Which boat next

If you are going to 50' , planning to cover 500+ miles and berth in the Med I think you really should be considering a flybridge.
The extra accommodation is compelling but for that sort of annual mileage flybridge helming is just so much more enjoyable than peeking over a front screen or being baked under a hardtop.
 
NGM said:
If you are going to 50' , planning to cover 500+ miles and berth in the Med I think you really should be considering a flybridge.
The extra accommodation is compelling but for that sort of annual mileage flybridge helming is just so much more enjoyable than peeking over a front screen or being baked under a hardtop.
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Nah , it’s all about outdoor living .Aside the saloon on a glazed FB is essentially a waste of space in the baking Med heat .
Huge advantage of a 14/15 M sports boat with a huge cockpit and sunpad is you are all at the same level it’s more social it’s got benefits :)
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Portofino said:
Nah , it’s all about outdoor living .Aside the saloon on a glazed FB is essentially a waste of space in the baking Med heat .
Huge advantage of a 14/15 M sports boat with a huge cockpit and sunpad is you are all at the same level it’s more social it’s got benefits :)
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Porto, I think you’ve discovered why my wife won’t let me have a bigger boat:ambivalence:
 
Portofino said:
Nah , it’s all about outdoor living .Aside the saloon on a glazed FB is essentially a waste of space in the baking Med heat.
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Actually, it's the sunpad space that was wasted for us today.
At 15°C, the alternative to an internal helm was no boating at all…
Which would have been a pity. :encouragement:

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In the med would def get flybridge. Even in midst of summer we use indoors during the evening at least a lot. I always drive 'up top' and you get more space overall.

IPS does not bother me either way - I quite like them. Advantage of IPS on a boat of 15m is extra cabin space. Really depends what you want from the boat though. You will likely find mooring a 15m boat easier than say a 10m - at least I did anyway.

Don't forget useful extras like anchor cams......
 
Portofino said:
Nah , it’s all about outdoor living .Aside the saloon on a glazed FB is essentially a waste of space in the baking Med heat .
Huge advantage of a 14/15 M sports boat with a huge cockpit and sunpad is you are all at the same level it’s more social it’s got benefits :)
View attachment 74998
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Porto, allow the lady's some privacy pls !




to OP,
don't be afraid for the stepup in size, we went up from 28ft to 70ft,
and go for schafts every time !
our 28ft boat has twin outdrive, so we know everything about two gearboxes hanging in saltwater :(
 
Portofino said:
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L, I thought you were wearing a pink bikini that day rather than red?!

Back on the subject, I would advocate a FB too. You have all the outside space up top and on the foredeck, plus the shaded cockpit. In ours you can open up the saloon to the cockpit by raising the glass. When really hot at anchor, we'll leave the AC on , so the inside is a cool escape, but still being able to see out etc.

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Ratkins said:
We’ve tried a fb however the missus doesn’t like them. It’s a hard top with sunroof
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she may well change her mind after a decent amount of time on each,

If you use it as a day boat for bay hopping up to 20nm I think a hard top can be perfect.
If you spend a protracted amount of time, have a family or guests and cover decent amount of miles I think the fly bridge benefits really kick in.

We had a 45' hardtop for 4 years and switched to a '51 FB, for us the change in quality of time aboard was really significant .
 
petem said:
Don't let Portofino persuade you to buy some obscure piece of Italian junk
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Well, so far I can see pics of four boats in this thread, and they are all Italian. There must be a reason, I reckon! :cool:
This is just for balance with my reply to PF in post #12, you know... :rolleyes:
 
The OP has a real opportunity to avoid Volvo Penta engines and all the baggage that litters this forum about them .
Interesting to see if in 5 years of lurking and reading on here if the OP has picked how important engine speccing is ?
There’s a huge choice in 14/15 M HT sports shaft drive boats circa £300 K .
Italians dominate this sector in the Med for a reason .
T 47 has a superb layout it works well in the Med but the D 9 ,s and 500 or 575 Hp or what ever are The Achilles heel.
Lacks oomph when it counts mid season fouled and loaded with cruising stores .Theres no Hp headroom the smaller engines are on the edge all the time .
Italian rivals all have big boys engines of the order of 12-13 L 700 Hp or more some 15/16 L 800 Hp .The Rizzardi is called “ incredible “ for a reason and is over a £100 K less dosh -Ok a bit older than Petes illustration of a T47 .
It’s much more relaxing doing teens rpm than thousends ie 1680 -1750 as opposed to 2600 or what ever .

I,am an a “ open “ man as we have hard standing shore accommodation, and restrict our boating to the summer but realise
we are all different and respect each other choice there’s no right or wrong .
So short list is
Shafts
To 15 M
Up to £300 k
Sports boat
HT
Min 2 berth cabins - they all have en-suites - although near to 50 haves 3 cabins .
Possibly tender garage?

I,ll add a few more from experience
MAN engines if possible or MTU
Large cockpit table that all that sit can dine .
Large sunpad (s)
Large bathing platform
Large engine room so you space to get round it all esp outboard of the engines .Dual access is desirable for safety .
External fixed Passerelle-acts as tender crane - or said in another way avoid cassette passerelles .
Wood floors - avoid carpets

Avoid any convertible table or anything else with cushions .
Avoid vacuum toilets like sealand .

The rest like teak , cockpit griddles , radar , ambivalent = personal .

I think it’s best the OP throws up a boat for critique ( gentle or otherwise :)) rather than us suggest because the segment is pretty large .
 
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