jimmy_the_builder
Well-Known Member
Although we've only relatively recently taken delivery of our current boat, we've fairly quickly realised that a flybridge cruiser is not for us, and so we've decided to go back to a sportcruiser. At sibs we had a good look at the Princess V45, the Sunseeker Superhawk 43, the Hunton RS43 and the Jeanneau Prestige 42S. I also think that the new Princess V42 hard top should be on that list, but at the moment the factory won't let us go down and have a look at one.
At first sight the Jeanneau has a great spec - for me, the really big point is the fact that the only canvas on the boat is the cover for the rear cockpit table. Yes, this boat has a retractable hard top, and the biggest electric window that you've ever seen at the back of the cockpit.
There's a number of other features which are very attractive as well - two good seating areas in the cockpit, ips with joystick, and a full beam mid-cabin. We met Mark from Walton's office at Universal at sibs, and he invited us down for a sea trial on the boat.
This took place on the Saturday before last, on a frankly minging day. First super-impressive bit of boat handling was the way that the ips joystick allowed Paul, our captain for the day to push the boat sideways out from the berth, and then turn her beam on to the wind - and then push sideways into the wind. This seemed to be ridiculously easy to me - no juggling of thruster and twin engines. Very impressive stuff.
In the cockpit, the seating is all v comfortable - I've definitely noticed with some boats in the past that the depth of seat bases can sometimes be a little mean; not so here. Teak tables at both cockpit seating areas, teak throughout the cockpit, big e120 screen, cockpit fridge and bbq all add to the general feeling of a generous spec. There are also more blue leds than you can shake a stick at, so I can think of at least one forumite who would be very at home on this boat...
Although the weather doesn't look too bad in the pics, it really wasn't very nice at all, strong winds and rain showers. Lumpy out on Southampton Water and although I took a few pics down there they are in the main no good, sorry.
A couple of further observations from the sea trial: the helm position was fairly good; I thought I might bang my head on the side of the sunroof opening, but not so. There is a panel at the helm that folds down to give you a bit of added height, which is good. Not-so-good points at the helm are the very heavy a-pillar and the side window is way too small - you can't even get your head out, which would be useful when mooring.
Helm layout is good, although there are some minor electrical niggles - you have to press and hold two buttons simultaneaously to open or close the roof, and these buttons are located on opposite sides of the wheel. This is really silly; ideally, this should be a single button with one-touch.
Similarly, wiper control is a bit hit-or-miss, they are only single-speed, no intermittent or fast settings, and the wipers don't self-park which seems really odd to me. A plus point is the inclusion of the Volvo LCD panel as standard; also standard are screen demisters. However, one point I noted was that there is nowhere to rest your right arm at the helm; I know this sounds trivial, but if you're on passage from say Brighton to Weymouth it's going to take four hours, you'll be sitting down, and the absence of an armrest of some sort is definitely going to be annoying. There is also nowhere to put odds and ends at the helm - like the cover for the e120 for example. And the drinks holder is just a surface-mount ring, rather than a proper recessed bottle-holder.
At the helm the boat was easy to drive. Flat out was 34kts, with 4 crew and half fuel. Steering is fly-by-wire so if you are at full pelt then any ambitions to be David Marsh and throw the boat into a full-lock turn are thwarted by the IPS. However, what is interesting is the way the steering tightens as you back the throttles off - even if you don't touch the wheel. The boat seems to ride quite flat and in general (and taking my comment about the a pillar into account) I thought the vis from the helm was good - better than my old Targa 37 for example.
Down below there are two good cabins and the saloon; galley is small but perfectly formed; I liked the fact that the fridge was mounted a couple of feet off the floor, and the tv was mounted low so it is comfy to watch (I don't understand why some builders put the telly five feet up the wall, what is that all about, really?).
The mid cabin has a big picture window and an island double bed - really excellent. If this boat has a weakness down below it is the heads - day heads are ok, but the ensuite to the master cabin is really tricky to get in and out of - almost to the point of unuseability to me.
This boats weakest point has to be engine access: to do your daily checks you need to go through the garage floor - which means getting your dinghy out first - which given that the garage is pretty small (and doesn't have rollers or anything) is going to be hard work. On my current boat, fuel separators and raw water filters have been located very sensibly right by the engine hatch so you can see exactly what's what at a glance; not so with the Jeanneau. And the fuel filters fitted to the Jeanneau are not the transparent type, which I would have preferred.
However, any 42 foot boat with no canvas, ips, two good cabins including a full beam master, electric roof, two great seating areas in the cockpit, a garage, and did I mention no canvas? is going to have some compromises somewhere - and the engine access is it.
Overall however I liked this boat, and it's on our (very) short list. Just waiting to see the V42 (and to sell the P42) and then we can make our final decision.
