Boat Reviews

Miss Moonshine: A New Gentleman’s Racer

By Peter Janssen on November 29, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Miss Moonshine certainly isn’t one of the owner-operator cruising boats we usually write about, but it sure looks like fun. Described as a Prohibition Era gentleman’s racer, the all-mahogany Miss Moonshine is the brainchild of Kevin Fitzke, the head of Fitzke Boatworks in Minneapolis. He’s working on a prototype and will have the first boat in the water next summer. The 23-foot boat will be powered by a single 320-hp GM engine mounted amidships, with the prop and rudder aft. It will have a bow thruster, an accessory that’s unusual for 23-foot boats and one that definitely did not exist…

Fjord Launches Two New 39-Footers

By Peter Janssen on November 29, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Fjord just launched two new 39-foot boats, the entry level to its German-built fleet with its iconic minimalist look that goes up to 53 feet. The two new boats are called the 39XL and the 39XP. The major difference is that the XL is powered by twin 320-hp Volvo D4 diesel sterndrives, with 440-hp D6s as upgrades. The XP comes with twin 400-hp Mercury Verado outboards, providing a top speed of 45 knots. Both boats have joysticks at the helm for fingertip docking and low-speed maneuvering. Fjord is part of Hanse Yachts. The European market traditionally favors inboard and sterndrive…

Longreach Launches 58 Expedition Cat

By Peter Janssen on November 28, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Longreach Catamarans just launched its new 58-foot Expedition power catamaran and is holding sea trials in Thailand. A variation on the Australian company’s standard 58, the new Expedition has a fully enclosed flybridge as well as a customized fully enclosed cockpit that can be opened up with electric windows. Powered by twin 440-hp Yanmars, the Expedition has a range of 2,000 nm. Optional fuel tanks with a 2,560-gallon capacity extend the range to 3,500 nm at a cruising speed of 11.5 knots. Top speed: 25 knots. Solar panels on the flybridge hardtop produce 5 kW to power the cat’s 24…

New Limitless 45: Fast and Flexible

By Peter Janssen on November 27, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The Limitless 45 with its plumb bow, minimalist lines and transformer-type aft deck looks like the growing number of modern weekenders with a touch of speed. But unlike many other new boats in this category, the Limitless 45 does not trace its roots to Scandinavia; instead, it’s built in Turkey. Now in Fort Lauderdale, the Limitless 45 can be powered by three 400-hp Mercury outboards, or two 600-Mercury V12 outboards. With the larger engines, it reaches a 52-knot top speed and has a range of 260 nm at 35 knots. Like many other new yachts, the Limitless 45 has an…

SilverYachts Building Scandinavian-Designed Cat

By Peter Janssen on November 27, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Tillberg Design of Sweden just unveiled the new SilverCat 22M semi-custom power catamaran, now being built in SilverYachts’ plant in China. Tillberg Design of Sweden (TDoS) dates to 1964, when it first started designing interiors for ocean liners. Over the years, it has worked primarily on cruise ships and larger personal super yachts. For the new 72-foot SilverCat 22M it collaborated with the Norwegian yacht designer Espen Øino, perhaps best known for designing Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s 413-foot superyacht Octopus. The new SilverCat is a bit smaller, of course, but its 35’4” beam provides lots of space for creative design…

Piper Unveils New Steel-Hulled Hybrid Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on November 27, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The brand new Piper 12C steel cruiser with optional hybrid electric power is the new kid on the block, offering a no-nonsense, one- or two-stateroom alternative to more established displacement cruisers made around the world. The new Piper Cruiser, just introduced at the Southampton show, is made by Piper Boats, a well-established British yard that has been building Dutch-style liveaboard barges for the canals and waterways in England and the continent. (The new Piper would certainly be a candidate for the Great Loop if it were available in the U.S.) The 12C is Piper’s first recreational boat, a 39-footer with…

Azimut Grande 36M: High-Style Winner

By Peter Janssen on November 14, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The Azimut Grande 36M was introduced to the United States market at the recent Fort Lauderdale show, and it wasted no time in making itself known. Indeed, the sleek 116-foot super yacht was named Best of the Show by a panel of independent judges. For the award, Azimut faced some heavy competition, including the Benetti 4M Oasis, Princess Y95, wallywhy150, and Sunreef 80 Eco, among others. But the Azimut stood out for both its innovative design and its creative hull shape, a coupling that was hard to beat. The new Azimut was launched in Viareggio last August, and it caused…

Vicem 55 Classic: A Down-East Favorite

By Peter Janssen on November 13, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Over the years, the elegant Vicem 55 Classic with its eye-pleasing Down-East lines has been one of the Turkish builder’s most popular boats. Indeed, the company has built more than 150 of them in the past 20 years. Until recently, the 55, like most other Vicems, was built with a cold-molded process, involving layers of mahogany at different angles that are saturated with epoxy over a computer-designed mold. The idea was that the combination of wood and resins produced a hull that was lighter, stronger and quieter than most fiberglass hulls. The problem was that cold-molding takes time, and many…

Hunt Delivers New Ocean 63 Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on November 7, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Hunt Yachts has delivered its latest Ocean 63 series to its new owner, with a custom galley since the owner represents the third generation of chefs. The Hunt 63 is a popular boat. The latest, named Lady B, is hull number three, and four more are under construction. They all share the same basic Hunt envelope and propulsion, but otherwise they are custom built to suit each owner. In this case, cooking is a family affair, and Lady B is the first 63 to have the galley up in the deckhouse. It runs the full length of the deckhouse on…

New Targa 46: All-Weather Flagship

By Peter Janssen on November 7, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The new Targa 46 flagship is the largest and most powerful Targa yet. A solid blue-water performer, the 46 has a top speed of more than 40 knots with its standard 480-hp Volvo IPS650 pod drives. But the Targa 46 is about much more than speed. Targa has been building boats in Finland for 40 years, earning a reputation for creating tough, safe and comfortable cruisers that will go anywhere in all kinds of weather. If you want to make sure you can cruise Down East even in sloppy weather, or reach your island destination in the Pacific Northwest all-year-round,…

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