Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2023 i Motor Boat & Yachting

I like to think of Motor Boat & Yachting as a community rather than a boat publication. Sure we publish a magazine every month, not to mention daily updates on our website, YouTube channel and social media outlets, but first and foremost we’re a bunch of passionate, boat-mad individuals who like sharing information about our hobby. And when I say we, I don’t just mean the handful of people who work here, but all of the readers, viewers, followers and subscribers who help make MBY such an invaluable source of specialist knowledge. Take this issue, for instance. Where else are you going to get a first-hand insight into buying and speccing a custom-built 96ft SANLORENZO? And yet MBY reader John Wolf has done just that and spent several precious hours…

Although Summertime, and the livin’ is easy would be a pretty good boat anthem, surely Wintertime, and the spendin’ is easy would be more appropriate right now. It’s wryly amusing that my original Smuggler’s Blues adventures started almost a decade ago because Torbay Council introduced a cheap, tide-restricted marina in Torquay Harbour and I thought I could go budget boating. The first Smuggler’s Blues was a tatty but sound Skibsplast 660D with a small diesel engine. It cost about £6,000. The invoice I’ve just paid for the admittedly considerably upscale Noss on Dart marina for 2023 is not that far short of the cost of that old Skibsplast. And that’s the beginning of the spending, not the end. A thorough service by Darthaven included the biennial full outdrive service. You…

We’re usually rather sceptical of small companies with only one model in the range, but when we took a look around Explorer Yachts’ stand at this year’s Düsseldorf show, we were pleasantly surprised by what we found. Set up by former Sessa owner, Riccardo Radice, with backing from a German investor, the company builds its craft in Lombardo, Italy. At the moment the Explorer 62 model is the only model in the range but a 92 is also in development. The good news is that the 62 is a very credible craft with some truly innovative ideas. The shape alone is pretty unusual, with a towering vertical bow featuring a sacrificial bulb to extend the waterline for efficient low-speed running. It also helps cushion the blow if you hit any…

The extraordinary new Wallypower 58X takes the walkaround design of the existing Wallypower 58 and combines it with a slick new transom design. The idea here is to create a boat capable of handling up to four Mercury Verado V12 600 outboards, while still providing all the recreational flexibility of its inboard sister – and it appears to have worked. The 58X uses a pair of fold-down aft bulwarks and a four-person sunpad to create a big 25sqm beach club. The hydraulic passerelle doubles as a bathing ladder and there’s a lovely automated semi-rigid sunshade that lifts up over the sunpad for extra shelter. Stefano de Vivo, Wally MD, has made no secret of his pride at the way it unites “the very latest in outboard performance with the essential…

PEARL 72 First full test of the British brand’s feature-packed flybridge. Has it got the performance and sea-keeping to back up the style? SOLAR CRUISER Is it possible to build an affordable solar-powered river cruiser that can cruise all day without additonal charging? One reader already has! GREEK ADVENTURE Med explorers Thomas and Jutta Kittel head West from Montenegro to Albania and on into Greece and all its magical islands CONTACT Email: mby@futurenet.com Write: Motor Boat & Yachting, Future Plc, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6JR…

Bavaria’s SR line has been a major success since it burst onto the scene in 2020. With its elevated hull sides, charming transom dinette and inboard-only engines, the original SR41 combined excellent volume with a rewarding layout, great looks and a really impressive driving experience. Since then, Bavaria has done a great job of transferring those same talents onto the smaller SR36 pretty much unscathed – but can they really repeat the trick with a boat as compact as the SR33? Well, the first thing to note as we arrive at Neustadt marina in northern Germany is the fact that this is not actually a 33-footer at all. With a hull of 35ft 9in and an overall length of 37ft 5in, alongside that same muscular aesthetic as we’ve seen elsewhere…

Custom Line’s new flagship is an impressive showcase for the Ferretti Group’s unique C combination of industrial might and Italian craftsmanship. At nearly 140ft in length, it comprises more than 5,000sqft of interior and exterior space, all carefully integrated over four decks and wrapped in taut, sporting lines that are very much in keeping with the brand’s high-performance planing line. In the forward part of the main deck, the full-beam owner’s cabin covers nearly 500sqft on its own. In addition to a central bed and walk-in wardrobes, it features a full-beam bathroom with a separate shower and an exclusive designer bathtub. As you would hope on a yacht of this scale and calibre, there’s also the option of a private owner’s terrace, projecting out above the water on the starboard…

