Coupes off the Marquis Site

Have you looked at Cruisers Yachts Cantius line of coupes? The exterior styling is subjective but I've found the brand to have a solid build quality, particularly for the type of cruising it sounds like you'll be doing. They are feature-rich and, from what I've seen, generally good fit and finish.

Azimut also make a nice small Coupe 40S, similar to what the Marquis was offering but a bit smaller and with shafts.

The Marquis 420 SC was a competitor to the Azimut 43 S, both of them fitted with Volvo IPS500 or 600. The difference was that the 43 S had a second head, the Marquis did not. I prefer how the Azimut rides, by looking at them from a distance.

If you want something similar and new you can also look at Absolute (if you have a dealer in your area), they just launched a 45 STY coupe, and is a very interesting design with two large cabins.

Tiara makes a very well built boat, but I have heard there coupe run on the wet side, not a problem I think if you will be hard-top covered, just put on the wipers.
Sunseeker offer the 40 Portofino and 50 San Remo, Fairline offers the V39 and V48, and Fairline 38 Targa and 48 Targa. The problem here is that the forty footer models have stern drives and the large ones IPS. I think you want to stay around 13 meters?

Another nice boat to look if you want a coupe would be the Rivera 4400 SY, now in Series II version with large side windows. If you like the Tiara you should like this.

I think Marquis is missing the boat by removing the Coupes since the design is more or less the same, as the 420 and 500 flybridge versions.

Like your self analysis and potential boat use reality.
Have you considered the French boats from Prestige? Many in your size range and I know Sundance Yachts in Portland OR and Seattle WA are dealers here in the PNW. They seem to be marketed and built to your desired use. Of course, you have to say wow when you see them. Beneteau is making some slicker looking boats under the Monte Carlo name that may be worth a look see too.

Yes, I pointed out Carver was down to 4 models and since that post they've further reduced it to 3.

Well, Parmentier just became CEO in April. Moved over from Larson but he's a previous Sea Ray man. Carver is now much like Meridian in terms of line. Who knows what the future holds for Marquis and Carver. I don't see a very pretty picture currently though.

Tiara

We sold our Tiara 39 Sovran this spring. I liked the build quality of the boat and she met our needs well (couple with golden retriever and no kids). We cruised it extensively (200hrs/yr) around the great lakes in all sorts of weather. The drop curtain and dual 16k btu heat/ac units extended our season up here a lot. The boat was a little wet, however with full glass and the hardtop, it was not a concern for me. The negative of the Sovran line for me is the bulbous hull design. As, other mfg's have done (cruisers etc), in an effort to gain more interior volume as a cruising boat, they made the hull a little bulbous which makes the boat a little rough in a head sea. I have run the 43 Sovran numerous times and although still present, the added few feet does help the ride in a head sea. In the relatively protected grounds that you cruise in, this may be a non-issue.

Depending on your budget, the new 50 or 44 (being released this fall) in my eyes are a home run from a hull and layout prospective. They are constructed on the hulls Tiara built their name on (open/convertible) yet have a cruising layout. The only drawback for me personally is I'm not in a huge hurry to buy another Volvo powered boat and will likely end up with a 42 or 43 open over the winter.

Well if you really like the Azimuts, then buy one and just accept the cost of maintaining it as the cost of ownership....A lot of people do like them........It's like comparing the maintanence of a Corvette Z06 to a Ferrari F430.

Volvo's are good motors when they're good. Parts are expensive. But I've had several Volvo's that would just overheat and it took a ton of parts changing to find out why......one of them we never could and it turned out to be in the fuel injection system.......

Do you like the Lobster boat look, e.g. MJM Yachts? (Or look at this thread for a lot of other brands.) That's the sort of thing I'd go for and I think it'd be pretty practical in our weather.

As another practical matter, how big are you looking at? It's been a while since I worked at Heather, the biggest slips there are, what, 40-something feet? There are some bigger slips across False Creek, I suppose. If you're mostly gonna putt around English Bay and sometimes cross the Strait, I'd keep it to something small and managable.

