Formula just announced that it’s building a new 500 Super Sport Crossover flagship that will be launched early next year. The boat is meant to be an all-purpose boat, ready for everything from day boating to longer cruising. Standard power comes from five 400-hp Mercury outboards, but if you want to work up even greater adrenaline rush, you can opt for five 450-hp Mercury Racing outboards.
The new Formula is designed by John Adams, who’s been working with Formula for many years. Like all of his boats, the new 50-footer has a highly polished painted hull, and owners can choose from a wide variety of individual hull graphics.
It also comes with no fewer than three dinette lounges, outside, inside, and below, and social areas from stem to stern. Below, it sleeps four, including two in the private owner’s cabin (or what Formula calls a “private retreat”) that has a queen bed with an upholstered headboard, reading lights and an Ultraleather sofa for relaxing. The boat has one head.
You can climb on the boat from its beam-to-beam swim platform. From then on, moving about the boat is easy; it’s all on one level, from the transom to the bow.
An aft-facing lounge is on the port side if the cockpit; it can be converted in to a doublewide sun pad. A utility locker is to starboard, with enough room for four fenders, shorepower connections, and a transom shower. An electric grill is just forward. A standard SureShade retractable awning can be extended out from the cabin hardtop.
Moving forward, a U-shaped lounge is to port around a Corian table, and an L-shaped lounge is to starboard. Two stools offer more seating for the cockpit bar. A full-width retractable glass bulkhead can be opened or closed, depending on the weather.
More lounge seating is farther forward to port, while the U-shaped galley with a sink, fridge/freezer and convection microwave oven, is to starboard. The helm has three seats with individual adjustments, and the dash is large enough for two Raymarine Axiom XL 24” widescreen plotters, a standard Raymarine radar, a FLIR thermal camera, a Joystick for fingertip docking, and trim tabs.
On the port side, the windshield slides open for access to the bow, where three lounges with backrests stretch across the front of the helm console. Two tables with filler cushions can be lowered at the touch of a switch to turn the entire area into a giant sun lounge. A sun shade on stainless supports offers weather protection.
You access the accommodations deck via a sliding hatch next to the helm. Forward, an Ultraleather lounge is around a table that can be lowered to form a berth for two. The galley below has a Corian countertop, a pull-out fridge, a microwave, a sink, and even a Keurig coffeemaker. A full head, with a shower behind a tempered glass door, is to starboard, and the master cabin is aft. There’s a full 6’ 7” headroom below,
The new 500 runs on Formula’s proven FAS3Tech hull, with a multi-step bottom design. It has a 19-degree deadrise at the transom. A Seakeeper 9 gyro stabilizer is standard.
I’ve driven a lot of Formulas over the years, including a 40-foot cruiser on a trip from Key West to Cuba with Formula President Scott Porter. I’ve always found them to be fast, solid and seakindly boats with looks that often turns from Nantucket to Havana. I can’t wait to try the new 500.
Specs.: LOA: 53’4”; Beam: 14’6”; Draft: 4’4”; Disp.: 41,400 lbs.; Fuel: 650 gals.; Water: 100 gals.; Power. 5×400 Mercury outboards. Read more:
