Sunseeker or Princess

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simonjames

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After 12 years of sailing we have decided to buy a motorboat. The dilemma I'm having at the moment is I've narrowed it down to a short list of 2 a Sunseeker Portofino 46 or a Princess V50. We keep our boat in the med near Barcelona and regularly sail to the Balearics (a trip of 13 hours plus) with a mobo we could cut that time to around 5 hours therefore having greater access to the islands.
I am wanting advice on the pros and cons of both boats as they both seem pretty good value, I have a budget of around 190K and was wondering what price range I should be looking at ie how much is classed as an acceptable bid on a used mobo.
One more thing we would be wanting a Williams jet rib and wondered what kind of difference the weight would make to the performance and balance of each boat
Thanks in anticipation
Simon
 
It's all down to personal choice, and both are very nice boats, but here are some factors to throw into the melting pot. I'm not answering your pricing question because my finger is a long way from the pulse on pricing of these boats; others will know better

1. Up/down platforms are very nice in the med. If you really like them then the p46 creeps ahead. BUT it has a weird slide up down mechanism, which pretty much no-one uses these days including sunseeker, and this leads me to suspect the mechanism was poor. Be very careful to check the thing works and has a trouble free history, else walk away before you get some big bills and spoiled holidays

2. Sunseeker helms are atrocious and the p46 is a prime example. There is only one chair so you are billy no mates, and on passage or at night you cannot have a helmsman and a screensman (or woman). You'll miss that. Furthermore the postion of the screens is just awful, ergonomically. The v50 dash is 100x better than p46

3. Both boats have a lower saloon which you'll possibly never use in the med. Reflect on whether you want this

4. The weight of the Williams will be fine on both boats. It's a whole nuther subject so I wont go there, but you are sure you want a jet boat at all?

Bon shopping
 
Older V50 at your budget is a real nice boat, I guess your looking for three cabins, the sunseeker has two.

Also consider a Fairline targa 52 early version with canvas top as per the V50.

princess and targa have ever reliable Volvo D12 motors , the sunseeker may have the Volvo Tamd 75 or cats.

Look out for sun damage on the gelcoat, if buying out there you know the pitfalls from owning a boat there so no need to tell you much about what to look for.

Your buying a good lump or lumps of machinery so get them checked out by a pro company and sea trial it hard.

The gensets important too as you will need it to work properly to enjoy its capacity, gensets out there clock up thousands of hours and are very temperamental and costly to repair, even to the point they need replacing .

Plenty of boats out there, I'm told Italy is very cheap at the moment but paperwork a nightmare.

Enjoy the search and keep us posted.
 
Princess V50 for me as the extra length will make for a more comfortable ride on those open sea passages to the Balearics. Personally I'd be looking also at the Pershing 46/50 as well
 
volvopaul said:
Older V50 at your budget is a real nice boat, I guess your looking for three cabins, the sunseeker has two.

Also consider a Fairline targa 52 early version with canvas top as per the V50.
.
Click to expand...

V50 is only two cabins. V55 was the tri cabin boat from the early 2000s

Good shout on the T52, early ones are around £150k now at the bottom end
 
jimmy_the_builder said:
This month's used boat feature in MBY is the Targa 52.

Back to the OP, personally, I'm not keen on the passerelle/garage arrangement on the V50.
Click to expand...

I think you extend passerelle right out of its box then you rotate/slew it to put the tender into the garage, right? My pv neighbour with the silver pershing 64 has exactly the same and it seems to work sort of ok, if a bit fiddly and precision-ish.
pershing-64-rear.jpg


On v50 the passerelle is weird in that you walk along it till you reach the boat then think "what now" because it doesn't really flow onto the aft deck. I guess you could live with that
 
Out of your choice I would definitely go for a Princess V50 then a Sunseeker 46 Portofino.

The 46 Portofino is a nice to look at boat, other then that its hull under performs a lot and is worth next to nothing with Volvos 480hp. She is in poor words a fuel hog for the engines it carries.
If you like the 46 Portofino so much try to look at the latest ones with D9s 575hp engines, its still not good but is better then the Tamd 75 480 Volvos.
It has a good feature for you if you want to stow a jet rib and that is the up and down bathing platform, which makes lifting and launching very easy.

The suggested Pershing 46 is still not a perfect. The 46 is an extended Pershing 43 and because of the hull extension has the CoG moved more forward.
You have also to think in the P46 about the Man 800hp engines, which equals more diesel and expensive parts to the above Volvo powered engines.
Still if you find one at your budget you are getting a lot more for the buck then both the Princess V50 and more to the Sunseeker 46 Portofino at that price.
I have sold a dozen of Pershings (just one a couple months ago), and I never had any gel coat problems with them.

The Pershing 50 on the other side is a great boat and is much better to the 46. I highlight Much again. Problem is finding one at 200k.
She is one of the best in its size and is a simple reason why even without a super size midships or owners cabin is still in production after 11 years. albeit a hard top looks modification a couple years ago.
If you are not keen on speed look for the shaft version, still good for around 35 knots.
On both Pershing's the tender stays on the bathing platform.

