F33 - A listy/wobbly boat?

[Renegade_Master]

Alt if you wanted shafts check out the F36. we have one as a school boat served us well 4500hrs and handles well.

[DIW]

Owned a F33 for 8 years concur with everything Nautibusiness and Mikef have said about them. Good first Flybridge IMO.

[Eurybia]

I own a F34, don't really notice when on the plane, don't have a problem at marina speeds. You get use to how a boat handles and therefore anticipate the conditions. Sterndrives make handling easy, more so with a bow thruster. Yes the boat moves when you step on and off but certainly no more than the previous 28' sports cruiser than we used to have. I am biased but I think they're a great boat as is the F33, much better and more fuel efficient than the Jeanneau P32.

[Jonmendez]

I have clocked up many many miles (over 3000) in F33's, our own for a while and others since, for what you pay you get a great boat, can be a bit lively and needs thinking about on a windy day in the marina, but overall great fun per ££££. oh and ours did not have a bow-thruster, just a SWMBO as very good crew :-)

[Thepipdoc]

I am biased because I have a F33, but anyone who says it's "wobbly" hasn't owned a 27 foot American sports boat! To say a 33 foot boat with a 11 foot beam is wobbly should surely compare it with something.
Compared to a larger, wider boat it perhaps is "wobbly" but equally when compared to a smaller, narrow boat it will feel positively solid.

I had a 27 Footer for a couple of seasons and whilst the boat was excellent it wasn't in the same league as the F33.
As I said though, I am biased.

[MikeJ42]

Some people want to knock this boat. It’s a 33ft flybridge on outdrives, so it feels a little lively at times. That doesn’t mean there is something fundamentally wrong with it. Its like saying a mini is no good cos it doesn’t feel as relaxed as a family saloon.

A cruising companion of mine had an F33 (without a bow thrusters) for 5 years. It took him and his family just about everywhere is just about any (acceptable) condition. For him, its liveliness became its most endearing feature.

[boatlover]

Hi Alt,

I first bought a Phantom 40 4 years ago.

I was actually about to buy a new F34 when people told me to go for a second hand P40 .

We sea trialed both and the sheer difference in sea keeping was un believeable! Pure night and day.

Also the owner talking about a F7...

This is a video of me in my Squad 58 in a F6 - F7 . It was pretty violent at points

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PHtC46bboo

An F7 on the South coast of Ireland with the whole Atlantic to give a huge sea would not be a good experience..

To say the F33 boat handled fine through it I really can't see.... A real force 7 is an angry enough sea...

[strakeryrius]

I think wobbliness is a subjective thing - some people will feel uneasy from the motion on the FB of an F33 and others won't be bothered by it.

I was out on a F33 last year, and did notice that it felt a lot less stable than my own boat, a Targa 34, but at no time did the motion give me any cause for unease. Other people's reaction to the same motion could be to run screaming for the hills.

[MikeJ42]

Hi Alt,

I first bought a Phantom 40 4 years ago.

I was actually about to buy a new F34 when people told me to go for a second hand P40 .

We sea trialed both and the sheer difference in sea keeping was un believeable! Pure night and day.

Also the owner talking about a F7...

This is a video of me in my Squad 58 in a F6 - F7 . It was pretty violent at points

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PHtC46bboo

An F7 on the South coast of Ireland with the whole Atlantic to give a huge sea would not be a good experience..

To say the F33 boat handled fine through it I really can't see.... A real force 7 is an angry enough sea...

Thats a massive difference in size, weight and configuration. I cant ever imagine anyone choosing a 34ft outdrive boat over a 40ft shaft boat if seakeeping was the only consideration.

Factor running costs, and the F34 might be your only viable option.

[AllanJ]

I have a F33 and have no intention of parting with it. It is my first boat and, despite all the hand-wringing (including on here) about the difficulty of handling stern-drives, I am very happy with the boat's manoeuvrability (I can turn it in it's own length), space, speed (I have had it at 34 knots, cruise at 22), and economy. I have never, through two Scottish winters, ever helmed from the lounge, always on the flybridge which is just great.
That said, I have the boat for pleasure - not to pit myself against the elements (I have a pilot's licence which I use with the same attitude). If the weather is bad I simply stay in the marina and enjoy everything that it, and the boat, offers. It has a bow-thruster, but even so that will not provide what you need when it is above about F5.
Used within its limits (and what vehicle has none?) I think that it is a great buy and has given us and many friends enormous pleasure.
(p.s. we ruled out a 'sports boat' with mostly canvas on the roof as we are on the Clyde and we wanted to have a quiet workspace when it was chucking it down.)