Motor Boat & Yachting — August 2017

dashboards (the latter looking better

than they sound).

Down below it’s a similar story,

the layout following the standard

pattern for a mid-30ft sportscruiser,

with its master cabin forward,

a double berth mid cabin aft, and

a saloon and galley splitting the two.

A fairly spacious heads opposite

the dinette has ‘Jack and Jill’ doors

to both the saloon and the mid cabin.

Richard gestures to the headlining.

“The deckhead on this boat is just

one huge solid moulding, it’s not in

sections – and it’s the same with the

floor moulding, just one long piece.

It makes the boat stronger and

reduces noise.” Early boats got the

then-ubiquitous cherry wood, later

examples like this one switching to a

smart matt finished light oak. Richard

points to the way that the bulkheads

slot neatly into recessed grooves in

the overhead, again adding strength.

Despite the slave-to-convention

layout, there is one rather unusual

alternative. That forward bulkhead

wasn’t standard; it was possible to

have the forward cabin left open plan

to the saloon, trading the privacy of

the separate forward cabin for a more

spacious feel to the interior. Richard

says there was no preferred version,

both options sold equally well.

NEW BOAT, SAME NAME

There’s a real sense of Sessa paying

its dues with the Oyster 34/C35. It’s

Prior to his Sessa C35 purchase,

Tom Stevens was boating out of

Poole with a Rinker 246 cuddy

cabin sportsboat that he kept at

Cobbs Quay. A move to Port of

Poole Marina (a facility he rates

extremely highly) saw a change

to a Crownline 250 25ft cruiser.

The Sessa C35 followed, and gets

used extensively for both local

dayboating to places like the

Isle of Wight and Lulworth Cove,

as well as longer trips across the

Channel. He has clocked up over

130 hours in 15 months with no

major issues to report.

Type Sportscruiser

In build 2006-current

Designer Christian Grande (HT)

Hull type Planing

RCD category B

Current value From £100,000

LOA 34ft 9in (10.60m)

(MkII: 37ft 2in (11.33m))

Beam 11ft 6in (3.53m)

(MkII: 11ft 4in (3.45m))

Draught 2ft 3in (0.69m)

(MkII: 2ft 3in (0.69m))

Displacement 6.2 tonnes

(MkII: 6.5 tonnes)

Fuel capacity 133 gallons (515

litres) (MkII: 101 gallons (460 litres))

Water capacity 52 gallons (240

litres) (MkII: 62 gallons (286 litres))

Performance 33 knots with

twin Volvo Penta D4-260 diesel

engines

Cruising range 224 miles

at 28 knots with 20% reserve

MY TAKE I’ve always been a fan of Sessa’s

craft and from 2005-2010, its 30-50ft hardtop

sportscruisers were the boats to beat. The

MkI C35 is from an earlier generation but

it’s still a fine-looking, well-built craft. Hugo

To protect this boat with

Coppercoat multi-season

antifoul would cost

£990 (inc VAT)

I BOUGHT ONE!

a smart, modern but entirely

conventional boat that sold well,

nearly 500 being produced. When

the time came to replace this model

in 2010, you might therefore have

expected a gentle evolution of a well-

proven formula but in fact, Sessa

celebrated its success by tearing

up the rule book.

Designed by Christian Grande, the

C35 that replaced it is a very different

proposition. That shake-up begins on

the outside with a low-profile hardtop

as part of the standard specification

(normally a cost option on this size

of craft) and a sharply styled hull with

gloss black or metallic silver topside

colour options. And

THE COSTS

DATA FILE

Servicing (inc labour & VAT)

Twin Volvo Penta D4-260

£984.11

Replacement parts (inc VAT)

Drive belt £60.48

Impeller £53.58

Oil filter £47.40

Fuel filter £38.05

Circulation pump £588

Small manual hatch gives

access for daily checks but

a larger section opens on

hydraulic rams when needed

Simple but effective folding

canopy provides good

protection for the helm

BOAT MASTER USEDB OAT