Boat Reviews

Prestige To Unveil New Upscale F4 at Cannes

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

Prestige, the upscale French builder, will hold the global premiere of its new almost-50-foot F4 flybridge yacht at the Cannes Yachting Festival, starting Sept. 12. The new Prestige comes with some heavy-hitting names. Garroni Design of Genoa, which has worked on everything from cruise liners to superyachts, did the lines, while Michael Peters, the Sarasota-based naval architect who has worked on everything from Hinckleys to race boats, did the hull. Powered by twin 480-hp Volvo IPS650 pod drives, the new F4 is expected to cruise comfortably and efficiently in the 22-knot range, and top out at 27 knots. Prestige says…

Argos Nautic Launches New Luxury RIB

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

Argos Nautic just launched their new, six-passenger, outboard-powered GT14 RIB with the company’s distinct profile. The latest Argos Nautic is 13’ 10’ long and 6’ 10” wide. It was designed by Patrizio Facheris, the North Miami Beach designer who usually works with superyachts. The result is that the new RIB has not only a lot of space for its size but it also has the high-quality feel of a luxury vessel, with lots of leg room and storage space. The GT14 is made for yachts from 70 to 100 feet, but it also can serve as a primary boat, a…

Azimut Introducing New Verve 48 in Cannes

By Peter Janssen on August 23, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The new Azimut Verve 48, the latest in the Italian builder’s outboard-powered series, will make its global debut at the Cannes Yachting Festival starting Sept. 12. Power for the new 48 comes from three 600-hp Mercury V12 outboards, producing a top speed of 50 knots. Azimut says those engines are 15 per cent more efficient, and 10 decibels quieter, than the four 450-hp Mercury Racing outboards that powered the Verve 47 that was introduced three years ago. Azimut says the 48 has a completely new stern area, with a larger section of the bulwark opening out to merge with a…

New, 50-Knot Virtue V10 Unveiled in Palma

By Peter Janssen on August 23, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Virtue Boats just unveiled its new high-tech 32’ 8” V10 at the Palma, Mallorca, boat show, and the Axopar- and Saxdor-lookalike got a lot of attention. The Virtue V10 is made in Poland, and it’s billed as a high-quality, high-tech, high-performing day or weekend cruiser in the growing adventure boating segment. It’s built with vinylester resins and the vacuum-infusion system, and its hull has angled and aggressive spray rails that force water down and aft for a soft, cushioned ride. The company says the V10 is “the smoothest and most sustainable adventure boat on the market.” Standard power comes from…

Iliad Expanding, Launching New 50 Power Cat

By Peter Janssen on August 23, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

These are expansive times for Iliad Catamarans, based in Mooloolaba, Australia. They just launched their new 53F (flybridge) long-range power cat at the Sydney show, following the debut of their 53S (sport) earlier in the year. Now, in response to strong demand in the United States, they will have a display at the Fort Lauderdale show in October. And they just announced that they’re building a new 50 for delivery early next year. The 50 is an offshore, blue-water cruiser built for couples with lots of indoor and outdoor space (the almost 25-foot beam is half the length of the…

Inside Newport Yacht Builders’ Mussel Ridge 54

By George Day on August 22, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The salty and distinctive lines of Down East-style cruisers are admired around the world, and often copied by builders from Turkey to Australia. These designs take their lead from Maine lobster boats that have plied the New England coast for generations, and are known for their speed, stability, seaworthiness and large cockpits. Adapted into refined yacht-style cruisers, these lobster-boat hulls offer a very special platform for coastal cruising. In 2018, Newport Yacht Builders in Newport, Rhode Island, were approached by an experienced client to develop and build a cruising boat for his young family based off of the Mussel Ridge…

Sleek New Alia 43M Aimed at Miami Market

By Peter Janssen on August 22, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Alia Yachts just announced that they’re building a new 43M with sleek, low, aggressive lines. They call it a raised pilothouse design with an outdoor-centric appeal for a client in Miami who wants to enjoy an open-air lifestyle in Florida and the Bahamas. At 138-feet-long, the Alia 43M is certainly a bit larger than the boats we usually cover, but the “raised pilothouse” designation and long-range cruising capabilities (2,300 nm at 12 knots) caught our attention. This is definitely not the raised pilothouse design we associate with Pacific Northwest builders, but Alia, with its yard in Antalya, Turkey, has worked…

Helmsman Building New 46 Pilothouse Flagship

By Peter Janssen on August 21, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Helmsman is building its first 46 Pilothouse trawler, a comfortable but rugged cruiser designed for offshore passages. The new 46 Pilothouse was ordered by the owner of a Helmsman 38 who wanted a larger boat that he could use to go beyond coastal cruising. Hull number one of the 46 has a single 500-hp John Deere engine that is expected to deliver a top speed of 16 knots and a range of 1,440 nm at 8 knots. For future models, a 493-hp Cummins is an option. The new trawler as a semi-displacement hull with soft chines. It also has a…

Highfield Launching New Electric RIBs

By Peter Janssen on August 21, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Highfield just announced it will display a new electric-powered RIB at the Annapolis show starting October 5, and a new electric-jet RIB and a new Sport RIB at the Fort Lauderdale show later in the month. The Annapolis powerboat show will be the debut for the Highfield Classic 340E (pictured) powered by a 9.9 Navy 6.0 Evo electric outboard from ePropulsion. The new RIB is 11’ 1” long and it has a top speed of 10 knots under silent electric power. The aluminum hull has a 15 degree deadrise for performance, it weighs 157 pounds, and it can carry up…

Aquila Launching New 47 Power Cat

By Peter Janssen on August 15, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Aquila will launch its new 47 Molokai Power Catamaran this fall, the third boat and largest boat in its offshore Molokai line that starts at 28 feet. Aquila calls the new 47 the Big Kahuna, and says it’s the first in its new generation of power cats. The 47 Molokai is ready for fishing, with large fishboxes waiting for the day’s catch, but it also can easily serve as a versatile cruiser, with a 14-foot, 7-inch beam providing both stability and lots of room inside and out. A sliding door near the helm provides access to an interior cabin with…

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