Dave Cockwell, the owner and managing director of Cockwells boatyard, is a man of action rather than words so when I received an email from him with nothing but a link to a video and the words “Would you like to have a go?” I was suitably intrigued. The link took me to a video of a guy wake-surfing behind a boat on a state-of-the-art foil board, while his family looked on from the comfort of a very stylish open dayboat I’d never clapped eyes on before. It was only on closer inspection that I clocked the ‘Duchy Sport’ logo subtly embroidered into the headrests of the two big aft facing sunloungers. Seriously? I thought Duchy made traditional gentleman’s launches with sturdy semi-displacement hulls and covered helm stations for genteel…

‘The purest expression of the ultimate ride’ is how Fliteboard modestly describes its new foiling electric surfboard. Three versions are available. The basic Fliteboard can handle riders up to 120kg. The Ultra L is the lightweight version featuring a taller 80cm mast (the tube that supports the board above the foil) for bigger waves or harder turns. And the AIR is an inflatable version aimed at beginners. Flite Jet is also new – it’s the smallest jet propulsion unit available. Smoother and quieter than a propeller, it’s also safer for swimmers and Dual Drive allows you to swap out the jet for a propeller, giving higher speeds and distance. A new Flitecell Nano, claimed to be the world’s lightest Lithium E4 battery at just 6.2kg, charges in under an hour…

Keen to take the stress out of slipway work? Here’s what you need to know. For many of us, our introduction to boating would have been a small trailer-launched boat that we towed to the water whenever we fancied getting afloat. If it was a launching site that was unfamiliar, there was always that moment of trepidation when you first saw the slipway and discovered how usable (or unusable) it was. Google Maps and Street View have helped remove some of that trepidation but you still need to carry out a basic survey before launching. How steep is it? Is there a drop-off at the end? Is it clear or covered in weed and slime? Is there a fee to launch? Where do you park to get set up and…

The Cranchi range now spans 26ft to 78ft and encompasses sportsboats, luxury tenders, trawler yachts, crossovers and big flybridge craft. But the Z35 harks back to what Cranchi has always done so very well. With a back catalogue that includes the enduring and appropriately named Endurance 39/41 and the hugely popular Zaffiro 34 (a model that it sold over 1,500 units of), this 35ft sportscruiser is heartland stuff for the Italian builder. INTERIOR It’s quite refreshing to see that Cranchi has stuck with the time honoured mid 30ft sportscruiser layout that dates right back to the 1980s and boats like the Fairline 33 Targa and Princess 36 Riviera. There’s a double bed in the owner’s cabin forward (a centreline double, which those earlier boats didn’t get) and a mid cabin…

Even without the brisk Atlantic breeze and the Princess flag flying from the bow rail, the clues are tough to miss. The reverse screens, the enclosed upper helm, the short foredeck, the raised bulwarks. This is the Princess X80 – sister boat to the category-confounding X95 – and one of the best reasons imaginable for making the long trip down to Plymouth. From the central day heads and the upper sky lounge to the wide-open day spaces and the option of a main deck owner’s cabin, the new X80 is as close to a production 80ft superyacht as you are likely to see. There is plenty more to be said of course. For instance, why the walkaround layout? Why no lower helm? What is it like to drive? And will…

ENNIO’S SOUTHAMPTON Some restaurants have great food, some have great service and some have both. And if you’re really lucky, your custom will be occasions all three blend seamlessly together and the bar is raised to the point where the simple act of eating out becomes an occasion. And that, in my experience, is what happens at Ennio’s. Located on Town Quay opposite the ferry terminal of the Southampton Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company Limited, (Red Funnel to you and me), Ennio’s Italian restaurant is based in a Victorian warehouse which in the pre-roadway and ferry days used to border the waterfront. Externally the six-storey building, which houses Ennio’s boutique hotel on its upper floors, has been beautifully preserved and proudly displays its…

