Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2023 i Motor Boat & Yachting

They say the best things come in small packages and increasingly I’m starting to think that applies to boats too. Don’t get me wrong, I love a big boat as much as anyone (in fact, the bigger the better when it comes to living on board) but when judged by how much fun you can have from behind the wheel, there is no doubt in my mind that smaller boats are simply more engaging to drive. Take two of the boats in this issue; the Williams Evojet 70 (p38) and Frauscher 1414 Demon (p50) are both the flagships of their respective ranges and superior to their smaller siblings in every objective measure. But having driven the Williams 505 DieselJet and the Frauscher 1212 Ghost on the same day and in…

Boat owners commonly say that the bigger the boat, the less it gets used. People cite the additional complication and hassle of using a larger boat but I don’t think that’s the reason. I believe it’s because the larger the boat, the more it costs to buy and run, and therefore the busier the owner inevitably is, making the kind of money needed. It’s a broad brush stroke of course, with plenty of exceptions, but I’ve certainly found that as boating has become more affordable relative to income, the opportunities to get aboard seem to diminish inversely. Last year we put just 25 engine hours on the clock and we only filled up twice! Things need to change. I do have one very positive thing in my favour. Marianne loves,…

LOA 62ft 0in (18.90m) BEAM 17ft 7in (5.36m) ENGINES twin MAN V8 1300s TOP SPEED 40 knots PRICE POA CONTACT www.wilder-yachts.com Premium Italian yard, Wider Yachts, has unveiled fresh details of the new all-aluminium WiLder 60. Due for launch in August 2023, as the first entry from the new WiLder brand, the core idea is to introduce superyacht-level comfort, refinement and detailing on an easy-to-handle 60-footer that can be fully customised in line with the owner’s unique requirements. And given Wider’s recent introduction of the WiderCat 92 multihull and its involvement in the Moonflower 72 superyacht project, it looks very well placed to make that happen. Boat Number 1 will come with a fairly conventional day boating layout, comprising a mixture of central seating and sunbathing furniture, orbited by full…

LOA 74ft 4in (22.65m) BEAM 19ft 6in (5.94m) ENGINES twin CAT C18A 1,136hp diesels TOP SPEED tbc PRICE POA CONTACT www.horizonyacht.com Prolific Asian shipyard, Horizon Yachts, builds everything from power cats and large displacement luxury motoryachts to expedition platforms and authentic superyachts. But in its new mid-range V74, it has a boat that does a fine job of delivering volume, luxury and performance, while also remaining small enough to be manageable for the owner operator. Introduced in May 2023, the Horizon V74 is an evolution of the V68 model, with a plumb bow and a helm-free main deck that makes the very most of the space. The forward saloon features a huge U-shaped dinette alongside a long fore-and-aft galley with a central island bar. Further aft, a high-low dinette faces…

When you’re a teenager you find your parents so embarrassing. You vow never to make those crass statements or be so out of touch. As Mark Twain once said, “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant that I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.” I am 40 years past that age but when I take stock, I realise just how similar I am to my father. My love of boating, my mechanical and practical abilities, my farming skills and a belt-and-braces approach to preparation. It was the last of these that came to the fore when we took Molly, our Aquador…

SEE MORE mby.com/s390 A wide beam, narrow bulwarks and an all-over hardtop combine to create a massive cockpit space There’s a distinct trend going on in the day boating world – a trend toward spacious, versatile open boats that are also able to provide enough accommodation for longer family cruises. We’ve seen it in stylish cockpit-centric powerboats like Jeanneau’s DB line and in De Antonio’s high-volume outboard-powered party platforms. And those same basic crossover underpinnings are equally evident in Bill Dixon’s latest Sealine design. For a start, there’s the beam. At 12ft 8in, the S390 is certainly quite wide for a boat of this length and the cockpit is carefully set up to embrace pretty much all of that. It uses a single access point on the starboard side to…

