Modern motorboat interiors

[nicho]

A few years ago, the likes of Princess and Fairline had beautifully designed and sculptured interiors. Witness the Squadron 58 - beautiful high gloss cherry wood, curved dinettes and a plush feel to the whole boat. For years now, manufacturers have gone with the “flat pack” look. See the advert in the latest MBY magazine for the Princess 72. No design imagination, no style, square dinette seating and IKEA style cupboards. It is immaterial to me I suppose as I can only afford an old Sealine S34, but if I ever could afford one, I don’t know where I would find something a bit more “plush”.

 

[petem]

Can I ask when you were last on board a new Fairline?

I can't speak for Princess, but the Fairline cabinetry is miles apart from IKEA in terms of quality and detailing.

 

[DAW]

The suggestion that quality of construction and finishes from the major builders (whether British or Italian) has reduced to IKEA levels is unfair. However, perhaps the observation on evolution of interior design preferences is more reasonable. Ultimately this is driven by consumer preference and the builders make what their customers ask for and what they can sell.

Unfortunately, most of these new boats are also used very little, never travel far from the marina and don't venture out in anything other than calm conditions. Considerations such as safety at sea (rounded edges, hand rails, handholds, etc.) which used to be important to the builders now take second place to interior design and appearance.

 

[Fire99]

I think the answer to me is yes and no. Some of the modern yachts have some fantastic innovative ideas and definitely to me have 'showroom appeal' but I agree we have shifted into a different and more 'lightweight' appearance with interior materials. Some of it is fashion. I think we are in a more angular era but also cost.
Anyone I speak to who works with wood and boats has told me over the past few years how quality wood has rocketed in price. So if you look at the likes of Teak and Cherrywood, I'd say partly it's fashion, partly a sharp increase in material cost and thirdly, profit margins and a shorter term view (much like private equity schemes). I wonder if new Princesses for example will wear as well in 20 years as one from 20 years ago?

 

[Momac]

I agree there is certain era of boats where curved surfaces (for safety under way ) was normal and the fit out was much more made to fit the shape of the boat .
In recent times much more basic fit out with some alarmingly hazardous sharp corners that could result in serious injury. Obviously designed by people who have never used a boat.

 

[jfm]

I see your observations Nicho on "square not curved" but that is fashion, and like you I still like the Squadron 58 classic very much, whether cherry or oak. As to quality and the IKEA comparison, I think you're way off the mark. Look closely at Princess 72 for example, and there are plenty of curves in the cabinet work, all over the place, and the top surface pieces of the cabinets have sculpted curved edges, etc. Furthermore the cabinets are (I think) made from veneered marine ply, which is a long way from what IKEA e al are doing with particle boards. I don't love Princess interior aesthetics, and I hate their home-made train carriage looking sofas and those little silver sharp clicky doorknobs everywhere, but nevertheless their cabinetry is leagues ahead of flat pack furniture and quite well made, and as i say has plenty of curves (Prin 72 gallery here) . As Pete says, Fairline are a step up even from that.

The shortage of hardwoods, and the perhaps moral problem of consuming them in this way, can easily be fixed: my new boat build looks like walnut but is deliberately fake - it is deliberately specced in Alpi, a digitally created veneer made from fast growing scandinavian fir/pine trees, so no hardwoods were consumed to make the finishes. Plenty of boatbuilders are now using Alpi, though afaik not FairPrinSeek yet.

No idea what the Daily Mail dig at private equity/having a short term view in post #4 is all about. Is it somehow their fault:

 

[nicho]

Can I ask when you were last on board a new Fairline?

I can't speak for Princess, but the Fairline cabinetry is miles apart from IKEA in terms of quality and detailing.

Of course it is Pete - I was more commenting on design rather than quality. Everything seems to have sharp edges and squared off corners these days - old fashioned 80 year old here with old man’s preferences!

 

[nicho]

The suggestion that quality of construction and finishes from the major builders (whether British or Italian) has reduced to IKEA levels is unfair. However, perhaps the observation on evolution of interior design preferences is more reasonable. Ultimately this is driven by consumer preference and the builders make what their customers ask for and what they can sell.

Unfortunately, most of these new boats are also used very little, never travel far from the marina and don't venture out in anything other than calm conditions. Considerations such as safety at sea (rounded edges, hand rails, handholds, etc.) which used to be important to the builders now take second place to interior design and appearance.

My comment was about design - of course the joinery in new boats will be of superb quality, but the matt wood finish and sharp angles don’t do it for me.