I think you said you're not keen on sportfishers... but there's a decent-looking Viking 47' listed on craigslist, moored on the north side of False Creek. I've seen it from the seawall and it looks pretty good to me.

The IPS system is very efficient and extremely helpful at times. There were evenings when we were being blown off our finger pier by sustained 28kt winds and I just sort of chuckled as we untied and headed out to dinner on the boat... something I wouldn't have likely done with traditional propulsion in this boat. However, without derailing this thread too much, I had an issue with 1 motor(not drive) just out of warranty that was pretty well documented that it was likely a mfg defect. Tiara was first class the whole way through and engaged Volvo at the highest levels that they could. Volvo entertained the situation for a bit, shotgunning parts at it (not covering labor) until an engineer friend and I using a mill in his shop, demonstrated that the bracket they were saying was incorrect was in fact the same as the new one they sent and the likely cause was a block that was drilled incorrectly from the factory which needed to be shimmed. At that point they "opted not to participate any further". I think the engineering behind the system and the technology are impressive, I just personally had a bad experience with Volvo and how they handled my situation, and am not in a hurry to have to work with them again. Tiara on the other hand has been a class act. I've pretty much had a rep there on speed dial with a myriad of questions and they were always willing to help. YMMV...

Here is your best non-frumpy boat for BC bay cruising, weekending, and flat out having fun. I do own a formula 26 bowrider and can vouch for the design and workmanship. This might be my favorite big day boat on the market.
Formula 400 Supersport.

BLACKFISH MARINE (Vancouver, BC)

This would be my choice in your local market for a more weekend cruiser: Formula 40 PC
BLACKFISH MARINE (Vancouver, BC)

Looks like the PC is sitting next to a Marquis that you may like too!
have fun!

Formula builds a quality boat. I think their 45' IPS boat is a nice boat as well.... and one to look at. My preference is Zues over IPS, but wouldn't knock IPS either.....I just prefer the way Cummins deals with warranty issues and parts availability in the U.S. over Volvo.

Prior to buying our last boat, we had our hearts set on a formula 40 or 45. Their quality is fairly good, the boats do perform and I liked that you can get a hydraulic platform from the factory which wasn't available on the Sovran. The boat fell short for us in a few areas: One, even on the 45, the walkways down the side are extremely narrow which made me a little nervous having my wife hang fenders and attach lines. The salesperson was quick to point out the walk-through windshield, however in reality fenders and lines still need to go down the side. Along with this, up near the bow pulpit, the deck slants downward as opposed to being molded flat or recessed like a lot of other boats for additional safety. Lastly, aside from running with full canvas on (if its even safe/possible),there didn't seem to be a good way to attach any sort of drop curtain etc like on the Tiara that would allow us to easily climate control the helm area in colder WI Fall and Spring weather.

These were just our findings as we searched for boats in the 40-50' range. One thing that should be glaringly evident in this entire thread is that like a house every boat has trade offs and everyone has different things that are important to them when making a purchase. We were chasing quality and function all while staying within a fairly modest budget...

Max

Agree with the canvas tent being low on the desired list.

Tiara v. Formula totally different concepts and design goals. Tiara more fishing/rougher weather and Formula is all about lounging/socializing and sunshine.

BC more rough weather than sunshine, Tiara utility and not so sleek might fit the bill in those waters. I am not sure you can get passed the feeling of walking up to your Imron painted Formula compared to a stark white Tiara. Kind of bland. Not that bland is bad for fishing and rough weather boating.

Good comparison, but I have seen many later model Tiara's with a colored hull.....You can also have a hull painted on a 35' express pretty reasonably in the color of your choice......or for about the costs of paying someone to wax the hull for a couple of years........They are two different boats but both would probably serve his purposes......

You will like the bubble when you see you have enough headroom to stand. Another thought is a 40' Cabo HTX with Zues. Solid boat, solid performance and nice looking.......just get one without a tower......