Launched in 1987, the 435 is a rare beast, an aft cabin Princess that offers acco*modation the full length of the boat. It wasn’t the first, it followed the Princess 414 (1981-1987) that evolved from the 41 (1977-1982), but it was the last.
When production ceased in 1992 it bought to a close a 15-year unbroken run of aft cabin models from what was then known as Marine Projects. The yard has never revisited the idea since.
Interior
That aft cabin layout is key because it creates space for a huge square owner’s cabin right at the back of the boat co*plete, of course, with its own en suite. Steps lead up forward to the main deck with a sizeable saloon, featuring a C-shaped seating area opposite a sideboard plus a lower helm – then further steps drop you down to the forward lower deck.
The galley was always placed to port, but opposite there was the option of either a dinette or a third cabin. The dinette of this boat is the preferred option as it opens this area out and can always be used for sleeping if required. Finally, cabin two is in the bow with its central island bed and en suite access to the day head.
The aft cabin is a wonderfully private space with its own en suite bathroom
Exterior
While its predecessors had been John Bennett designs, Bernard Olesinski designed this one, having started penning Princesses just a few years earlier.
That aft cabin layout means a raised aft deck instead of a cockpit, but that does put it closer to the flybridge, meaning moulded stairs rather than the ladder that most flybridge boats of this era got. There are some neat design flourishes too, like the strakes around the aft cabin windows – very 1980s Ferrari Testarossa.
Performance
Twin Volvo Penta TAMD 61 306hp engines were standard, an upgrade to TAMD 71s an option. Originally these were 71A at 358hp but later boats (like this one) got the 380hp 71B motors for a top speed approaching 30 knots.
The galley is on the lower deck but so is the dinette, leaving the saloon free for lounging
Seakeeping
Big boat, shaft drive and an Olesinski hull is now a proven formula, and it gained that reputation on the backs of solid performers like this boat.
When I was looking to buy my last boat, the one I wanted – really wanted – was a Windy 28 Ghibli, and six years later I still get slightly unnecessary when I see one. It’s a winning co*bination of looks, Scandinavian build quality, legendary seakeeping and very strong performance.
Interior
First the bad news. Although it’s nearly 30ft long, this is still very much a cuddy cabin boat. Forget mid cabins and standing headroom, what you get down here is a V-shaped dinette with a table that drops, allowing infills to make up a double, and a heads that you need to reverse into to sit down.
There’s also a small galley area. What it is, however, is beautifully trimmed with some great details like the embossed star in the deeply lacquered table.
The cabin is tight but nicely finished and co*fortable enough for weekending
Exterior
And now the good news. Since the cabin is so co*pact, it leaves the rest of the boat (perhaps 70% of the length) as a huge and co*fortable outdoor space.
Helm and navigator seats sit deep, protected by a beautiful stainless steel rimmed wrap-around windscreen co*plete with trademark inner grab rail, while the centre of the cockpit is a co*fortable lounging area around another (detachable) table.
Finally, a sunpad stretches back across the engine space with a walkway next to it to create an easy stroll to the bathing platform. A lack of side decks maximises space and the boat’s low profile might not do much for headroom but pays dividends for the boat’s looks – low, sleek and beautiful.
Performance
The majority of 28 Ghiblis are single-engine, most notably the KAD 44/300 series giving 260/285hp. When the D series engines came on stream, the D4-260 was available but most single engine customers opted for D6 350 and 370 motors.
Twin engines were also on the options list, initially a pair of D3 160s but later twin engine boats (including this one) had D3-190 diesels, which give well over 40 knots but also a very efficient 42 litres per hour at about 30 knots – both a corollary of its low profile, narrow beam and easily driven hull.
Driver-focussed helm and big open cockpit make this ideal for sunny days at sea
Seakeeping
Legendary. A Hans J Johnsen hull like most Windy boats of this era, it’s a boat designed not to need to slow down when the sea gets up.
The Nimbus 380 co*mander is a (very) gentle evolution of the 370 co*mander, the key visual difference being the far chunkier bathing platform of the newer model.
