RIVALS
Sealine SC35
A foot more beam makes
this a spacious boat, if less
aesthetically pleasing. Prices
start at £110,000 for a 2007 boat.Fairline Targa 34
High-quality British boat, great
hull and workmanship. Prices
start at £75,000 for a 1997 boat.Cranchi Zaffiro 34
Great-value Italian cruiser offers
a lot of boat for the money. Prices
start at £50,000 for a 1998 boat.WHAT’S ON THE MARKET
Date 2006 Price £109,950
Twin Volvo Penta D4-260 260hp
diesels. MKI version with blue hull
band and forecabin bulkhead.
Located Chertsey
Contact http://www.bateswharf.co.ukDate 2012 Price £229,950
Volvo Penta D4-260 260hp diesel.
Very low hours, black hull and the
sliding bulkhead option.
Located Chertsey
Contact http://www.bateswharf.co.ukunlike competitors such as the
Sealine SC35, the sliding roof portion
is a solid GRP moulding rather than
the fabric more commonly used. It
means that the aperture is smaller
when open, but it is more secure when
shut and will never need replacing.
There’s a ‘designer’ feel to the
cockpit. From the heavy stitching and
twin-tone upholstery of the seating
to the wide transverse planking of
the teak deck, there’s a real sense
of Sessa going its own way. Even the
layout is unusual. The aft dinette is
present and correct but the seating
area adjacent to the helm is lost in
favour of a raised sunpad, aimed
at increasing headroom in the mid
cabin. It’s unlike any other boat in
this segment but if you thought the
cockpit was different, wait until you
see the inside.
Essentially everything is in the
usual place – there’s a double berth
forward, dinette in the middle
opposite the heads, and a galley aft
to starboard – but the execution is
way different. Instead of having to
choose between an open-plan layout
or a separate forecabin, buyers had
the option of specifying a sliding
bulkhead. It was £3,000 extra but
pretty much every C35 has it because- well, why wouldn’t you? It’s a three-
section bulkhead, and the cleverest
part is its unusual position, just ahead
of the galley but aft of the dinette. So
during the day you get a huge open
living area but at night you slide the
bulkhead across, lift the base of the
bed to make it full sized, and the
dinette seating area becomes part
of your master cabin. This gives one
obvious benefit, masses more space
than normal, and one less obvious.
Because the bulkhead is so far back,
access to the heads is now an integral
part of your master cabin. With Jack
and Jill doors meaning the mid cabin
also has access, it creates one of the
smallest sportscruisers to provide two
ensuite cabins. Just remember to lock
both doors once you’re in there.
Access to the mid cabin is also
good thanks to that forward sunpad
in the cockpit, which gifts this area
a large lobby and massive wardrobe.PERSONAL RECOMMENDATION
It’s certainly a style, and a layout, that
works for Tom Stevens and his family.
“We had a Crownline 250 berthed at
Port of Poole Marina, about half an
hour away from home. We’d owned
that boat for five years when a Sessa
C35 demonstrator appeared in the
marina about two years ago. We kept
looking at it every time we went to
the boat. I didn’t think it would be
in our price bracket but we got intoVALUE ★★★★
BUILD QUALITY ★★★★
ACCOMMODATION ★★★★
PERFORMANCE ★★★★
OUR VERDICT 80%Next month Princess 40 flybridgeconversation with Gavin from Bates
Wharf’s Poole office who worked out
an excellent deal for us.”
Tom really uses it, having already
clocked up 130 hours in the 15 months
he’s owned the boat. Indeed, two
weeks after he bought it he took the
boat to France for the weekend, and
has since joined a Bates Wharf cruise
in company to the West Country as
well as using the boat for local day
cruising with family and friends.
Powered by the twin Volvo Penta
D4-260 engines, Tom says he’s seen
37 knots flat out, but normally cruises
at an economical 24 knots where the
engines are turning over at a lazy
2,600rpm, at which he reports a total
fuel consumption from both engines
of 60 litres per hour.
What impresses him most about
the boat is the quality. “Not one
single thing has gone wrong with
the boat since we bought it – the
only issue we’ve had is a minor one
with an outdrive. It’s very solid and
extremely confidence inspiring.
On that first trip to France, we
encountered a Force 7 on the way
back. I dropped the speed back to 8
knots and we just ploughed through
it.” Tom’s only criticism is the lack
of a couple of items of specification
he feels would enhance the boat.
“I fitted a helm indicator, which I feel
is essential, and trim tab indicators
would also be nice, as would an
autopilot.” But overall, Tom has
nothing but praise for his Sessa C35.
Boat design has become so
formulaic that you normally know
just what to expect from a given
length and type before even stepping
aboard. What’s so impressive about
the current model C35 is not just
how far away from typical thinking
it strays, but just how very well it
works as a result.
The older Oyster 34 and C35 MkI
are more conventional craft but with
prices now starting from as little
£50,000, they offer buyers a great
first step on to the cruising ladder.The all-new Sessa C35 MKII
sports a hardtop as standardSliding bulkhead makes the
most of the space during the
day but allows privacy at nightUSEDB OAT BOAT MASTER