Hard decision to choose a new yacht...

4 cabins plus min. 2 crew says you should be concentrating closer to the 30m.

Very sweet, although you're heading out of my field as my experience is mostly under 20 m. I used to captain a 60 Sunseeker for 2 summers. Fast, ran well and is an eye catcher, but she pounded in a head sea to the point that 7 ft. sent us inside and had the fridge dumping its contents. Same thing on smaller Sunseekers. On a 44 a 3 ft. chop turned me around. I'm also not thrilled with the helm which requires a foot box when sitting, or if you're short, that you have to get out of the way if standing (same problem with a 62 Fairline I now captain). As for the "technically advanced"; the toys are fun when they're working. I'm more inclined toward tried, true and simple. Less to break down, but I'm kind of old fashioned.

I recently helped my main employer choose a new boat. We finally chose a Viking Sport Cruiser. The main reasons were that 1) they are well built, 2) they have a history which makes them less likely to disappear next year, 3) and most important, they bore the Viking name (as opposed to Princess) which put major representation and parts inventory local.
He also bought a pristine boat with about 500 hours on it which had it just broken in (new-boat bugs already taken care of) and nearly 2/3's off the price of new. Food for thought. P.S. Get more opinions and education before you hit the shows in ernest. Brokers can be very persuasive. Also, you may want to look to the US for good deals due to our economy and the dollar, but if you go that route thoroughly check out the transport and electrical situations. Good luck.

Do you want to do something immediately? Palmer Johnson is a little bit more than 7 million Euro. I believe that the 120' Palmer Johnson is in the 14 million Euro range. The new Lazzara is awesome though with the IPS technology. Have you been on one yet? There is one currently for sale at 2.5 million Euro.

Heston

If you want a planning boat, regardless of the size you will end up pounding the seas when the wave height is anything above 1 meters in that size range. I had Azimut and Ferretti's in the past and I realized that the comfort and safety level was not up to my satisfaction, so I went for a semi-displacement aluminum boat, which can go up to 26+ knots, but cruises happily in most weather conditions and speeds and life onboard is quite different. On a planning boat when you are travelling, you sit down as if you are in a car and wait till you arrive your destination, but on a semi-displacement hull the life goes on in most circumstances. I have travelled all the way from Holland to the Norwegian fjords and back to Turkey last summer and had several occasions high and disturbed seas, but never felt vulnerable. In short, if you do consider a boat with a flybridge and flexibility of speed and comfort I may suggest my positive experience with Moonen.

No, I would prefer neither of them; because both of them have more or less the same hull design. These are planning hulls, sharp at the bow and relatively flatter at the bottom, so that they plane over the water to achieve higher speeds. When the seas get rough, the flat bottom pounds on the waves and hence they are not comfortable. In these conditions you cannot maintain a fast speed. As the speed is the major element in their stability the boat may be very uncomfortable at low speeds over the water. Whereas a semi-planing hull is a rounder bottom, especially in my case with a keel and the boat will tend to move better with the waves and in disturbed seas she will not pound on the waves. She can be relatively stable at slower speeds as well.

You might try looking for a captain that you feel comfortable with, buy a couple of days of his time to discuss the possibilities, limitations and advantages to narrow down your search. When you are truly ready to make a move put him on payroll to help search particular vessels. This will also give you a good opportunity to feel him out so you don't end up with a new boat and a captain you're not comfortable with. It will also put him in a position to hit the floor running on launch day knowing you, your expectations and dreams and the boat.

planning hulls

All the boats you've mentioned, Warren, Sunseeker, Pershing are planing hulls, as well as Azimut. I do not have a specific opinion about ISA.

I will give more details on your private massage folder.

Plan to make a trip to Mallorca and walk the docks. Find some yachts with crew, or even better with an owner on board, and tell them you are planning on buying a yacht and you want to get some first hand knowledge. Most yacht owners are proud of their yachts and like to tell anyone who will listen what they like about it and why they picked that one. The captains will have a lot of knowledge, and not only of that yacht that they are on at the time, but of previous yachts that they have run. They can give some great information about local cruising conditions that might help your choice.

It also makes a great weekend adventure to go yacht hunting without the concern about which one you will buy, if the price is right, and all that other stuff that you should be concerned about.

Hi Ohelbling and welcome to YF,

To date, Volvo's IPS system has been adapted by 95 independent boat builders with over 130 different models in production. The acceptance of these drives in such a short period of time is unprecedented. I think this speaks volumes about the technological merit, as well as the end user benefits, especially in comparison to traditional shaft & strut drives.

Take a look at YF's feature on the IPS for a closer look at the principles behind the system... Volvo Penta IPS

Believe it or not, I just bought a boat with the IPS engines. We were debating about them for a while. I actually was on a Lazzara LSX and they were great! In terms of AB Yachts, I personally do not know them that well. I have seen only a couple over here in the states if any. I know the Lazzara salesmen very well and they have been selling many of the LSX series in the 2 years they have been out.

Heston