English
The 800GT Stingher is the ultimate family rib with a build quality second to none, massive storage lockers all with gas struts to ease operation, table and additional sunbathing cushions. Stingher 800GT 8 metre rib with Suzuki DF250APX with only 287 hours recently serviced and has Suzuki dealer service history.Rare stunning grey hull with grey tubes, flexiteak decking with black piping, electric windlass (£1800 option). Twin battery system with Smart Battery Isolators new 2023. Custom made covers in matching grey new 2022. Bimini, Fusion sound system with fusion speakers. Harming GPS with fish finder . Toilet in console also a shower at stern on bathing platform. Price includes excellent twin axle galvanised roller trailer
1. Review
PowerBoat and Rib.com
Stingher 800GT Sport Custom
Alex Smith tests the new and improved Stingher’s faithfully effective 800GT Sport Custom …
The Stingher 800GT is a boat I know almost as well as my own. I am familiar with every detail of its shape, form and purpose. I remember the locations of braces, hatches and screws. I can recall the internal dimensions of lockers and, having tested it in one form or another three times in as many years, I can bring to mind exactly the ways in which Ed Pedley at MRL has overseen its development. We’ve seen folding plastic cup holders and grab handles replaced with glittering steel; we’ve seen the doubling up of gas rams in the storage spaces; we’ve seen the rigging of a user-friendly, one-handed aft bench lid; and we’ve seen the gradual elevation of the features list to incorporate items such as a carbon-style collar and LED strips in all the main compartments.
So when I was asked to take another look at the 800GT, I needed a good reason to accept the invitation. After all, I had already openly acknowledged that, through the incremental tweaks and upgrades of its various incarnations, this spacious, composed and very capable family boat had become ‘one of the most perfectly judged modern leisure RIB packages’ money could buy. And yet in the end, the reason for a retest was very compelling. This wasn’t about another carefully targeted set of feature upgrades. This was about a twin rig of Verado 200s that was generating performance figures not just unmatched by previous examples of the boat but of an entirely different order …
The nit-picking pedantry
Once again, the details on the latest Stingher have been subtly improved. The thick fabric partition in the heads that divides the loo from the wiring on the back of the dash is much slicker and classier than it used to be. There is also a very neat bank of high-quality switches on the underside of the dash, so you can activate or isolate the batteries without having to head aft and climb into the engine bay. And the Stingher logo is now neatly machined into the teak-effect deck, complete with small chisel marks to make the machining look more intimate and hands on. However, my familiarity with this boat means my capacity to pick out the minor imperfections is duly magnified. So here goes …
For the sake of long-term resilience, I would like to see a protective lining fitted to the exposed edge of plywood as the anchor chain makes its way up and down to the windlass through the circular hole in the forward locker. I would also like to see some blunt bungs terminating the sharp screw heads in the forward storage space where the speakers are screwed to the fibreglass moulding. Further aft, the point at which one of the grab rails on the console front meets the moulding is imperfect, with perhaps a 2mm gap, filled with a Sikaflex-style sealant. And lovely though that carbon-effect Orca Hypalon collar is, I would request some form of textured tube-top footpad to help make the wet fabric more grippy for people stepping on and off. However, it has to be said that the general fit and finish is well up to scratch for a boat in this bracket. In fact, in places, it exhibits some of the gratifying gloss of the RIB industry’s most elevated echelons – and for a boat of this price, that is to be roundly applauded.
Verdict
This latest 800GT is a fine leisure platform, with a quality features list plus the added boon of truly pristine dynamic balance. The fact that it is simultaneously among the most spacious, most rapid and most frugal 8m leisure RIBs I have ever tested makes it a cast-iron candidate for the family boater in search of that elusive fusion of practicality and entertainment. With all the bells and whistles exhibited on the test craft, it comes in at nearly £15,000 more than last year’s single-engined RIB, but it remains as perfect an expression of this boat as we have ever seen. If for no other reason than to save me having to carry out a fifth test on the perennially overachieving Stingher 800GT, you should call MRL and discover for yourself just how satisfying a great boat for sensible money can be.
2. Engines
Suzuki DF250APX Outboard
with only 287 hours recently serviced and has Suzuki dealer service history.
Engine Model - DF250APX
Total Power - 250hp
Engine Hours - 287
Engine Type Outboard
Fuel Type - Petrol
3. Electrics
Electric windlass ( £1800 option).
Twin battery system with Smart Battery Isolators new 2023.
Fusion sound system with fusion speakers.
Harming GPS with fish finder
4. Tubes
Rare stunning grey hull with grey tubes
Flexiteak decking with black piping,
5. Additional Information
Toilet in console also a shower at stern on bathing platform.
6. Trailer
Price includes excellent twin axle galvanised roller trailer
7. Euroyachts Disclaimer
The Company offers the details of this vessel in good faith but cannot guarantee or warrant the accuracy of this information nor warrant the condition of the vessel. A buyer should instruct his agents, or his surveyors, to investigate such details as the buyer desires validated. This vessel is offered subject to prior sale, price change, or withdrawal without notice.