Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2025 i Motor Boat & Yachting

Sustainability is a hot topic in the boating world. Leisure boats may only be responsible for a tiny percentage of global emissions but they are a very conspicuous form of consumption and an easy target for activists and politicians alike. Quite rightly, boat builders are taking steps to address the situation but what’s interesting is how differently they are going about it. Take a look at three of the boats featured in this issue. First up is the Omikron OT-60. This all-new offering from the Greek yard Olympic Marine uses conventional combustion engines and construction materials but thanks to a lightweight and super slippery sailboat inspired hull, it is extraordinarily fuel-efficient, eking out over 1,000nm from its modestly sized fuel tank. Then there’s the Azimut Seadeck 7, which takes a…

BOATHOUSE SWANWICK While the food was always good at Boathouse Swanwick, there’s no question that in recent years this was a restaurant crying out for refurbishment. Well, now it’s happened and the outcome is simply beyond recognition; a completely new and stylish eatery in three parts, two of which – restaurant and café – are housed within a brand new building, with the third, the weekend-opening Lobster Shack, situated out by the pontoons. There’s also an attractive double-deck terrace overlooking the marina. The new premises opened for business back in August. According to a press release issued soon after, within its first week the restaurant had served up 2,853 dishes, poured 2,400 glasses of wine and welcomed 2,101 guests to experience the brand-new venue. That means it’s busy, so booking…

LOA: 26ft 5in (8.05) BEAM: 9ft 1in (2.76m) ENGINES: Single 250-350hp Honda, Mercury or Suzuki outboard TOP SPEED: 50 knots PRICE: From £129,750 inc VAT CONTACT: www.silverboatsuk.co.uk When we chanced across this boat at the Southampton boat show, we were struck not just by its attractive styling, clever layout and neat detailing but also its good value for money. Perhaps inevitably, it’s designed and built in Finland but unlike Silver’s normal fare of tough but basic aluminium craft, this is a more refined GRP weekender with just the right mix of comfort and practicality. The hull uses a Petestep design to deliver a scorching top speed of up to 50 knots from a single 350hp outboard and impressive fuel efficiency of 1.1 litre/nm at 22 knots. The deep cockpit has…

Sequels can be difficult. For proof of that, look no further than The Godfather Part III, Jaws: The Revenge or any Chesney Hawkes song apart from the one you actually know. But when you first lay eyes on this second adventure-style pilothouse boat from Wellcraft, it feels like a sequel that could go either way. It has the same plumb bow, reverse screen, walkaround decks and sculpted hull sides as the original 355 (now renamed 38 Explorer). It also tries to maximise internal space in the same way, courtesy of asymmetrical walkaround decks with a larger, deeper walkway to starboard. But in spite of this being a much larger boat, the narrower, more elevated port side deck remains oddly difficult to navigate because of a roof overhang that forces you outboard,…

Boats are at their most vulnerable during the dark, dank months of winter. The cold and damp give rise to condensation, encouraging mould to grow and causing electrical issues, corrosion and unpleasant odours. The key to mitigating this is a dehumidifier but what type should you buy, what features should you look for and what should you expect from it? We tested six different models to see how they performed and help you find the right one for your boat. TEST PROCEDURE To evaluate our dehumidifiers’ handling of Britain’s ever-changing weather conditions, our trials were conducted in a damp, draughty, unheated 40-cubic-metre garage, which roughly equates to the interior volume of a 35-40ft boat. Each unit was placed on a bench 0.75m from one end wall. Two sets of relative humidity…

Boating is something I’ve enjoyed all my life, from messing about in small boats on the Thames as a six-year-old to sailing around the South Coast as an adult. Even my career has taken me offshore to drilling ships and production platforms as far afield as South Africa and South Korea. It seems I have boats in my blood as I am always at my happiest afloat. My love for classic wooden boats started when I was around ten years old. I was on the river with my father when we passed an original Dunkirk Little Ship (DLS) called Papillon just upstream of Kingston bridge. My father pointed her out and explained the story of the Dunkirk evacuations to me. His excitement was contagious and the memory has stuck with…

You’ll be delighted to hear that U-Boat Worx has upgraded its Superyacht Sub 3, offering a ‘new benchmark in submersible technology’! With seating for three and a depth rating of 300m, the big news is a new in-house developed thruster that develops more thrust than its predecessor, yet retains the silent running that makes these underwater vehicles such a serene experience. An enhanced USBL system has two new and very reassuring functions. Firstly, it enables seamless communication between the submersible and the surface by automatically relaying essential readings, such as oxygen levels and battery life. This reduces communication intervals and improves operational efficiency. Secondly, the USBL system serves as a positioning tool, providing real-time GPS information, overlaid with Navionics maps. This ensures precise navigation and hazard avoidance, functioning like Google…

