We’re buying a new boat !!

henryf said:
JFM is indeed a font of knowledge and wisdom. Someone who definitely gets the most out of boating.

I can confirm he is still alive and well, we bumped into each other on the pontoon at the Southampton boat show this year.

I suspect we will be easier clients for Princess and won’t cause them to re make the moulds. Having said that if there was a way to pop a crew cabin door in the transom……… :)
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Re his visit to the Boat Show, are you allowed to disclose if there is a replacement for Match in the offing?
This is assuming that he still has the Squadron 78 called Match.

If there is going to be a new Match, it would be so nice if JFM could come back and let us have another wonderful build thread.
 
Bajansailor said:
Re his visit to the Boat Show, are you allowed to disclose if there is a replacement for Match in the offing?
This is assuming that he still has the Squadron 78 called Match.

If there is going to be a new Match, it would be so nice if JFM could come back and let us have another wonderful build thread.
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Match2 remains under JFM’s ownership. Would not be surprised if a Match3 thread appears in due course?
 
Congratulations on this very fine boat. Did you have choice for Cats or Volvos or is it Volvo only on this model? Being quite a bit heavier than the P50 mk3 it will need some more power I’d guess.
thanks for sharing the decision process that preceded the choice. Of course we look forward to a boat-in-build thread!
 
We did a bit of a Seakeeper test using our own wake and it got to the point where we were actively seeking out wake. It was like taking sweets from children !

Whilst it may well be an easy retro fit I will be getting the factory to install for reasons mentioned earlier on. Most of the issues I read about on new boats surround dealer retro fitted stuff as opposed to factory install. Also I want a single point of contact for snagging and warranty. I’m also not sure we would save much money having seen the list price of a Seakeeper 9 supply only.

The manual Bimini is a lost less than £18k, like less than a third of that price off the top of head. We won’t bother with lights underneath. Our current Bimini has stayed on the whole time of ownership with no issues. We’re still on the original cover which we take off and have industrially cleaned but I would see replacements as service items.

In terms of max speed it’s one of the things I’ll be looking into. Technically I suspect ours is rated in a similar way but there doesn’t seem a lot of point in having one if it can’t be used within the performance limitations of the boat. If anything you need one more when underway and a cooling draft camouflages the harm from sunshine.

I will leave it to JFM to discuss any future purchases. I’m not someone to publish private conversations although he did mention main sheets and had a recipe book called 1001 ways to cook spam in his back pocket…… ;)

Re: the current boat I’m hoping it doesn’t prove too hard to sell. In an ideal world we will line up a buyer to take delivery at the end of next seasons charter work in September. We are quite creative. It may even be that someone chooses to maintain the boat in charter and we work together a bit. It still holds it own very well amongst the different motor boats chartering in the Solent area and a 50 Mk3 / F55 pairing wouldn’t be a bad combo.
 
Oh, sorry - forgot the engines. We currently have CAT C12 715 hp which was my preference at the time and they have been great.

Princess only offer Volvo D13 as an option as did Sirena with their 58. Sunseeker also fit either the D13 725 or 800 in their Manhattan 55. We have taken the precaution of provisionally speccing the uprated D13 900 engines rather than the standard 800s. I’m not particularly bothered by a couple of knots at the top end but I want to feel we’ve got a bit in hand. I’m quite sympathetic with the throttles and even do quite a bit of displacement work when the tides are in our favour but ultimately you can’t opt for an increase retrospectively. You can always back off on the sticks.

I wasn’t planning on fitting a joystick system. Being brutally honest if you can’t manoeuvre a friendly boat like the F 55 on shafts with props that kick in nicely at tickover and proportional bow and stern thrusters you probably shouldn’t be out on the water. The last thing I want is some electronics trying to decide what to do without telling me first. The proportional thrusters are gorgeous. I only had a very quick demo / play but could see instantly it was a happy marriage.
 
henryf said:
...
Re: the current boat I’m hoping it doesn’t prove too hard to sell. In an ideal world we will line up a buyer to take delivery at the end of next seasons charter work in September. We are quite creative. It may even be that someone chooses to maintain the boat in charter and we work together a bit. It still holds it own very well amongst the different motor boats chartering in the Solent area and a 50 Mk3 / F55 pairing wouldn’t be a bad combo.
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Hmmm there's an idea. :)
 
henryf said:
Being UK based which is home to the best boat builders in the world its easy to forget other manufacturers do exist so we had a few trips out to Cannes and Düsseldorf.
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Interestingly, among others, you seem to have forgot also the builder which is by far the leader for the type/size of boats you were looking at, which is Azimut.
By the way, even if I can accept that their recent bow design can be divisive (strictly from an aesthetical viewpoint, because there's no doubt that its's great for practicality), their 55 is one of the few flybridges where the hardtop doesn't look like a fugly afterthought.
And she's equipped with a more robust powerplant, too.

Talking of HT, I read your considerations for chosing to not have one, and of course each to their own on that.
But I for one would not even consider a boat of that size/type without it, for boating in the UK.
Which in turn means that in perspective, rather than a matter of being worth the cost or not, it can be a matter of finding or not a buyer when time to sell will come, depending on how many other boaters will think along the same lines as myself in the future.
In fact, pretty sure the general trend is in that direction, rather than the opposite: hard to think of someone who rules out a used 55' flybridge because it DOES have a HT!