Since its emergence in 2011, Italia Yachts has been known for its cruise-friendly sailboats. But now, in the form of the 43 Veloce, it is taking its first steps into the powerboating market-and with its raised bow, open transom, sculpted hull and distinctive sheerline, its debut model is an indisputably beautiful thing. Though angled slightly toward the needs of the American market (and unveiled in Miami for exactly that reason), its hybrid approach, somewhere between a purist walkaround open boat and a premium day cruiser, is certain to command plenty of appeal among the yachting hotspots of the Mediterranean. Chief among its features is the aft deck. At its heart lies a central dinette with integrated aft-facing loungers and drop-down table. A hydraulic sea terrace on either side helps improve…

Electric boat specialist Candela is launching a centre console version of its C-8 foiling sportsboat. Featuring an open bow with walkaround decks in place of the original C-8’s cuddy cabin and walk-through windscreen, the new CC model will take the fight to conventional petrol-powered walkaround craft from the likes of Axopar, Saxdor and Ryck. As well as having extra seating in the bow, the Candela C-8 CC has a more sociable deck layout with a dinette for six at the aft end of the cockpit, a wet bar, sunpad and separate heads compartment. Additional features such as rod-holders, a six speaker stereo system and a built-in 15.4in touchscreen navigation and boat control system also add to its impressive day-boating credentials. The other big win is a more powerful battery and…

Archipelago’s 47 is a prototype in the most traditional sense of the word. It has been built as a test platform by a fledgling company to help refine the designs of subsequent production models. But as we arrive at Ocean Village, the potency of the boat’s posturing makes it hard to believe this is anything but the finished article. With its low roofline, wide beam, slender forward hulls and raised bridge deck, its squat muscularity feels deeply satisfying. And it’s made all the more so by the reverse screen, tinted windows, elevated side decks and gunmetal naked aluminium. This is not a boat that tries to conceal its multihull underpinnings or to mimic the style of a monohull with clever tapers, faux panels or pretty mouldings. This is a tough…

Turkish builder, VisionF Yachts, has unveiled a new flagship power cat that sidesteps the established formula in several key ways. For instance, while the brand has become well known for its stylish aluminium multihulls, this will be the first boat built from Kevlar composite. The idea behind that is to optimise the strength-to-weight ratio, creating a very light structure with excellent rigidity and durability. Volume is of course another major strength and VisionF is aiming to make best use of that with a range of facilities that tap directly into the superyachting lifestyle. The aft cockpit, for instance, has dining facilities for the entire ship’s company, with an aft bench that can be reversed to face out over a folding terrace, suspended above the stern. The bow deck, meanwhile, is…

When the Princess X95 first hit the water in 2020, it certainly wasn’t quiet about it. With its confrontational elevation, fulsome forward superstructure and full-length ‘super flybridge’, it didn’t just feel like a radical tangent from the gentlemanly motor yachts of the Princess Y Class. It felt like a radical tangent from the rest of the players in its sector. But while the upright trawler-cum-expedition aesthetic was challenging for some, the fact that it delivered around 30% more volume than most boats of a comparable length won it a lot of fans. Couple that with the fact that it was able to integrate some authentic superyacht-style luxuries into a sub-100ft platform and a couple of things became inevitable. Firstly, it would go on to sell extremely well, shifting more than…

Despite the BBC’s incessant global warming warnings, we still get cold on our boat. So when we purchased Albany, our Fairline Targa 34, back in 2015, we were delighted it had an Eberspächer heater, something our old Four Winns had never had. Sadly though, the joy was short-lived, as we had problems from the off. THE MELTED FENDER To begin with, in a masterpiece of dreadful design, the heater’s exhaust is positioned immediately below the aft cleat on the starboard side. It didn’t take us long to discover this because when we began using the heater, the super-hot exhaust melted its way through the fender hanging from the cleat, emitting a nasty burning smell from the forward cabin. Panic set in as we investigated the source, which turned out to…

When John Hardy founded Hardy Marine back in 1976 he focused on the production of small motor sailers. So popular were his high quality Colin Mudie-designed craft, that in 1982 the company’s North Walsham, Norfolk manufacturing facility was expanded to accommodate demand. As the company grew, the focus switched to small but solidly built motor boats, including the evergreen Pilot 20 and popular Seawings range but in 1997 the company took a big step upmarket with the Andrew Wolstenholme-designed semi-displacement Hardy 36. This was followed by the Commander 32, the Commodore 42, the Hardy 50 of 2004, and ultimately the Hardy 62 in 2013. NEW LIFE Some years earlier, John Hardy had sold the business to Mark Funnell but Mark’s untimely passing in 2012 at the age of just 49…