WAVEBRITE SMART WATER WASTE SYSTEM Holding tanks for ‘black water’ (the discharge from toilets) have become commonplace on boats of late, and for obvious reasons. But most small to medium sized boats still eject ‘grey water’ (the discharge from showers, sinks and the galley) straight overboard. With ever more focus on protecting the environment (and rightly so), boat owners are becoming more conscious about not allowing polluted water, even if it is just with washing-up liquid, to be dispersed straight into the river or sea around the boat. Which is why the Wavebrite Smart has been developed. It’s a waste-water filtration system that can be incorporated into the build of a new boat or retrofitted to an existing one to remove toxins, phosphates and pollutants, such as soap, grease, oils…

First of all, let’s clear something up: what makes a boat a coupé? It depends on where you look but the definition we’ve used over the years is that a coupé is a sportscruiser with its helm and socialising area at main deck level within a fully enclosed hard top that leads out to an open aft cockpit. Nimbus itself dates back to 1968 when the Nimbus Group was founded in Långedrag, near Gothenburg, on Sweden’s west coast. Starting with the Nimbus 26, the company established a reputation for building practical, seaworthy boats that stood the test of time. The company and the range expanded over time, doubtlessly helped during the 1980s by a high-profile marketing collaboration with tennis superstar Björn Borg. It wasn’t just tennis royalty that took a…

BUILT 1990 PRICE £44, 995 Fairline’s Targa range began with the Targa 33 back in 1984. After a mild tweak to take the interior layout from two to three cabins, the boat proved a huge success, so much so that by the end of the 1980s Fairline was looking to extend its new model range. Launched in January 1990, the original Targa 30 was the answer. And I say ‘original’ because there was another very different Targa 30 about a decade later. To confuse things further, this particular model then morphed unchanged into the Targa 33 to reflect the true hull length, including the integral bathing platform. The original Targa 33 had a ‘bolt-on’ version, which was replaced with a 34 that had an integral platform, a model that then…

BUILT 2004 PRICE £149, 950 It’s not often we feature two models from one manufacturer, and especially not from the same model line but this Targa 43 shows just how far Fairline had progressed the Targa line by 1997, when this model launched. Whilst keeping the open cockpit ethos (now lost on the latest Targas – every current model comes with a hard top) this is a larger, more sophisticated boat than its forebears. INTERIOR Described in our 1998 boat test as “among the snappiest we have seen”, the Targa 43 offers a really useful two cabin, two heads layout with excellent headroom for a sportscruiser, only the mid cabin being inevitably a little compromised by its position beneath the cockpit. A lighter maple wood was offered but the majority…

THE BRAND DALE’s reputation among mariners is impeccable. It employs an award-winning semi-displacement Arthur Mursell hull form, which is justly famous for its sea-kindly ride, its class-leading refinement and its capacity to inspire the utmost confidence in big offshore conditions. Better still, it underpins all that proven seagoing pedigree with a delightful sense of heritage. Since its foundation in Pembrokeshire in the early 1960s, DALE has grown from a small family business into a boat builder of stellar international renown and a key part of that involves the balance it strikes between tradition and modernity. It still produces individually tailored boats with heavily built hulls, handcrafted cabinetry, exquisite detailing and classical style. But it marries that with state-of-the-art electronics and the latest high-tech materials. In short, if you want a…

THE BRAND The Nimbus Group is a major player in the world of recreational powerboating. Its current brands include Paragon Yachts as well as Alukin, Bella, Flipper, Falcon and Aquador. But notwithstanding the quality of Paragon’s four-season offshore boats, Nimbus is arguably the flagship marque in terms of calibre as well as name. Established in Gothenburg in 1968 and still proudly designed and built in Sweden, previous Nimbus patrons have included Nordic A-listers like Björn Borg and the Swedish King, and when you get to know the brand, that makes perfect sense. Justly famous for its premium dayboats, weekenders and cabin boats, there’s a cool, understated clarity to the design, a profound solidity to the build and a trademark generosity to the equipment list that sees even base models enter…

