My First Motor Boat 40-45ft 10-15 Years Old in Meds - Advice for Newbie

[Sticky Fingers]

My two penn'orth for brands / 3-cabin Flybridge models to consider:

Princess 440/460/P45/P50
Sunseeker Manhattan 50/52
Fairline Phantom 46/50 and Squadron 55, 58 if the funds stretch
Azimut 46/47/50
Ferretti 460/480/500/53/530

 

[adey]

When I was looking, an Azimut 47 was the worst of all. Very stylish but the quality was shocking.

 

[piratos]

The more I look over the last few days and going up to 50ft I'm more incline to likes of Azimut 46/50, Princess same range, Prestige 46/50. Generally 3 cabins I think is a must and approx 4-4.5m wide beam - prefer the more open space in saloon and in cockpit for living.

But in that price range there almost none in Croatia and few Azimuts in Italy. Most of whats available Spain/France.

Have any one of you done the passage from Spain/France to Croatia? Having a completely new boat and going on such a trip makes me question my life choices a bit For sure something will go wrong with the boat. I reckon road transport of that size would be easily £10-15k with extra slip charges and some assembly at the destination?

Yes as you mentioned the house would be probably 60-70% of time we spend with occassional "lets go for few days" on the boat. An of course me popping in for 2 weeks for no reason at all

Hello.
I have tried to read up on all replies, but may have missed some.

Just a few comments -
I have not done the passage from Spain to Croatia, but are on my way the other way, and why are you keen on Croatia ???

I bought my boat in Croatia and to be honest - very fed up with Croatia. Its like everything is forbiden unless you pay a fee. We spent about one and a half year in Croatia when we bought the boat, mostly because of partly paid Marinafee.

We left the Marina heading to the Baltic, the long way around Spain, and we have more time than money, therefore we plan to enjoy the passage. Another boat, same Marina, also fed up with Croatia chose the way through the river Donau to Netherlands and from there to the Baltic.

We are have left the boat in Sicily over the winter and will fly to the boat in two weeks, start by end of April via Sardinia, Balearic islands to south Spain and stop for next winter South Spain. "Older boats" are not bad - I can only agree to comments of others in that respect.

Good Luck