Looking a the market for motor yachts up to £100,000 gives plenty of scope for options from older luxury yachts to more modern examples
A ton up, 100 bags of sand, a brick, 100K, call it what you will, £100,000 is a chunk of money to spend on a used boat even if, these days, it barely buys an outboard powered sportscuddy on the new boat market.
Fortunately, it still buys you an awful lot of secondhand boat, especially if you’re prepared to be a little brave, or just very hands-on and practical.
You can burn up the coast in a sleek muscle boat in the form of the evergreen British-built Sunseeker Superhawk 34. Or you could buy a stylish sports cruiser with a surprisingly large interior in the form of a Fairline Targa 39.
Live the 1980s dream aboard a 50ft Fairline, the flagship of the range back in 1989 when this one was launched! Or you can simply buy the most sensible boat in the world and trouser £10,000 toward the running costs.
We’re covering all the bases in this month’s column
Sunseeker Superhawk 34
Built: 2003
Price: £99,950
They really don’t build ’em like this anymore! Over then past 45 years Sunseeker has gradually evolved from a maker of predominantly high performance sportscruisers back in the 1980s, when its Hawk range ruled the roost, to a builder of ever larger luxury cruisers. The last true Hawks were the 1990s era Superhawks, comprising the 50, 48, 43, 40 and of course this beautiful 34 that launched in
1997 and ran until 2003.
You have to clamber over the original cream leather sofa to reach the bed in the forepeak
Interior
This isn’t a boat that you buy for the accommodation. But while a Fairline Targa 34 puts a Superhawk 34 to shame for interior space, that’s like comparing a BMW saloon with a Porsche 911 Carrera. This is the classic muscle boat layout, a double berth in the forepeak, a U-shaped hoop of seating aft of it and a small galley opposite a compact heads. However the finish is pure 1990s Sunseeker, polished cherry wood and cream leather – fabulous!
Exterior
The payoff is outside, because almost three decades on, this is still a spectacular looking boat. Low, lithe, curvaceous, it’s race-boat narrow and looks as though it’s doing 30 knots while still in the berth. There’s a big sunpad aft over the engines, a deep sheltered dinette opposite a wet bar and twin drop bolster seats at the helm plus a further seat to port.
Performance
Sunseeker offered a huge range of twin engine options. Twin V8 petrol engines of up to 8.2 litres and 500hp were popular in America and pushed the speed up to 60 knots. Mercruiser, Yanmar and Yamaha diesel engines were also available, with Volvo Penta’s KAD 40 series motors being the most popular. This being toward the end of the production run means it gets the largest of the KAD 40 series, the KAD 300 which produced 285hp for a 40-knot top end.
Slender beam means limited cockpit space but the pay-off is strong offshore performance
Seakeeping
Performance and seakeeping is what this boat is all about. The hull was penned by race boat designer and pilot, Don Shead. Deep vee, narrow beam and low profile, it’s a no-compromise hull designed for
high-speed performance.
Sunseeker Superhawk 34 specifications
Length: 37ft 2in (11.3m)
Beam: 10ft 2in (3.1m)
Draft: 3ft 9in (1.1m)
Displacement: 8 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 700 litres
Engines: Twin Volvo Penta KAD300 285hp diesel engines
For sale: Approved Boats
Beneteau Antares 30
Built: 2011
Price: £89,950
There’s a strong argument to suggest that if you simply want a really good family boat with minimal running costs then this could be the pick of the crop. Launched in 2009 at the Paris Boat Show, this is one of the most sensible boats in the world.
Forward owner’s cabin is fairly basic but scores well on space, practicality and natural light
Interior
Despite its compact dimensions at about 30ft long, Beneteau squeezed two cabins into the lower deck, a surprisingly generous owner’s cabin forward with a centreline double berth plus a second cabin with bunk beds further aft. It’s the perfect family combination, although those bunks are a full adult size.
There’s a heads down here as well of course, but the key to such generous lower deck accommodation for a 30ft boat is putting the galley in the saloon on the main deck, behind the helm seat. There’s a dinette opposite, and a neat forward-facing seat alongside the helm.
Exterior
Beneteau offered this boat as a flat-roofed coupé or as the flybridge version you see here. About 90% of UK boats (and about 75% worldwide) went out with the upper deck and it’s easy to see why because this is a really useful space, with its outdoor helm position and a small dinette area. A rather steep ladder links the flybridge to the aft cockpit where you’ll find further seating as well
as access to the side decks.
Performance
Initially supplied with a single Yanmar 6LY3 380hp engine, Beneteau later switched to using Volvo Penta’s D6-370 motor that this boat is fitted with. With only one engine to fuel and service powering a simple straight shaft drive, this is about as affordable to run and maintain as boating gets. Top speed is around 25 knots, making 20 knots a comfortable cruising pace.
Galley-up layout works very well given this boat’s compact dimensions
Seakeeping
Single shaft- drive boats can be a challenge to manoeuvre as you can’t vector the thrust like an outdrive or swivel the boat like a twin-engine installation, which is why the bow and stern thruster, unusual in a boat of this size, are welcome. On test, we said “Seakeeping is good, it doesn’t roll excessively and there are plenty of options for the crew, from the flybridge to the aft deck”.
