How good is a Windy Ghibli 28?

[bartonwood]

I'm thinking of upgrading from a 6.5m RIB to a powerboat. I'd like accommodation for 2 for occasional overnight stays, together with a separate heads. Of particular importance is a smooth ride. How good is the Windy Ghibli 28? Are they really worth the money that they seem to demand second hand? What else should I consider?

 

[Nautorius]

Great Sports boats and another Forumite has got one so will be along soon. However if all out Performance is not the only option and you fancy an open Hard top then consider an Aquador 26HT and a Grandezza 31OC (See Post Aquador Vs Bene) Windys are top dollar as are beautiful boats, but other Scandis will give you a similar boat experience for slightly cheaper. One alternative is the Westline W34 which is slightly Larger but you may be able to stretch to a new one. Not yet seen one but it will be at Earls Court, and should be a capable Scandi cruiser.

Cheers

Paul /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Whitelighter]

Windy make great performance hulls. For them, it is all about driving the boat and handling - so they tend to be a little smaller in the cabin than some cruisers from Sealine/BenJenBav or the US.

A smotth ride is a direct result of the hull shape. The deeper the V of the hull along its length, the less slam there will be and the more comfy the ride. They do need a bit more power to get them up on the plane though.

The Ghibli is a very good boat from a very good builder!

 

[gjgm]

I have one...
First , the price. These boats are made in small numbers, to exceptional standards in probably the most expensive country on the planet. Up to 4-5 years old almost all of them are only for sale back through the only dealer in the Uk (and Spain, and France), and for whatever reason, my experience is that there is not alot of room for negotiation. The "bad" news then , is you are unlikely (not impossible) ever to find a cheap one. The flip side of that might well be that they hold their value well. Bear in mind though, that the boats do then need to be well maintained, so discount bodged repairs are not an option. So, if you are looking for alot of bang for your buck, you wont find it here, but you will find flawless quality.
The good points of the Ghibli. It cruises at 25-35knts. Now of course there are some limitations as to how many fillings you want to lose from your teeth if you re some sort of hardcore nutter, but generally the boat is damned long legged. By that I mean when others seem to be cruising at 25, you seem to be flying by at 35 just as comfortably. It really eats up the miles, and being single engines, it isnt eating up your wallet either. Not that I m particularly into seeing if I can throw passengers overboard, but it just doesnt seem to lose grip in the turns. BUT, it does turn at a very steep angle, particularly at around 20knts, which can certainly alarm passengers if they are not used to that. I cant claim to be any hot shot boat driver, but I have total faith in the boat. Many who are experienced tend to say that the faster you drive a Windy, the better it goes. And, they also say, things dont start falling off as with so many other boats.
What this boat isnt, is a cruiser. Its a larger,fast and highly competent sportsboat with overnight accomodation. There s enough room to sleep-its actually pretty comfy, but the heads is extremely small. The permanent table does fold in two, and being offset you can swivel it slightly to one side, but it does hog a fair amount of cockpit space. Its not really a problem- this isnt a boat that you wander about on while underway. I wasnt sure about the walkthrough access to the fordeck, but in fact it works just fine;no issues with it in fact.
The covers fit well, and take 10 minutes to put up, maybe slightly longer to put away. Thats not really an issue, but if you had to put them up and then take them down each night, I can see it would be a bit of a pain. In fact, if the weather is good, we just dont bother with the cover overnight anyway.
Even Windy warn that the blue hull isnt the most practical finish in the world. I dont think its any worse than any other blue hull, but it does get marked. The Sunbrella seats are pretty practical. Not quite so practical as the cream vinyl, but not as bad as I had thought. They clean up pretty well with a wipe down with some mild cleaner.
So, in terms of handling, build quality, finish.. I think the marque is quite exeptional. Whether its worth that enormous premium rather depends on what you value.The Windy advert rather cunningly says, In life, you get what you pay for, and for me, I think thats a fair summary. For all the reasons for buying a Windy, price is never going to one of them ! If you look over one, you ll either think, damn the price, or you ll think, its not worth it. Only you can answer that.

 

[Nautorius]

Gigm,

One of the most 'Unbiased' owners reports I have ever come accross! Well done!

Cheers Paul /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[bartonwood]

Gjgm

Thanks for your honest and comprehensive answer. I'd agree that they ooze quality.

What engine do you have and what is your fuel consumption like at cruise and WOT?

Also, does your boat slam into the wind in a typical short sharp Solent chop?

 

[gjgm]

I have the kad 300, which gives maybe 3-5 knts more top spend and cruise, I think.
Regarding slamming.. I d say it slighty depends on what you mean. If you mean forward,towards the bow seems to make one hell of a crashing impact, then , no, not really. The weight of the boat, and I guess hull shape seems to cut through. But sometimes it does seem a very "hard" ride, more jarring than slamming. Strangley, it seems when there are hardly any waves, and tend to be more in the middle of the boat. Maybe I didnt have it trimmed right...But then, to be fair, you might not have noticed quite how fast you are going. I guess every boat slams at some point, but no, its not a tendency of this boat at all.
One thing, it does lean into the wind quite a bit, so you are pretty active on the trim tabs. Running angle seems very flat- no bow up in the air at all. I guess I use the leg trim quite a bit too. Not that its particularly sensitive.. more probably that you keep encountering different seas more often !
I m not sure about fuel. If you delve around the Windy home pages, somewhere you can find the Volvo test results for many of the boats. On the 300 it was about 35 litres an hour from everything from 2500-3500 revs-thats about 25-35 knts.
I d be a little suspicious that maybe I m drinking rather more, but I ve only just got round to checking the trip against refueling, so cant quite say yet.
One thing we have noticed regards fuel is that bcz it cruises so quickly, we seem to go much much further, and not even think about it.
We are extremely pleased with it, and its transformed our boating. I would re-iterate though, that it really is a sportsboat. If that absolutely what you want, you will love it. I m sure its not a completely different world to a number of other boats, and theres a limit to just how much "better" it can really be. All I can add is that the boat is far more comptent than me!

 

[ari]

Not driven a Ghibli 28 although driven the bigger 32 Tornado (I think it's called) and that was quite a boat too.

The 28 Ghibli's always been my "dream sportboat" however.

Personally though, when my numbers come up (unlikely as I don't do the lottery, but only very slightly more unlikely than someone who does, and much cheaper) I've always felt I'd but a twin engined one. I think they do them with twin Volvo D3's. To my mind having twin engines complements the "proper" offshore nature of the boat. I also wonder if it would be more stable and have a more "damped" rolling motion rather than having all the weight on the centre line for the boat to roll around.

Interested to know what people think of twin vs single on this boat. Sadly not a choice I'm likely to be having to decide on in the near future though unfortunately.

Fabulous boat though, lovely thing. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[spannerman]

I am lucky enough to get to test all the new Windys we sell as part of my job, and also deliver them up and down the coast of Norway, and can only agree with all of the other comments above.
They are fantastic hulls in all sea states, and you always feel the boat can handle more than you, I love the soft ride compared to everything else I've driven.
We also are the biggest dealer for Hydrolift which I have also done many seamiles in and Windy are in the same league. They are exceptionally well put together and we get no problems with the boats themselves (although plenty with the VP part!)
Go on buy one ' you are worth it'.

 

[beejay190]

I believe that there is a Windy 25 Mirage. Do you rate that just as highly?

 

[spannerman]

Yes its one of our best sellers, a great day boat, with basicovernighting for a weekend.