THE BRAND Until recently, Cantiere del Pardo was best known for its Grand Soleil sailing yachts. Founded in 1973, it delivered nearly 5,000 of these celebrated sailing yachts before launching Pardo Yachts as a power brand in 2016. The first boat of that new power-driven fleet was the Pardo 43 – a beautifully styled, built-in-Italy, walkaround day boat with an elegant reverse bow, a premium fit out and a clean, minimalist ‘less-is-more’ approach to Italian styling. That laid down a clear and explicit blueprint for the subsequent 38 and 50 to follow. In 2020, Pardo then went on to buy the VanDutch brand, helping cement its position as a major player in Med-style day boats. And to consolidate the success of its open range, Pardo is now aiming to “revolutionise”…

THE BRAND While the adventure boat sector is both more visible and better serviced than ever before, Targa is arguably the boating world’s original adventure brand. Founded in 1976, Targas have always been built by hand in western Finland – and because Botnia Marin operates a pair of full-service production sites, where virtually everything is done in-house, it is able to retain exceptional control over each phase of the process. What that means for the owner is a boat that feels just that bit more unique and personalised. Equipped with dry, soft-riding hulls, deep, safe decks and near-perfect helming ergonomics, there is nothing speculative about a Targa. While the brand continues to adapt and update its models in quite progressive ways, Targa’s four-season cruisers are still built on a bedrock…

Plenty of boat manufacturers like to name their boats after animals that evoke power, speed and grace (think Sunseeker Superhawk or Hunton Gazelle) but it takes a special kind of confidence to name your boat after an evil spirit. Then again, when it looks as menacing as Frauscher’s 1414 Demon, who’s going to argue with you? Photographed by MBY’s own senior staff writer, Alex Smith, just as the sun was rising over Mallorca’s rocky coastline prior to the start of the Palma Boat Show, it certainly had an other-worldly presence about it. However, the dictionary definition of Demon also has a secondary meaning as “a forceful or skilful performer of a specified activity, such as a demon cook or demon driver” and it is this definition that seems even more…

SALTY’S YARMOUTH Given what it’s been through, the owners of Salty’s – long one of Yarmouth’s most popular eateries – could have rebranded the place The Phoenix. But after the calamitous fire of 2020, which apparently started in the office and spread to the kitchen, the owners of Salty’s said they would bounce back. And bounce back they have, with all the energy of a Wham-O SuperBall (remember them?). With a fresh new coat of paint and new menus to match, Salty’s is once again a must-visit destination for anyone looking for food and fun in this picturesque town. As with most places in Yarmouth, Salty’s is a stone’s throw from the harbour. Just pick your way through the lines of traffic awaiting the next ferry to Lymington and you’re…

LOA 43ft 1in (13.12m) BEAM 14ft 10in (4.52m) ENGINES twin Volvo Penta IPS 650s TOP SPEED 38 knots PRICE from €827,000 ex VAT CONTACT www.evoyachts.com When we stepped on board the Evo Yachts R4 XT at the Palma International Boat Show, its chief feature was immediately evident. While it exhibits all the lovely day boating cleanliness of form you would expect, this XT (extended) variant adds a custom aft platform designed specifically for Evo by Besenzoni. The idea is that you can use it in three ways. You can lift it up for easy embarkation from an elevated Med pontoon; you can lower it to water level, extending your beach area by a metre; or you can drop it beneath the waterline for watersports or tender work. It’s a superb feature…

They say you always remember your first kiss, presumably because it leaves such a lasting impression. I reckon the same holds true for your first drive of a Williams Jet Tender. They are so small, so light, so nimble, so insanely quick yet forgiving that the sheer intensity of the experience sears itself into your memory. I can still remember mine as if it were yesterday; it was quite a choppy day in Poole harbour and I drove that poor little Turbojet so hard, leaping over waves, hurling it into spin turns and high-speed crash stops that I ended up hurting my own back. I’m quite a lot older and a little bit wiser these days, but I still get a flicker of anticipation every time I drive a new…

