Save me from buying a Super Yacht!

[thirds]

Originally Posted by deblen

https://www.aftheriault.com/en/boats/pleasure-boats

Great stuff there. That’s an answer to the exact question I was asking. Thank you! I have to decide if this is really the route I want to go. On one hand getting exactly what I want would be great, on the other building a boat is a big project and maybe “settling” for a production boat is worth the compromise.

Originally Posted by Franziska

Might be worth talking to Dave about his experiences.
https://www.bigdumboat.com/faq.html
If you have your eyes settled on a specific yacht I may be able to help with some restyle proposals. Do not hesitate to get in touch.

Appreciate those links. I hadn’t heard of Dyad before. Nearly ideal! I’m a fan of Trimarans, love the layout of the NEEL boats, but not impressed with their quality. Your signature links to a Trimaran you owned? Alas I ended up on a german site talking about cookies when I followed it. Was it a one off or production trimaran you had?

Originally Posted by Tingum

I hope you have very deep pockets!

They’re only deep right now, but will be very deep in a couple years. Still I’m only going to spend a fraction of my pockets. Don’t put all your dollars in one boat— as they say!

Originally Posted by Sand crab

As others have said you are in the wrong forum. However if you lower your sights a little the Leopard 62 will do everything you ask. It has sails so it does have unlimited range. And now you are in the right forum!

I’m in the PowerBoat forum. But I’m curious why you think someone who owned a sailboat for many years but now is seeking a power boat would be swayed by the assertion that a sailboat is what he should buy. Have you considered there might be some good reasons for my decision?

Have you recognized that sailboats are harnessing solar power in the form of wind? Why not cut out the middle man?

https://www.silent-yachts.com/

It even has a sail option of a sorts— you can add one of these:

https://www.skysails-yacht.com/

Theoretically this is more efficient and easier to handle than your sails.

[CassidyNZ]

A friend has one of these.

https://www.boats.com/power-boats/19...on-65-7129737/

Examples of these are available all over the world at a wide range of price and condition. This is a planing hull that tools along happily at 24kn (sweet spot) with a top speed of 32kn. But it also happily trolls at 7kn looking for the odd marlin (my friend’s example is fully game-rigged).

Luxury living at “affordable” price, not counting the fuel bill. Cruising at 24kn she will burn 240l of diesel an hour.

[thirds]

Originally Posted by CassidyNZ

A friend has one of these.

https://www.boats.com/power-boats/19...on-65-7129737/
Luxury living at “affordable” price, not counting the fuel bill. Cruising at 24kn she will burn 240l of diesel an hour.

That’s pretty sweet and pretty cheap. (Only in boats is the cost of a house “cheap”.) I wasn’t aware of that builder but I see they have made a lot of boats of different sizes etc. I’m going to check them out in more depth. Thanks for the pointer!

2.64 Gallons/knot seems a bit high, but not bad for full throttle. I like being able to “waste gas” like that when I need to get away from weather, just so long as 8-12 knots is a lot more economical, I’ll be ok.

I mean if I wanted to get there cheaply, I’d take a plane. This will be my home and %90 of the time I expect it won’t be moving. Even island hopping probably just a few hours a day.

[joelhemington]

Originally Posted by thirds

This is the powerboat board of the cruising forum. Nowhere did I see this site is only for sailors, or only for trailerable boats.

All my life I’ve encountered snobs- monohull snobs, powerboat snobs, sailing snobs, multihull snobs, and of course a multitude of snobs outside of boating as well— rich snobs and poor snobs.

The thing about snobs is- they are always trying to make their vice a virtue. Their world view is limited by the lies they tell themselves.

And the irony of ironies is, the very reason I am able to afford just about any boat I could like is that I never let them limit me to their world views.

As you may recall, your post asked that we save you from buying a Super Yacht. The suggestion that you consider the larger blue water cats makes perfect sense based upon what you said you wanted to do. They tend to run 1.5 to 3 million US depending upon how well they're equipped. I am not particulary a fan of cats but am open minded enough to realize their advantages over other types of cruising boats. Monohulls would be my choice.

[nortonscove]

Was part of a team that refit an old North Atlantic trawler into a great yacht about twenty years ago. Cost about two million for the work done in our little yard. The boat itself was only about quarter of a million to buy. All told it was less than three million and spectacular when done. Sadly it burned in Boston Harbour a few years later. Apparently was restored but have no idea where it ended up.

Big boats are a pain and given the opportunity to own one I would stick with something much smaller. This guy was a Florida billionaire wanting to take it to Australia where he also had an estate. Worked well for some of my buddies when they accepted positions in the engine room for a couple years and got to see some more of the globe.

[thirds]

Originally Posted by nortonscove

Was part of a team that refit an old North Atlantic trawler into a great yacht about twenty years ago. Cost about two million for the work done in our little yard. The boat itself was only about quarter of a million to buy. All told it was less than three million and spectacular when done.

Right, one thing I’m realizing is I’d rather buy someone else’s project than take on a project like that. I don’t want to spend a couple years refitting a boat— a brand new boat off the line is going to have more than enough projects for me, and I’d want to spend a couple months refitting it and 6 months to a year shaking it down close to shore anyway.

So if I go that route, it would have to be an already converted one. I just watched a video of a converted Trawler, looks fantastic and well set up. But it’s still too much boat for me. I’d rather not have to hire professional crew full time, that seems like a good line in the sand not to cross. (Happy to hire people as needed though.)