Fairline 52 Targa is a great boat, nice hull, well size garage for a jet rib. In its size she is one of the best values for money around.
Another boat you can look for great value would be the Cranchi 47 or 50 Mediterranee. Both boats have a very good hull, and are well built.
I am not sure a jet rib will stay on the 47 Med possible for the small Williams, but I think it is the same with the Princess V50.
 
I was going to say Fairline Targa 52 as well but that Azimut is a total bargain - whats wrong with it?
back to the Targa 52 - the tender garage has very good access and really easy to get the dinghy/rib in and out without faffing about with a passarelle and tie down straps. 3 good bedrooms etc. A few about asking £160K. Be very cheeky with any offer. If the seller isn't offended at your first offer you have gone too high.
 
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If you are used to sailing, the cost differential between 13hrs wind driven cruising & 5 hrs at 22kts :eek: could be surprising - but there are others who could quantify it better than I. Might you need some of your capital for future fuel costs ? Apologies if teaching granny etc etc
Happy boat hunting, and don't forget to post pics
G
 
jfm said:
I think you extend passerelle right out of its box then you rotate/slew it to put the tender into the garage, right?
Click to expand...

I think the difference with the V50 is that to get the passerelle out you have to open the garage, which just seemed like quite a faff, and also (if I understood the demo correctly) meant that you couldn't fully stow the passerelle away when leaving the boat.
 
simonjames said:
After 12 years of sailing we have decided to buy a motorboat. The dilemma I'm having at the moment is I've narrowed it down to a short list of 2 a Sunseeker Portofino 46 or a Princess V50. We keep our boat in the med near Barcelona and regularly sail to the Balearics (a trip of 13 hours plus) with a mobo we could cut that time to around 5 hours therefore having greater access to the islands.
I am wanting advice on the pros and cons of both boats as they both seem pretty good value, I have a budget of around 190K and was wondering what price range I should be looking at ie how much is classed as an acceptable bid on a used mobo.
One more thing we would be wanting a Williams jet rib and wondered what kind of difference the weight would make to the performance and balance of each boat
Thanks in anticipation
Simon
Click to expand...

I owned a Fairline Targa 52 and it was an excellent boat. If you are happy with 2 cabins, I would consider the Targa 47 (cheaper mooring) and there is this one for sale in your budget http://www.essexboatyards.com/boats-for-sale/fairline-targa-47-593

A friend of mine was interested in one and chartered EBY's Targa 47 in Cala Dor for a long weekend and this helped convince his wife and they got the charter money back when they purchased one - http://www.essexboatyards.com/charter/

Targa 47s seem to sell very well and were one of Fairline's most successful models so when you decide you want a 58 footer it will be easy to move on.

-Andrew
 
jimmy_the_builder said:
I think the difference with the V50 is that to get the passerelle out you have to open the garage, which just seemed like quite a faff, and also (if I understood the demo correctly) meant that you couldn't fully stow the passerelle away when leaving the boat.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure and haven't been on one but that doesn't feel right Jimmy. There are loads of google image pics showing the v50 passerelle extended and the garage door closed. In fact, opening the garage door also seems to reveal nicely the passerelle slider mechanism, as distinct from having it inside a hard-to-access box as per my boat
 
jfm said:
I'm not sure and haven't been on one but that doesn't feel right Jimmy. There are loads of google image pics showing the v50 passerelle extended and the garage door closed. In fact, opening the garage door also seems to reveal nicely the passerelle slider mechanism, as distinct from having it inside a hard-to-access box as per my boat
Click to expand...

Well, as ever, I'm reluctant to disagree with you ... but my recollection (I've only been on one once) was that you had to open the garage door to rotate the passerelle round and out; once rotated out, it could be further extended. It needs this round-and-out functionality to act as a crane to get the dinghy up and into the garage. It isn't a letterbox-style passerelle more commonly fitted to sportcruisers now. Once the passerelle has been rotated round and out of the garage, the garage door can be closed again. The key point was that the passerelle cannot be deployed or stowed without the garage door being opened.
 
jimmy_the_builder said:
Well, as ever, I'm reluctant to disagree with you ... but my recollection (I've only been on one once) was that you had to open the garage door to rotate the passerelle round and out; once rotated out, it could be further extended. It needs this round-and-out functionality to act as a crane to get the dinghy up and into the garage. It isn't a letterbox-style passerelle more commonly fitted to sportcruisers now. Once the passerelle has been rotated round and out of the garage, the garage door can be closed again. The key point was that the passerelle cannot be deployed or stowed without the garage door being opened.
Click to expand...
Feel free to disagree because I'm going only on the pictures. I see now that you're 100% right - the picture below proves it. The passerelle does not slide in-out on a car like the Pershing one in my picture above. Rather, it rotates 180 degrees and telescopes, but nothing else, as you said. The centre of its rotation stays in one place only. Therefore, exactly as you say, to withdraw it right back into the boat you have to open the garage. I suppose that when you leave the boat on a med berth you can leave it sticking out backwards but telescoped in, which wouldn't be the end of the world. Note that where you say "It needs this" - it doesn't, as proven by Pershing; this is a crummy bit of work by Princess and it should have been done as Pershing did it. All in all, OP would be much better with a Targa52!
Glad we got to bottom of this :D :D
__595199-2_400.jpg
 
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