V52 Targa52 Predator52

[neko911]

Hi Forum,

I've recently been to the Sydney Boat show as i'm looking to skipper a new 50ft-ish Sports Motor Boat without a Flybridge. The boat is for mainly weekend entertaining.

I think I have narrowed down my selection to the Fairline Targa 52 (Soon to be released at the London Boat Show) , Sunseeker Predator 52 and Princess V52.

At this stage i have excluded the equivalent Riveria, Maritimo and Ferreti boats.

I think i can tell the difference between such things as the interior finish of the boats (I think the fairline is best) but when it comes to the pure boating aspect, which boat is best? Which drives better, better made, better design better hull etc?

It is hard to get some proper advice from the boat show salespersons!

Any thoughts or opinions on these boats? Or something else? Which is best?

Kind regards,
neko

 

[jfm]

I don't think anyone can say which is best. All 3 are excellent, and your choice probably ought to be based on which suits you better, becuase they all have significant different features. And as all 3 are very good, any comparison must be fussy/splitting hairs type of exercise.

1. They're different sizes. Sunseeker is 58 foot, Princess is 54.5 and Targa 50 (not 52) is 51 foot. Those are significant differences

2. You gotta decide the layout you want. Sunseeker has galley down and a bunked 3rd cabin, Fairline has galley up and proper twin not bunked 3rd cabin. Princess has galley down and a saloon/bunked cabin choice. But Princess engines are aft (V drives) so it has no crew cabin, whereas S/s and FL have ok crew cabins

3. Joinery and fit out is best on Fairline, then sunseeker, then Princess. Arguably this is splitting hairs, except that on their current builds Princess have cut quite a few corners on their joinery and it shows if you care about this kind of detail. Fairline has the best shower rooms by a wide margin. They're also bigger, which makes them easy to keep clean. (Point is, you can't clean the floor/corners of a telephone box because you can't bend down in it)

4. Princess and Fairline have nice 2-person helms. With sunseeker, you are on your own!

5. Looks are in the eye of the beholder but most folks would agree the Princess and FL look the biz. The Pred52 styling is an acquired taste - I'd strongly suggest if you get coloured hull you ask for the colour to be taken right up to the gunwhale, and not just to the rubbing strake (which they will do)

6. Tankage on princess is disappointing. 364 litres of water is just ridiculous imho and if you go out for the day with say 8 people expect the loos to stop flushing at about 5pm. Princess 2000litres fuel is the smallest of this trio. Sunseeker tankage is good and Fairline has the longest range by far (biggest tanks in smallest boat, of these three)

But get whichever you prefer, becuase they're all great boats.

 

[admillington]

I will be having a look at the new Targa 50 on Friday. If you have any questions, please let me know and I will ask the Fairline team while I am there.

 

[MapisM]

At this stage i have excluded the equivalent Riveria, Maritimo and Ferreti boats.
...
Any thoughts or opinions on these boats? Or something else? Which is best?

Which kind of Ferretti boats did you exclude?
None of them are comparable to the three you mention.
Unless you're talking about Pershing: there's a 50' in their range which you could be interested to look at.
And since you're asking also about something else - and which is best, actually I'd rate it a tad above the others, in some respects.

 

[PowerYachtBlog]

Which kind of Ferretti boats did you exclude?
None of them are comparable to the three you mention.
Unless you're talking about Pershing: there's a 50' in their range which you could be interested to look at.
And since you're asking also about something else - and which is best, actually I'd rate it a tad above the others, in some respects.

I agree, but so is the price. Problem is the Pershing interior is always a bit plain especially if it is a stock boat. So people think plain is less quality I guess...

Speaking of the 50 I just met a friend with his 50 a 2003 with close to 2000 engine hours and this is just plain rocking according to his words. Only bad time was the MAN800s 1000 engine hours service which costed him a 20,000 EURO bill. The dark grey and blue hull is still as good as new and for this I was impressed myself.

 

[jfm]

Only bad time was the MAN800s 1000 engine hours service which costed him a 20,000 EURO bill.

I've never actually known any MAN engines that behave well. TCM's LE406s (1200hp) broke and one of them had to be lifted out at about 3 years old. My friend with a 2008 sunseeker 'hattan 70 has just been told the cyl head has to come off one of his MANs, and now the relatively small 800hps that you mention need a €20k service. Based on what I've heard, I just wouldn't buy MANs and would stick to Cats and MTUs in the big sizes

 

[MapisM]

I just wouldn't buy MANs and would stick to Cats and MTUs in the big sizes

Agreed.
Make it "MANs and VPs" and I would agree even more, just to complete the picture...

 

[AndieMac]

Our old Princess with the LE407's (1200's) has had a good run now for 13 years, only clocking just over 1000 hours though. The base motors have never shown any signs of a problem.

There was an electrolisis problem 5 years ago, due to only partial bonding during installation, which resulted in the replacement of both heat exchanger cores, sea cocks and strainers.
The same lack of bonding and resultant corrosion meant the original owner had to replace two new exhaust systems.