Beyond that and a few other tweaks, this is the same quirky lovable pilothouse cruiser we know and love – almost a cut-price Fleming in terms of the layout (although that sells it short as the Nimbus is a fine quality boat in its own right).
Interior
It’s inside where it earns its ‘quirky’ spurs because this is a layout unlike almost any other (except the aforementioned, far larger, far more expensive Fleming).
Enter the saloon through the aft doors and you’ll actually have to step down a couple of rungs despite this being ostensibly the main deck. There’s a dinette to port with a table that halves in size and lowers to turn this into a lounge area.
Opposite, the entire starboard side is taken up with a huge galley, meaning this can even double as a sort of kitchen diner. Move forward and it’s back up a couple of steps to a separate pilothouse with sliding doors either side and internal access straight up to the flybridge.
Down again to the lower deck forward for two cabins and the heads. It’s a layout that on paper shouldn’t work, yet it does. Brilliantly.
There’s room for two cabins and a heads co*partment forward on the lower deck
Exterior
The flybridge is interesting because it’s behind the lower helm rather than over it. Suddenly the reason for that sunken saloon makes sense, it keeps the flybridge low and stops the boat looking ungainly.
With all the doors (aft, two side and one directly between the two helm stations), access is probably the best you’re likely to find on any sub-40ft flybridge cruiser.
Performance
A pair of Volvo Penta KAMD 43 230hp six-cylinder diesel engines live beneath the aft deck, power driving forwards into vee boxes that then send it back through conventional shaft drives beneath the engines. The broker reckons on 25 knots flat-out with a 20-knot cruise.
The main saloon seating and dining area is actually a few steps down from the deck
Seakeeping
Twin shafts co*bine with a shallow hull keel to make this a very steady boat at low speeds with excellent manoeuvrability. Pick up the speed to discover a solid and steady semi-displacement feel.
Beneteau offers a variety of ranges, all subdivided into different sizes. Flyers are the sportsboats, Gran Turismos the sportscruisers, Swift Trawlers the, err, trawlers that are quite swift and so forth.
The Antares range has always been about practical living and pragmatic looks, and this Beneteau Antares 10.80 is no exception with upright conservative styling and sensible detailing. It’s also, according to the broker, “beautifully presented”, and if the photos are to be believed, it certainly looks to be in turn-key condition.
Interior
“Warm and traditional”, was how we described the interior of the 10.80 when we reviewed it in 2007, and it’s as true today, with its polished wood and cream leather. In fact this model dates back to 1998, which would explain the more traditional feel.
Beneteau eked out space for two decent cabins on the lower deck, one a twin and the other a double, which creates the perfect family configuration. There’s a heads on the lower deck too, but no galley – that lives on the main deck along the starboard side of the saloon.
Forward double cabin isn’t huge but provides a good set-up for familes of four
Exterior
That 1990s styling is particularly evident on the outside but none the worse for it; although slightly dated in places by things like the eyebrow over the windscreens that extends down either side, this is a well proportioned, family-friendly boat.
There’s more than a nod to fishing in the plethora of rod holders but the cockpit includes a small bench seat, and scaling the flybridge ladder introduces you to more seating and a second helm position aloft.
Performance
A pair of Volvo Penta’s ubiquitous KAMD 44 EDC diesel engines lie beneath the saloon floor, pushing 285hp aside through a pair of new five-bladed propellers for a top speed of circa 30 knots and a low to mid 20-knot cruising gait.
Big windows and thin mullions maximise light and views in the traditionally styled saloon
Seakeeping
Shaft drive is another nod to traditionalism, and a good one on a used boat as this is about the simplest layout available. It also keeps the weight of the engines further forward in the hull, which Beneteau co*bined with a fine entry for good upwind performance, while a shallow keel aids low-speed directional stability.
Scandinavians are not afraid to do things differently, and this Nimbus 370, a model first launched in 1995, is a case in point. It might not follow established concepts and layouts, but it does offer something genuinely different and genuinely useful.
