**I apologize in advance for the lengthy post and extensive question list. I appreciate that you won't have time to go through the whole thing but any experience would be of help. Thanks!** Good morning/afternoon to all, I'm new to the forum but acclimated to yachting. Been roaming around the East Med (Greece) waters all my life primarily with RIBs and with my last tool being an Axopar 37' SC. I am considering moving into a more yacht with more indipendence in terms of accomodation and one of the options I am considering is a Pershing 43'. She has been fully refitted in 2019 (mechanical refit included but engine hours not zero'd). In case you can spare some time to relay your experiences, I have the following questions: 1. Are there any particular mechanical/technical failings which are usual in this yacht which I should pay more attention to? If so, what are they? 2. What can I expect in terms of consumption figures? I am estimating around 250ltrs per hour at a cruising speed of 28kn. 3. How does this particular size and hull design fare in turbulent waters? The Aegean sea is not particularly forgiving and I do have a concern that the shallow draft and relatively flat bottom will not be very helpful, although I have seen a good amount of similarly sized Pershings around this neck of the woods. 4. What are the experiences of others in terms of maintenance costs? Given the full refit in 2019, I'm aware some costs might be mitigated, but I'm trying to get a clearer picture of annual maintenance expenses, especially when considering the harsh saline environment of the East Med. 5. How does the Pershing 43' handle in terms of maneuverability, especially in tighter marinas or docking situations? The Axopar 37' SC provided a great deal of agility, and I'm curious how much of a transition I should expect. 6. Considering the upgrade, what are the best practices for insurance and securing a berth in the more popular ports and marinas throughout the East Med? Any tips on navigating these logistics would be greatly appreciated. 7. Lastly, for those who have made similar transitions from smaller crafts to a yacht like the Pershing 43', what were some unexpected challenges or delights you encountered? Any advice or anecdotes would be incredibly helpful as I weigh this decision. Thank you in advance for your insights and advice. I look forward to becoming an active member of this community and contributing from my own experiences as well. Cheers, George
I have sold half a dozen Pershing 43's in the past. She is a great boat, very heavily build in her class (probably the heaviest at 19t) especially with the 12 liter Man 630hp engines, which makes her top 35 knots and cruise up to 30 knots if you want. Maneuvering in marina is as easy as it gets, with line shaft. Once you understand shafts you will hardly need the bow thruster. She is though totally different to your Axopar, and in maneuvering you will need not touch the wheel, and understand the powerful thrust of line shafts (learn how to paddle and turning and stopping with engines). You will also feel the Pershing a bit slow on speed turns, as her rudder is not the quickest in the category.
Define full mechanical refit. Don’t let yourself be fooled by such broad words. Were the engines rebuilt? In frame or full? How many hours total? Same question for the generator… what about air cons?
Good morning Liam and thank you for your reply. Your feedback is valuable and much appreciated. I have some experience with shafts as my father has owned several Bertrams while I was growing up (33' then 44.6' then 54' and finally 690) and I was given the opportunity to experiment every now and then with his supervision so I agree 100% with your assessment. Since you seem to have experience on these yachts, I wanted to pick your brain on another option - the 46' with the aft cabin. The primary difference, as I understand it, is the aft cabin and 3ft more in length otherwise same engine, same fittings. What do you make of the two in comparison and if you were to choose one to transition into this yachting category would it be the 43' or the 46'? Thanks again. Kind regards, George
Thank you Pascal - very good point. I have requested and full list of retrofits and refits. The engines were removed but not overhauled, they have around 1150hours each. Generator has around 2,500 hours - checked it myself. Hull/frame was not part of the refit. The owner removed all internal furniture and fittings (cupboards, flooring etc) repainted it with a gray-ish colour and put it back in its original place. This gives the yacht a newish feel and smell at least in the interior.
I'm also curious to hear Liam's view on this, but 'fiuaskme the 46 is the best shafts boat ever built by Pershing, bar none. And one of the very best in that type/size of boats. Not that the 43 is bad, mind. But imho, the 46 is better in all respects.
As you correctly say the 46 is the 43 with one meter more of length, which gives a third aft cabin, and a bigger sun-pad cockpit deck, with the hard-top also being extended and a bit redesigned. With this the 46 gets the Man R6 engines with 800hp versus the 630hp (same engine block but pre CR era) which are common to nearly all 43s. Both the 46 and 43 run extremely well, although the 43 has a better CoG and is one of the driest Pershing I have ever driven. I think the difference is more subjective if you need a third cabin or two cabins, also because the difference in price nearly doubles, although fair to say you will buying into a newer boat. If three cabins are important then I would also look for a 50 (with shafts and same engines), which has a preferred layout to me especially to what regards the cockpit deck.
thanks for your feedback, Liam. I’m tryung to find the best value between the three. At the moment the 43’ is at 250k, 46 at 300k and a 50’ at 340k. All built between 2004-2007.
The 50 is one of the hulls designed to work with either shafts or Arnesons, and as such is optimized for neither. I rest my case on the 46 being the best Pershing on shafts ever, but just in case you would like to scratch the itch of surface drives, then it's rather the 52 the boat to consider, imho.
The Pershing 50 launched in the fall of 2003 was designed first with surface drives, though as correctly you say she is not as good as the 52. In 2006 Pershing started offering the shaft drives version which has a hull modification (a box extension under the bathing platform), and makes it run extremely well. The 46 was also offered with surface drives, if I remember well I read that Pershing made four of them. The 50 and 50.1 I think is still the best sold Pershing ever like 120 hulls made, and nearly half of these are in shafts.
Good afternoon to all, I hope you have had a great Easter Break. I am happy to have proceeded with choosing a Pershing 52' built in 2002 with Arneson drives. She is fully refitted and my sub sea trial offers was accepted - sea trial scheduled for this weekend. Thank you all for your assistance and I will check back with a review in due time for whoever is interested. Regards
1050hp V10 powered, I wish you it is? Not because the alternative (base) powerplant, i.e. the 800hp V8, was bad - that's what I've got in my boat, BTW. But it was a bit stressed in the P52+Arnesons. If by chance you have this powerplant, you'd better keep the props religiously clean. Which is crucial with all surface drives anyhow, but even more when slightly underpowered...
One of the only Pershing 90s in North America (Frailech), the captain told us he was bingo fuel before he was out of daylight. Big MTU somethings... If the boat sat idle for more than a few summer days, the props had to be polished cleaned before his next run. He luved our diver and made reservations for Ollie way ahead of time in port (Jax). Can you imagine cruising in a sport 90 over 35 kts. WOT faster than 45 Kts. Learning from this, Those wheels have to be kept up and run often.
Hello all, Thank you for your notes. The boat is fitted with twin D 2840 LE 403 1,050bhp each. The props are furnished with Propspeed exactly because of the stories on fouling which I have been made aware of. Will revert soonest!
Good for you. To be completely honest, they aren't among my favorite MANs, mostly because they are fitted with the so-called EDC injection system, which was intended as the evolution of the old school mechanic injection, but was abandoned after just a few years with the full embracement of common rail, which is radically different. But having said that, since the P52 was only available either with the mechanic 800hp V8 or the V10 that you've got, the latter is unquestionably better suited for your boat and her surface drives. Just be sure to find a MAN mechanic with some experience also on these EDC engines, and you'll be fine. In fact, it's easier to find either white hairs chaps who know mechanical engines as the back of their hand but hate anything electronic, or younger guys trained on CR engines and only familiar with them, leaving a bit of a gap on the support of these sort of "transition" engines...
