Sarnico Spider - your opinions and experiences?

marcochi76

marcochi76

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 Mar 2021
Messages
258
Location
Beaulieu sur Mer
Visit site
Hello,
this is my 1st post on the forum, but I am a long time reader.

I have fallen in love with the Sarnico Spider: elegant, sporty, nice quality.
After several visits and researches, I am finally settled on few selected boats: years 2008,/2009 approx 700h, very well maintained, IPS500/600.

I plan to close the deal pretty fast.
But I would love to read your opinions and experiences on this boat.

What about IPS? is this technology now mature, or still suffers of serious issues?
IPS 500 vs IPS 600: what is preferred?
your navigation experiences: consumption, sea handling, ...
any specific known issues to look after before buying?

I understand it is a sort of "niche" product: pure open, no roll-bar, no hard top; 1 real master cabin and a guest cabin with very limited height and weird access.

I also considered:
Itama 40: difficult to find in good conditions
MIG 43: maybe even more difficult to resell. interesting with Arneson surface drives

Thanks for your feedbacks!
 
Try a slightly larger Itama , 42 /48 46,
Where are you looking? Plenty about around Naples a lot restored or well maintained.

The maintenance of running MAN , or MTU is just oil + filters , without igniting a IPS doom and gloom thread ( plenty on here :) ) imho you are buying trouble and a €€€ pit with aged IPS and outdrives.Given a choice which you have avoid .

Others are Baia the b40 or newish 43 with Yanmar s + Arnesons, Magnum 40 something with Anrnesons + CAT s

We have a completely open Itama 42/48 and love it .They comfortably cruise economically high twenties at easy on the engines 1700 rpm , 2000 rpm and you move the other side of 30 knots Easy boats to live with , no high gloss woods , no carpets teak / holly cabin soles , even zero teak , huge outside space + sunpad s etc .

I was in the same position as you 5 y ago , and what swung it was the potential low maintenance going fwds + the go anywhere sea keeping which makes passage planing easy as it does not matter if the sea state picks up anymore .Intact there has been days when on a week end we are the only boat who dares to venture out if the wave are up crashing over the marina wall .
Sure it gets a little wet on our way to and from from a island nearby.We anchor in the shelter and then rtn .Remember it’s air temp 35 + degrees in the summer , and everyone on our jetty are just tied up in the marina .

I think that why they use them in Naples as taxi boats around Capri etc .......sos to get guests to connect with flights on changeover day ? They chosen the hull for commercial use as well for a reason .
B9F2A999-687B-413D-B8DE-3B566DCE75F8.jpeg
Itama 50 hull exact as one you could buy , obviously with an open top .
 
I got confirmation that 1 of the Spider I am considering has already replaces the POD's transmission with the last generation F from 2019.
that could be a good option.
I understand most of the issues with the PODS come from the first seals made of bronze and later replaced with stainless steel ones.
anybody has more info about from when the new stainless steel seals became available?
 
It’s a pity re lockdown s .Arie d Boom in La Rague have a large yard and are VP + other manufacturers service agents ,
Nice people in my experience to deal with and seek free advice.
Might be worth popping in and speaking to them .They have an engine shed / hanger which you can walk through to see for yourself and chat with the engineers.
By a process of elimination eyeballing the dismantled engines and boats in the yard with bits removed you should be able to figure out , get a handle on potential maintenance issues of all the marques going forward.

They have a shop as well for spares etc , filters belts oil so I used to call in often and also spend a week on the hard in my boat doing the annual . The vista in the engine shed has a common denominator.

The pods have a rubber skirt outside in the water , think giant bellows , I saw a lot dropped to have those replaced , not sure on the service interval by the book I asked once and they said 5 yrs .Additionally the prop shaft seals end up leaking and the gear oil emulsifies, being official authorised service centre they drop the drops and strip out all the shafts + gears , measuring the contents with micrometers and change prematurely damaged by salt water ingress bearings and obviously the main seals .

Have you found a berth , where are you gonna put it , thinking beam restriction influencing choice ??
 
Hi Porto I sold the 42 hull no.16 last December, and she was handed to her owner in January.

I know the Sarnico Spider quite well as I have one for sale (and have sold one in 2017)
The one I have for sale of which I did a consultancy job to the client after i sold him his previously Bruno Abbate Primatist G36 in 2015.
My client who ended buying the Sarnico Spider, looked at about fifteen Itama Forty.

