Ferretti vs. Princess

I've been on various sizes of both. Check out the noise levels when running, in the salon and in the lower forward staterooms. I feel the Princess is quieter in the bow than the Ferretti. If doing any transit at night with guests on board that could be distracting. Aso compare sizes or crew quarters. And heed Pascal's comments.

Sunseeker is better than both. I'd go Sunseeker then a toss up between Feretti and Princess. Princess seems to be really popular but they're not as good quality wise as sunseeker and ride/performance on the Sunseekers is very good. Both Feretti and Princess have nuances I really dislike. Feretti it's the sills on each stateroom door that you always stubb your feet on, placement of light switches and headroom. Princess overall quality of some items in the engine room, access to things in the engine room, the vinyl by the front windshields goes to hell in 2 years, crew mattresses are extremely narrow, and seen a lot of issues with all of the late model ones I've run.

If you are buying new, I still think Ferretti is a bit better in the quality department then a Princess or Sunseeker. It is a small bit!

If you are buying used Ferretti was way better up until 2010, fuel de-centralizer as standard even on smaller boats of 14 meters in length let alone 80.
Double systems on many things. All and most systems in the engine room, then in some unseen compartment. You do not find this on Princess or Sunseeker.
Also Ferretti had Cross of Malta class certificate on designs on all the models up until 2005 (yes even the small 430) Sunseeker has only Cross of Malta on design over 24 meters Load Line certificate.

I think Princess and so more Sunseeker is like a lady with make up.

That is not to say that any of these are bad boats but the quality line is much more short nowadays, and if you start to put up the details you will find some good and less good things in all. Ferretti competitive in pricing to Princess, up until 2010 you used to pay a premium of 20%, and this used to show, if you understood quality.

To be honest at this stage I would start looking at a Sanlorenzo in that 80 to 90 feet size.

Just to add up a note some years ago I was captain in a 17 meter hard-top express and while doing the Ionian sea, upwind two Princess a five year old 78 came in and a newer like two year old 68 came in and all had the head-liner coming down the sea down-wind. I only lost a fender in two to three meter head seas going at an average speed of 17 knots.

Riva Flybridges draft is so excessive it excludes it from Florida, Bahamas, and a lot of the Carribbean in use.

As for San Lorenzo, you obviously have not spent any time on them. Their is ZERO oversight to the build. The subcontractors (interior builders, electricians, plumbers) do whatever the hell they want and put things wherever they want with zero regard to maintanence access. The interior builders cover up any access to things that need to be accessed and it's always by just 1-2". So half the interior needs to be taken apart to fix things.

On the one I manage, we had to have 2 interior woodworkers, completely disassemble the dressers on both sides of the stateroom to access the stabilizers to maintain them. Had the wood workers made the drawers 2" over, you could remove the drawers and take the waterproof lid off of the stabilizer boxes and not dissessemble anything. Close to 40 labor hours to remove and re-install all of the cabinetry. This is every 2 years!!!!

Thru hulls for deck and flybridge drains are under the water line on many of them, they have stainless piping on the inside bent with a 90 degree turn where it goes through the hull, you have to cut the stainless piping above the waterline and put hoses on them and hose clamps (now you have no barbs) just to remove the barnacles so that the decks and flybridge drain. Thru- hull side seacocks, and the pump guy installs a metal stand whose support is directly in front of the seacock handle so you can't get your hand on it, on both sides of the engine room. One is for the A/C discharge and the other for the black water discharge, both of those need to be opened or closed on a regular basis.

Hard piping spread out through the center bilge so that access to the bilge pump and float switch is blocked, even though it's on a nice removable bracket, yet won't clear the hard piping some idiot spaced every 6", instead of putting the 2 pipes close to the stringers, and third one next to one of the others.

Rear engine room bulkhead that isn't even square in the boat, the starboard side is a full inch or more forward of the port side, which makes the floor plates look real interesting when you look at the seam. Their solution just cut the floor plates at an angle to follow the crooked bulkhead.

You have to dismantle half the interior of a room to access maintenance regular items that fail.