SEE MORE mby.com/fd14 Every year at the Cannes boat show there is a small section of the marina next to the swinging pontoon across the entrance to the show that seems to be reserved purely for cool-looking boats. It’s here that you’ll find the Italian style icon Wally and German performance brand SAY Carbon Yachts, giving punters something to ogle while they wait for the swing bridge to close. But dominating one entire side of the unofficial Cool Dock is a fleet of boats from an altogether more unlikely source – land-locked Austria. Frauscher has been building boats since 1927, initially small wooden sailing dinghies for the Austrian lakes before switching to elegant motor launches and runabouts in the 1950s and 1960s. Strict local emissions laws meant Frauscher was one…

After Montenegro, the “great unknown” now lies ahead of us – the next leg through Albania. What awaits us there? We have read a lot but still feel like we know very little about this strangely reclusive country. The reports we have seen instil both scepticism and uncertainty in equal measure – the mere mention of the word Albania evokes memories of a darker, communist era before the fall of the iron curtain. If you let these widespread prejudices get to you, you would almost certainly steer clear of visiting it in your own boat. And many do choose to bypass it entirely by cruising direct from Italy to Greece. We too are still plagued by doubts, even at this late stage, so to help allay our fears try to…

The drive for a sustainable boating future is broadly divided into two camps – the passionate advocates of wholesale greenness and those who would welcome a workable market-ready improvement. As we sit at Volvo Penta’s Krossholmen test facility a few miles north of Gothenburg, Sweden, the implication is that the world’s most prolific marine engine builder belongs to the more ambitious camp. There’s a very clear understanding here that the hybrid diesel electric prototype we’ve come to see is just one element of a multi-tiered approach that needs to include fuel cell development, fossil fuel alternatives, bio-sourced materials, efficient hull designs and end-of-life recyclability. But if that all sounds a touch speculative, Volvo Penta’s new parallel hybrid system has already been operating successfully for several thousand hours on a wind…

Having sold my four-year-old Nimbus 365, which I had owned from new, and bought a 16-year-old Mitchell 28, it wasn’t surprising that she needed a few tweaks and upgrades. I added around 100 engine hours during the winter of 22/23 (they had only done 365 hours when I got her) but as I planned to do a lot more cruising this summer, I was keen to make her safer, more economical and easier for a man of my age to handle. SAFETY CONCERNS The survey had shown that the stern glands leaked and the rubber connecting the stuffing box to the hull was in a poor state. I decided to lift the boat out for two weeks in April, primarily to do this job, but it wasn’t straightforward. The prop…

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BUILT 1997 PRICE £112, 50 Back in the day, you couldn’t move for 40ft British-built sportscruisers. Fairline fielded its Targa 38/39, Princess paraded its ultra successful V39/V40/V42 triumvirate, Sealine sold many of its S37 models, and Sunseeker; well Sunseeker had this, the 400 Portofino. INTERIOR The basic layout of all of these British boats followed broadly similar lines. The owner’s cabin was up front, a mid cabin for guests further aft beneath the forward section of the cockpit, and a dinette opposite the galley in the middle plus, of course, the heads with its toilet and shower. What stood the Sunseeker apart was its classic and beautiful high-gloss cherry woodwork. Although Sunseeker wasn’t the only company using these materials, somehow the organic curves and thick cappings elevated the look and…

CHRIS-CRAFT COBRA COOL RATING 1950S AMERICANA AT ITS BEST The 1950s in the USA was a time of great optimism. World War II was over, the economy was booming and more people than ever before were able to buy new cars, consumer goods and boats. Manufacturers rode this tidal wave of prosperity like surfers, bringing out new and exciting products with which to wow their customers. It was the era that famously begat the daring and stylish, if somewhat impractical, Chevrolet Corvette in 1953, a statement of power, style and success from a previously conservative mainstream manufacturer. Chris-Craft, also keen to make a stylistic name for itself, watched with interest and decided it wanted a slice of that glamour. GRP (glass reinforced plastic) was just starting to make itself felt…

