Thoughts on some of the motorboats at SIBS 2016

petem said:
Interesting observation. When the guys and I were at the factory earlier in the year, Fairline were proudly decommissioning their lacquering machine as it had been bought by the previous owners and could only lacquer flat surfaces. Perhaps we're seeing the fruits of this coming through now in the newly designed layout of the Sq65.

Good write up and great photos as ever Henry. Reminds me, I need to get cracking with the stuff we were corresponding about a few weeks ago. How time flies!
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As I've always said I say it as I see it and know Fairline have the ability. Curves are something you can't put a figure on but they add luxury and a sense of quality. I think we've got to a point where merely building a safe boat isn't enough, lots of people can do that. The top drawer players are taking the basic build as a given and fine tuning the details.

It's very easy to walk round a finished boat and criticise. Much harder to create one from scratch. I know because I built a 70' narrow boat in a former life.

It's early days still for Fairline but look carefully and you can see small shoots of new growth.

I was thinking about the other stuff only the other day wondering how it was going.

Henry :)
 
Greg2 said:
Thanks Henry, an interesting read seeing as we didn't make the show this year. I was particularly pleased to see some pics of the Elling...been a fan for a while and the E6 looks impressive! :)
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Different and a lovely fit out.

I also love the Van der Valk continental range but not sure if I could live with the madness of triple IPS engines !!

Henry :)
 
MYAG said:
May as well cancel the MBY subscription Henry.... Good job and thanks for the heads up on these models as I couldn't make it to the show.
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Yup Jack Haines should be worried by Henry's attempted land grab;)
 
Master cabin is a very good size with lovely walk around space. Not entirely convinced by the Japanese squat down seating and table arrangement. Is it trying a bit too hard? Will you really walk all the way up to the galley only to bring everything back down and squeeze yourselves into the mini dinette?
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For the life of me I can't understand why designers insist on putting these stupid useless dinettes in midships master cabins these days. We have a psychiatrists couch in our midships master cabin which is equally useless. If I was buying any boat with this feature I would insist it would be swapped for more cupboards and drawers which are definitely something you can't have too much of

Excellent reports Henry. Thanks for the effort
 
henryf said:
As I've always said I say it as I see it and know Fairline have the ability. Curves are something you can't put a figure on but they add luxury and a sense of quality. I think we've got to a point where merely building a safe boat isn't enough, lots of people can do that. The top drawer players are taking the basic build as a given and fine tuning the details.
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I wonder how much you really do boating in bad weather, and what is considered bad weather in your books.
On face I can say that some builders are going way backwards to there sea-keeping attitude, and that they cannot give a stick in the same rough sea state (force 5 to 6) to older boats of the same name.

Anyways just to make a story short three times I encountered a couple of well branded what you call top players this season coming in rough sea in the marina at six - ten knots with everything falling to peaces.
All the boats in question where bigger 70 to 80 feet to the boat I was helming which was a 2005 58 feet hard top sport yacht, and also more recent, ages 2010, 2012, and 2015.
The most interesting part that in this sea state I was helming at 16 - 19 knots and very comfortable.
 
Deleted User said:
Yup Jack Haines should be worried by Henry's attempted land grab;)
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I was holding out for the new Bond role or failing that some test shoots on the new Star Wars but if they fall through I'd give it a go.

Not sure the advertising team would be entirely supportive of my review style :)


Henry :)
 
Being one of those that almost put down a deposit at LIBS in January, it was very interesting to see your (unbiased) review on the Manhattan 52. I agree with your comments, unfortunately I think this is a backward step for SS, rather than it being 'designed' it is almost as if the Sales & Marketing dept has been doing it for them...

That ridiculous bathing platform seat... sitting on that you would look like you were on the loo, why on earth would someone want an aft deck shower that is built into an enormous lifting lid, when a the normal shower head with flexible hose housed discretely is far better, uses less space and that compartment can be better used (just a bit of flash for no purpose!) The perspex 'wind shield' on the flybridge, that must have been something one of the new apprentices came up with!

Tilting (but not adjustable) lower helm seats must have been another one dreamt up by the said apprentice... I could go on, but won't, save to say that I am a SS owner and have always appreciated their design & build, but for me this is a hugely backward step for them in terms of design, if I am to spend £1m I want luxury not MFI.... (suppose that's me off the SS Xmas list!!)

It's great to have a review by a real boater without the commercial compromises... thanks :encouragement:
 
Henry, great Reviews as always.

As I have had a P56 for a couple of months now and recently considered changing it to a P60 - a couple of things that put me off doing it:-

The P60 appears to have a lot more steps around the accommodation.

There is a lot more space in front of the master cabin bed on the P56 and this makes the cabin far more airy.

I understand that the P56 is fully resin infused and the P60 is not. I am staggered by how well the boat performs compared with the Squadron 58 I had before with the same engines - interestingly the SQ55 I had before that had the D13-900 and this made a big difference to performance.

I prefer the open plan engine room on the P56 - I don't know how you are meant to service the generator on the P60 or easily get to the engine water strainers.

The standard lower helm dash on both boats is similar but the boat I was offered and all the ones I have seen were over filled with screens and the cabinet around them and wasn't beautiful.

I agree with you about the fridge/ freezer- having been on the receiving end of your hospitality on your boat, I assumed you had converted the 3rd cabin to a walk in larder with the variety of snacks and drinks offered. But there is a downside - the full size freezer removes a lot of work top - and one electrical socket in the galley is simply not enough.