 

[nicho]

I see your observations Nicho on "square not curved" but that is fashion, and like you I still like the Squadron 58 classic very much, whether cherry or oak. As to quality and the IKEA comparison, I think you're way off the mark. Look closely at Princess 72 for example, and there are plenty of curves in the cabinet work, all over the place, and the top surface pieces of the cabinets have sculpted curved edges, etc. Furthermore the cabinets are (I think) made from veneered marine ply, which is a long way from what IKEA e al are doing with particle boards. I don't love Princess interior aesthetics, and I hate their home-made train carriage looking sofas and those little silver sharp clicky doorknobs everywhere, but nevertheless their cabinetry is leagues ahead of flat pack furniture and quite well made, and as i say has plenty of curves (Prin 72 gallery here) . As Pete says, Fairline are a step up even from that.

The shortage of hardwoods, and the perhaps moral problem of consuming them in this way, can easily be fixed: my new boat build looks like walnut but is deliberately fake - it is deliberately specced in Alpi, a digitally created veneer made from fast growing scandinavian fir/pine trees, so no hardwoods were consumed to make the finishes. Plenty of boatbuilders are now using Alpi, though afaik not FairPrinSeek yet.

No idea what the Daily Mail dig at private equity/having a short term view in post #4 is all about. Is it somehow their fault:

 

[nicho]

Again, I have to say my comments were about design not quality - I understand it’s modern design philosophy to be more open plan, but somehow it looks cheap and cost cutting to this old codger.

 

[nicho]

OK, so I’m admittedly p1ssed off at the moment, feeling like shizer and in bad mood after a spell in hospital with operation to boot. Lying in bed with two wound drains that keep blocking and leaving with a leg like a sumo wrestler - bored to hell. To cheer me up, opened the latest MBY magazine, but looking at what new boats are on the market did not help. Not only the interiors, but look at the offerings from Targa, XO Explorer, Whallyway, Leker, Windy, Schaefer, Sargo, Saxdor, Wiszniewski, the latest Nimbus. They all look the same, ugly to my (admittedly poor) eyes, and completely impractical for U.K. boating. No good, I’ll stop dreaming and put up with our S34 with it’s old fashioned, shiny wood, stretched leather dinette seats and dodgy headlining

 

[nicho]

OK, so I’m admittedly p1ssed off at the moment, feeling like shizer and in bad mood after a spell in hospital with operation to boot. Lying in bed with two wound drains that keep blocking, and leaving me with a leg like a sumo wrestler - bored to hell. To cheer me up, opened the latest MBY magazine, but looking at what new boats are on the market did not help. Not only the interiors, but look at the offerings from Targa, XO Explorer, Whallyway, Leker, Windy, Schaefer, Sargo, Saxdor, Wiszniewski, the latest Nimbus. They all look the same, ugly to my (admittedly poor) eyes, and completely impractical for U.K. boating. No good, I’ll stop dreaming and put up with our S34 with it’s old fashioned, shiny wood, stretched leather dinette seats and dodgy headlining

 

[DavidJ]

Get well soon
Here is a pic of my S37 interior to cheer you up. Lovely old fashion well made curvy stuff.
Burton Waters took it for their sales brochure.

 

[nicho]

Get well soon
Here is a pic of my S37 interior to cheer you up. Lovely old fashion well made curvy stuff.
Burton Waters took it for their sales brochure.
View attachment 172477

Nice!

 

[Hurricane]

I know exactly what @nicho is saying but I agree with JFM that it is fashion.
Unfortunately, I have no idea about fashion!!
I'm a dinosaur and don't really like change.
I still like our Princess curves 15 years after buying her.
It has a warm homely feel.
The Princess 72 Gallery that JFM linked leaves me cold.

 

[Momac]

Alpi, a digitally created veneer made from fast growing scandinavian fir/pine trees

As used by Beneteau

 

[Hooligan]

Seems to me that the major change outside of square vs curved, is the positioning of the galley and the feel of being outside when you are inside ie huge amounts of glass and ergo light. Personally I quite like the galley being at the back in these sized boats, but I am far less sure of the outside inside feel. I quite like the idea of feeling like you have gone inside when you walk through the rear doors. Feels sort of cosy. But then again I speak from experience of a S58 and 65 and I can understand why some may feel that walking into the lounge may feel a little dark.

 

[jfm]

As used by Beneteau
View attachment 172483

Yup, good on em, even if they are using (and have been for years) a rather basic version of Alpi's product capability. Alpi's more exotic stuff is used by Ferretti in Riva/Pershing/Customline, Sanlorenzo in many of their models, Azimut in their Grande models, and many recent superyacht custom builds. Afaik the UK builders have not caught on,

 

[Nauti Fox]

Hi Nicho, sorry to hear of your troubles, here's our elderly Sedan 45 (91). Get well soon.

 

[DavidJ]

Hi Nicho, sorry to hear of your troubles, here's our elderly Sedan 45 (91). Get well soon.

View attachment 172518

Nice feel about it
I like the double seat at the helm. With our sports boat we often sit together and especially useful in situations when one is visually navigating and the other is chart reading.
I‘ve not had any experience of flybridges but it seems that people sit together on the flybridge but in the saloon there is often a single “captains“ seat and I guess jfm’s is an example of that.