Sunseeker Portofino 2004 v Fairline Targa 52 2005

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stelican

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Posting for a friend who is not a forum member has owned 3 boats in the past
He is considering both boats will be mooring S France. Wifey would like him to buy a Sunseeker.
#Pros and cons would be appreciated both boats have hard tops Sunseeker has MAN 730s Targa has D12 710 both have full Med spec's
Thank you
Portofino is the 53 model
 
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It's a pretty tight choice. T52 has both the heads next to the master cabin, so you get to hear your guests dropping the kids off at the pool :D; SS has them at oppo ends of the boat. T52 has two twin mid cabins; SS mostly has one cabin with bunks (although I was on one once that had pullman bunks in the mid cabins, so could accommodate an unreasonable number of children). I think the saloon arrangement on the T52 is comfier than the SS. Upstairs, the SS has the sliding roof arrangement that covers either the cockpit or the sunpad; you get more air movement round the cockpit on the SS than the T52. SS has the foldaway cockpit table.

They are both pretty good boats; it boils down to personal preference when you get on board. Some of the SSs were made with the walnut interior, which looks really smart against the cherry of the T52 (it would be unlikely that a 2005 T52 had the light oak interior).
 
stelican said:
Posting for a friend who is not a forum member has owned 3 boats in the past
He is considering both boats will be mooring S France. Wifey would like him to buy a Sunseeker.
#Pros and cons would be appreciated both boats have hard tops Sunseeker has MAN 730s Targa has D12 710 both have full Med spec's
Thank you
Portofino is the 53 model
Click to expand...

Buy the Fairline and change the wife :).
 
jimmy_the_builder said:
It's a pretty tight choice. T52 has both the heads next to the master cabin, so you get to hear your guests dropping the kids off at the pool :D; SS has them at oppo ends of the boat. T52 has two twin mid cabins; SS mostly has one cabin with bunks (although I was on one once that had pullman bunks in the mid cabins, so could accommodate an unreasonable number of children). I think the saloon arrangement on the T52 is comfier than the SS. Upstairs, the SS has the sliding roof arrangement that covers either the cockpit or the sunpad; you get more air movement round the cockpit on the SS than the T52. SS has the foldaway cockpit table.

They are both pretty good boats; it boils down to personal preference when you get on board. Some of the SSs were made with the walnut interior, which looks really smart against the cherry of the T52 (it would be unlikely that a 2005 T52 had the light oak interior).
Click to expand...

One more thing that I remember from the Sunseeker - the rails don't run far enough back towards the the stern, so you're very exposed when moving from the cockpit to the side decks. T52 is much better in this respect.
 
stelican said:
Thank you very much for your input. I do remember that the std rails on the T52 are also somewhat short aft
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Hmm, I'm not sure I agree. I've only been on maybe three or four T52s, but I do remember the rails coming back far enough to allow safe manoeuvring from the cockpit to the side decks, and on the Portofino I noticed that this was a lot more exposed. The T52 did have a few significant revisions through its production life though, so maybe this was different with the early ones, I don't know for sure. (Petem, got anything to add on this?)
 
jimmy_the_builder said:
Hmm, I'm not sure I agree. I've only been on maybe three or four T52s, but I do remember the rails coming back far enough to allow safe manoeuvring from the cockpit to the side decks, and on the Portofino I noticed that this was a lot more exposed. The T52 did have a few significant revisions through its production life though, so maybe this was different with the early ones, I don't know for sure. (Petem, got anything to add on this?)
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Looking at the web, it does appear that some (early) T52's have an extra rail aft.

See:

maxresdefault.jpg


Later ones don't seem to have this extra rail. I guess it also depends if you're happy to swing round and climb over the sunpad or if you want to go down the step to the bathing platform.

fairline-targa-52-54398020121355554857545353574568x.jpg


Pete
 
Forget all the rail stuff -ask your mate to get his hands dirty so to speak and get a MAN engineer to look at the engines
If this is the boat ?
See the engine pic the paint on the intercoolers looks over heated and pic shows evidence of over spray ( nowt really wrong with that but send s alarm bells ringing LOUDER ).
Back to excessive EGT -it's been thrashed ,So really need to go through SH with somebody like these locally ( http://www.yacht-engine-service.com/pages/index-english.php ) who will hook it up to lap top and examine them in more detail
http://www.yachtworld.co.uk/boats/2004/Sunseeker-Portofino-53-2772616/France#.V0-PMGt5mK3

How ever it looks a great spec and has been nicely refurbed -don,t know about black painted hull + Med = bad combo?

He,s a pic of one of my intercoolers check out the unburnt paint
null_zpsaa6a2a90.jpg


Knocking ball park 8 knots off WOT -31 becomes 23 knots Real World Cruise ----it's been thrashed ,overloaded quite possible ? Sunseeker quickly did a MAN 800 upgrade ,so very few 730's
If I was your mate -right boat ,wrong engines -unless he,s happy @ 22-23 knots in the SoF -bit slug like -
" mouse over " this one :) find /pay more for a 800 hp version
AI MHO
 
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The Fairline 52 Targa is a better sea boat then a 53 Portofino. Sunseeker has a bit more glitter and looks smarter to what regards finishing.
The hard-top of the Sunseeker 53 Portofino is much nicer especially the Mark.II version as updated in 2006.

