Fairline Targa questions

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Guys, and girls,
Im new to Fairlines, owned motoryachts before but now "boatless" and looking to buy second-hand Fairline Targa 37 or something of similar size with diesel engines, Any advice is taken as I*have seen some boats but have some worries on the maintenance/running costs potentially being too high:

-what kind of running costs can I expect from 1997 2 x 230 hp Volvo Penta KAD42/DP 6 cylinder turbo diesel engines with Z-Drive propellers?
-more importantly, what kind of yearly maintenance costs are to be expected for these types of engines?
-anything else to consider when looking at 10-16yr old Fairline Targas in the 30-40 foot range? any experiences you can share are most welcome and you can PM me if you like

If you can suggest any similar boats from other brands that you think are better, also let me know why you think so? very curious as my boat fever is high 30´s for the moment !!!

Thanks! Marc
 
We used to have a Targa 35 with KAD42's so some experience that may be relevant. Also looked at several 37's with a view to buying but ended up with the Broom instead!!

Fuel consumption will be around 1.6 to 1.8 mpg at cruise and I am guessing that you can expect early to mid 30's at WOT. Cruise will be early to mid 20's at around 3000rpm.

Not sure on service costs as we used to do much ourselves and it varies considerably depending upon your location. Engines will need filters, impeller, belts and oil change each season and the drives will be an oil change each year and bellows every other year. Volvo drives are a bit of a lottery IMHO....can be fine but can have issue with water ingress and bearing wear as they get older. A recon drive for someone like Coastalrides used to be around £1.5 to 2k IIRC. We did various repairs to ours but if you factor it in it is not too bad.

We looked at one or two average boats that were too highly priced. My personal view is that they are good boats but no longer command the price premium that some owners seem to expect to realise (no offence intended to any owners on here)

Overall they are good boats but they are getting on a bit so have the engines and drives looked at carefully and don't pay too much. Some were asking north of £100k when we were looking 12 to 18 months ago.......south of that is more realistic IMHO.....condition and maintenance history will be key.
 
Take a look at my Sig, similar to targa 37 but much cheaper.

Bilge has now been cleaned and you could eat your dinner off it
 
I would suggest a look at the Fairline owners club website. It is free to join and loads of info available from past threads, or just ask the same question.

http://www.fairlineownersclub.com/

I would reckon on around 1 - 1.5 MPG on those engines at cruising speed.

The old rule of thumb for running costs on any boat is 10% of its value, and I find this holds true from the smallest rowing boat to a superyacht.
 
I looked at the targa 37 1999 model but my opinion of it was it seemed small and cramped, i ended up buying a sealine S37 which is huge inside compared to a targa 37, now i know sealine have not got the failine build quality etc etc but it all depends on what you want the boat for

me personally i use mine for long weekends in weymouth and the odd trip out to sea for some fishing or relaxing, now the s37 is a great boat for that mine has kad 43's in here which cruise at 25 knotts and 33 knotts WOT

if you want a boat to do more stuff like channel hoping etc then the targa would be a better sea keeping boat, i learnt all this of this forum from people with a lot more knowledge than me so i would expect more answers shortly

as ALT says take a look at his boat very clean boat and very well priced
 
As lanerboy says, the S37 is also a serious contender. The Sealines are known for utilizing every inch of space. With any boat there is going to be compromise somewhere.

-Edit- Also, apologies for the horrible layout on the website for the boat - there was a code glitch and I never backed it up as I wrote it as a temp measure - i'll write a new website next week when I get back from holliers. However you get the important bits; pictures! As I said the engine bay is now spotless, spent a whole day cleaning it
 
I had a Targa 37, it was a 1998 boat with KAD44's, and I thought it was fab. I like the general accommodation arrangements; good build quality; great seakeeping. It only really had one downside, which was that the access to the engines was very tight.

For any boat of that age, it's all down to the individual instance - you'll see those that have been abused, and you'll (hopefully) see those that have been loved. I'd have a good look at several before making your mind up.

Good luck!

Cheers
Jimmy
 
We have a Targa 40 and find it a great boat. As far as I know the 40 is just a mildy extended 37?? Build quality etc is good, and it is on the whole very reliable ... but not sure fairline can take all the credit for that as other than the GRP etc the big bits come from Volvo, Onan, Raymarine, Trend Marine etc.

