The big Miami boat show just opened, with a mix of enthusiasm, innovation, high-tech and an undercurrent of worries about inflation, high prices, and supply-chain capabilities.
On the tradition front, the show returned to the Miami Beach Convention Center for the first time since 2015, and everyone seemed happy about that. It also is on three locations in downtown Miami and on Watson Island (for superyachts). The entire show was cancelled last year because of the pandemic.
If the Convention Center was a return to normal, there were lots of signs pointing to a new normal. Large dealers were accepting cryptocurrency for yachts; leading yacht designers were selling NFTs (non-fungible tokens) of their latest work. And, after the run-up last year in the stock market, many people were holding lots of money looking for places to go. Many builders are ramping up production to meet the demand, while fighting supply-chain and delivery issues overseas and at home.
As the show opened, Mercury introduced a new system designed to make driving easier for their big outboards, particularly the massive Verados that are placed in triple- or quadruple-applications on the transoms of new cruising boats. The new technology marries the joystick with the bow thruster, so you can maneuver all the outboards and the thruster simultaneously with a touch of your fingers. Pretty neat.
For its part, Boston Whaler launched its new, high-tech 360 Outrage that comes with either three 300-hp or 400-hp Verados, or two 600-hp V12 Verados. But as evidence of another trend, it also has lithium-ion batteries, eliminating the need for a genset on board, and it has digital switching, a technology that just a few years ago was available only on much larger yachts (I’m thinking of the Sabre 66 Dirigo here).
Miami always has more than its share of glamorous European yachts. Indeed, the Ferretti Group introduced its Riva 68 Diable (above), a 40-knot Italian beauty powered by twin 1,550-hp MAN diesels. It also has three staterooms below.
There are more power cats this year, including the debut of the new Leopard 46PC, aka the Moorings 464PC for the charter trade. And there was lots of evidence of the trend to electric power. Vision Marine Technologies, for example, was showing its new 180-hp motor, which you can recharge at a standard shore- power plug at your local marina.
And there were announcements of more yachts coming. Tiara, for example, said it’s building a new EX60 (pictured at top), the company’s largest yacht ever, for delivery later in the year. It will have a lot of expandable living features, including side decks that fold out aft, and several versions of Volvo’s IPS pod drives for power.
The show runs through this Sunday, and is expected to draw 100,000 people. Read more:
