Riva Portofino Motor Cruiser

[sgball]

Going to have a look at a 15 metre 1978 Riva Portofino next week. Fitted with 2 x 420 hp Lister diesel engines (less than a 1000 hours use). Recently fitted out for liveaboard, it even has a washing machine & tumble dryer in the engine room. Is there anything particular we should be looking at/for? If any of you have any useful comments good or bad I would be pleased to hear from you.

Also what sort of price would you expect to pay? I think its going to cheap!

Many thanks

Trudie

 

[longjohnsilver]

Sorry, don't know anything about the boat but certainly sounds interesting, let us know what you find.

PaulineB has a Riva so may be worth a PM.

 

[coliholic]

No don't ask pauline, she'll want to know the make of the washing machine and tumbledryer. So she can get her stockings nice and wrinkle free.

 

[paulineb]

what's a washing machine ?

Pxx

 

[Chris_d]

Do you know anything about the Riva then?
My fair lady knows nothing about boats but at least understands the washing machine, they aren't designed with male operators in mind anyway!

 

[paulineb]

I only know about my boat, which is a SuperAmerica. Mr B probably knows about the Portofino, I'll ask him tonight after he's finished cooking

Pxx

 

[miket]

Sorry don't think I can help.

Heard of Sunseeker Portofina.

And various Rivas around 50 feet and that year, Supramerica I think was one. These had Cummins V8 engines around that size. Despite her primary interest in washing machines PaulineB owns one of these.

As for price? The Superamericas of that era are around £100-£120 k asking, I believe.
In their day were considered highly desirable.

 

[tr7v8]

Didnt think Lister did a diesel of this sort, I've always known them for big slow revving diesels in Narrowboats etc. I could of course be wrong!

Jim
-------

 

[paulineb]

and they still are !

Pxx

 

[mainshiptom]

I do not know the boat but, Buying a 20 -25 years old boat I would look for :

* Things you would have to replace . This would inclued hatches, electrics,electronics,pumps,jhoses,battries and all mounts up.

* Water leaks , My boat has a flybridge and someone had it removed to transport it to Greece but when it was put back on they just put the screws back in . (no sealer) so the first rain in the boat was very amusing but I wan not laughing !

It was wasy to put right but I some boats have a grp foam sandwich roof and that could be a nightmare if water get in.

Otherwise good luck

And I forgot loads of spare time

Tom

 

[sgball]

Pauline has Mr B finished cooking yet! I really would like to know what he thinks.

I can rent the Crew cabin out to a hard up student to operate the washing machine for me, but where's the dishwasher going go?

I'm a bit concerned about Jim's comments about Lister diesel engines, I would like to know more.

Miket - thats the price I would have expected would you be suspicious if it was less than half that.

Thanks for the comments so far keep them coming - flying out Saturday morning.

Trudie

 

[longjohnsilver]

Aha so the boat's abroad somewhere. Is it VAT paid, also check carefully on ownership, a few potential horror stories on here. Also even more important to get a good survey.

Where is it and do you intend to bring it back to the UK? Still sounds interesting.

 

[paulineb]

Sorry Trudie, had better plans for Mr B after dinner - and now he's fast asleep with a smile on his face

Pxx

 

[sgball]

Whats VAT - thought you only paid that if you got caught (joking), I will look into that. I will check all papers carefully. The boat had a full insurance survey 2 years ago. After reading another thread about surveys I'm not sure if there worth the paper there written on!. If we like what we see we will probably have a quick dive to do a visual inspection. Will then probably need advice on what surveyor to use.

It's in the Med and although I would like to stay there HWMBO will insist on coming back to Brighton. I worked it out if we stopped at every port on the way back that could take at least a year (wishfull thinking)

Pauline what have you done to MrB? why has he got a smile on his face?

 

[coliholic]

Sounds like you're a real beginner if you don't know what puts a smile on Mr B's face. Just in case you need to know, it's called Pauline.

 

[miket]

No free lunch!!

If it is half the current market value it may be a bargain, but more likely to be a good reason.

I question the Lister engines.
The only ones I know of that would be big enough to move a 50 footer would be the Lister Blackstones (c. 1960's about 100 hp) which were 2 stroke engines and could be heard a couple of miles away.

Re VAT; if it was built 1978 I believe it is exempt from having to prove VAT has been paid, but ring local C&E to confirm.

Be very careful about ownership, especially if boat seems a bargain. Bargains do happen but not often!!

 

[MadameMitsouko]

Hello, i picked up on this thread by accident as we were offered the same boat, are you dealing with the owner or is it through an agent? How much are you being asked for ?

 

[sgball]

We're dealing direct with the owner I think, his name is Dave - he lived on the boat with his family. Not saying at the moment how much it is, PM me if you was dealing with Dave.

Trudie

 

[MadameMitsouko]

Thats fine I think the owner is called Dave and he wants about €55000 as he has advertised it on angloinfo.com in the forums under yachts and yachting. I was mostly curious and trying to put you in direct contact for mutual benefit if an agent was making a big cut. Happy sailing !