45 Foot Yachts-What's Good?

Hi Yachtlover,

Well... I thought a few of our members would have some suggestions, but they must be recovering from their fireworks festivities.

In the 45 foot range, the boats you've mentioned pack a lot of features in the mid-size range. Personally I like the new 390 Sea Ray. It's reminiscent of the old Chris Craft Connies, but with a futuristic flair.

With twin Cummins diesels, it'll top 30 knots, but achieves the best mileage around 20 knots. It's a little heavy at 26,500 lbs, but it's built well and draws on much of the same technology that has made their Express Series so popular.

Sea Ray has managed to provide a lot of headroom inside the 390. Another option I particularly like is an air conditioned bridge, which you would seriously appreciate in South Florida's prolonged idle speed zones during summer.

The things I take into consideration are not items visible to the eye. They are in the engineering before construction. For example, the molds that are used to make a Sea Ray are made from a foam plug that is cut on a CNC to tolerances that approach thousand's of an inch over a 50 foot plug. This is almost impossible to achieve in hand carved plugs.

But before the router touches the foam, the entire hull, deck and inner liner has been constructed virtually, resulting in a seamless integration of what is sometimes... sub-components with some manufacturers. Personally, I find Sea Ray's ergonomics well conceived. About the only drawback to the 390 Motor Yacht is the lack of a flybridge, which is offered on the other models you mentioned.

There's a lot of great choices in this range. Many of them, I've not had the opportunity of boarding, but because I've sea-trialed this particular yacht (and you mentioned it), I thought I would share my experience.

I hope we can get others to chime-in on this thread with some sea-worthy suggestions. Here's a picture of the 390...

Take a look at Symbol. They make a 46 foot. It's very nice. Depends on your taste of interior and exterior designs. Their office is based in Fort Lauderdale (Lauderdale Marine Center).

I've been very happy with my '99 Maxum 4600. There's a lot of boat for the money and it's been reliable. It's no longer in production, but I believe the same plant is now producing the Meridian yacht line.

If you're not looking to purchase a new boat, there are some older boats in this range that are true motor yachts. Classics such as Hatteras, Bertram and Chris-Craft are worth a look.

In the 45' range, Carver makes a pilothouse that is sporty looking with a lot of room inside. These boats have come along way and are worth considering.

Hey Brian,

That's a really nice looking Maxum! Have you got any interior pics? I've got friend looking for a used flybridge cruiser. He's looking at mid-90's Sea Ray 55 Sedan Bridges, which I personally think are a good bang-for-the-buck. I really like the 480 Sedan's, but they're a little more pricey (because they're newer). The 55 offers many of the same amenities (even more) for nearly half the price in some cases. He's got a little less than 200k to spend, which has kept him out of both of those boats. I think he'd really like your Maxum!

You can find the Maxum 4600s used for about $275K to $400K. The construction is very good--solid fiberglass hull, thru-bolted hull-to-deck joint that's fiberglassed over, vinylester skin coat, etc. It's good solid stuff in a very nice package. My neighbor (who also has a 4600 SCB) is an architecht who said it's the first of his 5 boats that he's never had to make any changes to. Lighting and amenities are all nice. I'll take some interior pics this weekend and upload them.
Most of the ladies that stop by for a glass of wine with my wife fall in love with the interior--wide open and stylish. (So this doesn't sound like some shill-job for Maxum, I'm in no way affiliated with the company and am not invested in Brunswick Corp. stock either.) I've found a boat that my wife, my two sons and I enjoy a great deal. If you're looking for a lot of late-model boat in the $300 - $400K range, it's worth a look.

Confirmation

MAXUM 46 - best boat for the dough.