Australian builder Maritimo announced last week that their U.S. representatives will be including the new S50 Sedan in their display at the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show (FLIBS) that opens next week. The S50 was initially introduced at Australia’s Sanctuary Cove boat show in May.
The S50 is a couple’s cruiser in a size that many will find easy to handle yet roomy enough for long periods of living aboard. The layout offers a two-cabin, two-head configuration with several options available for twin or double berths in each cabin. The dinette in the salon also converts to a double berth.
The salon, cockpit and after deck are on one level so with the cockpit doors open the whole area becomes one large social space. The galley is aft and has a full-size domestic refrigerator and ample counter space. The salon is full of natural light and ventilation for an organic indoor-outdoor ambience.
The cockpit will be the main social area in fine weather and the long overhang of the cabin top will offer protection from sun, wind and even rain. The cockpit dinette with folding chairs added will seat six. Aft of the dinette there is a built-in grill with a sink and fridge for barbecuing.
The large swim platform is a feature now common on most Maritimo designs. In the S50 the platform can be raised and lowered to either be at deck level or transformed into a beach front platform for easy access to the water. The platform also can be raised vertically to reduce the boat’s overall length, a feature that will be important for those renting marina slips that charge by the length overall.
The S50 was conceived as a boat tailored for the American market. With shallow-draft drive shafts and low air draft, it is well suited to coastal cruising and to inland waterways where fixed bridges are an issue. But, it still has all of Maritimo’s offshore DNA and will be at home exploring the Inside Passage of the Pacific Northwest, the coast of Mexico or the shallows of the Bahamas.
Maritimo has always built honest boats that are uncomplicated but thoroughly modern. They have stayed with straight shaft drives instead of the more complicated IPS systems and the S50 is powered by twin Volvo D13s rated at 900-horsepower each. While these can deliver top end speeds in the mid-thirties, at cruising rpms they will prove efficient enough for cruises far from the local fuel dock.
The debut of the S50 at FLIBS will no doubt draw a crowd since the new design checks so many boxes for North American cruisers.
