The real difference in sea worthiness of motor yachts

The projected curve (based on others built) is actually much like our Riva's. At idle, .52 nmpg, then .38, .33, .21, .19, .16, .15, .14. That is with all engines engaged. From 45 to 54 knots, very little difference as those last three numbers represent. Sea Trials not too far away. Then shakedown cruise after. Just don't know if we'll then be able to cruise in Europe this year.

Yes, 2 little Jabsco Parmax 4 pumps in series. Pressure switches would go bad on them and they'd build up enough pressure to launch a rocket too.....combined with crappy relays........Changed several of them on the same Prestige......

The bulkheads are glued with some epoxy putty........the interior woodwork is simply glued together with a liquid nails type substance. I've had some scary moments in a 50' Prestige and 2-4' off of the stern quarter and it was verrrrrrryyyy interesting, but had another experience in that boat, taking spray over the flybridge but not too terribly rough, but started getting pretty unstable......checked the flybridge and it's a 10-12" step down and it was absolutely full to the brim with sea water because Prestige only put 2 drains in the front of it..........

Aha, 3/4M did sound low for a new boat.
Well, "low" relatively speaking, of course...

Yeah, I can imagine.
The pandemic situation is still rather hit and miss at the moment, with occasional improvements followed by some new hotspots/variants, often out of the blue. The regional classification (white/yellow/orange/red, intuitively with increasing restrictions, based on updated statistics) is currently reviewed on a weekly basis, and Tuscany is currently orange, but how it will look like in a few months is pretty much anyone's guess.
Impossible to add anything at the moment, aside from wishing you (and the builder, of course!) good luck.

Well, that is indeed crappy stuff, I must admit.
No big deal to replace the Jabsco chinese stuff with a proper Gianneschi pump and forget about it for the next 40 years, anyhow...

Yeah but then all of the PEX plumbing is mostly unsupported so when running in say a 2-3' sea, one of the fittings somewhere in the bilge will start spraying and before you know it, the water tanks are empty. I've had this happen on several of them on deliveries. A pain if you're running somewhere to anchor for the night and then realize you have no freshwater.......or in the Bahamas where you're paying $0.40-50 a gallon for fresh water.

I've been there with copper plumbing put in by a previous owner and not supported. The fitting at the hot water heater broke and we had a mess plus needed a new hot water heater. If I was looking at a new boat and saw the PEX wasn't supported I'd leave right away.

Any tubing or wiring must be adequately supported but it's an area where many manufacturers see a chance to cheap out without being noticed until something goes wrong. At least PEX has some flex to it where with copper you're dealing with soldered joints.

I guess if a builder does not support water PEX piping properly we could assume they are doing this to save money, as in labor mostly, right?
I am not a penny pincher by nature, not saying that is ideal, but do we think that builders don't support the PEX (as a good example for this discussion) because they don't know how to do it properly instead? Na.

Does the builder sit down and say, "well we could support this PEX tubing with hangers or tie downs everywhere, or we could save $300 in parts and big money on labor hours and get this boat out the door and no one will know".

I fear it is the buyer beware and buyers don't know what they don't know. How do I know that? I was a very green buyer for my first boat or two. Not saying I was robbed but I did not know PEX tubing should be hung/supported every X inches.

"save $300"? Many in business try to save a half cent. I had a friend who owned a mail box company and he got all excited about a 1/4 cent saving. When I'd look over boat for potential buyers things like this are what would catch my attention knowing that if the manufacturer cheeped in the little things look out for the big ones you can't see.

I got PEX on my boat, no problems so far, but had no idea about support requirements, or that a builder would cut corners on basics just to save a few shekels, and in the long run, screw the owner(s).
(Would not buy a boat with a bad build reputation in the first place, but many do)

I was told that Prestige builds a yacht from start to finish in 4-6 weeks. Now think about that.

Jake

Good advice on this thread; you can only learn by cruising/spending time aboard ...and then realize what you missed because you you “didn’t know what you didn’t know”. Look at all those , but don’t be afraid of getting something older if we’ll maintained.