Having had 6 x 70+ In law relatives on the boat on Thursday for a belt across to Yarmouth for Lunch - the saloon space works.

I agree with you about the S65 and was offered the one at the show but it was a lump of cash more but what a beautiful boat.

Overall I am delighted with the P56 - we have had some great holidays this summer on board and even with three teenagers on board, the space works and I cannot believe how much storage they have included and the host of practical features that the boat has.

Andrew
 
Great feedback from the horses mouth so to speak.

It did look lovely as we rafted up along side you !!

The S60 will launch at London in January and there is a new 62 flybridge as well so a bit of activity.

I'm not a fan of the narrow island return which Princess use in the galley. It hampers bending down to access appliances and drawers. I wonder if we might see a bit of a re-work of the galley area now the Manhattan 52 is out. I don't claim the Sunseeker is perfect by a long way but the galley area looks to work really well. In effect a full beam galley. Particularly with the P52 where there is no aft seating I think they need to incorporate the port side units into the galley and ditch the island.

Of course all very first world problems.

Henry :)
 
Good reviews!

SS - For some reason I just didn't like the boat. Why have a demo boat with 'tea bag' plotters?
P49 - was on my short list but didn't proceed as didn't want bunk beds in 3rd cabin. One of the few companies who knew their product well.
Prestige 500 - Was the boat I went for. On this size I think it came down to separate master and tender garage. I seem to glaze over finish quality (unless awful) but princess was better.
Sealine - didn't like one bit.

Shame ferretti and absolute (amongst others) do not attend Southampton.
 
TonyR123 said:
Good reviews!

SS - For some reason I just didn't like the boat. Why have a demo boat with 'tea bag' plotters?
P49 - was on my short list but didn't proceed as didn't want bunk beds in 3rd cabin. One of the few companies who knew their product well.
Prestige 500 - Was the boat I went for. On this size I think it came down to separate master and tender garage. I seem to glaze over finish quality (unless awful) but princess was better.
Sealine - didn't like one bit.

Shame ferretti and absolute (amongst others) do not attend Southampton.
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Have you got your prestige yet or still waiting. Had mine 6 months now and it's been great!
 
Just a quick word on the Elling E6. I said that I'd love to see a review by the magazine to confirm the various key points offered up by Elling. Well as if by magic MB&Y did a very good feature in the October 2016 edition. I was distracted by the Princess P49 and Sunseeker 95 reviews, both boats I'd recently seen and commented on at the Swanwick British builder's show.

The E6 review highlighted a number of interesting points. The performance figures also showed a massive difference between the 9 knot range (2,518 miles) and the 10 knot range (1,173 miles).

A good effort by Dave Marsh and well worth a read if you are remotely interested in them.

Henry :)
 
I saw the Sealine 530 on the Hamble yesterday, as well as Clipper demo-ing a Bavaria. The Sealine is not the prettiest boat on the water, confirmed by my lady wife, who has an eye for these things. At the show, I was struck by the Ikea influence inside, an now it appears, from the outside too. The Bav was just a nuisance, meandering in the middle of the river at about 4.5 knots. Rafiki can't run this slow in gear, so we chose to "barge" past. Apologies to the Clipper crew, but we were on a mission to collect someone from Port Solent, so were on a bit of a schedule.
There are a few boats on the Hamble apparently left over from the Show, a couple of Monte Carlo's, Nordhavn etc.
 
rafiki_ said:
I saw the Sealine 530 on the Hamble yesterday, as well as Clipper demo-ing a Bavaria. The Sealine is not the prettiest boat on the water, confirmed by my lady wife, who has an eye for these things. At the show, I was struck by the Ikea influence inside, an now it appears, from the outside too. The Bav was just a nuisance, meandering in the middle of the river at about 4.5 knots. Rafiki can't run this slow in gear, so we chose to "barge" past. Apologies to the Clipper crew, but we were on a mission to collect someone from Port Solent, so were on a bit of a schedule.
There are a few boats on the Hamble apparently left over from the Show, a couple of Monte Carlo's, Nordhavn etc.
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tbs now got a based at Mercury so quite a number of the Sealines from the show were tbs demo boats & set up for seatrials from first thing Saturday morning following up from appointments / orders placed at SIBS... 530 based next to us and it is awful close up. Nordhavn office at HPM so there are always a few on the last pontoon from entrance. We had opposite issue with clipper marine and a speeding Bav causing massive wash, I guess seatrial didn't go so well and they wanted to get rid of punters quick, or sign them up before they changed their mind!
 
Firefly625 said:
tbs now got a based at Mercury so quite a number of the Sealines from the show were tbs demo boats & set up for seatrials from first thing Saturday morning following up from appointments / orders placed at SIBS... 530 based next to us and it is awful close up. Nordhavn office at HPM so there are always a few on the last pontoon from entrance. We had opposite issue with clipper marine and a speeding Bav causing massive wash, I guess seatrial didn't go so well and they wanted to get rid of punters quick, or sign them up before they changed their mind!
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:D
 
henryf said:
The E6 review highlighted a number of interesting points. The performance figures also showed a massive difference between the 9 knot range (2,518 miles) and the 10 knot range (1,173 miles).
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Probably because at 9kts its reached its max hull speed in displacement mode and at 10kts its trying to plane. I have the same kind of difference on my boat which has a similar hull length to the E6 which is why, when I'm in displacement mode, I cruise at around 9kts rather than any more
 
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