4 of the best sub £150k motor boats on the market

Nick Burnham picks out four of the best sub £150k motor boats on the market from the epic to the practical

Price point time is upon us again, always my favourite due to the sheer breadth of choice that can be found by playing around with all three sides of the size-age-price triangle, and that’s before you add in parameters like the type of boat or the performance.

It’s why this month, with a fictitious £150,000 in my back pocket, I’ve been able to bring you standout used boats that stretch from the super-fast and super-capable, if also super-compact, Windy Coho through to the frankly epic Sunseeker Camargue 50, via the very sensible Sealine SC38 and what surely must be one of the most practical boats on the water, the Beneteau Antares 36. It’s a boat that simply makes so much sense that it had me briefly pondering whether I could afford to buy and run the thing myself. As ever, you pays your money and takes your choice.

4 of the best sub £150k motor boats

Sunseeker Camargue 50

Built: 2000
Price: £149,950

Remarkably, the new Superhawk 55 is now the only open-cockpit sportscruiser in the range, a genre that used to be heartland stuff for the brand. Of course, the company is simply reacting to customer demand for hardtops on their large sportscruisers but it seems a shame when you scroll back a quarter of a century to boats like this gorgeous Camargue 50 that was in build from 1999-2003.

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Interior

Although the focus is on cockpit living, at 50 feet long, this is a big boat, so a generous interior comes as part of the package. This model predates the trend for midships full-beam owner’s cabins, so you’ll find the primary cabin up in the bow with its central double berth and ensuite.

There’s a single guest cabin aft, again with its own ensuite, and between them is a large saloon with a dinette, that can convert to an occasional double, and a galley concealed within a sideboard opposite.

The high-gloss cherry cabinetry is very of its era, but there’s no denying its rich lustre and sense of occasion, especially with the Sunseeker trademark thick wooden capping. Predictably, this is supplemented by that other 1990s styling choice of cream leather upholstery.

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Exterior

Being outside and looking good is what this boat is all about, from the massive four-person sunpad concealing a tender garage aft to the large dinette opposite a wet bar to the curved seating next to the helm. With its flowing lines, sexy hips and curved stainless steel windscreen, it’s absolutely beautiful!

Performance

All twin shaft drive installations, Sunseeker offered Volvo Penta TAMD 122 or Caterpillar C12 diesels, both rated at 660hp. This boat has the former, we tested a Camargue 50 with the latter. The broker is claiming 28 knots but we achieved a little more from our similarly powered test boat.

Seakeeping

Low topsides, no flybridge or hardtop to catch the wind, shaftdrive and 19 tonnes of weight make this boat a doddle to manoeuvre. Out on the water we discovered steering that is quicker and more decisive than you might expect for a 50ft boat coupled with a very capable hull.

Sunseeker Camargue 50 specifications

Length: 50ft 8in (15.4m)
Beam: 14ft 7in (4.5m)
Draft: 4ft 7in (1.4m)
Displacement: 19 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 2,000 litres
Engines: Twin Volvo Penta TAMD 122 660hp
For sale: Sunseeker Brokerage

Beneteau Antares 36

Built: 2010
Price: £139,950

British manufacturers major on high quality and luxury. Scandinavian builders are all about seakeeping and year-round capability, while the Italians like to dial up the flamboyance. The French, meanwhile, seem to delight in simply building very practical, sensible family boats, and this Antares 36 by Beneteau is a perfect example of that thinking.

Interior

As a family boat, this layout is brilliant. The galley up configuration means that the whole lower deck is simply given over to two cabins and a single heads, so despite being fairly compact, nothing feels particularly compromised.

The forward cabin has a centreline bed and the guest cabin to starboard has two single berths that infill to create a double if required. The heads being not quite large enough for a separate shower cubicle is perhaps the only notable concession. On the main deck, the galley is forward next to the helm, which is a sociable arrangement, leaving space for a small but comfortable saloon aft.

Exterior

Relatively short flybridge boats are always going to prove tricky to style. The necessity for standing headroom inside, plus the upper deck, add so much height, but Beneteau has done a good job with the visuals by keeping the flybridge low sided, with stainless steel rails adding security.

There’s another helm up here of course, but also a semi-circle of seating with a drop-flat backrest to create sunbathing up top. Meanwhile on the main deck, sliding doors link saloon and cockpit in the traditional way.

Performance

Sensible twin Volvo Penta D4 diesels on shafts are easy to service and maintain, as all the major mechanical bits are inside the hull and easy to reach. A modest mid-20 knot top speed will give an entirely sufficient 20-knot cruise with reasonable economy.

Seakeeping

Shaft drive keeps the mass of the engines further forward for a flatter trim and improved weight distribution, while tunnelled props lower the shaft angle for more efficient thrust. Expect solid, sensible handling, in keeping with everything else on this boat. The bow and stern thrusters will also allow you to cheat when coming alongside.

