The MJM 53z, the largest outboard-powered production cruising boat, and the innovative Solace Boats 345 both just won prestigious best new boat awards at the Newport International Boat Show. At an awards breakfast at the second day of the show, the MJM 53z won the award for Best New Powerboat Over 35 feet, while the Solace 345 won the award as Best New Powerboat Under 35 Feet, as well as the award for Best New Powerboat.
Five judges selected the winners among all the boats making their U.S. debut at the Newport show, the opening of the fall boat season in the Northeast. They said that “there’s a lot to love,” in the MJM 53z, created by Bob Johnstone, the founder of MJM Yachts, and Doug Zurn, the Marblehead, Massachusetts, designer. They said the boat had “all the comforts of home combined with the performance of a blue-water cruiser.”
Powered by four 400-hp Mercury Verrado outboards, the MJM 53z tops out at 51.1 mph, and it has two master cabin suites below, both with en suite heads and showers. It also has a standard Seakeeper gyro stabilizer to provide maximum stability underway or on the hook.
My Cruising Odyssey colleague George Day and I tested the boat earlier this summer in Newport with Johnstone and were impressed by its performance, comfort and eye-turning classic good looks then. As a result, the award today come as no surprise.
For its part, Solace is a new player, and it made a big splash at its first show. The judges praised its “innovation built on innovation built on innovation from stem to stern.” Its two outboards are spaced far apart, separated by an extension of the cockpit to provide more relaxing or fishing room. In a creative cabin below, it has a berth, head and considerably more than six-foot-standing headroom. For more:
