BAIA FLASH 48
BUILT 1999 PRICE £114,950
I always try to find something suitably different or outrageous for the Wildcard – it wouldn’t be wild otherwise. And at first glance it might appear that I’ve failed this time. To see what makes this boat different you need to take a peek under the bathing platform. There, hovering a few inches under the surface like malevolent sharks waiting to pounce, are a pair of Arneson surface drives, the sort of thing you normally find sticking out the back of serious race boats.
INTERIOR
Sit inside and you’d have no idea of the performance pretensions. Cherry wood, cream linings, thick carpets, it’s all there. The woodwork in particular looks really good.
The layout is classic sportscruiser with a centreline double in the fore cabin and two singles in the mid cabin back aft. There are two heads, plus a separate shower. There’s even a small crew cabin under the back of the cockpit.
EXTERIOR
On the outside it’s a little sportier. First off, this is a hard top boat, still rare in the Nineties. But don’t expect a deck saloon, it’s a proper cockpit underneath with a huge sunpad back aft.
PERFORMANCE
So, those Arnesons. An expensive option when this boat was new, someone forked out £36,000 to have those instead of conventional drives when this boat was first purchased. Why? Efficiency. The Arnesons run along the surface at high speed rather than dragging through the water like a huge brake. It’s why, despite 480hp diesels compared to the V50’s 715hp D12s, this boat reached 38 knots when we first tried it, compared to the Princess’s top end of 35 knots. And naturally, it’s using less fuel at the same speed too.
SEAKEEPING
So what’s the downside? Low speed handling can be a little more challenging – use the bow thruster to steer when going backwards. The fact this boat has a stern thruster as well lowers the pulse, however. Once up to speed the boat runs flat, true and fast.
LOA 48ft 3in (14.7m) Beam 13ft 5in (4.1m) Draught 3ft 0in (0.9m) Displacement 13 tonnes Fuel capacity 1,400 litres Engines Twin Volvo Penta TAMD 74P 480hp diesels FOR SALE Sunseeker Southampton www.sunseekerbrokerage.com