Thanks to Mark and Paul for the sea trial - here you go, the good, the bad and the ugly (I'll leave you, dear reader, to decide which is which!):
Cheers
Jimmy
At first sight the Jeanneau has a great spec - for me, the really big point is the fact that the only canvas on the boat is the cover for the rear cockpit table. Yes, this boat has a retractable hard top, and the biggest electric window that you've ever seen at the back of the cockpit.
There's a number of other features which are very attractive as well - two good seating areas in the cockpit, ips with joystick, and a full beam mid-cabin. We met Mark from Walton's office at Universal at sibs, and he invited us down for a sea trial on the boat.
This took place on the Saturday before last, on a frankly minging day. First super-impressive bit of boat handling was the way that the ips joystick allowed Paul, our captain for the day to push the boat sideways out from the berth, and then turn her beam on to the wind - and then push sideways into the wind. This seemed to be ridiculously easy to me - no juggling of thruster and twin engines. Very impressive stuff.
In the cockpit, the seating is all v comfortable - I've definitely noticed with some boats in the past that the depth of seat bases can sometimes be a little mean; not so here. Teak tables at both cockpit seating areas, teak throughout the cockpit, big e120 screen, cockpit fridge and bbq all add to the general feeling of a generous spec. There are also more blue leds than you can shake a stick at, so I can think of at least one forumite who would be very at home on this boat...
Although the weather doesn't look too bad in the pics, it really wasn't very nice at all, strong winds and rain showers. Lumpy out on Southampton Water and although I took a few pics down there they are in the main no good, sorry.
A couple of further observations from the sea trial: the helm position was fairly good; I thought I might bang my head on the side of the sunroof opening, but not so. There is a panel at the helm that folds down to give you a bit of added height, which is good. Not-so-good points at the helm are the very heavy a-pillar and the side window is way too small - you can't even get your head out, which would be useful when mooring.
Helm layout is good, although there are some minor electrical niggles - you have to press and hold two buttons simultaneaously to open or close the roof, and these buttons are located on opposite sides of the wheel. This is really silly; ideally, this should be a single button with one-touch.
Similarly, wiper control is a bit hit-or-miss, they are only single-speed, no intermittent or fast settings, and the wipers don't self-park which seems really odd to me. A plus point is the inclusion of the Volvo LCD panel as standard; also standard are screen demisters. However, one point I noted was that there is nowhere to rest your right arm at the helm; I know this sounds trivial, but if you're on passage from say Brighton to Weymouth it's going to take four hours, you'll be sitting down, and the absence of an armrest of some sort is definitely going to be annoying. There is also nowhere to put odds and ends at the helm - like the cover for the e120 for example. And the drinks holder is just a surface-mount ring, rather than a proper recessed bottle-holder.
At the helm the boat was easy to drive. Flat out was 34kts, with 4 crew and half fuel. Steering is fly-by-wire so if you are at full pelt then any ambitions to be David Marsh and throw the boat into a full-lock turn are thwarted by the IPS. However, what is interesting is the way the steering tightens as you back the throttles off - even if you don't touch the wheel. The boat seems to ride quite flat and in general (and taking my comment about the a pillar into account) I thought the vis from the helm was good - better than my old Targa 37 for example.
Down below there are two good cabins and the saloon; galley is small but perfectly formed; I liked the fact that the fridge was mounted a couple of feet off the floor, and the tv was mounted low so it is comfy to watch (I don't understand why some builders put the telly five feet up the wall, what is that all about, really?).
The mid cabin has a big picture window and an island double bed - really excellent. If this boat has a weakness down below it is the heads - day heads are ok, but the ensuite to the master cabin is really tricky to get in and out of - almost to the point of unuseability to me.
This boats weakest point has to be engine access: to do your daily checks you need to go through the garage floor - which means getting your dinghy out first - which given that the garage is pretty small (and doesn't have rollers or anything) is going to be hard work. On my current boat, fuel separators and raw water filters have been located very sensibly right by the engine hatch so you can see exactly what's what at a glance; not so with the Jeanneau. And the fuel filters fitted to the Jeanneau are not the transparent type, which I would have preferred.
However, any 42 foot boat with no canvas, ips, two good cabins including a full beam master, electric roof, two great seating areas in the cockpit, a garage, and did I mention no canvas? is going to have some compromises somewhere - and the engine access is it.
Overall however I liked this boat, and it's on our (very) short list. Just waiting to see the V42 (and to sell the P42) and then we can make our final decision.
Thanks to Mark and Paul for the sea trial - here you go, the good, the bad and the ugly (I'll leave you, dear reader, to decide which is which!):
Cheers
Jimmy
