Peak Motor Boating?

[kashurst]

Just been watching a few youtube MBY videos covering the Princess 45 and Sealine F450.
As ever the Princess is impeccably finished in every detail. Even the Sealine looked pretty good.(apart from the awful flybridge ladder)
But apart from the IPS drive system is there really anything new on the current generation of designs? Hull design seems to be favouring shallow V angles and broad entry to get high speed/good MPG, but at the cost of ride quality/sea keeping.
Mid cabins have been around for quite a while as have big windows in the sides. Seems to me designers are just re-arranging the furniture. Did Mobo design/quality peak with boats like the Princess 42/Fairline Phantom 43? (insert bigger boats of your preference)
Prices of new boats seem extortionate compared to 10 years ago - far more than inflation and what extra would a buyer be getting in reality? Why would someone buy a brand new boat apart from the warranty?

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Yes agree with that 100%. New boats are pretty much the same as old boats with, as you say, the furniture rearranged, some features removed, some corners cut and sometimes even smaller engines (in capacity not necessarily power). And for that you pay 4 times as much as for a 10yr old boat. As you say the greatest 'innovation' (if thats the right word) of the last 10yrs is squeezing midships master cabins into ever smaller boats but at the expense of an ever shallower hull angle and the boat being as high as an apartment block.

IMHO there just isnt enough profit in the boatbuilding industry to fund some proper R&D to bring in some real innovations into the industry and by real innovations I mean new types of significantly more efficient power trains and lighter weight construction materials

 

[jrudge]

The current must have seems to be bow seating.

The previous have been mid cabin as you say, Hi Low platforms, LED lighting ( boring I know but the batteries last longer) and stabilisation.

The fit and finish is generally more imaginative if not better quality per se. Some have second staircases etc and IPS has allowed the accommodation to get bigger. The most dramatic one I saw of this was a Pearl 65 with triple IPS ( I would not touch it with a barge pole) but the space was amazing.

They are never insulated so need a lot of heat in winter and cooling in winter. But who cares when the boat burns 300 kph and the generator 4 lph .... so energy use is relative and no one really has an incentive to economise, and insulation I suppose would carry a weight / internal space penalty ( I am building a house at present and I loose 10cm of each wall which net is a lot of space for insulation).

I am not well enough versed in hull design, but as Mike F says they are now getting very tall.

Vacuum bagging made them lighter ( I gather) but the flip side is a nice heavy boat takes the sea better.

Until there is a weight revolution I cant see efficiency getting much better. More weight = bigger engines = more fuel and the amount you have to shed to change that equation is I suspect significant.

 

[Portofino]

I am not a particular fan of the big glass being Med based and big fan of build , touch feel , looks right ,goes right and major on the behind scenes engineering .
The “ why buy new “ is a compelling Q indeed .
Henry,s put up a lovely Boot thread with his own and further invites for critical analysis of today’s mid 50 and mid 60 ftrs .

Here’s a couple of variants of a old school 62 FB
Ones a later shaper with a fold down swim platform ( full WL for Deleted User ) lowish hrs for 1/2 M so about 1/4 of a new Priny 64 , SS 66 or FL 64 ? Ish
https://www.theyachtmarket.com/boats_for_sale/1436731/

And this is old shaper with high hrs for a song .Obviously with the 4 K + hrs you need a full engine survey and a substantial war chest for repairs , but if it use is gonna be bay hoping / floating condo , then fine .

https://www.yachtworld.co.uk/boats/...ource=browse listing&refSource=browse listing

I picked theses two cos of the pics , have a flick around- you can change the floor coverings etc to wood if you want below and the change the bedding / curtains etc ,

I,ad rarther sit , sunbath , helm , eat on one of theses timeless beauty’s than blow £2M + on a new piece of plastic fantastic only to find in a few months there’s a better modal and in a few years I’ve done my brains in with depreciation.

The rest of the capital “ saved “ apart from a bit of do er up cash and war chest for the big hrs Vs invest in something else .
I,ll repeat that word INVEST not fritter ,

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

. Some have second staircases etc and IPS has allowed the accommodation to get bigger.

I dont buy that one. I dont see that IPS offers any more accommodation space that engines driving forwards through V drive gearboxes can offer, especially some later IPS installations which place the engines further forward and connect to the IPS drives via long jack shafts. I suspect that the real advantage of IPS is for the builders. The installation costs are cheaper and it gives the builder another feature to sell to punters in the shape of the joystick. And its not even as if IPS offers any general fuel consumption advantages. If you believe the tests in the mags, they dont seem to give any fuel consumption advantages especially for flybridge boats

 

[Portofino]

I think below 50 ft at the 45ftr level the OP refers to IPS certainly works in the way Jrudges implies,- space gain for the mid cabin and hull glazing modern look .
Certainly must be very cost effective to fit a D6 as opposed to a D12 or MAN R 6 on straight shafts .
Agree new younger I phone generation of new entries to mobo ing may expect nothing less than a joystick.
And that ever spreading epidemic of “ docking anxiety “ = no problem flogging IPS .

Docking anxiety is a modern young persons issue , they will want an app to dock from there phones next with gps mapping and 360 cameras + full engine instrumentation.
Helms will be just a WiFi box .

The SL 62 above has a midcabin + bathroom with seperate dressing room .
But stuff of similar L like some Prestige , Absolutes Cranchi etc have an even bigger and fully glazed midcabin and IPS .

Personally I think on a boating hol particularly in the Med the bedrooms are the places you spend the least time .
Cockpit , FB , other outside spaces are far more important imho so i don,t t buy into any of the sales benefits BS of IPS .
But accept there’s plenty who get hooked .

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Here’s a couple of variants of a old school 62 FB
Ones a later shaper with a fold down swim platform ( full WL for Deleted User ) lowish hrs for 1/2 M so about 1/4 of a new Priny 64 , SS 66 or FL 64 ? Ish
https://www.theyachtmarket.com/boats_for_sale/1436731/

Actually I was quite close to buying a SL62 Mk2 like that instead of my current Ferretti 630 because there was one for sale alongside the 630 in the same yard at SL. The first thing that attracted me was the fact that it was built like a brick outhouse as were all SLs of that era and the second thing that attracted me was that is was just enormous for a 62 footer. Apart from 3 very nice cabins and crew cabin it even had space for a utility/storage space under the galley which would have meant you could have stored enough booze on the boat without going shopping for a couple of years. It also had a very nice lower helm which was almost a proper little pilot house. What it didnt have though was internal flybridge stairs, the flybridge was quite small and the fold down bathing platform was downright weird. Also the SWMBO preferred the aft galley of the 630 and the bigger saloon windows. It was also a few quid more than the 630 so we went for the 630. I dont regret it because the 630 has proved to be an excellent boat but part of me still hankers after that SL62. In fact so much so that one of my ideas for my next boat is to buy a used SL72 and do it up. I will still have to persuade the SWMBO about the galley and windows though