When Sealine launched its new Bill Dixon-designed S330 back in 2014 it was an unashamedly cockpit orientated sportscruiser, albeit one with an open-backed hardtop. The ‘coupe’ C330 launched a year later with the sole purpose of offering a more weatherproof enclosed main deck saloon. This is not simply a case of enclosing the hardtop, it is a demonstrably different boat. INTERIOR While the S330 puts all of its interior living space on the lower deck (saloon, galley, cabins etc), the C330 uses its enclosed saloon on the main deck to gift the boat its interior living spaces. So you’ll find a dinette to port and the galley opposite, behind the helm position to starboard. Although this is clearly an internal zone, Sealine has gone to great lengths to bring the…

At the beginning of this century, Fairline was keen to bust out of the usual cookie cutter layouts that boats of this era mostly fell into. In particular, it reasoned, why should boats be all about the maximum number of cabins? Most buyers of 50ft+ boats are 50+ years old with kids that have flown the nest. So the Squadron 52 has two great cabins, not three that are inevitably more compromised. INTERIOR This was the era before the ubiquitous full beam mid cabin was a thing. This boat has the mid cabin, but it’s not quite full beam. It is, however, an excellent size with an owner’s cabin feel to it. There’s a second cabin forward, and these two cabins are so similar that either could be the owner’s,…

1 TO INFYNITO AND BEYOND Ferretti has revealed full computer renderings of its all-new InFYnito 90 tri-deck model. The first of a whole new range of InFYnito craft from 70-110ft, it is a long-range, go-anywhere cruiser featuring the very latest eco-credentials, including solar panels, sustainable sourcing and, wherever possible, recyclable materials. With an RCD Category A rating, it is capable of serious offshore passagemaking and has an LOA of 88ft 6in with a maximum beam of 24ft 1in. Despite these ocean-going credentials it boasts a whopping 100m2 of exterior deck space and a 140m2 interior that includes an open-plan main deck and sky lounge above. Ferretti Yachts claims the interior of this model is around 25% bigger than the market average. The most innovative aspect of the design is an…

Having tested the Prestige M48, we know exactly what the brand’s new power cat line is all about. It’s designed quite simply as a home-away-from-home that enables you to feel good and live well. On the M48, that means lots of volume and outdoor deck spaces, alongside a set of cabins that makes full and unapologetic use of the zone beneath the central deck. And as you might expect, the new M-line flagship keeps those same principles very much intact. It uses a walkaround main deck with large external seating sections fore and aft, plus a central saloon that remains wide open to maximise the sense of space. You can have the galley up or down but, given the natural scale of the saloon’s social zones, the galley-up layout…

While power cats are hardly famed for their sex appeal, Makai is committed to making them genuinely desirable. Developed in collaboration with Italian sports car designer, Emanuele Rossi, and built at Makai’s production facility in Split, Croatia, the firm’s new Makai M37 is being marketed as a high-end sportscruiser which draws direct inspiration from both classic and modern supercars. Rossi refers to the “harmony between elegance and masculinity”; to the importance of finding a way to “portray grittiness as well as elegance”. And florid though that might sound, you can see what he’s getting at. With its plunging aft gunwale line, elevated bow and one-piece wraparound screen, it has the look of a muscular modern take on a classical limousine. And in line with company policy, the performance appears to…

CONFIDENCE BOOSTER I just wanted to thank John Brennan for his honest, open and encouraging article about cruising out of sight of land (Over the Horizon, MBY May 2023). Like him, I’ve owned a boat for years that could happily cope with offshore passages, but even though I’ve dreamed of using its full potential to cross the Channel and explore Europe, I’ve never yet plucked up the courage to do so. There is something about losing sight of land that just feels a little too scary. However, having read John’s article about how he overcame his own concerns only to discover that the reality of crossing the horizon is nothing like as bad as the fear of it, I am determined to take the plunge this year. I am not…

