Newbie Needs Advice on a Power Yacht

1. Will I be able (with training) to navigate the 68ft yacht by myself?
Depends how competant you are.

2. Should I buy new or slightly used?
Depends how sensitive you are to cost versus customization.

3. What are the approximate maintenance (Docking/Port Fees, Fuel, Insurance, etc.) costs for the type of yachts in question?
Depends where and how much you use your boat. A new boat will be covered by warranty but will have bugs to work out. Most of the first year expenses will be usage based.

4. Is there anything I should be aware of about Azimut and Feretti boats?
Newer Azimuts are much better made. Ferretti in my humble opinion are over priced with inconsistent quality within the boat.

5. Should I go for a bigger boat, like 78ft?
Insurance maybe the determining factor on the size. Given your limited experience you may not be able to get insurance.

6. What else should I consider before deciding to buying a boat?
Take a boating course.

Hello,


I'll try to provide some answers early on, but I would advise you to wait for the 'senior' members of the forum to respond to your query. You will surely get more helpful answers in time.

1. A motor-yacht longer than 50 ft. will be needing a crew. To begin with, think about the docking procedures. Will you be the cook, the person who does all the cleaning (including the head(s) ) in addition to being the skipper? There are many tasks you will need to do for maintaining livable conditions and to guarantee reliable operations.

2. I would personally go for a new one. You never know how a previous owner has treated his/ her yacht. For example the engines might have been over-worked for some reason.

3. 10% of the sale price of a new yacht is generally a good figure for the running costs. As its gets older, the maintenance costs will increase geometrically. Secondly, almost every marina has its own website with an approximate berthing fees listed in it. You should be able to calculate the approximate cost depending on how long the yacht would be docked there. Fuel costs depend on your usage. You could obtain insurance quotes very easily, just research the related companies and send them a request for an estimate.

4. I would strongly recommend having a sea-trial for both brands. Contact your local dealer so they could arrange one for you.

5. A 78 ft. motorboat would bring an increase in displacement and volume as well. I am not sure what your needs are. Are you qualified to operate such a vessel?

6. A few personal thoughts on your last remark would be as follows: Try to charter the vessel you would like to buy, I am sure that you find many Ferretti yachts available in the Mediterrenean. Speak to an owner who has experience in owning a similar yacht. Do not trust the photographs that you see in catalogues and magazines. Please go and inspect the yacht for yourself thoroughly and compare your choices in a detailed way.

Regards,
vr

I have owned an Azimut and 2 Ferretti boats, the last one being a Ferretti 68. My contribution to you would be as follows:

1. Will I be able (with training) to navigate the 68ft yacht by myself?
I have been boating over 15 years and I would still think that you would need crew on a boat of this size, or some very experienced help.

2. Should I buy new or slightly used?
You should buy 2nd hand to avoid loss of value in your 1st buy, unless you have a very good background of chartering several boats in the past or during the process. Short term; daily; charters may not give you the essence to decide what is good for you. You have to live on the boats for a while. New boat looses nearly 20% 1st year. When you are sure what kind of a boat you want, you can go and order a new boat to your liking.

3. What are the approximate maintenance (Docking/Port Fees, Fuel, Insurance, etc.) costs for the type of yachts in question?
Although everyone indicates 10% of the new sales value, this will very much depend on your fuel consumption, your location and fees for the berth and your crew expenditures.

4. Is there anything I should be aware of about Azimut and Ferretti boats?
Ferretti used to be better in quality and I believe still is when compared to Azimut. I do agree with one of the previous comments that they are overpriced. I also suggest you look for alternative makes as well. There are several other brands which may be as good in quality and cost less.

5. Should I go for a bigger boat, like 78ft?
Depends very much on what you want, but I have certain size brackets of my own consideration and I have moved up within these brackets, always targeting the smallest in size within the same bracket.

40-50 feet 2 cabin layout
50-65 feet 3 cabin layout
65-80 feet 4 cabin layout

So, 68 feet will more or less provide the same facilities as a 78 footer, of course with some more space. They will all have 3 dining areas (salon, aft deck and flybridge), berths for 8 (I think 8 is too many even on a 90 feet boat for long periods), 2 sun bathing areas (foredeck and fly), similar range (approximately 300 miles for planing boats), crew quarters.


6. What else should I consider before deciding to buying a boat?

You should consider what you want to do;
- are you going to spend a lot of time on the boat,
- how many people will be onboard most of the time,
- what distances you want to cover and at which speed (a planing boat is good for short distances, but when you travel long distances it is like a car, everybody somehow has to sit, moving around is not very handy),
- how long are you planning to keep the boat (a common brand may be easier to sell),
- what kind of fuel consumption you are able to pay for (a planing boat is not good below planing speed - say minimum 17-18 knots for the 68's you're considering. You will be burning around 200-240 liters per hour at that speed).

My wife and I run a 62 footer ourselves. This past year we operated it over 1500 nautical miles. We are stepping up to an 85 footer -- which is really huge -- that we will be running ourselves. We don't want to have crew either. This is more common in the United States than in Europe.

We met a lot of people running large boats by themslves. An older couple we met had a 95 footer that they ran without any crew.

