Sunseeker -vs Mangusta

[DERF]

Went to Genoa to look at the Gusta 72(my retirement pressie), and whilst looking at Sunseeker was told of the " new Pred 72 which would be fab...Be at the LIBS..

So went to see it...

Boat only just made it to LIBS

The show boat!

No access to crew qtrs... door jammed shut
No access to garage.. door inoperative
Garage can only hold 320 rib.. not good for 72' boat
Sunroof inoperative

Deck head installed 3" too low, so my head just touched it...6'3"
Laughably small galley .. smaller than T52
Joins in the cabinetry don't align properly

Shower doors.. erm flimsy plastic curtain type .... no runners so flap about
Hardly get into Master suite heads, toilet bowl in the way
Fall over toilet bowl trying to reach the sink
Cheap 15" Sharpe Tvs in cabins and salon

Now of course this doesn't compare to the fit or finish and overall quality of a Gusta... but here's the rub

Pred 72 circa $2,300,000

Gusta 72 circa $4,500,000

Can't compare apples and Pears!


also what is interesting is the number of 68'+ S/S on the international second hand market (second user.. for you PC types) and how many Gusta's..

I think I know why.

 

[NorthernWave]

I bet you'd have plenty of problems with the Mangusta, perticularly the electrics. Having worked on a few italian boats now I would honestly say I would NOT buy one. I have to admit the Mangusta has an appeal but I'm also patriotic so would probably buy british, and maybe another toy with the change.

Chris

 

[jfm]

Strong vote for the pred 72!

The Gusta 72 is beautiful. But millions more expensive! I thought the Pred72 was superb - this size boat is really sunseeker's sweet spot imho.

I went on the pred72 yesterday at LIBS. The crew door was deliberately closed, it wasn't an equipment failure. The massive sunroof worked - I closed and opened it the full travel myself. The garage door was open and had a jetski inside it. Though, you pick an interesting subject there - for all the engineering beauty of the Rodriguez boats their hydraulic doors and flaps are a bodged diy mess - tcm's passerelle flap has failed repeatedly and his door hydraulics hum. Door hydraulics on freaxmple Fairline Sq74's are streets ahead of Rodriguez - a grp internal mould so the door has gelcoat both sides (instead of bare CSM on Rodriguez) and much better engineered hydraulics and crank/link arms.

I didn't spot the 6'3" headroom (but then I'm 5.11!). I thought the galley was ok for a sportscruiser - there was an optical illusion in that the fridge and freezer were aft of the main galley so it was a bit bigger than just the counter top area that you would see initially.

As for the rest you are complaining about customer specs not intrinsic build quality. The conflict between the bathroom basins and the loo occured because the customer of that boat wanted 2 basins not one. If you spec just one basin there is loads of room. I thought the bathrooms were fab by the way. Also the sharp TVs are fully exchangeable, they will fit Sony or whatever you ask for. The customer for this boat oredered the base spec ie Sharp

I didn't much like the silver finish, it looked too grey to me, but again the customer chose it

There is perhaps an issue that sunseeker dont advise their customers well enough on these choices? Rodriguez would recommend very strongly indeed that monsieur does not order that item/colour

 

[DERF]

There is indeed a very strong argument to buy the Pred 72 and as you point out, pocket the change and do something else with it..

I don't disagree with JFM that the Pred 72 is certainly S/S best effort yet and am struggling with the concept of paying the extra $ for italian chic. However the extra cost cannot not purely be cosmetic.

I saw the Pred on preview day and the niggly issues may have been fixed by the time JFM was on board... nevertheless, IMHO the quality of some of the fixtures for a boat costing 7 figures would never be acepted by our European bretheren...S/S could have and indeed should have seen to it before the boat's world debut!

They are competing in a market where comparisons of similar sized boats is inevitable....and the individuals who will spend, demand a certain minimum standard...sloppy is not where its at, at this end of the market.

Is the Pred as good as the Gusta? Is the Gusta better than the Pred?.. As I said it's comparing apples and pears.

 

[tcm]

Leopard v mangusta confusion

cantieri naval arno make leopard, and a 23 is yours for about £1.6m - loads cheaper than the mangusta, made by Overmarine. True, both are marketed by rodriguez who have sales exclusivity for the next 10 years or so, and of course they are keen to have both these brand sprinkled by similar rodriguez magic dust. The mang is the more expenisive tho, and even cursory look at the guardrails shows all somewot more exp items items than leopard. Enghine wise, the mang does 40 knots with jets (dunno wot sort tho), the leopard 23 (=75 feet) can just crack 30.

Anyway, my passarelle flap failed cos a) the twat skipper reveresed into a concrete pontton with passarelle out and hoped i wdn't say anything and b) turning the key round and round busts the contacts on the control box. and then c) the pasarelle contact was disabled, so the flap got smashed. BUT all pretty much fixed now. Agreed this bit could be more lovely tho, yer moany git.

Early mangusta 72 had arnesons and no bowthruster eek.

Also, the pred is a boat for people who go out on their own, mostly. Whereas the mangusta is for continental types who take luxury v seriously, crew onboard for weeks (like praps 4-6 week charter at a stretch), guests wdn't dream of speaking to crew and hotshot cuisine close to michelin standards is expected and achieved. Failrine brand fits between these - more "boaty" than sunseeker, less of a mega-charterable boat for crew with guests.

Separately, some of these so-called customer spec items are variable in the sunseeker. You get a nice clarion radio in a p72 from halfords no less, whereas the mangusta/lep has monster audio with amps and more amps that can drown out a sunseeker 200yds away according to test results in golfe juan.

Tender, dishwasher, washing machine, galley equipment will be modest items in the pred, or options, but all top range in anything from rodriguez - so that must eat some cash lep-wise, plus manugusta ££ extra engines.

But i liked the pred72. It's a bit more dayboaty, less film-starrish down below and up on top than the 74 - which seemed more oof a serious punt at rodriguez terriotory. However, loos than you can only use if very normal sized as opposed to fat git were still a problem. The good aspect of their constant model-changing is that you get fresh ideas - bad side i suppose is your boat is always a bit out of date. Whereas mang/lep are reasonably successful at being "classic" ie sort of a bit oldish with less "gosh, what a clever little idea that is" here and there as with newer boats.

For med tho, the mag and lep (and lot of continentals) are much more massive - get a big hull and put a deck on it with 7foot+ headroom below. Then all passersby look UP to people on a lep/gusta not DOWN into on lighter-built (tho faster) sunseekers. V important , this, imho.