And now for something a little different, a family cruiser that intentionally goes slow. The Polish builder, Delphia, now owned by Groupe Beneteau, has been building lake and coastal cruisers for 30 years and they continue to embrace the notion that cruising should be serene, quiet and, yes, slow.
Their 32-foot Delphia 10 has a displacement trawler-style hull that provides a lot of interior volume for living and sleeping spaces. The boat comes with a number of power packages, including an all-electric system, and with the beefiest diesel, a 110-horesepower Yanmar, it tops out a nine knots. It’s most efficient cruising speed will be around 6.5 knots.
While this type of performance might buck the modern need for speed in most new cruising boats, the 10 provides great fuel efficiency and very quiet running. With 75 gallons in the full fuel tank and running at 6.5 knots, the Yanmar will consume about half a gallon an hour. That translates into a safe cruising rage of almost 900 miles.
To put that into perspective, for a summer of coastal cruising, you could get by with only one fuel fill up for the season.
The electric motor package Delphia offers for the 10 has an 80-horsepower motor powered by 38 kW/h battery bank and no generator. At 6.5 knots, it will have a 17-mile range, while at the snail’s crawl of 4.3 knots it will take you 41 miles before you need to plug in somewhere.
The coupe top is fitted with solar panels that provide enough energy is good weather to run the boat’s basic systems including lights, fridge, water pumps and fans.
The accommodations are fairly basic and similar to what you will find in a camper van. Forward, there are two singles bunks that can be converted into a double, a fully enclosed head and shower and a small utility room that can function as a second sleeping cabin or an office.
The salon features the helm, a dinette and galley and there’s another dinette and table on the after deck. Large windows in the salon create a pleasant indoor-outdoor ambience.
At present Delphia motorboats do not have a dealer network in the U.S. but, as part of the Beneteau family of companies, that certainly could be in their future. The 10 would make a fine lake boat and fun for inland cruising on the Intracoastal Waterway, the Great Loop and even the Bahamas. Read more.