Reading road tests in car magazines often leaves me frustrated. Reams are written about the ‘on-the-limit’ handling of mundane cars – understeer, oversteer, tread shuffle – it’s all there and it’s all irrelevant because no one drives their Vauxhall Astra ‘on the limit’. It’s easy to understand why though – give a road tester a new car to play with and they want to charge about in it. We’re the same, albeit the way a boat performs out at sea is hugely more relevant because you will actually be going to sea at some point and arranging a sea trial for yourself is often quite hard. However there’s no doubt that for most people, it’s accommodation that matters most, and that’s why flybridge boats are so popular. As floating apartments,…

LOA: 52ft 2in (15.90m) BEAM: 25ft 6in (7.76m) ENGINES: 2 x 380-480hp Volvo Penta or 550hp Yanmar TOP SPEED: 25 knots PRICE FROM: £1.35m inc VAT CONTACT: www.aquilaboats.com The new 50 Yacht, which made its debut at last month’s Fort Lauderdale Boat Show, is the first to feature Aquila’s new ‘explorer’ aesthetic. The most obvious visual difference is the tall freeboard and a distinctive kink in the sheerline that raises the height of the foredeck. Coupled with huge single-piece hull windows and a deep bridge deck, this creates the light and volume needed for its show-stopping forward owner’s cabin. The main-deck accommodation is fairly typical motor-cat fare with a broad aft cockpit, an almost square-shaped saloon and a versatile foredeck lounge with four separate sun loungers and an aft-facing bow…

After nine days cruising north on the Saône and Vosges canal, we had reached the French town of Toul, completing stage one of our passage to Naarden in the Netherlands. There we planned to join a gathering of Broom owners in 18 days’ time, meaning we were under some time pressure. However, friends had spoken warmly of the attractions of Toul so I reckoned we could afford to take a day out of our schedule to explore it. Part of my interest was in the history of the town as a vital link on France’s canal network. This part of the Moselle was only made navigable in 1979 and for more than 100 years before that, all traffic from France and Belgium to the province of Lorraine had to pass…

CUSTOMER SERVICE AWARD sponsored by GARMIN. Award for FLYBRIDGES OVER 60FT sponsored by LUMISHORE A GARMIN BRAND After an intensive selection process, we can exclusively reveal the finalists for the 2025 Motor Boat Awards. Sponsored by Sleipner, world leaders in improving comfort and safety at sea, the awards are widely considered to be the Oscars of the boating world. That’s because every boat has to go through an exhaustive sea trial process just to be considered. It is the only way our judges can be certain that our finalists deliver on the water as well as in the showroom. The winners will be announced on 22 January, at a special event to mark the occasion, and online at www.mby.com In addition to the nine categories shown here, we will also…

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Every motor boat owner knows the drill if someone falls overboard. Ask someone to point at the casualty, press the MOB button on the plotter, throw a life-ring to them, slow the boat right down and travel back the way you came. In the meantime ask one of your crew to prepare the recovery equipment while you position the boat across the wind and drift sideways onto the casualty. This is all well and good if there are other people to help but what if you are the only person left aboard, especially on a large boat of 50ft or more? I would prioritise my response by pressing the MOB button on the plotter whilst slowing in a straight line. Once stopped you know the casualty must be behind you…

From humble beginnings in 2017 with just three boats, the Marex Owners’ Club has grown to encompass more than 40. Considering that only a small number of boats are actually sold in the UK each year, our membership ‘hit rate’ is pretty high. We have created a very active WhatsApp group for owners, where questions on maintenance, plumbing, anchoring and trips away are answered very quickly. There’s even a golf society, but we have never run a rally – until now… COWES OR YARMOUTH? At the 2023 Southampton Boat Show, a couple of lovely new 310 owners called Russ and Sharon enquired whether the Owners’ Club would be arranging a rally in the near future. I admitted that, even though I run the Owners’ Club, I wouldn’t know where to…

