ever scare me. Just slow down and ride through it.
I looked at the Targa27 too but I went for the Falcon for all of the reasons above and have no regrets. All the other owners I have spoken to also speak very highly of them.
Both are great boats and it is a personal choice. the reason there is so few Falcons is that they were a small Norfolk based builder not a mass producer like Fairline. They went pop because they were building too well and including too much kit to compete with the mass produced stuff coming from the USA.

engine options on the Falcon are varied as they are the targa but in general are twin. Some single diesels were produced but not many that I know of. A lot are twin 150hp petrols which will give about 30knots. Twin 205hp petrols can give up to about 38 but the tank gets emptied a bit quick.

Later boats like the 275s had 150HP diesels giving about 35. Mine has twin 130 hp diesels and I have had just over 30 with a clean bottom.

The engines in mine actually came from a Targa 27 and I'm about 2 knots faster than the targa was with them. (long story as to how and why but the forumites know all about it)

the targa owner I know uses his for cross channel and loves it. he re-engined rather than change the boat as he thinks its great at sea and very safe.

So to sum up. Both great boats, both have good and bad points, build quality is comparable, engine options varied but comparable. I love my Falcon, other love the Targa. Your choice but if you can afford a diesel, go for it.

Hope this helps but PM me with a number if I can be any more assistance.

Cheers

JH
 
Hi mate - how are those diesels performing - when you get bored of 'em let me know and I'll have one for Kelisha /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top