Sunseeker is a bigger boat (58 feet overall), the Fairline is just 52 feet. 53 Portofino Mark 1 version with hard-top that moves forward and aft, and is square depreciate more.
Also as pointed out the Man R6 730hp is just a about right for 30/31 knots for that boat, so I would prefer it if with Man 800hp.

Fairline had finishing improvements in 2004 (see railing above) and again in 2008 for the cockpit galley layout. Fairline runs well with the D12s about 35 knots wot if I remember well.

Don't know your budget but I would squeeze a Pershing 50 with shafts in this lot. A better boat then both the above.
 
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As the owner of a 2005 Portofino 53 (open rather than hardtop version), I can both agree and disagree with the comments above.

JTB and others are correct that the s/s rails on the Portofino 53 finish well short of the steps from the bathing platform (and even short of the radar arch) and this can make you feel a bit vulnerable when moving about. The grab rails on the radar arch mean its not a problem at anchor or in good conditions, but its not great in a swell or when moving quickly. For us its a minor irritation and certainly wouldn't/didn't put us off.

I'm not sure about the T52 being a "better sea boat". We've been caught in some fairly horrendous conditions cruising down the west side of Corsica and crossing the Golfe du Lion on the way to the Balearics and never felt remotely worried or concerned that the boat couldn't handle it.

The accommodation on the Portofino 53 is fine for four adults, but a bit cramped for six for anything other than a few nights. The master is reasonably generous and the beds in the other two cabins are all the same size (75cm x 190cm), but the third cabin usually has a "Pullman" layout (not bunks) with beds at 90 degrees to each other. We've found this OK for young kids/teenagers, but not great for adults. Having one bathroom at the front and one at the rear works very well and IMHO is much better than the T52 layout. The saloon is OK for breakfast and for occasional sheltering from the rain/heat, but its not a flybridge so if you buy a boat like this you really need to be committed to being outside most of the time.

The comments about the choice and condition of the MAN engines are a relevant consideration. Most Portofino 53s were supplied with Volvo D12s of varying horsepower, so the MANs are something of an oddity, particularly on an early boat. The sales/service network for Volvo in the SoF is generally better (and cheaper). We have the D12-715 variant and at WOT with a clean bottom and full load get 33-34 knots. We can cruise quite happily at 24-25 knots at 1800-2000 rpm for most of the season and range at this speed is about 280-300 miles (but can be increased significantly by dropping to 18-20 knots).

The Mk1 version of the Portofino 53 was one of the early hardtop sports cruisers and the design is not without its problems. The roof section is large, solid and heavy, the mechanism to move it back and forth is fairly complex and most of the weight is taken at the base of the radar arch. I've heard some stories about stress cracking problems with the mountings and expensive repairs if the mechanism has not been looked after properly. The Mk2 available from 2007/08 onwards was identical in most respects to the Mk1 but has a totally different roof system - the panel is much lighter and its supported on rails which distribute the weight better - and it also looks much better.

We looked at several versions of the hardtop and sea trialled a few (both Mk1 and Mk2), but always found the helm/cockpit area to be too hot in the summer and so opted for the open version. It doesn't make sense to me to need to run air-conditioning to cool an "outside" space on what is really meant to be a large day boat. Even when underway with the roof open we found the hardtop versions to be hot. IMHO this is a general problem with hard-top sports cruisers in the med - fantastic for all weather versatility in the UK, etc. but less so for sitting in +35 degrees all day.

When we were shopping around, several of the boats we looked at had quite significant cracks in the gel coat on the foredeck. These boats typically have a hard life and take lots of abuse without much maintenance and the gel coat/grp/balsa core structure of the relatively large, flat foredeck doesn't seem to respond well to the treatment handed out by boisterous kids etc.. As the surface is non-slip, its very difficult to make invisible repairs.

Depending upon where you decide to keep the boat, service and support may be a consideration. My experience of Sunseeker support in the SoF has been superb and their network throughout the Med also seems considerably more extensive and responsive that that of the other builders.

We looked at the Sunseeker, Princess and Fairline equivalents in the 50-60ft range and opted for the Portofino 53 because of the combination of looks and practicality. It is surprisingly beamy and spacious inside but still manages to look like a big sports boat (much more so than some of the others, which to us looked a bit agricultural). Its perfect as a day boat, but can still work for a 10-14 day cruising holiday when you need it to.

We've owned our Portofino 53 for almost four years now and apart from the usual wear and tear and problems with a +10 year old boat have no complaints at all. We've toyed with the idea of changing a couple of times, but cant find anything that looks as good, performs as well or is as little trouble to look after.
 
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