Specifically, three entrances to the interior, six berths, a separate wheelhouse as well as a flybridge – linked via an internal stairway – all within 40ft.
Interior
The interior of this boat is fascinating. Stepping from the aft cockpit into the saloon feels reasonably normal. The galley is on the starboard side, opposite a dinette which converts to create a double bed.
It’s when you head forward that things get interesting because, instead of stepping down to the lower deck, you step up to a proper little wheelhouse, co*plete with sliding doors on either side – great for access of course, but also brilliant for airflow on a warm day.
Forward again, and finally you head down to a lower deck that utilises the raised wheelhouse to create extra headroom in part of the second cabin, plus the owner’s cabin and the heads.
The forward cabin is one of three sleeping spaces on board the Nimbus 370
Exterior
You’d think that the raised pilothouse might make the Nimbus 370 look top heavy, but cunningly, Nimbus positioned the flybridge behind the raised section and above the saloon so in fact there are no obvious flybridge sides, just stainless steel rails with canvas dodgers, the tops of which are level with the wheelhouse roof.
And it’s that low level position behind the wheelhouse that allows easy access from the flybridge straight down to the lower helm.
Performance
All twin installations, early versions of the 370, were powered by Volvo Penta’s TAMD 41 200hp. These were later replaced by the Yanmar 230hp motors fitted to this boat, and then Volvo’s KAMD 43 230hp engines with D4 260hp engines fitted to the last ones. Figure on up to about 26 knots, depending on engine option.
The saloon and galley have steps leading up to a raised pilothouse and cabins beyond
Seakeeping
One of the many packaging tricks utilised was installing the engines right aft beneath the cockpit, leaving space for acco*modation beneath the saloon floor. Although this shifts the centre of gravity aft, seakeeping is still good.
Four Winns is a long established American boat builder based in Cadillac, Michigan, with a rich history of sportscruiser models marketed under the Vista label that once stretched as high as 45ft in length.
Interestingly, every Vista model has now been deleted from the line up, which currently consists entirely of bow-rider sportsboats and a solitary outboard powered wheelhouse model. The reason for this change of direction is down to the Beneteau Group’s takeover in 2014, meaning this Vista 255 is one of the last of an illustrious line.
Interior
The layout of the 255 Vista is an entirely conventional U-shaped dinette forward with a galley opposite the heads at the bottom of the co*panionway and a double berth running transversely beneath the forward section of the cockpit. What’s more interesting is the finish, because this is a surprisingly attractive and well-trimmed boat inside.
Dark woods, pale fabrics, cream leather and a hardwood floor lend it an entirely upmarket and contemporary vibe. It’s well specced too, although strangely, there appears to be no hob.
Smartly finished cabin is bright, modern and classy for a mass market production boat
Exterior
In fact, there is a hob, but it’s in the cockpit, an electric unit mounted on the wet bar fitted behind the helm seat. It’s a pretty spacious cockpit, with aft seating that turns into a sunbed and a small dinette area.
In part this is due to the favourite American trick on boats of this size of taking the cockpit right to the edges of the boat – access to the foredeck is via an opening section in the windscreen rather than traditional side decks, but also the bathing platform is kept pretty short, again maximising the floorspace in the cockpit.
Performance
A single Mercruiser 4.3 litre V6 lives beneath the cockpit floor, producing up to 240hp on demand for a top speed of about 30 knots and a reasonably economical 20-knot cruise.
Cockpit wetbar includes an electric hob for cooking meals outdoors
Seakeeping
Inevitably, tall and narrow boats such as these can be prone to being a little sensitive to a beam wind, but trim tabs are fitted to return it to an even keel again.
Specifications
LOA: 25ft 2in (7.7m)
Beam: 8ft 4in (2.5m)
Draught: 3ft 0in (0.9m)
Displacement: 3 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 265 litres
Engine: Mercruiser 4.3 litre V6 240hp petrol engine
Topic: Best boats under £100,000 from the secondhand market 
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