Had a guided tour of an 85' Princess Yacht yesterday, first time I have been on a real luxury boat.

Absolutely stunning, could not believe how beautiful it was, are they the real top of the range yacht or are their better ones out there?

Complete novice with these boat thingies. Took a client down so he could view it and discuss options.

Out of all the Sunseeker/Fairline/Sealine type boats, Princess is probably the best.

They're still all st though.

I guess you went to the boat show!

Depends on price really the real luxury stuff is http://www.camperandnicholsons.com/luxury-yachts-f...

Share that dream. Done the car bit - boat next. Fear my blank cheque would most definately bounce though....

I've spent too much time sketching and planning this particular dream!

Our firm, matrixLloyd, helps people to buy large yachts – in particular novice buyers.

We act for the buyer, as opposed to a yacht broker or yard rep, who acts for the seller. We want happy ongoing owners rather than just a sale, and don’t work on a commission-basis.

Princess Yachts’ build quality is generally better than most, but individual craftsmen and engineers can all have bad days, and, as every boat is different, there is often a certain amount of wheel reinvention which goes into each build.

Design-wise, Princesses are on the conservative side compared to Sunseekers or Italian boats.

My advice would always be to go for a used boat, not new – they depreciate like crazy and technical issues and flaws take a lot longer to be ironed-out than with a new supercar. There are some bargains to be had right now, too.

Most importantly, your client needs to think about whether he is happy to employ crew, or whether he wants to drive it himself. At this size you're almost certainly looking at employing crew.

Lots to think about, but don’t lose sight of the fact that nothing else offers so much fun and freedom.

There are no rankings - it's just a question of what your client's wants and needs are. Build quality only drops off significantly with boats made in the Far East. But be careful, as clever branding exercises can disguise a boat's true build pedigree.

Do they have experience of employing crew already? Good crew make all the difference. Some are passionate and loyal, others (many, in my experience) resent their employer's wealth, take kickbacks and don't bother with essential maintenance - especially on 'small' boats like this without dedicated engineering crew.

Nothing wrong with buying new, of course, but the devil is in the detail as far as the build contract and warranty is concerned. Buy through a broker and your client may pay significantly over the odds. Chose a financially weak yard or accept flawed build guarantees and your client could lose very large sums of money.

I spent just over 2 years working for princess, in particular 12 months on the v85 builds,if i could afford such a boat i doubt id buy one of these, id much rather be spending my money on something with a metal hull rather than a fibreglass gin palace!

This might be a really stupid question, but how do you get the rib down?