DAY 24, 18 MAY BANGOR & BELFAST We’ve made it from Brighton to Belfast in 23 days but with only three days left of our original 26-day target to make it down to Land’s End and along the South West Coast of England, we are disappointed to wake up to yet more strong winds keeping us pinned in harbour for another day. We use the time to visit the Titanic Museum in the old Harland & Wolff shipyard where the ill-fated ocean liner was built. It’s an eerie experience to stand on the very slipway she was launched from, and the museum and surrounding exhibits are every bit as fascinating as you’d imagine. DAYS 25 & 26, 19-20 MAY – 47NM BANGOR TO PEEL, ISLE OF MAN Our plan was…

Numarine’s 40MXP is designed as an evolution of the popular 37XP, with the same stylistic DNA and the same high-volume, low-hassle, long-range ethos that has previously set the adventure-ready XP line apart. So what is the MXP (Mediterranean Explorer) variant all about? Well the first part is about an authentic beach club lifestyle, properly tailored to the Mediterranean climate. By leveraging the extra 2m it enjoys over the 37 and shifting the saloon doors forward by 3m, Numarine has extended the aft deck to such an extent that it now plays host to a large alfresco dining area, a lounge, a bar and a stern pool. Beyond the glass transom, a huge hydraulic swim platform stretches across the full 8m beam and the entire space can be shaded with an…

Rethinking a layout in the way Ferretti has done with its new 860 does underline how yacht interiors are always a compromise. Move one thing and you have to move something else to make way for it, and then move something else to make way for that, and so it goes. Everything can be changed except the space available. But if all goes well, at the end of the process only the designers will know which decision it was that set off the whole reshuffle in the first place. On the 860, all does seem to have gone well. Although based on the same hull and machinery as the earlier 850 model, of which some 30-plus were built in six years, everything else about the new 860 has been substantially…

Having started sailing with Lasers, Wayfarers and National H 12s as a child, my claim to fame was coming 18th in the National Firefly Championships. In truth, only 19 boats started and one of them sank, but we had a brilliant week, sailing out of Itchenor. Me and a mate, a subsidised bar (which may have turned a blind eye to licensing laws), fish and chips, an overloaded minivan and lots of glorious sunshine – it really couldn’t have been better! After I finished school, I learned navigation in the Royal Navy and although I ended up taking a different path, the seed was sown. A HISTORY IN BOATS In 1999, we bought our first boat – a Four Winns 195 cuddy cabin with an inboard Volvo V8 petrol engine.…

Peruse the new boat market and a quarter of a million pounds might not buy what it once did. However, it’s still a hefty chunk of cash and deployed carefully in the slightly more challenging secondhand arena, it can still yield a hefty amount of boat. As ever, the sliding sides of the used boat triangle come into play: size/year/price. Having fixed the price, you can then play with the other two sides and decide whether to go bigger but older or smaller but newer. To illustrate that point, we’ve selected four very different but equally appealing craft currently for sale from an immaculate looking current model Cranchi Z35 open sportscruiser built in 2018 to a considerably older but much larger and still very desirable Fairline Squadron 52. Filling…

In 2005 Ipswich-based Oyster Yachts, justifiably famous for its world girdling luxury sailboats, decided that its customer base needed a motor boat. Designed to appeal to its refined yachting audience, a “gentleman’s cruiser” is how we might once have got away with describing it. More a luxury runabout than a long-distance cruiser – apparently LD stood for Lunch and Dinner, the idea perhaps being that it was the ultimate picnic boat. INTERIOR It’s a statement backed up by the interior, which has just the one dedicated sleeping cabin, unusual in a world where anything much over 30ft generally has at least two (in fact there was a two-cabin option, which displaced the galley from the lower deck to the main saloon to free up space for cabin two, but it…

A few months ago we covered the Supermarine Swordfish, a boat heavily inspired by the 1964 Fairey Swordsman. This month we’re bringing you the Levi Corsair, but this boat was not inspired by its 1963 namesake. It is actually the same boat. And you can still have a new one built to order. There are detail differences, the coaming that wraps around the back of the cockpit is slightly higher, the original square-cornered windscreen frame is now a sweep of curved stainless steel, the pulpit rail is slightly higher and slightly longer and… and that’s about it. The low coachroof, wide side decks and gorgeous sweep of sheer line are exactly as per the original; this remains one of the coolest and most beautiful boats on the water. Named after…