I’m a similar story; long term Midwestern -drove wakeboard boat and 3 years ago I bought a 2007 (1,000 hour) Pama54’ Flybridge M/Y that had right bones and layout, but not everything I wanted. But I’ve improved it each year and have learned what is liveable for my needs and the “Admirals” needs.
First I converted the office into a bunkroom. Functional and it’s great for sleep, but no one is going to hang out in it. I added a water maker for Bahamas, a really functional bimini, had the crane motor overhauled. I installed a Yacht Controller which is a marriage Saver, and the best upgrade/- over COVID I had a Anti Roll Gyro stabilizer installed —I’m about to do a post on this/- and it’s a game changer. Awesome. I’ve done all these things slowly over the last 3 years because now I sort of maybe know more what I need.

other things I really like is our onboard washer and drier: we do simple loads every day and dry the towels. I love my functional crane/davit that I can put my tender up and down. We make one of the chocks removeable so we have a great lounge sundeck at anchor. I was puzzled why my freezer was so big, and now I know. You generally transfer frozen to the fridge.

I too had grandiose plans on big cruises- now I find simple is better than complex. we really like the ICW, Anchoring out in Biscayne Bay, doing the mini Florida loop to Keys, up to Naples, Ft Myers and over the Okochobee Waterway. These are simple trips you and your guests will love that are pretty weather friendly, provisioning friendly and accessible. This year my plans are to go up to Long Island Sound /Nantucket. And maybe the loop some year since I can get under the 19,2” bridge in chicago.

I love the Bahamas and can get there.. my most favorite trip was to the Abacos before Dorian. Plan in Exumas next....but the complexity of window weathers to cross the Gulf Stream —OR CROSS BACK- are hard to schedule. Growing up in Missouri there is still a little trepidation about open water crossings. Now when we go I take the boat over with my old Captain and we get boat to Nassau and my wife and our guests fly in.

I love the fact I can cruise @ 18kts @ .54Nmpg to cross but can do 7kts at almost 1.75Nmpg.

Last; yes you need, and will want, a Captain and someone who manages the ongoing care and feeding. This is your best $$ spent . Driving a boat isn’t hard: docking a boat in cross winds and currents surrounded by Millions of dollars of other yachts is the most stressful part of your day. But you have to do it to learn it. I now have 350 hours on this boat, and consider myself functional, but any open water crossing I have him come along. It was 7 months before I took my first trip up the ICW without him.

I now have a 3 stateroom, stabilized, functional, comfortable and maintainable vessel that is better than what I started with. I’m writing this from the flybridge over morning coffee @ Sunset Harbor, heading up to Bahia Mar today— yesterday anchored out off Key Biscayne, and it’s a good life.

Clearly not the roughing it type and several things you mentioned that are really worth emphasis.

First the word "livable". If you like to cruise then it's a home to you and some of the conveniences of home are critical. The following things you mentioned cease being optional and become necessities.
-Water Maker
-On board laundry equipment
-Freezer capacity
-Stabilization
-Easy up and down with tender
-Yacht controller

Boating is leisure, recreational, vacationing. Now if one just loves working on their boat, even more than boating then doing it all oneself is fine, but most of us want to enjoy boating, not working on boats. That's where you're appreciative of what your captain does for you. That's where yacht managers and captains prove themselves. You can then work as little or as much as you wish. That's also where you know when you're ready to cruise the boat will be. It's amazing the problems that develop on a boat not in use, but nice to have someone else discover them and contact you and arrange to have them fixed if not something they do themselves.

Olderboater hit on a lot of good key points. But I'd also add shower size, toilet size and comfort to the list.

Jake, for what you are describing in a MY i would look at the 52 Princess FB. Quality yacht and you can probably pick one up in that price range. I looked at this in a 2017 and was impressed. I didnt go with a Flybridge because of the same reason you said about driving the boat alone. We cruise a lot and the predator with the drop down transom glass is virtually an open boat when needed. I think the Prestige is a price point well below the euro boats. They are great designs but my marina tells me they arent built with quality components. Not sure if you would consider an older fly bridge Searay. 52 or 58 sedan bridges made up until 2012 are the best they ever made. And you will save at least 400k. Stick with Conventional drives if you can. If pods I would not touch a Zeus Boat, only VOLVO IPS.