THE BRAND Since Olympic sailor, Efe Kuyumcu, founded Dromeas Yachts in 2017, his sole quest has been to build the toughest and most versatile high-performance offshore leisure boats in the world. To help make that happen, he enlisted the design intelligence of British race boat guru, Adam Younger, and opted for the latest build processes, including vacuum infusion, epoxy resins and carbon-fibre reinforcements. And he maximised flexibility by opting for centre console, walkaround and SUV deck layouts. While modern Dromeas boats are known to be fast and accessible, they are also renowned for their low weight, high strength and confidence-inspiring security at sea. THE RANGE The entry-level D28 comes with a deep-V twin-stepped hull and one of three alternative deck layouts. The D28 CC is a spacious 50-knot dayboat with…

THE BRAND Nordkapp was founded in 1966 in the historic Viking town of Sarpsborg in Norway. Its initial range from 14-17ft included Open, Day Cruiser and Hardtop variants, and while it would go on to introduce 36-footers in both the power and sail markets, its core focus was quick to take root. Nordkapp became a builder of compact but safe family powerboats with progressive styling and premium build quality – and that reputation became even more pronounced in the early 90s, thanks to Nordkapp’s collaboration with celebrated designer, Espen Thorup. The Enduro and Avant series were quickly introduced and while production moved to Poland in 1999, Nordkapp augmented its reputation with a shift toward sharper designs and more aggressive deep-vee hulls. Today, it is one of the most respected names…

THE BRAND Quarken is a new brand from the Kvarken region of Finland – a narrow island-strewn stretch of water in the famous Gulf of Bothnia. But in spite of its relative youth, this is a brand with impeccable credentials. Established in December 2021, it is the brainchild of industrial designer, Jussi Hurskainen, in collaboration with Osmo Roukala and Antero Sundberg, each of whom bring with them valuable experience from award-winning fleets like Yamarin, Finnmaster, Husky, Grandezza and Saxdor. But in stark contrast to the bulk of its competitors, many of which are constructed in Poland, Quarken makes a point of designing and building its boats at the heart of Finland’s historic maritime region. And thanks to the Quarken 27 T-Top, which scooped a 2023 MBY Motorboat Award, they have…

1 FLETCHER IS BACK! Fletcher, one of British boatbuilding’s most iconic names, is planning a dramatic comeback with its first brand new model in over 20 years and an all-electric future. The new F23 bowrider will initially be launched with petrol outboard and sterndrive engines but all-electric options should be ready towards the end of 2024. The first demonstrator could be afloat as early as November. “We are not saying too much at this stage as regards the all-electric solutions,” says creative lead Ed Ahmed. “But what we can say is Fletcher is a performance brand, so for us electric solutions will not be about how far we can go. They will be about speed and having fun. As of today no other electric boatbuilder is producing what we aim…

LOA 65ft 8in (20.00m) BEAM 18ft 2in (5.53m) ENGINES twin Volvo Penta D6 300s TOP SPEED 12 knots PRICE POA CONTACT www.holtermanshipyard.nl Dutch shipyard Holterman is adding a new 60-footer to its Xtreme range of multi-purpose D motoryachts. Designed to slot between the existing Xtreme-54 and Xtreme-78, it clearly takes some key design cues from the larger boat – not least in terms of its trawler-style wheelhouse, its enormous interior volumes and its long, unbroken hull windows. But one of the major strengths of the new boat is actually the usability of its external decks. Conceived as an owner-operated yacht by Dutch designer Bernd Weel, the long aft deck is extremely sociable, with a pair of corner dining units angled towards the big stern bench. That backs onto a beach…

