FLYBRIDGE OR OPEN CRUISER?

What size range are you considering? For us in the 40-50' range, we were not interested in a bridge boat due to the higher center of gravity as well as the difficulty of getting to the bridge if its just a ladder etc. Most of the bridge boats that were of the quality/performance we wanted did not have molded or spiral stairs to the bridge. Along with this, single handing from a fly bridge without cockpit engine controls would be more difficult for me.

The open/express boats give up livability at the dock, however the trade off was worth it to us. If we had the need/budget for a larger (60+') boat with an enclosed bridge, I'd opt for a flybridge boat.

Some of the down east or coupe style express boats with the "living areas" on deck and just heads and beds below are appealing to us.

max

It is impossible to answer your question without giving a size range.

You would need to decide on more about your boat use, budget, etc. and what you like that's out there in the market. For example, trying to compare an HCB 65' center console (open) to a Bering 65' steel trawler (flybridge)...

Also depends on where you cruise. In SE Florida, we are kind of sensitive to height when we cruise on the ICW. But then again, we are also real fans of DownEast express cruisers such as our Sabre Salon Express. Everyone is on the same socializing level; we don't have to worry about climbing up or down a ladder, and the ability to get all around the boat when docking is very safe.

As we get older, we are very sensitive to safety aboard particularly falls. But all of our experience has been on boats up to 50 feet not any longer.

It depends on you and your crew. I have a pal who loves his express cruiser because it’s fast and covered.... but we specifically wanted the extra living space and visibility of a FB.

We love (and live) on our Flybridge on our 54’ M/Y. I drive from that helm most of time. We Grill/Cook. Eat. Socialize— esp late nights @ Dock or anchored. We have a bimini so it’s great for shade & rain protection.

We are in mid/late 50s but we have had guests in mid 70’s and even an 82 year old easily ascend and descend. We have both rear ladder and interior (steep) steps. We tell our guests to descent butt first for ease and most use the interior steps.

I do like the down east designs for their ability to get under bridges and one level entertaining
And large open cockpits.....

.... but the flybridge was our main buying criteria. Try both and see what feels best.

OP doesn’t mention this as a priority but to me the express boats don’t usually carry a large (12-13’)dinghy very well. So on a flybridge boat you can usually put the dinghy on the bow and still have visibility. I am not comfortable carrying the dinghy on a hydraulic swim platform. Feel like it would be vulnerable to getting swamped in an inlet or following seas. I am open minded that I am wrong on that as you see plenty of boats running with the dinghy on the stern.

I like the swim platform, for stability and trim it is the best spot compared to Flybridge (tender and davit weight) or the bow which makes most boats run too bow down. Most of the ones I run with a dinghy on the swim platform have a tightly fitted cover on them so no worry of swamping. Also I've never had any waves go over the swim platform or any risk swamping. The dinghy doesn't slide around if it's secured properly.

I don’t like the dinghy on the bow as in addition to the forward weight Captain J mentioned it also takes a lot of space. Also, hooking it up and raising it can be challenging as it is hard to get back up on the bow after hooking upnthe davit

Swinplatform also takes up space. Swamping isn’t a real concern unless running slow with following seas. I had the problem once when the drain got clogged by debris and ended up with a lot water in the tender. Following this incident I have ass a second plug, larger and a little higher.

Tight fitting covers are difficult to stretch out and we only out it on if we don’t use it for a while. We sometimes launch and retrieve twice a day in the Exumas, not putting the cover on for a few hours

Chock Masters here in Miami has chocks which can be slid out to have access between the tender and the transom on narrow platform. Very neat

As to original question... can’t really say much without knowing the size range, location and usage type

Generally speaking you have a lot more room on a FB boat but under 50’ FB space is limited and access often limited to a ladder

I've run 5 lovely FB yachts that worked, from 48 to 82' and one open 68 that was such a pain, I would hope the bloody thing has sunk by now. Not for me.

On a FB boat we much prefer the dinghy/davit on the bow out west. Have located them on the bow on our FB boats as small as 42', as we fish a lot and can't accept the dinghy in the way all the time. Weight and trim can be managed and you usually walk the dinghy up to the bow and connect your davit clip into a pre-rigged bridle that is long enough to do the job from the side deck, very painless in our experience.

And you don't have to deal with exhaust smoke removal on the dinghy itself, one less maintenance item, even with a cover.

If the bridle is long enough to attach from the deck, does the tender clear the railing ? It works on larger sportfish (over 60 with enough room) otherwise access to the bow is restricted. But yes for fishing it s a must

It would depend on your davit and freeboard. We made our own SS davit once with a fixed height boom and have also used a modern low profile Brower davit which had the boom extension option.

The Davit Centerline is usually aft and close to the fwd deck house and there is enough cable on the winch to make that connect further aft at or before the sheer break by swing the davit.

We would also use the bow line on the dinghy to help guide it close to the logical pick point, had this setup on FB boats that were 42/44/46.