Sarnico Spider are better finished to a Ferretti Itama Forty. When I say better fiinished I am going technical here, opening inside the hatches engine room detailing and so on.
The Itama has a better running hull, less problematic shaft drives, and a better cockpit.
Another thing to know for the Spider is that the boat runs well with the IPS even with the 500 D6 370, but that hull designed by very clever Brunello Acampora was actually designed for Tri-Max surface drives, and came from the V-drive hulled Sarnico 43 launched in 1997.

Mig sell well in South Italy area, upwards of Tuscany they have a more difficult market. They do run well possibly not as good as an Itama or a Sarnico, and or a Baia but are very close.
The finishing is good, though in the Mig you will find a more custom hand build feel to the quality of the details and finishing.
 
Hello everybody, thanks for your feedbacks.
Just to keep you updated on my research, I have also been considering the Sarnico 43, with V-drives., Cummins CE 480
It is certainly a little less "sexy" as the Spider, but I am attracted by the reliability of the V-drives.
Anything I should know on the Cummins?
Do you have any experiences with the Sarnico 43? it also comes with IPS, but I definetly prefer the V-drives version.
 
marcochi76 said:
I have also been considering the Sarnico 43, with V-drives., Cummins CE 480
Click to expand...
Chalk and cheese springs to mind.
The Spider is lovely, and if you like her better from an aesthetic viewpoint, who am I to argue?
But other than that, the 43 is a much better boat in each and every respect.
 
Cause its more a cruiser, altough inside the differences are little. Both have the wo cabins two baths, and the hidden large second cabin under the stairs.
The Spider has a nice garage for the tender, while the 43 had a smallish bathing platform only for a very small 2 meter tender IMO.
The 43 was actually born as 40 in 1998, and became as 43 in 2000,
 
marcochi76 said:
Hello MapisM, could you elaborate why the 43 is a better boat? very interested, thanks
Click to expand...
Precisely what PYB said.

On top of that - but mind, I'm going by remote memories of having seen both boats near Sarnico factory many years ago, and I'm not sure of what variants/options were available for them - the 43 had a very convenient radar arch, a better helm position, and a decent forward deck.
As opposed to the Spider, whose foredeck and its awful access made even Itamas and the likes almost acceptable, in comparison.
Besides, IIRC the Spider was only available with pods, while the 43 was designed and built for a proper powerplant+transmission.
So, aside from possibly appearing the Spider more "sexy" as you said, what's there not to like in the 43?

Actually, coming to think of it, I half recall to have seen also a 43 with pods, but I wouldn't touch one with a bargepole.
At that size, Cummins engines on shafts make for the best powerplant money can buy, so it would be crazy to go for the same boat with the very worst of both engines and transmissions (D6+IPS).
Which BTW were fitted as an afterthought for marketing reasons, adapting the IPS package to a hull designed for shafts, which is a recipe for a disaster.

Though in fairness, i never tried one, and I'm now only going by basic logic.
But if at Sarnico they were able to build a well balanced IPS powered 43, that would be nothing short of a miracle, rather than "only" an impressive and pretty unique achievement.
 
Last edited:
I agree with the points listed:
central helm position is excellent
access to forward deck is well protected (but it is possible to install rails also on the Spider)
I have to make my wife accept the blue color of the laquered wood in the cabin...
 
just for info, I have also been looking at the Raffaelli Shamal, the only 40feet open with shaft drive.
It is not in the same category as the Sarnico, but to me it appears a valuable option.
Do you know the Shamal?
 
marcochi76 said:
I have to make my wife accept the blue color of the laquered wood in the cabin...
Click to expand...
Not sure of how sensitive to brands and fashion your wife is, but you might try explaining her that it's an interior style whose roots go back to some of the classic Rivas. Which is where, in fact, several folks who established and developed Sarnico came from.

Ref. the Shamal, of course I know her.
Among the many Italian builders wiped out by the global financial meltdown, Raffaelli is one of those with a pretty solid heritage and reputation.
All their boats were a bit narrow for any given length, and finishing isn't in the same league as Sarnico.
But they were solid where it matters, and well screwed together.
In fact, they were among the first to design their whole range (Shamal included, believe it or not) for CE-A certification.
Which is a bit of a joke, mind: don't even dare thinking that you can bash 4m+ waves with a Shamal (or any other planing boat, for that matter - regardless of whether built by Raffaelli or by Jesus Christ in person, with his own hands) and come back home with your own and also the boat's back still in one piece. But it's still an indicator that the boat ain't built as a yogurt pot and is unlikely to capsize is a bit of breeze, if nothing else... ?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top