Beneteau Antares 30 specifications
Length: 33ft 6in (10.2m)
Beam: 11ft 1in (3.4m)
Draft: 3ft 1in (0.9m)
Displacement: 5 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 375 litres
Engine: Volvo Penta D6-370 370hp diesel engine
For sale: Boats.co.uk
Fairline Targa 39
Built: 1996
Price: £89,950
When the Princess V39, first of the V Class boats, launched in 1994 it was a hit. Evolving through the V40 and V42, it ran until 2008 and sold over 500 examples. Now regarded as something of a classic, there’s one small detail that gets overlooked. Whisper it, Fairline’s Targa 39, launched a couple of years later (briefly badged Targa 38), was arguably a better boat!
Comfortable forward owner’s cabin is supplemented by a guest twin aft of the saloon
Interior
The layout is virtually a carbon copy of the V39, with a centreline double in the forward cabin and a transverse twin cabin aft, split by a dinette to port and a galley to starboard. The heads is forward of the galley, giving access both from the saloon and from the forward cabin.
It’s a winning layout, the current Targa 40 and the outgoing Princess V40 still use it.
Where the Fairline snuck ahead of the Princess back in the 1990s was in the finish, which was very good in the V39 but top drawer in the Targa 39, a choice of light maple or the classy cherry-grained wood that you see here, together with a high-gloss cream finish for the overhead lockers. It still looks great today!
Exterior
A good looking boat, it is again very similar to the Princess in the cockpit layout, other than a single helm seat where the Princess had a double, compensated for by a larger seating area next to it.
The bathing platform was the new extended version for sitting a tender on, although interestingly, this boat still has the davit system. Hull colours on offer were white, teal or this boat’s rather smart deep blue.
Performance
Volvo Penta’s supercharged and turbocharged KAD 42s were the motors of choice, largely because they were the most powerful that its AQ290 duo prop outdrives could handle at the time. The owner of this boat reports 28 knots flat out and 22 knots as a cruising speed.
Tartan sofa looks a little dated but the rest of the saloon and galley still hold their own today
Seakeeping
Like the V39, the Targa 38 came from the pen of Bernard Olesinski, which should give reassurance with regards to seakeeping. The owner says “I always fill the water tank before we start because she has a tendency to be stern heavy and I use the trim tabs to balance her”.
Fairline Targa 39 specifications
Length: 40ft 9in (12.4m)
Beam: 12ft 0in (3.6m)
Draft: 3ft 3in (1.0m)
Displacement: 8 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 745 litres
Engines: Twin Volvo Penta KAD 42 230hp diesel engines
For sale: Ancasta
Fairline 50
Built: 1989
Price: £360,000 ex VAT
Another “they don’t make ’em like they used to”. Never has this been more accurate than when looking at what were the very top-end models from high-end British builders in the 1980s. This was the flagship model of a range that back then started at 21ft with the Fairline Sprint 21.
And whilst clearly, this boat doesn’t have the space and the amenities of current models (something would have gone badly wrong with 35 years of evolution if it had), boats of this era are so solid that it’s almost like they were carved out of fibreglass!
As with most 50-footers from the 1980s, the owner’s cabin is located in the bow
Interior
Whilst the layout may not be as clever as a modern boat, this is a 50ft yacht, so there is still plenty to enjoy. Fairline offered a wealth of options, so although the ensuite forward cabin was fixed, the starboard guest cabin could have been optioned with two singles or a double berth (this boat has two singles).
To port, options included a dinette ahead of the galley, a large third cabin and a slightly smaller galley, or a bunk-bed cabin and an extended galley, which this boat has. There was even a bunk-bed cabin with an ensuite and a standard galley.
The main deck is pretty straight-forward; double helm to starboard with an L-shaped sofa behind it and either a small sofa with a sideboard in the forward port corner, or the dinette forward
to port with a sideboard aft, as fitted to this boat.
Exterior
No transom door, no high-low platform and a ladder to the flybridge instead of steps, this is a product of its age. Having said that, the well proportioned lines have aged kindly and this is
still an elegant-looking boat.
Performance
Fairline fitted a variety of twin-engine options into the 50. Volvo Penta TAMD 71A and 71B were the most popular, this one getting the 71A motors at 358hp each for a low 20 knot top speed. Caterpillars at 375hp or 425hp were also available and some of the very last boats got Volvo Penta TAMD122B 480hp engines.
The interior styling is of its era but like everything about this boat, it’s commendably solid
Seakeeping
As rock solid as everything else about this vessel, these were formidable sea boats back in the day, and nothing has changed.
Fairline 50 specifications
Length: 53ft 2in (16.2m)
Beam: 15ft 1in (4.6m)
Draft: 3ft 6in (1.1m)
Displacement: 16 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 1.818 litres
Engines: Twin Volvo Penta TAMD 71A 358hp diesel engines
For sale: Boat Showrooms
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