If you are competant, plan ahead and prepare before docking, a large boat can be handled by two people.

I would also recommend getting a wireless yacht controller. This allows you to move around the boat to get the best sight lines while being able to control the helm and thrusters.

Maintenance and cleaning, of course, is outsourced!

You might want to look at this boat before you buy;

http://www.advancedyachts.com/panther64.html

Nilo has a good suggestion to buy a yacht slighlty used. Since you have not had a lot of time on other yachts, you have not been able to learn from experience what features will work best for you. Like many buyers in that price range, it is harder to make a decision about which yacht to buy, rather than to write the check. If you find out that you want to go larger, or smaller, after a year, the cost of getting into the boat and getting out of it will be less.

Besides a hull survey, an engine survey will tell you a lot of how the engines were used, if that is your main concern. They can be hooked up to a technician's computer and you can get a readout of how many hours they were run at different loads, if they overheated, or showed other fault alarms. Extended warranties are available for the engines, but if the boat is only a year or two old they will still be covered under the original warranty.

Your insurance company may require crew on board for the first six months or longer. Find a good captain, and tell him the idea is for him to teach you enough that you will not need him in six months.The most important thing is to fall in love with the boat you are buying!

Rethink this, rethink this, rethink this. 68 foot is way too big for a newbie. You absolutely want a captain for the first several years. You can still "drive", but you'll need him when the s--- hits the fan weatherwise, windwise, seawise and mechanically, etc. etc. WHICH IT WILL eventually. It could make the difference between solvency and bankruptcy AND living or not. Your relationship with a captain will be more like friends, so look at personalities as well as experience. Look for a 100GT captain on at least his 2nd issue (over 5 years experience) Less than 100GT lacks experience; over that and he probably works commercial boats which may make him a little rough around the edges.
In today's market you could pick up a 4 or so year old boat with less than 500 hours for 1/3 to 1/2 the price of new and that's just broken in. Be sure to have it surveyed of course, and plan on swapping out the electronics for more UTD stuff, but don't go crazy for the latest/ greatest that will just mezmerize you and leave you playing video games instead of being able to actually use it.
Your captain doesn't have to be full-time if you can't afford. I manage a few
boats (Not a solicit- I'm not available) which means I get a monthly base fee then charge by the day. We schedule the season in advance which gives the owners incentive to use the boat more than they normally would. It's a good idea to line up the captain before buying the boat to have him help you seatrial. He'll be looking for things that the surveyor won't such as fit & finish, seakeeping abilities, and other things geared toward your comfort.

I had a 50 foot Fairline till very recently, now a 80 foot Fairline, the Squadron 78. I had a Captain and deckhand for the 50 foot, but was able to to take charge easily of the boat on my own and did that very often leaving the crew behind.
I have the RYA Day Skipper Practial Motor Cruising certificate and the International Certificate For Operator of Pleasure Craft, the ICC which allow you to navigate boats up to 80 feet.
The 80 foot boat is not 30 foot larger than the 50 foot, it feels and seems much bigger in size......it's huge and safely taking charge of an 80 foot vessel takes at least a couple of years of experience. You must have a qualified Captain on board. In addition, the insurance company will refuse to insure your boat if you or your Captian do not have the necessary experience. They will ask for a CV and the name of the Captain or person in charge of the vessel will be stated on the policy.
I would also suggest that you look at other makes. Fairline and Princess are also excellent brands.

reply to rimini

And you have a look for a yachts also abroad.
Taiwan is moving up.
Yachts under construction: Italy hold first place, second is USA, and third place belong to Taiwan.
One nice 70' model come out forom Taiwan shipyard TC next months. And will be displayed in May at Sanctuary Cove boat show.
Dubai boat show is just close the door. Palm Marine yard is one with the potential.

Sending you a PM.

68' is way too big to handle without crew unless you have a good amount of experience running a 50' +. Why would you not want crew? Do you want to spend all of your time glued to the helm or washing the boat down or in the engine room fixing things, while your guests are enjoying your yacht? Do you know how to properly maintain a 68' yacht AND fix anything that might disable the yacht underway? Also, what is your intended usage going to be?

I'll try and give my short and sweet answers to this: (I'm also making a couple of assumptions on your ownership experience and level of experience on the water)
1. Yes, in time. right out of the box, no. Certainly not with your insurance companies blessings. And even after years of experience, you'll want at least a deck hand.
2. Used.
3. Pencil in $1,000 per foot per year. Adjust as needed.
4. They're Italian. You'll need to own one to understand the love / hate relationship you develop with the boat.
5. No. Not if you plan to solo.
6. Crew and a Captain to spend a fair bit of time with you on the boat. Charter before you buy. Read, ask questions, read some more, train yourself, test your training, rinse / repeat.

I'm just now realizing this thread was from 2008.
Perhaps null and void at this point.

It's funny, I've done this a few times also.....One person responds to a thread that's several years old, then everyone sees it in their new threads section and starts responding and re-ignites a thread that's no longer valid.

Yeah, but our new member TommyHolly could use some info. I've communicated with him via PM. If anybody knows a surveyor or a captain for a days work out in the Chicago area they'd recommend pass it along for him.