PRINCESS 266 RIVIERA COOL RATING THE SIERRA COSWORTH OF THE SEAS Some products become icons, often imitated but never quite repeated, even by follow-ups from the same manufacturer. The Omega Seamaster 2531:80, the 964 version of the Porsche 911, the Bang & Olufsen Beocom 6000 telephone. In the marine world, there are a few obvious examples, the Fairey Swordsman 33 Aft Cabin springing most readily to mind. But there are one or two that fly under the radar, that never quite get the iconic status they deserve. And perhaps the best example of this is the humble Princess 266 Riviera. In the Seventies it was very simple. You wanted a flybridge boat, you bought a Princess. You wanted a sportsboat, you bought a Sunseeker. Sunseeker didn’t build flybridges, Princess eschewed…

I’ve been involved with boating for 45 years, quite literally man and boy. From sailing with my parents in a Drascombe Lugger in south Devon to owning an ancient Mirror dinghy at the age of 14, my very first boat. I entered the industry 35 years ago as a yacht broker, morphing into marine journalism and a marine YouTuber 20 years later, and I’ve owned numerous boats over that time. I’ve noticed some big changes over those years, and one in particular worries me. I’ve long championed the notion that boating is a sport for everyone in almost every financial demographic. But a look around has me seriously considering whether that is still the case. We used to almost never see superyachts in the UK. On my recent cruise to…

LOA: 33ft 0in (10.00m) BEAM: TBC ENGINES: twin Yamaha outboard engines TOP SPEED: estimated 40 knots PRICE: TBC CONTACT: www.yamarin.com The truth is we don’t actually know what this boat will be called when it hits the water in the summer of 2025 but what we do know is that it will occupy a sector inhabited by some very capable multi-purpose cruisers. By virtue of an overall length of 33ft, it will sidestep direct comparison with the Quarken 35, Wellcraft 355 and Axopar 37 but as Yamarin’s first ever pilothouse-equipped sports boat, Saxdor’s 320 GTC and 340 GTWA will be bang in its crosshairs. To maximise its chances against boats like that, the new Yamarin is designed to operate as effectively in Mediterranean waters as it does in its Nordic…

SUNSEEKER LUXURY BEACH TOWEL Prevent other holidaymakers stealing all the best sun loungers with these lush Sunseeker towels. Made from ultra-soft, premium heavy cotton fabric, they’ll reserve your spot on the beach while you take a dip, and dry you off in a jiffy once you’re back. Just as importantly, they’ll make sure everyone knows what boat you have – if only you could use them to bag the best moorings too! PRICE: £55 CONTACT: https://shop.sunseeker.com AEROPRESS COFFEE MAKER No skipper should be expected to face the morning without a decent cup of coffee but not all boats have the space or mains power required for a coffee machine. That’s where this little gadget comes in. The AeroPress uses air pressure to push hot water through the grinds resulting in…

The Azimut Seadeck 7 may not be the first diesel electric hybrid boat but it’s almost certainly the most significant. That’s because it brings together two of the biggest names in boat building – Volvo Penta and Azimut Benetti – and where those two go others are certain to follow. The result of this technical collaboration is the most advanced hybrid boat yet, offering all the style and luxury of a high-end flybridge cruiser with the performance, reliability and fuel efficiency of a fully approved Volvo IPS drivetrain. The big difference is that it can do all this while delivering up to four hours of electric emissions-free cruising. SEAMLESS POWER The heart of this revolutionary new drivetrain is a pair of 1,000hp Volvo D13 diesel engines linked to IPS1350 pod…

This winter’s jobs on Cecienne fall into two totally separate categories: jobs to cover during her annual haul out, and general winter maintenance when she is back in the water. We’re fortunate in that regard because my marina, Port Pendennis in Falmouth, has a deal that provides a month’s free storage ashore, or two months if you haul out before October, which is always my preference. Not only does this allow time if any unexpected work is needed, but it also means I can get Cecienne back in the water in good time to use her during the winter months. Plus it means I can avoid the early season frenzy in March and April, when every single boat owner wants to get back in the water for Easter, and the…

A common sight in the Med, but less so in UK waters, Astondoa has a heritage stretching back more than 100 years. The company’s A story started in 1916, when carpenter brothers Jesús and José Astondoa began building rudimentary rowing boats for local fishermen in the small Spanish coastal town of Portugate, just north of Bilbao. As their skills developed, the brothers moved on to more sophisticated vessels known as traineras – row or sail boats with a raised prow and rounded stern, traditionally used along the Spanish coast of the Cantabrian Sea. An Astondoa trainera would go on to win the 1929 Bilbao racing regatta, an important feat as fishermen prized boats that could get them to market quicker than their competitors. In the wake of that success, ‘Astilleros…