LOA 53ft 2in (16.2m) BEAM 16ft 3in 4.95m ENGINES 2 x Volvo Penta IPS 650 or 800 MAX SPEED 30-35 knots PRICE TBA CONTACT www.solarispower.com Having launched two new smaller models in the wake of its original 48ft Open, Solaris Power is now working its way up the range, starting with this new 52 Open. As with previous models, Solaris claims its tear-drop-shaped footprint – with a heavily flared vertical bow and deep vee aft sections – delivers an unusually dry, stable, comfortable ride while also creating more space above and below deck for guests. We’ll have to wait for a sea trial to confirm the sea-keeping claims but these early renderings certainly show a big, beamy cockpit with full walkaround decks leading to a generous foredeck lounge. The designers have…

FUN IN THE SUN I very much enjoyed Richard Stilgoe’s article about cruising his new solar-powered launch from Tewkesbury to Stratford upon Avon (Here Comes the Sun, MBY July 2023). An electric boat makes so much sense for this kind of gentle cruising where quietness and lack of emissions are more important than speed and range. However, I wasn’t so convinced by your article on the “90ft motor boat that burns no fuel” in the same issue. It sounds to me like most of the time it will need to burn fuel even if that fuel is hydrogen rather than diesel. Chris Grantham Technically the Alva Eco 90 H2 doesn’t burn hydrogen, it passes through a fuel cell where it reacts with a catalyst to generate electricity, but I take…

SEE MORE mby.com/mp60 What do you get if you take a sailing cat and modify it for use as a power-driven leisure boat? For the most part, the answer is a huge piece of floating real estate that can be brought to market with far less substantial development costs than a purpose-built design. And that’s not necessarily a criticism. Certainly, the extra beam, bulk and round bilge hull shape tends to usher a modified sailing cat into the sedate displacement only cruising bracket, while also making it tougher to find a mooring. The low-slung profile needed to accommodate a sailing rig can also make it difficult to orchestrate the living spaces to optimum effect. But the increased physical scale and the shared development costs also tends to mean more bang…

Keeping your boat on a towable road trailer allows you to explore destinations well away from your local boating area. It can also save you a small fortune on berthing fees provided you have somewhere sensible to store it. That just leaves the small matter of getting it to and from your chosen launch site. In the UK, if you passed your driving test before January 1997, you are usually allowed to drive a vehicle and boat/trailer with a combined weight of up to 8,250kg. For licences issued after that date it is the weight of the boat and trailer that matter, in this case a MAM (Maximum Authorised Mass) of 3,500kg. In both cases this is also dependent on the legally authorised towing weight of the vehicle. This is…

When I bought my Marex 310 in 2017, I asked Wessex Marine if they would arrange a visit to the factory in Lithuania. To my delight, they agreed and I was able to catch my boat in the final stages of the build. And let me tell you, when you’re standing in a shed in the middle of Lithuania and a boat builder points and says, “That’s your boat,” there is no better feeling! BOAT SHOW TESTIMONY The following year, I again visited the Marex stand at the Southampton Boat Show and talked to people who were looking around the 310. I even suggested to Guy at Wessex Marine that it would be good for visitors to have an owner to talk to at the boat show. I’m sure we…

They say that a week is a long time in politics, so I guess a month must be a long time in magazine publishing. In the last issue I was ruminating about the merits of flybridge vessels but now it’s the August issue and summer is finally upon us. That means we will once again realise that there is simply no finer place to be on a hot sunny day than at the helm of a proper old-school open-topped sportscruiser. Yes, a flybridge is more practical, yes a hardtop sportscruiser with a powered sunroof is a thousand times easier than wrestling with canopies, and yes, most of the year (in the UK at least) they’re probably both a better bet. But nothing else on the water connects you with the…