Check this converted trawler out:
https://youtu.be/5ZVtYLdFicg

[hpeer]

In the past year I e spoken to a couple of boat owners who commissioned new aluminum yachts. Both said that they would never do it again and had loooong lists of trials they went through. Both were experienced sailors who were deeply involved with monitoring the build out and fitting.

I also spoke briefly to a couple who bought a new 45’ cat, High end, and had spent The majority of 18 months getting stuff fixed, like the steering (failed on trip from US east coast to Bahamas I think) and one hull which was full of blisters, deep blisters. And a second brand new EXPENSIVE, High end cat, with a warranty crew from half way around the world. The cat owners were both new sailors, they had no clue.

The take away for me was to buy a boat someone else had refitted, and then lost the opportunity to use.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by hpeer

.

The take away for me was to buy a boat someone else had refitted, and then lost the opportunity to use.

Works for me.
Unfortunate for the previous owner, a lot of work and $$ poured into her and then it seems the size put him off using her.
While most of the gear onboard is 15 years old, most only had hours of use when we got her.
Now she is used for her intended purpose, full time cruising, zero marina usage.

[thirds]

Originally Posted by hpeer

In the past year I e spoken to a couple of boat owners who commissioned new aluminum yachts. Both said that they would never do it again and had loooong lists of trials they went through. Both were experienced sailors who were deeply involved with monitoring the build out and fitting.
...
The take away for me was to buy a boat someone else had refitted, and then lost the opportunity to use.

Thanks for the thoughts. We’re their frustrations related to aluminum as a material for boats, or for manufacturing boats? It’s obviously a lot more labor intensive to build that way than with fiberglass molds.

I’m taking from your anecdotes that boat builders is such a challenging task that getting a boat right means spending a lot of time at the yard, or spending a lot of time fixing up a brand new boat.

With my boat, I bought in great condition, by all appearances, but still ended up spending a lot of time fixing up things that had been neglected.

I don’t want to be in the boat building, rigging or fixing business. I am retiring, not looking for another job. I’m happy being in the maintaining business, including the occasional fixing, replacing and upgrading business.

[hpeer]

One boat was a Alubat, Ovni. They had a few bad years and apparently his build was in the middle of that mess. I don’t recall problems with the hull as much as the systems were not as specified or poorly installed.

The second was a commercial yard that builds aluminum boats, Danish I think. The owner is a Mechanical Engineer with a lot of industrial PM experience. He had included certain weld test criteria in the specs, and they failed. The welds were cut out and redone! I don’t know when he caught it but it sounded like it was quite a way along to hull completion. I get the sense there were extensive issues after that.

Both of the cats We’re recognizable, if not famous names. One was also caught in a tough financial spot during fabrication. The other I can’t speak to.

[Bigmarv]

Hi Thirds.

Please don't do this. The carbon emissions are unjustifiable.

Cheers

[thirds]

Originally Posted by hpeer

One boat was a Alubat, Ovni. They had a few bad years and apparently his build was in the middle of that mess.

Both of the cats We’re recognizable, if not famous names. One was also caught in a tough financial spot during fabrication. The other I can’t speak to.

This is my concern about buying new boats even, or especially with advanced technology like the Silent 55. At least with a used boat you can survey it, before putting too much money at risk.

On the other hand, the points you are making are kinda relevant to any boat purchase. My experience with surveyors is there’s a huge variation in their quality and it’s hard to know who is good until you have already committed to paying them.

Would be better if I hadn’t sold my sailboat and had kept owning boats all this time, but alas, I that trade off is what let’s me have this opportunity now.

I’m hoing yo have yo hire expertise.

[SeanPatrick]

I will save you from buying a super yacht.


You can simply give me the money and I will buy one!

[thirds]

Originally Posted by Bigmarv

Hi Thirds.

Please don't do this. The carbon emissions are unjustifiable.

Cheers

Greetings!

Please don’t bring religion into this thread. I’m a carnivore, which means I eat nearly exclusively meat. The science supports this, but I don’t go into your threads and claim you need to justify murdering plants.

I don’t justify myself to anyone, least of all anyone who demands I do.

Caio!

[thirds]

Originally Posted by SeanPatrick

I will save you from buying a super yacht.
You can simply give me the money and I will buy one!

Haha, one does not buy a superyacht, one merely rents one from Neptune, then pays top rates for a crew to man her and try and keep her from sinking..

On the other hand, every yacht is a Super Yacht to someone.

What I can give you is billion dollar advice— never try to show off your wealth- it’s a losing proposition, there’s always someone richer than you[*], never flaunt it, in fact, do the opposite-- live poor compared to your income. Then invest the difference. People confuse income with wealth, and think rich is about income. The think renting a fancy Porsche is a sign of being “rich”. Analyze the world based on first principles and recognize where others don’t recognize reality. For instance, I never invested in Tesla, I didn’t see the reality, but one who did, did very well.

Nothing better than walking down the dock knowing you could buy any of the boats. Going on nice boats at boat shows and overlooking the sneers of brokers (who themselves can’t afford the boat they think you couldn’t afford) and knowing you could buy ten of them.... but not buying one. Not until you buy the right boat.

Poor people with money buy boats as status symbols, rich people buy boats as investments. (A depreciating asset is an investment when it’s utility value exceeds its depreciation and operational costs.)

So I think super yachts are dumb, but so much of the power boat industry is focused on vanity boats and charter boats for instagrammers.
[*] I’ve known a couple billionaires over the years. They don’t fit the mold of “rich” people you see in media.