Flybridge recommendation

Great sweet spot. My 54 Flybridge MY is either the biggest small boat or the smallest big boat that one person or couple can operate, but also have guests. We live on the Flybridge with its grill, fridge, ice maker, table/eating area. I only drive from inside when it’s raining.

I thought I wanted a trawler until I learned I could go trawler speeds at good fuel burn - but also go 20+kts to cross Gulf Stream or take a day out of the trip from S Fla to Key West when I choo$e to $pend for $peed.

I have a 2007 Pama- nobody has heard of them- but I’m Hull 11, it has Volvo D-9’s and great layout/bones. I’ve upgraded electronics, rebuilt the davit / and converted an office into a bunkroom - and it has been great over these last 2 years which has includes 78 days travel And close to 300 hours. It’s sort of like the Hyundai Genesis: very high fit and finish, but it’s not a Mercedes or BMW. Cast a wide net, but lots of good boats like this in SFla

Look for great engine room access, check to see all the hoses are labeled, wiring and electrical panel are accessible and sensible... and get a buyers agent and a great surveyor. I decided to stay away from pods, and I spent $$ installing a Yacht Controller to help me dock—It’s a marriage saver. It has 4.5” draft so good for Bahamas.

good luck in your search and PM me if you have specific questions.

Without a doubt a Sunseeker 52' or 55' Manhattan, given your criteria.

Having and loving my SF, the only downside is that the ladder is an inconvenience for entertaining. Maybe look for something that has stairs like a 45 Silverton. We also had a removeable (10 minutes) sunshade made for the cockpit which has really opened up our use of the cockpit in the blazing sun or heavy rains

I'll give you my pod view. I'd avoid Zeus because I don't like the ownership situation and lack confidence in them building a future. I see Zeus losing market share. I also don't see anything forward looking as while Volvo went up in size, Zeus remained constricted.

Now to Volvo. I would never select IPS if there were two otherwise equal choices. However, I would not say no to a boat just because it had IPS.

The problem is that I never saw the problem to be solved. I'm fine with shafts. I'm fine docking. Besides now you can get joystick systems for conventional drives. As to the efficiency and performance, it's overstated as it's not the high improvement on most boats. You hear numbers like 35% and you see numbers like 10-15%. Offset that with higher maintenance costs and you haven't gained much. Also, note that the IPS advantages are not through the entire performance and power spectrum and at various speeds there is no advantage.

Now, that said, some day I'll probably own a boat with IPS as that will be the only way the boat I'm dying to own comes. I'll be ok, just not excited about it.

We did a careful comparison before buying our Sunseeker Manhattan 65 a few years ago. We chose MAN 1200's over Man 1000's and over IPS. However, the Manhattan wasn't originally designed for IPS. It didn't take advantage of the potential of space savings. It had more draft with the pods. There are other boats out there designed from bottom up for IPS and carefully matched and developed. There IPS is far more likely to demonstrate advantages.

You can get skyhook features, Dynamic Positioning, without pods.

I disagree with Olderboater on this one a bit, he doesn't have a lot of first hand experience with pods. I've put thousands and thousands of miles on pod boats without any issues. You cannot get dynamic positioning on yachts that don't have pods that will last more than a few minutes. Thrusters (on production yachts anyways) aren't designed to be run for an hour on end to keep dynamic positioning. The fuel economy savings are there, I've seen any where from 25-40% on a twin engine installation over shafts...…..best being a 40' Cabo express 33 knots @ 45 gph, with 600hp zues Versus 32 knots @ 62 gph with 800 mans......There are many other benefits to pods, no smoke/fumes, very little vibration, more range, better turning, especially at slow speeds, and more interior room. Are they more maintenance, a little, it depends on how they're maintained...….If you prop speed your traditional running gear......you still have to change cutlass bearings sometimes......If you're using the boat, then the fuel savings easily pay for the maintenance. I like the pods in a twin engine installation. More than 2 pods, would be a hard NO from me, you lose the fuel savings and have 3 of everything to maintain.....

In the beginning I preferred Zues, still prefer it, except would not recommend someone purchase it. Zues seemed to have everything more integrated than Volvo. Better electronics display, more information, the joystick was more precise, could go from helm to joystick without pressing and holding a access button, the joystick doubled as being able to shift the autopilot a degree at a time, etc. I preferred the Cummins engine over Volvo. Herein lies the problem...….Zues was/is CMD (Cummins Mercruiser Diesel) and a partnership between Cummins/Mercruiser/and ZF. Cummins supplied the engines, zf the gear and upper pod, mercruiser the electronics and lower unit. Seemed like everyone punted or want to punt the football when it came to warranty issues. Also, does not seem like any of them are interested in keeping the program going, which is the only reason I'd go Volvo over zues.

Volvo IPS, everything is in house when it comes to a warranty issue and they have upped the size/hp of the pods and bridged the gap when it comes to precision. In a lot of boats where they can use 2 pods, the pod option makes a lot of sense over shafts...….

How did we get stuck on pods? Isn't the OP asking for general advice on SF?

Because the OP asked for opinions on pods in post #7.

Sure, but that's a subset of questions, see #1 Just saying...I guess others will chime in on vessel and accommodation insights

NO, the OP asked about pods in post #7. And, he's asking about advice on a flybridge MOTORYACHT.

He says a "used flybridge" Anyway I think he is looking for more general info on flybridge vessels than just propulsion. No need to reply, I'm standing down.