Seeking advice about a new boat

AOK59, I like your choices of what your looking for and will be a welcome sight to the Gulf Coast of Florida. I really like the Princess V78, and if you do come to the Gulf Coast, then Galati Yachts is a dealer for Princess, so you should have ease of finding parts / technicians to help you out, and you can't go wrong with C32 CAT Acerts, probably my favorite engine in that HP range. The Sunseeker would be nice as well, I used to Captain a 108' Predator, and it was a great Yacht, but very difficult to get parts out of either the New York store or down in S. Florida. Luckily, I had a great engineer onboard that was very good at fixing things on the fly. I don't have any experience with the Cheoy Lee's, but have you thought any about a Riva Venere, or a Pershing? I have ran a 64' Pershing, and it was a rocket ship, and if you haven't ever operated surface drives then it takes a little adjustment, but not much and you'll be throwing a big rooster tail in no time.

I guess the big question is, what is going to be your intended cruising grounds? Typically the Gulf Coast is flatter than the Atlantic, but you have further to go between ports. Panama City, Destin, Pensacola are all close, but once you head south there is really nothing from Panama City to Tampa and heading west past Orange Beach, AL it gets a little more commercial.

You had an engineer on a 108'? Lucky you.

Personally I'd pick the one with the best engine room and systems access for ease of maintenance.

I also think you get more bang for you bucks with a flybridge boat. They just have more room to enjoy why you're on the water IMHO.

Where do you plan to keep it?

Hey CaptBill!

I was extremely lucky to have an engineer onboard, the owner wanted to have one since we were over 4000HP and he didn't want to miss anything = always wanted to be 90% power! It was a great position for just over 3 years and I had lots of fun with the owner and crew.

Going back to the conversation at hand, I agree with you in a FB is more roomy and fun, but it just depends on what the intentions are. I prefer FB's due to being able to see more of the Yacht when close quarter maneuvering and having multiple stations, but it also requires more time to maintain / wash for the owner or Capt.

I agree with your points on a flybridge, don't forget visibility being the main key point. But an express has some advantages also: no ladder to climb, the guests aren't split up as much, more stability, closer to the head and galley, and total weather protection.

Sometimes, a ladder is a good thing.

John Rieger - two story outhouse.jpg