Lol... no hard ons here.... when I say quality I mean out of the factory. Hull, wiring, electronics etc... the person putting all this together/quality control is also part of all this. What does it say about azimut or any other boat that's paint/gel coat is crazing after 5 years despite cleaning and waxing etc at normal intervals... just trying to find and alternative to a sf.... lime I said, I don't expect the same quality I have now but I also don't want a brand that produces POS out the door new and 5 years later needs paint etc..
I have been in the marine service end of things on & off. No, I can't afford to own a real big boat. I have worked on a few of them. I'm hoping a view from a service guy may help. In my dealings with other marine service guys, I do not think my impressions are far off. You will never get a schematic for a Mut. IMO, it is all ad-lib between the different crews that wire the boat up. It is all ad-lib between the different crews that install the A C equipment. Who knows what else is different between the install crews on anything else. Gelcoat and coring?? I have never been around any of these issues. There was a hull de-lam issue reported on YF, but I think (hope) that boat was dropped.
Frank correct me if I am wrong. I get the feeling you want to keep a minimum 25knot cruise. I think the Hatteras 64 MY will be real close. Also you would still be in a boat with 3412s. Last year of the 64 is 08 I believe. Don’t know if that would bother you. Then you have the 60 Hatt MY that was made up till 21 +/-. You would have a quality boat with a decent cruise speed with both of those boats. How about some of the Mark Richard’s Grand Banks? From what I hear Sunseeker is a quality boat that may have something you like. In styling department I am a traditionalist so I don’t have much knowledge on the European style boats.
Nope CR, I never owned one, and never will. Also, while it would be too harsh to say I hate them, one hand wouldn't be enough to list the Italian builders whose boats I like better. All I said in several occasions, simply because it's true, is that you don't become the world leader (by quite a margin!) in any industry if nobody like what you're selling. So, at AziBen they must know a thing or three about what buyers look for in a boat, whether I, you, and some other folks possibly more focused on the technical side agree or not. That's all.