Peruse the new boat market and a quarter of a million pounds might not buy what it once did. However, it’s still a hefty chunk of cash and deployed carefully in the slightly more challenging secondhand arena, it can still yield a hefty amount of boat.
As ever, the sliding sides of the used boat triangle come into play: size/year/price. Having fixed the price, you can then play with the other two sides and decide whether to go bigger but older or smaller but newer.
To illustrate that point, we’ve selected four very different but equally appealing craft currently for sale from an immaculate looking current model Cranchi Z35 open sportscruiser built in 2018 to a considerably older but much larger and still very desirable Fairline Squadron 52. Filling the 17-year age gap between them are a very tidy Sealine C330 from 2016 and a stunning Oyster LD43 ‘gentleman’s cruiser’ from 2006. As the saying goes, you pays your money and takes your pick.
PRICE: £250,000
BOAT Cranchi Z35 DATE 2018 LYING Windsor CONTACT Tingdene Boat Sales www.tingdeneboating.com
PRICE: £239,950
BOAT Sealine C330 DATE 2016 LYING Penton Hook CONTACT TBS Boat Sales www.tbsboats.com
PRICE: £259,950
BOAT Oyster LD43 DATE 2006 LYING Lymington CONTACT Berthon International www.berthoninternational.com
PRICE: £249,995
BOAT Fairline Squadron 52 DATE 2001 LYING Southampton CONTACT Parker Adams Boat Sales www.parker-adams.co.uk
CRANCHI Z35
The Cranchi range now spans 26ft to 78ft and encompasses sportsboats, luxury tenders, trawler yachts, crossovers and big flybridge craft. But the Z35 harks back to what Cranchi has always done so very well. With a back catalogue that includes the enduring and appropriately named Endurance 39/41 and the hugely popular Zaffiro 34 (a model that it sold over 1,500 units of), this 35ft sportscruiser is heartland stuff for the Italian builder.
INTERIOR It’s quite refreshing to see that Cranchi has stuck with the time honoured mid 30ft sportscruiser layout that dates right back to the 1980s and boats like the Fairline 33 Targa and Princess 36 Riviera. There’s a double bed in the owner’s cabin forward (a centreline double, which those earlier boats didn’t get) and a mid cabin aft with two singles that convert to a double. An L-shaped dinette to port sits opposite the galley and heads. It feels upmarket down here too, with well chosen high quality finishes in pale colours.
EXTERIOR There is a similarly traditional bent to the exterior as well. There’s no hardtop option, no garage and no high-low hydraulic bathing platform – just a spacious cockpit beneath removable canopies.
Like the interior, it’s a timeserved layout that just works with a big dinette area aft, a wet bar, and then a step up as you move forward to find an L-shaped seating area to port adja
