Quick review Dec08 MBY

[jfm]

[ QUOTE ]
Yes, I was in the shed with the big roller door - very impressive.

I didn't think to take a pic, as I assumed you had some. Will probably be back down next week so will take the camera again

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Ooh, thanks. I wont be there for a few weeks! Got a bloke trying to buy my old boat right now, and he's serious, so I'm putting some effort into that. He/the deal are in France.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I've never liked any Aicon I've seen and this 58 is no exception. For starters it's not actually 58ft long and it's quite narrow beamed. The flybridge is pathetically small compared to your Sq58, for example, and the overall design is very uninspiring, even ugly. That string netting on the fly helm in place of some proper storage space would be a deal breaker for me on it's own. Sealine ca 1985

 

[jfm]

You are 100% right Deleted User! I'd rather put a million quid in an Icelandic bank that buy one of those heaps of crap. But MBY praise it...! Aicon have several fans incl PY on here but I think they're much over rated. I mean in terms of their ability to design shapes and use space, not how well they're srewed together.

 

[PowerYachtBlog]

nah JFM I am not a fan of Aicon, I am being honest here, but they do make some well built boats and the 64 Fly is one of them, an Italian chap who visits the forum who has one praises her a lot compared to his previously owned T60

I have also a Hungarian friend who has a Sealine T50, but his cruising friend has an Aicon 52 which he bought used, and I say his words, he says that the Sealine is rubbish compared to the Aicon, and he still feels sorry for not buying a 56

now I agree on the seating of the 58 and coming from the experience of the 56 they could have made a much better boat, but the good thing of Aicon compared to some other builders is that they listen and improve, and that can make a whole lot of difference in your puchase
one has also to see what hull number was the Aicon 58 visited in Cannes, and what changes they have in plan for the model, still all this comes disappointingly as it is in the end an improve 56 model, and that should have been a much better boat, then if you dont like it as Deleted User you can as well skip it all togather

 

[jfm]

yup, Massiweb has a 64 iirc, which is a much better boat than the 50-somethings

Yes i agree all that. It's a shame they couldn't go forwards from the 56 not backwards. There are 2x 56 on my quay in Antibes and they are ok but not great boats, imho. They charter well. Rod Sewart, Penny Lancaster and the baby took one of them last year.

Cannes was hull 2 and jounalists have been shown hull 1. Ok, nice to hear they will make changes, but the screw ups are too fundamental to be fixed by tweak changes. They should really buy a 3D design computer (which they seem not to have, or no-one to drive it) and do a whole redesign of everything except the hull and external mouldings. They should redo all the internal mouldings and internal layouts, starting from scratch. We could help them on this forum Then they'll be ok.

The T50, by today'standards, is junk, as is the T60. The T50 has been improved because finally Sealine engineers read the instructions that came with the radar arch and realised it was fitted back to front on the first 20 or so boats. Phew, wondered when they'd spot that. I even told them at boat shows but they said "no sir we're definitely fitting it the right way round". But anyway they are still badly designed boats by 2005/2008 standards imho.

 

[PowerYachtBlog]

spot on JFM
I think the problem of Aicon and not only but most commercially renowned builders, is that the interest of presenting a new model to the public is more important then thinking in the box, and improving what you have a lot
this is a shame in many cases as sometimes a good model can really make a builder go from bottom to top and vice versa if it is not good
the 56 proved a big seller for Aicon with 130 plus sold, and that is an amazing number for a yard which 8 years ago was unheard off, ok most of these where sold due to the extra head and 100.000 EUROS cheaper listing to an Azimut 55 but still credit to them and well done
but I think such a succesful model replacement deserved more thinking then that

 

[tico]

" The T50 has been improved because finally Sealine engineers read the instructions that came with the radar arch and realised it was fitted back to front on the first 20 or so boats. Phew, wondered when they'd spot that. I even told them at boat shows but they said "no sir we're definitely fitting it the right way round". "

Brilliant....
/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[jfm]

Quote "I think such a succesful model replacement deserved more thinking then that "

Yes, exactly. It's a shame, becuase it is an important size category (130 Aic56, 300 Azi 55, 207 Sq58, and so on, at about £1m each in 2009 pricing). So they're missing an opportunity.