FAIRLINE TARGA 30
BUILT: 2001 PRICE: £69,950
The Targa 30 is the final evolution of a successful Fairline model that dates back to 1994, when it was introduced as the Targa 28. Two years later it morphed into the
Targa 29 with little changing beyond a longer bathing platform. But the Targa 30 variant introduced a new cockpit layout with a sunpad, and windows (rather than portholes) for the cabin, although bizarrely these were optional extras.
INTERIOR
The layout echoes smaller sportscruisers with its U-shaped dinette forward, galley opposite the heads and a mid cabin aft. However, the extra length, and in particular the 10ft beam, make this a far more spacious area. The galley is an L-shape, with room for a twoburner hob, an oven and a grill. Those hull windows are worth looking out for (although I’ve only ever seen one boat without them so they should be easy to find).
EXTERIOR
A sunpad aft is the big news. Where the 28 and 29 had seating to the transom, the 30 shifts it forwards. However, Fairline cunningly claws space back via a neat swinging backrest to the passenger seating next to the helm, allowing it to be used as forward facing seating under way or join the cockpit dinette at rest. That sunpad also creates space for a very handy deck locker.
PERFORMANCE
When new, you could specify your Targa 30 with a pair of 4.3-litre petrol engines (190hp or 205hp each) or a single 7.4-litre 310hp motor but the vast majority went out with twin diesels. These 150hp AD31S gave the boat a perfectly respectable 30+ knots, but the KAD32 upgrade that this boat received doesn’t just give higher speed (past 35 knots when new), it gives far lustier acceleration due to superchargers bolstering low-end torque before the turbos spin up at higher revs.
SEAKEEPING
These boats handle brilliantly. Stable and fast, they don’t require excessive trim tab action, and spray management is great. For a 30 foot boat, it punches well above its size and weight.