That inflation is rising and interest rates are having T to follow suit comes as no surprise to any of us with half an eye on the price of big ticket items like cars and boats. It has always been possible to spend £50,000 on a mid-range Audi, it’s just that a few years ago you’d expect a fire-spitting Audi RS6 for that money, now it gets you an A6 2-litre diesel (and that RS6 costs an eye watering £100,000+!).
It’s the same with boats. Admittedly it was 1989 when I started in the industry and a twin-diesel 40ft flybridge Princess 388 was circa £100,000, but it wasn’t much more than a decade ago that a new Princess V42 was £250,000. Now you can pay that for a sub-30ft outboard-powered sportsboat.
As ever, solace is found in the used boat market where things feel a bit saner. This is what £150k buys you these days.
PRICE: £159,000
BOAT: Sealine C39 DATE: 2004 LYING: Torquay CONTACT: One Marine www.onemarine.co.uk
PRICE: £149,950
BOAT: Fairline Phantom 42 DATE: 1998 LYING: Southampton CONTACT: Global Yacht Brokers www.globalyachtbrokers.co.uk
PRICE: £149,950
BOAT: Sunseeker Martinique 36 DATE: 1990 LYING: Lymington CONTACT: Sunseeker Poole www.sunseekerpoole.com
PRICE: £165,000
BOAT: Doral Alegria DATE: 2005 LYING: Brighton CONTACT: Ancasta www.ancasta.com
SEALINE C39
B UILT2 0 0 4 P RICE£ 1 5 9 , 0 0 0
Coupé-style boats which have an enclosed saloon on the main deck, usually with a sliding roof, are all the rage these days but as is so often the case, we can track back through Sealine’s history and discover that it was one of the first to offer the concept.
It launched the C39 back in 2002, selling 75 of them over the following five years. And as was Sealine’s wont at the time, the innovation didn’t stop with just the basic concept.
INTERIOR A big advantage with the coupé format compared to open sportscruisers is that, with a weatherpoof saloon on the main deck, you don’t need to provide a second seating area on the lower deck. Sealine took it a step further by positioning the galley in the saloon as well, freeing up the lower deck entirely for sleeping accommodation.
This means there is ample space for an ensuite owner’s cabin forward with a centreline double bed and a surprisingly generous guest cabin that runs transversely beneath the saloon plus a second bathroom that doubles up as a day heads.
EXTERIOR Whilst the coupé shape is the defining characteristic, there’s plenty more to admire in the details. The C39 was one of the first boats to feature Sealine’s Extending Cockpit System (SECS). At rest you can press a button and the transom bench seat slides aft, taking a section of bathing platform with it to usefully increase the cockpit size without ramping up your berthing costs at the same time. It’s a brilliant ide