Beneteau Antares 36 specifications

Length: 37ft 4in (11.4m)
Beam: 12ft 8in (3.8m)
Draft: 3ft 2in (1.0m)
Displacement: 7 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 650 litres
Engines: Twin Volvo Penta D4 260 260hp diesel engines
For sale: One Marine

Sealine SC38

Built: 2009
Price: £149,950

In the 30 to 40ft hardtop sportscruiser category, the SC35 is the obvious Sealine offering, but there’s an intriguing alternative – the SC38. A more expensive boat when new, it was less popular for that reason as its smaller sister seemed to offer almost as much accommodation. However, secondhand values are similar and it’s a more spacious and arguably better-looking option.

Interior

Layout is the usual owner’s cabin forward, guest cabin aft and saloon/galley in the middle, but with a couple of intriguing changes. As well as a heads forward to starboard, there’s a completely separate shower opposite to port, and both are accessed from the saloon and from the owner’s cabin.

Back aft, the athwartship mid cabin has the usual two single berths, but there’s a third lengthways berth which can either be a sofa or can increase the sleeping capacity of this space. In typical Sealine style, there’s acres of volume, both across the boat and in terms of headroom.

Exterior

That extra length creates a better balanced, if arguably slightly more dated, aesthetic. Although the SC35 launched just nine months after the bigger boat’s 2007 debut, it featured the more modern slab sides to the hull where the SC38 had the older moulded knuckle line.

The big news is the open-backed hardtop (there was a fully open S38 version also) with its almost full-length fabric opening roof section. Unusually, you can also remove the top sections of the side windows, giving a proper open feel.

Performance

Sealine offered both D4 and D6 Volvo Penta sterndrive options, and in this size of boat the D4 engines in 300hp guise make a lot of sense as they offer almost as much power as the D6-330 alternative but in a lighter and more compact format that reduces weight at the stern and creates more engine room space. Figure on a low to mid-30-knot top end.

Seakeeping

When we tested the SC38, its exceptionally level fore and aft trim was the standout feature, akin to a stepped hull, which helped deliver a ‘remarkably smooth ride’ that is likely to be a little softer and more sea-kindly than the SC35’s.

Sealine SC38 specifications

Length: 39ft 4in (12.0m)
Beam: 12ft 3in (3.7m)
Draft: 3ft 1in (0.9m)
Displacement: 8.5 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 678 litres
Engines: Twin Volvo Penta D4-300 300hp diesel engines
For sale: Parker Adams Boat Sales

Windy 29 Coho

Built: 2015
Price: £149,950

As the saying has it, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Which left Windy with something of a dilemma, since its evergreen 28 Ghibli dated back to the Nineties, yet was nigh on the perfect sub-30ft cuddy cabin sports boat due to its combination of epic handling, bombproof build and sleek looks. It was time for a change but everything needed to stay the same, which is sort of what happened.

Interior

This, like the Ghibli before it, is unashamedly a no-compromise cuddy cabin layout.

It’s a boat designed from the outside in, the cabin is simply the best use of what little space is left beneath the foredeck of a low, sleek cockpit-orientated boat. So forget standing headroom and forget any thoughts of a mid cabin.

There is a separate loo, but it’s sitting room only, and a tiny but useful galley. What did change was the seating. The Ghibli had a dinette that converted to a double bed. Given how compact this area was, Windy decided that a fixed double bed would be more comfortable; if you want somewhere to sit, go and sit in the cockpit.

Exterior

To facilitate cockpit living, Windy designed a canopy that’s easy to deploy and tensions at the push of a button. The layout of a sunbed aft, twin bucket seats forward and a dinette between was unchanged; the extra foot of length was due to the bathing platform.

Portholes were swapped for triple-flush mounted forward-raked hull windows and the helm was modified to make space for an inset MFD.

Performance

Windy offered the then-new 380hp Volvo Penta 6.0 litre V8 petrol engine which propelled our original test boat to 42 knots. But diesel power remained the more popular choice for UK buyers and the D6 400 unit fitted to this boat is both faster and more efficient, with Windy quoting a top speed of 43.7 knots.

Seakeeping

Resin-infused, but otherwise the same as the Ghibli, this is one area Windy definitely wasn’t going to mess with. As we surmised at the time, “This boat defines the word ‘thoroughbred’, performing with a quality that puts it in the big league.”

Windy 29 Coho specifications

Length: 29ft 2in (8.9m)
Beam: 8ft 9in (2.7m)
Draft: 2ft 11in (0.9m)
Displacement: 3.2 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 375 litres
Engine: Single Volvo Penta D6-400 400hp diesel engine
For sale: Berthon International

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