BUILT 2008 PRICE £164, 995 Having carefully explained how British sportscruisers tend to all have very similar layouts, this Crownline, hailing as it does from the USA, rather hammers the point home with a completely different take on how the thirty-ish-foot sportscruiser ought to be laid out. As ever with American boats, it’s all about the social spaces and it offers an intriguing alternative. INTERIOR Although there is plenty of ubiquitous cherry wood in here, the first thing that strikes you upon entering is that it’s quite a bit more subtle than (for example) the Sunseeker, with a less mirror-gloss sheen plus fabric feature panels to break it up a little. Pivot 180 degrees at the foot of the steps and you’ll discover another big difference. Whilst there is a…

THE BRAND Axopar’s arrival on the scene was a genuine game changer. It was so fresh in terms of its approach to do-it-all adventure boating that it single-handedly kick-started the modern craze for fast multi-purpose Nordic weekenders. It tapped directly into the public’s appetite for boats that would enable you to enjoy multiple outdoor pursuits on a single platform, and it did so without inflating prices, without compromising on looks and without limiting the owner’s scope to adapt the layout to his personal needs. From the plumb bow and the elegant stepped hull to the lovely forward cockpit, the deep-set driving position and the option of a guest cabin sunk into the aft deck, this was a brand that gave you more. And while plenty of builders have attempted to…

THE BRAND Founded in La Rochelle in 1996,, Rhea Marine creates premium motorboats with a traditional 1970s aesthetic that it describes as “neo-retro”. It’s specifically characterised by a flared bow for extra dryness in big seas, alongside a classical frigate stern for extra elegance and security. While the yard launched the Open range in 2003 to help meet the demands of day boaters, its core priority remains seagoing semi-displacement pilothouse boats with safe walkaround decks and elevated, timber-topped bulwarks – just the thing for a more gentlemanly approach to adventure. THE RANGE Rhea’s Open range comprises six day boats in five hull lengths from 23ft to 35ft. While these are all authentic planing boats with a range of inboard and outboard power options, their swept freeboards and elegant midships bulges…

THE BRAND Nord Star’s history began more than a century ago, when Sivert Lindkvist started building tough wooden workboats for the local fishermen. Headquartered in Kokkola, at the heart of the famous Finnish boatbuilding region of Ostrobothnia, Lindkvist’s renown quickly grew. It wouldn’t be until 2000 that the first boat under the Nord Star brand was delivered but already, it showed all the hallmarks of modern Nord Star – the dry, soft-riding hull, the deep safe decks, the secure pilothouse structure and the heavyweight offshore build. By 2006, there were four boats from 24ft to 31ft and by 2010, the fleet had expanded again to include craft of 40ft in length. Today, after four generations of boatbuilding, Nord Star remains a Lindkvist family affair, with a range that takes full…

THE BRAND Before the adventure boat was even a thing, Sargo set about creating proper offshore utility vessels that would take care of you all year round. It was a no-nonsense building philosophy that worked. Founded in Ostrobothnia on Finland’s west coast in 1967, its first 20 years saw it deliver 1,000 boats, but as its international renown continued to grow, it pushed on again. To help safeguard quality, it developed an automotive-style Sargo Production System (SPS). It also established its own four-season in-water sea trial facility to inspect each boat before delivery. And yet the traditional family approach has remained. Sargo boats are still 100% handmade in Finland and they’re still built under the direct guidance of the founder’s three sons. It is, in short, a stellar brand with…

THE BRAND Founded in 2013 in Öregrund, Sweden, Viggo builds its boats entirely in-house, under the supervision of designers, Håkan Pettersson and Johan Söderberg. As you might expect, its boat-building formula is defined by the region’s maritime traditions and cruising grounds. Designed for high performance and specifically optimised for use with powerful outboard motors, the tough aluminium construction, multiple boarding points and shallow draft make a Viggo sportsboat the perfect craft for archipelago exploration. But Viggo is also about heading out with confidence regardless of the weather, so in addition to carefully orchestrated weight distribution and acute soft-riding hulls, the build and fit-out is extremely solid. The bollards, railings and handles are all welded rather than bolted, the windows are toughened, the decks are lined with robust anti-slip matting and…