How about putting in a ZF joystick system, yet mating it to an electric bow thruster on a 25 meter boat, so that the joystick system is useless because after 40 seconds the bow thruster cuts out and the system then becomes very dangerous. When ZF specifically requires a hydraulic one.

How about the holding tank pump out deck fitting, mounted sideways INSIDE the crew area INSIDE of the boat, and better yet, you have to valve and run the yachts blackwater discharge pump to pump it out, as the dockside pumpout won't suck through the boats black water pump because they plumbed it that way (really dumb), and if the banjo clamps on the dockside pumpout every come off or the tank is overfull, you'll fill the crew stateroom walkway with carpet, full of raw sewage, BRILLIANT. There are plenty of places outside of the inside of the boat they could have put it.

This is just 1 page in entire book of screw ups I've seen San Lorenzo do. If they simply had a foreman overseeing the builds, that knew boats, it would make a world of difference.

Before you speak about the quality of something, at least be on one and work on one.

As for the boarding the Sunseeker comment. There is a nice flat ledge down the entire bottom of engine room vents on them, that I can easily put my size 13 shoe in and lift my leg 2.5' over the hull side to board. Hatteras you can do this as well. Or, better yet the buyer should've opted for the side doors which is about a $10k option (Princess it's an option too). Sunseeker's are **** good sea boats, excellent ride, fast, stable, dry and fuel efficient. I just ran a 76' Yacht from Ft. Laud to Long Island, 21 knots is 85 GPH, 26-27 knots is 130 gph, plenty of fuel, inside the boat or crew you cannot hear the engines or generator running. Excellent sea boat, I've also run a 66' Manhattan, 52' Manhattan, 62' Predator, thousands of nautical miles each.........and have run some other models shorter distances.

Practice what you preach. A Riva is NOT a Ferretti or Princess either. Chest thumping? About what? displaying the truth of what I have come across?

Yes, I've mentioned that Sunseeker has had issues with gelcoat cracking in the past. The flaws Sunseeker has a very minor compared to the ones on Sanlorenzo and even Princess. As for Cabo, they were the best built/running diesel SF boats in their class. They set the bar, nobody on here would refute that. Just in modern boats between Princess and Sunseeker, under 8 years old, I've done long deliveries on a 52', 55', 2-62', and a 70' Princess. Sunseeker 52', 66', 76'.

I run 100 different boats a year, some 500 yards and many 50 nm or more. I have also managed/maintained 6-18 yachts at a time since 2003. I also have done 12,000-15,000NM's in deliveries every single year since 2004 as a Captain, and further back as a mate. I'm on A LOT of yachts from A LOT of different brands. Some brands a lot more than others. I have a very good idea of what's built well, what rides well, and what is a disaster. I speak from experience, not from an arm chair. In the past month or so, I ran a 62' Ft. Laud to Georgia, I go back and pick it up in Baltimore,MD on the 20th and run it back to South Florida. I also ran a 76' Sunseeker yacht Ft. Laud to Long Island, I pick that up in Mass on Sept 5th and run it back. I'm not a salesman, I'm a Captain with a ton of real world experience.

Sales Pitch anyone!

Drafts;
Sunseeker 88 Yacht = 2.12 m
82 Diva = 1.90** not official /* Riva 90 Argo = 2.15 m
Ferretti 860 = 2.08 m
Princess Y85 = not communicated 1.77 m according to one of the dealers
Sanlorenzo SL86 = 1.90 m / *SL90 1.93 m

* The Riva 90 Argo and Sanlorenzo SL90 are bigger yachts to the other four, semi-wide body design and raised pilot house, the others are not.
These two are more a competitor to a Sunseeker 95 Yacht draft of 2.13 m, then an 88 Yacht for example.
To be honest if you would have asked me with searching I would have said both Ferretti 860 and Sunseeker 88 Yacht I would have said 1.80 to 1.90 meters draft.
Ferretti and Riva data is to ISO8666. I am not sure about the others.

It's a resume of experience. When I comment on something, I have direct experience, not what I heard another Captain tell me, not what some guy down the dock told me, and not what I read on the internet.

LOL.

Hmmmm… and of course i love the San Lorenzo BGX70 lines for an owner operator boat…. Will start another thread for similar designs.