A poster above mentioned Cranchi. We had a Cranchi Enduracne 33 before the Targa ( giant speed boat). The Cranchi build qualiy seemed excellent and when I moved to Fairline was it better - probably - but the Cranchi was really very very good. HOWEVER ... in the UK a Cranchi wont sell ( at least mine didnt!) and whilst I would gladly own another one it would be on the basis that it was a real deal --- and hence accepting that it would proove difficult to shift. Our boat is now in Mallorca and there are plenty of Cranchi there so at a guess it would sell OK there. Maybe I was unlucky - I traded it at Essex Boatyards and they sold if for a very good price 2 weeks later - but I had tried umteen brokers.

If you look behind panels etc. Cranchi use a fibreglass moulding where Fairline would use some hand crafted wooden framework. For my money Cranchi have that bit right as a fibreglass mouding is cheaper and quicker to produce and probably stronger at the end of the day!

Sealine - dont really know much, but as long as the boat is sound £5k on a leather retrim and some new carpet would probably transform it to a great place to spend some time. As far as I know Sealines - like Fairlines - will always sell - and as above all of the big bits come from a same or similar parts bin as Fairline.
 
The Cranchi is a very good boat with a good reputation in Southern Europe. The Volvo KAD300 engines are also very good and easy to maintain.
The one advertised above looks nice but needs to be perfect for the high asking price. jrudge is correct, it will be slow to sell in the UK and Alt will need to show discount if he wants to sell. I also notice some stains on teak platform, saloon steps, throttle mount and wonder who fitted props.
I have no personal experience of Targa 37 but many for sale on the internet like Cranchi. The price is similar if you negotiate or buy 2001. I guess in the UK Fairline are premium brand like Princess then Sealine and Sunseeker?
For same price both are good but I guess Fairline looks more expensive. Cranchi for same year will be much cheaper.
Good luck with the search.
 
Thanks all for your help. I´ḿ now considering buyer a smaller but newer Fairline Targa 30 as the 37 seems like an expensive affair.
If anyone has experience with the Targa 30 with Volvo diesels from the early 2000´s, then would be very interested to hear what you think of this boat? Couldn't really find a lot of reviews as more reviews were written on the predecessor model: Targa 29..
 
Don't do it. There is a world of difference in size and the running costs will be no different You will only look to sell and trade up which will cost you. Just buy a brand you can afford - others mentioned above, but bear in mind that as boats get longer they get wider and taller. The difference between a 30 and 37 is significant. Boats are not exactly flying off the shelves so make a bid. What is your budget
 
yacht said:
Thanks all for your help. I´ḿ now considering buyer a smaller but newer Fairline Targa 30 as the 37 seems like an expensive affair.
If anyone has experience with the Targa 30 with Volvo diesels from the early 2000´s, then would be very interested to hear what you think of this boat? Couldn't really find a lot of reviews as more reviews were written on the predecessor model: Targa 29..
Click to expand...

Bad decision. Jrudge is completely right about this, the T37 is a hugely better boat than the T30, better layout, more space everywhere, much more useable cockpit, separate front cabin, better seakeeping due longer hull. Running costs are not going to be wildly different. Look at them both. Buy the T37. :D

Cheers
Jimmy
 
I have a targa 37 with kad44s i agree with the above the targa 30 will have the same maintainance cost as the 37(2 engines 2 drives etc) but if you go for the the 30 you wont have anywhere near the same space, handling,
ash
 
Thanks all for your help. Now also looking at Sealine but personally I think the build quality feels better on Fairlines.
 
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Update:
After a lots of help from very kind users at this forum and another forum, I have decided to buy either a Fairline Targa 34 from 2002 or a 1997 Targa 37, I´m very much between the 2 as both offer the same more or less in terms of options etc, any views are as always very much appreciated!

Thanks, Marc
 
Hi Jimmy,

Thanks, but prefer not to put out links to the 2 to avoid any competing bids from other users although as the boat market seems quite slow that is probably an unwarranted worry. One of these boats is actually not even listed on the main used boats sites. The T37 is in the UK and hence more attractive to me as the other one is down in Spain but a newer boat. Both have enough extras including radar so a difficult choice I must say. Spain could be nice as might keep the boat down there for a while before bringing it up to North, but that boat probably has a sunburn:)
 
Don't get too hung up on things like radar etc. which you may never use! Focus on the actual boat.

I still think you should skip over to Ireland and steal this Cranchi Smeraldo 37 off me :p
 
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