Anyway, all the very best for the whole process, construction included, for which I'm looking fwd to plenty of pics.
If at the factory they will allow you to disclose them, coming to think of it...?
 
andy59 said:
Have to say that personally i prefer the look of the Bimini compared to the hard top
View attachment 125860
View attachment 125862
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Me too, hard top looks like an uncomfortable addition for some reason. I think its because the flat plane of it doesn't match the curves of everything else.

Congrats Henry, about time we had another serious new build!
 
henryf said:
The manual Bimini is a lost less than £18k, like less than a third of that price off the top of head. We won’t bother with lights underneath. Our current Bimini has stayed on the whole time of ownership with no issues. We’re still on the original cover which we take off and have industrially cleaned but I would see replacements as service items.

In terms of max speed it’s one of the things I’ll be looking into. Technically I suspect ours is rated in a similar way but there doesn’t seem a lot of point in having one if it can’t be used within the performance limitations of the boat. If anything you need one more when underway and a cooling draft camouflages the harm from sunshine.
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I agree, the bimini should be a LOT less than 18k.

Henry
How about some more bespoke design on the bimini.
I got Jim at JB to make and fit ours when the boat was in Swanwick.
We take the canvas off when we are away (mostly the winter months).
13 years later, it is still in good working condition.
But, more importantly, Jim (with my guidance) designed our bimini so that it folds back against the radar arch - like a a child's pram.
It is then easy to get down if the wind is too strong.
20 knots isn't the way to look at the strength of a binini - think about it - if you are doing 20 knots into a 20 knot wind, thats 40 knots! .... etc.
We think of our bimini like a yachtie would think of a spinnaker - if you have to get it down in a hurry, you should have got it down earlier.
But with a motorboat of course, you can always turn the boat away and "run" down wind whilst you take it down.
This is why I designed ours to fold against the radar arch.

Ours is really big and we wouldn't be without it - shade from the sun is what its all about.

Here are some pics - IMHO, it is really worth some bespoke thinking and not just going with the Princess offering.

IMG_4965.resized.jpg

IMG_4957.resized.jpg

And this is it folded away on the radar arch.

DSC05956e.resized.jpg

I know that the radar arch on the 55 isn't as big but I'm sure some clever thinking - "Jim should be able to Fix It"
 
PowerYachtBlog said:
That would be the D11 725 or 800, not D13, I think with IPS on the Sunseeker Manhattan 55.
Gratz for the purchase. I agree the HT make the Princess 55, to vertically challenged IMO.
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The Manhattan 55 is available with D13 800s on shafts which is what we were quoted on. They also do an IPS 950 (2 x 725PS) version for and extra £70,000 plus Vat.
 
MapisM said:
Interestingly, among others, you seem to have forgot also the builder which is by far the leader for the type/size of boats you were looking at, which is Azimut.
By the way, even if I can accept that their recent bow design can be divisive (strictly from an aesthetical viewpoint, because there's no doubt that its's great for practicality), their 55 is one of the few flybridges where the hardtop doesn't look like a fugly afterthought.
And she's equipped with a more robust powerplant, too.

Talking of HT, I read your considerations for chosing to not have one, and of course each to their own on that.
But I for one would not even consider a boat of that size/type without it, for boating in the UK.
Which in turn means that in perspective, rather than a matter of being worth the cost or not, it can be a matter of finding or not a buyer when time to sell will come, depending on how many other boaters will think along the same lines as myself in the future.
In fact, pretty sure the general trend is in that direction, rather than the opposite: hard to think of someone who rules out a used 55' flybridge because it DOES have a HT!

Anyway, all the very best for the whole process, construction included, for which I'm looking fwd to plenty of pics.
If at the factory they will allow you to disclose them, coming to think of it...?
Click to expand...

Azimut never made it onto our shortlist I’m afraid. The hard top may look less ugly but only because the rest of the boat detracts your eye away from it. What have they done with that front end aircraft carrier overhang thing? I looked at one getting prepped in Southampton when Princess were doing some work on the 50 and there were a lot of plastic panels siliconed on to the hull. I’m sorry but I wouldn’t champion them as world leaders. I quite like the Magellano concept but in my humble opinion Sirena do a better job for less money.

As for the hard top and resale I’m hoping someone else likes the concept of light weight high up to reduce roll momentum and a good sized gyro stabiliser. Ultimately I’m looking for a boat that can be used in anger over a wide range of speeds from ultra frugal hull speed to fast planing. I don’t think 55 feet is quite large enough for the hard top to be a rounding error in stability. But then I always cruise with a full water tank to aid low level weight / stability. The advantage of a little bit more power than you absolutely need to have.

I will have to give myself some time to fully understand the differences between our 50 and the 55.
 
andy59 said:
Have to say that personally i prefer the look of the Bimini compared to the hard top
View attachment 125860
View attachment 125862
Click to expand...
The Bimini is visually less intrusive. I like having something there Probably like Hurricane.

You make a very valid point avout exploring other options. Our current Bimini folds back onto the radar arch, the factory 55 Bimini folds forwards. I did worry it felt a bit more bendy but to be fair I don’t know if all the tie wires were in place when I looked. A little bit of research, and ultimately it isn’t an intrinsic part of the boat from a construction point of view. I’ll see if there are any strengthening areas added during build.
 
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