Its not easy to think of a forty-two footer as being an entry-level
boat, but there are such things. Our subject boat was a 1990 model
with twin Detroit Diesel 6V53's rated at 400 hp each, an
Onan 8.0 Kw generator and air conditioning, but was otherwise
rather devoid of optional equipment.
We get a lot of requests for reviews ons smaller Cruisers, Inc.
boats. Its hard not to regard a boat with a name like "Villa
Vee" as little more than the "floating camper'
category. Floating villas? So we've taken a pass on reviewing
them since, if you can't identify them for what they are, nothing
we can say is likely to help you. But anytime a builder aspires
to a 42 footer, costing a lot of dollars, that gets our attention.
Then again, we cautioned in our Introduction to Boat Reviews
against painting all the boats of a particular builder with the
same brush. Here you'll see why.
Actually, we approached the 4280 with a great
deal of trepidation that turned out not to be wholely justified.
Unquestionably a "price" boat, compare this one with some
of the things we've written about SeaRay and you will find it compares
favorably. Surprised? So were we. Our client was about as apprehensive
as we were, giving us instructions to really "rip her apart."
Well, we couldn't do that literally, but we did look extra close.
Cutting to the chase, this boat isn't falling apart.
The hull is decently constructed of solid glass, no cores except
the deck which is apparently balsa. Didn't find any hull problems,
although she'd had some blister repairs and a few more were popping
up. But no big deal.
Yes, there were quality issues that would drive
a discerning buyer nuts. Like they decked over the bilge areas up
forward for storage compartments with plywood situated only a few
inches above the bilge. Needless to say, it got wet and the
decks in all three compartments was badly rotted. But we didn't
find any problems with structural parts.
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The straight-line traffic pattern
here makes moving around very easy. But the high bar counter
at left is not very useful and the high stools don't make
it any more so. |
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Although a bit unusual, this bridge
layout is quite convenient. Without the pipe frame top, trying
to keep it covered wouldn't be much fun, and would go to rot
and ruin in a big hurry. |
Yes, it has cheap aluminum rub rails that were
just battered all to hell and back. But at least there weren't a
lot of stress cracks along the toe rails. The deck didn't fit the
hull, leaving a large gap at the transom which was filled with putty
that was now falling out, causing water to leak into the hull. The
aluminum pipe frame arch was bolted onto raised side coamings which
were too weak. The resultant water leaks got into the balsa cored
deck on one side, causing a big soft spot, meaning that the core
was probably rotted out. The bridge seating is again foam/vinyl/plywood
which, even though the bridge has enclosures, was starting to rot.
Left exposed, this stuff will rot very quickly.
The fuel tanks vents were installed wrong, so that
they were channeling water into the fuel tanks. Our pointing this
out to the owner ended a seven year battle with fuel problems. Then
they put the plastic shore power receptacles low on the built in
swim platform, so you can guess what happened to these. Sea water
and 125 VAC don't mix too well. The large side windows are only
inches from the guard rails. Can you guess what happens when the
boat bumps against the dock? Surprisingly, this one wasn't leaking
too badly. There were water stains on the headliner, but we couldn't
locate the source of the leaks. Plus its got one of those wonderful
plastic deck hatches that feels like you'll fall through when you
step on it. Most of the other hardware was fairly decent.
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The engine spaces leave a lot to be
desired. The generator, barely visible at top, is nearly impossible
to reach. |
The design of this boat is kinda weird, but once
we got over the way it looked, we found that it was actually rather
convenient. Getting around on her is real easy and there are no
safety issues at all. A pretty good boat for people with small kids.
The bridge with a center console style helm and an inside windshield
attached is also kinda weird, but fairly practical as it keeps the
salt spray off the electronics. The drawback is that there is no
space to mount anything big. Although quite spacious, the first
thing you notice is that the front seating faces aft. Problem is,
no one wants to sit facing the rear.
The two stateroom interior layout is well done.
With all that room from a 14-6 beam, there would be no excuse for
it not to be. Its got a straight down the middle traffic pattern
that makes moving around real easy. The galley is plenty large,
although the transverse high bar type partition with tall stools
is a bad idea that renders this counter space nearly useless as
it is much too high. A large hi-lo coffee table does the same thing
for the settee, forcing people to only want to sit at the ends.
A guest stateroom with an upper/lower berth actually has some floor
space in it! The interior is basic contemporary mobile home or
Holiday Inn room. But then you're not going to get any better with
a boat priced like this. But at least it wasn't falling apart.
The appliances and systems are about what you'd
expect. Basically cheap stuff that doesn't last long. Nothing does
at prices like this. Originally supplied with el cheapo bilge pumps,
the boat nearly sank once. The owner replaced them with four Rule
pumps after this incident.
The engine compartment layout was poor. They stuffed
the twin 200 gallon aluminum tanks back there along with the engines
and generator. While three large hatches open things up the engines
from the top, there's a lot of things stuffed in places you can't
reach. The worst of which is the generator back in the swim
platform well, forcing you to crawl over the batteries to reach
it, which is a very painful ordeal. And its got four car batteries
instead of real ones. Once again, there is no decking between the
engines, which are very close together, making service work that
much more difficult.
We were really surprised by a pair of 6V53's, engines
we hadn't seen in quite a while, and never rated at 400 hp. But
on a lengthy sea trial they really purred and pushed this very light
boat (24,000 lbs) along at very respectable speeds. There
were only 2' swells out on the Stream so we really didn't get to
find out how she handles a sea. But she's big and beamy with a fairly
full bow, so we wouldn't expect anything out of the ordinary. With
all that weight back aft, we thought she'd be unbalanced, but she
wasn't. Although the tanks weren't full, either. The vee drive seemed
to be set up right and didn't see any problems with that. With seven
years on them, these engines seemed to be holding up well, and there
was no sign of major overhauls. That's usually the way it works
out when a boat has more than adequate power/weight ratio.
Its easy to be critical about the overall quality
of this boat, but the basic structure is fairly decent. Without
the pipe frame top, we'd expect that the bridge area wouldn't hold
up so well. Too much stuff up there that won't hold up to
the weather. But you could do worse with more expensive boats. Priced
in the mid $100, its a lot of boat for little money. For what
it is, we give it:
| These
are "reviews", not surveys, and bear no resemblance
to our survey reports.
We do not publish the results of the surveys that we perform.
Please note that the purpose of these reviews is educational,
to help you discern the differences in quality among boats
generally. They are not offered as a means to help you evaluate
any particular boat builder. We have no other reviews than
those posted. |
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