Ferretti 880 Used Yacht Review and Specifications

The Ferretti 880 when it was the biggest Ferretti

The Ferretti 880 was the largest yacht in the builder's range in the early 2000s, and Ferretti's own website listed it by mid-2003 with twin 2,030-hp MTU 16V 2000 M91 diesels, a predicted 30 knots top and 27 knots cruise, a laden displacement of 82 tonnes and a fully loaded draft of 6 feet 4 inches. Power and Motoryacht tested it in Florida for its August 2004 issue, and Yachting ran it out of Rimini on the Adriatic. Around 2005 it was succeeded by the 881, a similar size but wider and with a standard gyro, so the 880 is a short-run boat that is easy to confuse with its successor.

Some listings and databases muddle the dates. If a boat is offered as a Ferretti 880 and built from 2006 on, it is almost certainly an 881; check the hull identification number and Ferretti's build plate before comparing prices.

A beam built for American expectations

PMY's reviewer framed the 880 around a familiar complaint about Italian imports: style and speed, but cramped heads, low doorways and small showers. The 880 answered with a 22-foot 1-inch beam, which she reckoned was some three feet wider than similar-size boats she had been aboard. The main deck shows it: the salon lounge and the dining table for eight share one room without movie watchers sitting in diners' laps, and a pop-up plasma TV hides to starboard.

Ferretti's US product manager at the time, Jim Varela, told PMY that the hull was refined in software before any glass was laid, simulating water flow and weight to optimize the shape, and to cut the low-pressure area aft that draws exhaust fumes into the cockpit, the so-called station-wagon effect.

Galley, foyer and a master with two wardrobes

The galley sits to port, forward of the dining area and behind the pilothouse, with white lacquer panels, a granite island and a full-size side-by-side refrigerator. Opposite is a foyer with a door to the starboard side deck and the day head, and from there a curved stair leads down to the cabins. Yachting liked the polished cherry joinery, tan leather and clever window blinds that can be translucent, opaque or fully open.

The full-beam master puts the king berth in the middle of the room, with a passage behind it that hides a walk-in wardrobe behind two mirrored sliding doors, plus a second walk-in wardrobe forward. There are separate his and hers heads, one with a tub and one with a shower, a vanity and a settee. The VIP forward has a proper rectangular bed and two twin cabins match its finish. Each guest head has green marble counters. Crew have two en suite single cabins and a small galley and dining area between the master and the engine room, entered from the cockpit.

A systems room and a teak beach

Two features were unusual for an 88-footer of 2004. Between the engine room and the crew area sits a long, narrow systems compartment holding the main electrical board and a workbench over the freshwater pumps, something PMY had only seen on megayachts. Aft, the garage is more than a tender bay: it is fully lined in teak and its door folds down rather than up to become a large swim platform. At the Miami show Ferretti displayed a pair of Harley-Davidsons in it.

The standard equipment list was generous for the period: twin 32-kW Kohler generators, a Sea Recovery watermaker, 120,000 Btu of air conditioning, a hydraulic bow thruster, an electro-hydraulic davit, ladder and passerelle, a cockpit control station, and an electric grill and Jacuzzi on the flybridge.

• Systems compartment between engine room and crew quarters
• Teak-lined garage with fold-down door that becomes a platform
• Flybridge with its own galley, grill, bar and dining area

Performance, and the gearbox whine

With twin MTU 16V 2000 M91s driving through ZF V-drives at 2.54:1 and five-blade 40 x 50 propellers, PMY measured 29.9 knots by GPS on a test boat with propeller problems, and Ferretti claimed 30 knots or more. Yachting averaged 29 knots in both directions off Rimini, with over 30 downwind. Ferretti quoted 370 miles of range at top speed and 400 miles at cruise. The hull is a moderate V with 12 degrees of deadrise at the transom, deepening forward to a fine bow, and both testers found it smooth and responsive, with handling closer to a sport boat than its size suggests.

The flaw both magazines noted was gearbox noise. Because the V-drive gearboxes sit forward of the engines near the forward engine-room bulkhead, a whine at intermediate speeds carried into the master cabin and crew quarters. Yachting reported Ferretti was pressing ZF for a fix. Yachting also wanted a handrail on the interior stair to the flybridge and noted that Ferretti's new anti-roll gyro was offered as an option.

Buying an 880 two decades on

An 880 is now a boat bought for volume and value rather than modern style. With few examples on the market, prices follow the 881 and the 830: realistic numbers run around $950,000 to $1.5 million depending on engine hours, whether a gyro was fitted, and the quality of any refit. The MTU 16V 2000 engines are well supported, but at this age you are budgeting for top-end overhauls, exhaust work, new navigation electronics, air-conditioning chillers and soft furnishings.

Running costs are those of a crewed 88-footer: two crew minimum, dockage for a 22-foot beam, MTU and Kohler service, insurance on an older large yacht, and around 2,400 gallons of tankage to fill. A realistic yearly budget is $250,000 to $430,000 before any refit spending.