Galeon dilemma

Don't have anything for you other than.... "Must have some serious AC power to keep that hot house cool......"

I don’t have any experience about Galeon but my convern about new to our market boats goes beyond dealer support

It s more about getting a boat that is designed for the US market down to what seem like details which make a difference. Things like rub rails for our marina slips and pilings. Be able to board from the sides of the boat, either from finger piers or when tied along side. Most European build boats are set up for med mooring, fenders no piljngs and stern mooring

Power, air con, galley space, water tanks, clear placements. I ve seen way to many stylish European boats that are impractical.

Right after I posted the above, I saw a Galeon 650 pass by while docked at BIM Big Game. Sure enough... no way to board on the sides due to the lack of gate and rail opening.

Plain stupid.

But I bet the salesman pointed out all the cup holders and flat screen TVs

I was being sarcastic about the TVs and drink holders but personally that s way down the list

A few years ago, a brand new Sunseeker showed up in the next slip.... new owner, all proud. Couple of days later he showed up in the evening with a few friends. No optional passerelle which wouldn’t have worked because of transformer on the dock anyway. So they all have to board from the fixed finger pier. Took 10 minutes for the friends to get on board because Sunseeker isn’t know about the need to board from the side and the ladies had to hike their tight skirts up and crawl and slide over the stylish side bulges... one of them almost ended up in the drink

And luckily it was night time because short skirts on charcoal grey outside cushions must be real painful. I m sure it works well in rainy England ...

You're absolutely correct about the new Sunseeker line. It's one of the worst yachting lines in this regard. None of their boats accommodate side-entry. What's unusual is you'll almost never read about this obvious shortcoming even in the boating magazines that are US based. They're great boats but just aren't designed for the US market.

Here is a boat load of five new Galeons that went up the Welland Canal last week.

Galeon vs Prestige dilemma.

Both have good designers. Build quality of Prestige is average and have been reported that some of the stringers do go lose on some of there boats if beaten in some tough stuff.
Also interiors of Prestige are a bit lose, and often referred to in Europe as the Ikea boat. Google Ikea and you will understand.
Galeon really improved quality in the last ten to fifteen years. Fit and finish improved as did the looks. They have an identity to them nowadays.
Build quality is reported to be very good on some of the recent models or less recent models.

But saying all this, I have a lot of concern for the 510 and new similar models with the opening bulkheads and fully glass flybridge.
I am not sure how all this stuff handles all the bad weather. I would personally skip it if I want a cruiser to do some nautical miles with that 500 to 1000 nm a year cruise.
As even in the best reports in a fortnight cruise you are always bound to get a day or two of bad weather in the best of them.

Most all of the European motoryachts are this way in regards to boarding, not just Sunseeker. American ones are too, it's just the American ones come with a boarding ladder already fitted. I've had a single step made by Marquipt in the past that was over size, worked really well and light and easy to put on compared to their heavy boarding ladders. But either way, I see this as a moot issue as it can be resolved aftermarket, just like many other use issues on a yacht. I've even had the fiberglass hull side cut and reglassed on a motoryacht with side doors installed, this was a Canadian yacht.

Boats are not that unique. You can’t think of them as cars.

You have specialists who will work on the various systems... air con, engines n trannies, general yard tech for running gear, steering, electronics, electrician...

None of these systems are unique to Galeon or whatever boat you pick.

This, all builders use parts and systems that are from various venders. Yes, they do have a few unique parts, like Prestige uses circuit boards for various electrical systems, but in general the parts are pretty universal. However there are various grades of quality of these parts like water pumps and such. Have you considered looking at used boats from better brands?