Boat Reviews

New Tiara C39: A Solid Top-End Cruiser or Day Boat

By Peter Janssen on April 25, 2017 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

It’s hard to tell whether the new Tiara C39, the smallest in the company’s coupe series, is a solid couple’s cruiser or a big, fast day boat with enough entertaining space for a small crowd. But in reality, you don’t need to choose: This new Tiara is both. Designed on the same lines as the earlier 50 and 44 coupes, the new 39 has a thoroughly modern interior and the high-tech performance associated with its twin Volvo IPS 500 pod drives with fingertip joystick controls. The boat cruises at 26 knots and tops out at 35 knots, fast enough to…

Horizon PC74: Combination of Space, Luxury and Cruising Comfort

By Peter Janssen on April 19, 2017 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Now being completed in Taiwan, the new Horizon PC74 is a combination of lots of space, performance and luxury. The company says it is both the “ideal entertaining platform” and “the ultimate cruising yacht” with “the interior of a superyacht.” A lot going on there. The 74 will be the flagship of Horizon’s power cat fleet, which now has 52- and a 60-foot models, and is designed to be a larger version of the 60. For the PC74, large is the operative word. Everything on the boat is writ large – the four staterooms, all with en suite heads, are…

Aspen Power Cats Launches New 28-Footer With Same Proven Proa Hull

By Peter Janssen on April 18, 2017 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The latest from Aspen Power Catamarans is something different: Not a cruising boat, but a 28-footer that can serve as a tender, a second boat, or a fun primary boat for running around and having fun. Whatever you do with it, the new L90 LX does have the same creative proa hull that Larry Graf created for all his larger, Aspen cruising cats, a hull that has proven be stable, fuel-efficient and seaworthy. As a tender, the L90 LX is easy to tow; it’s light in weight, only 5,800 pounds, and the twin hulls make it unusually safe and steady.…

Bruckmann Plans New Abaco 47: As Elegant as the Abaco 40, but Bigger

By Peter Janssen on April 13, 2017 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Based on the performance and popularity of the Bruckmann Abaco 40, the Toronto-based builder is now planning a larger version, the Bruckmann Abaco 47, with more accommodations and space for long-range cruising and living aboard. The new 47, like the 40, is designed by Mark Ellis, and it still has the classic Downeast lines, straight-forward, traditional interior and fuel-efficient hull of the smaller boat. The Abaco 47’s hull is designed to perform well throughout the speed range; the boat comes up on plane at 12 knots. It can be powered by a single or twin diesels. With a single 1136-hp…

Doug Zurn-Designed Duffield 58 with Downeast Lines Launched in Newport Beach, California

By Peter Janssen on April 13, 2017 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Marshall “Duffy” Duffield, the owner of Duffy Electric Boat Company, finally has the cruising boats of his dreams. His new Duffield 58, designed by Doug Zurn, of Zurn Yacht Design of Marblehead, Mass., was just launched in Newport Beach, California, and it’s a beauty, with Zurn’s trademark low profile, narrow beam, low CG and lightweight construction. As a result, the new Duffield, with a single 600-hp CAT C-12 diesel, mounted well aft with a V-drive to keep noise levels low, tops out at 27 knots and cruises at 18 knots. Fuel-efficient, the Downeast-style Duffield burns 29 gph at cruise. Duffield…

Sabre’s Latest: Dirigo 66 Flybridge, Now Heading for Florida

By Peter Janssen on April 6, 2017 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Sabre has just completed the first flybridge version of its 66 Dirigo, and the Maine-built boat is on its way to its new owners in Florida. The company launched the very first 66 (pictured above) more than a year ago and I was fortunate enough to be on the final leg of its delivery, also in Florida. My conclusion: That Downeast beauty is one of my favorite boats, both for its overall cruising performance and comfort, and for its classic good looks, inside and out. I wrote at the time that the first Dirigo was ready for superlatives, since…

New Manchester 29 Built on Iconic Blackfin Hull

By Peter Janssen on April 5, 2017 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Take a good look. Have you seen this boat before? Well, yes, at least a lot of it. Think of a Blackfin Combi, circa 1991, one of the best-riding sea boats ever. Back then Blackfin and its major competitor Bertram were building rock- solid boats with deep-V hulls that earned reputations for taming oceans. But that was then and this is now. Now, this great-looking inboard cruiser, introduced in February at the New England Boat Show in Boston, is a brand-new Manchester 29, built by Crocker’s Boat Yard in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. And everything about the boat is new – except…

New Vicem Classic 46IPS, A Company First in Fiberglass and Epoxy, Launched at Palm Beach Show. Plus Video.

By Peter Janssen on March 29, 2017 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Vicem Yachts, the Turkish builder that’s been specializing in using marine mahogany in the cold-molded construction process since 1991, just introduced its first fiberglass/epoxy model, the Vicem Classic 46IPS, at the Palm Beach International Boat Show. And, no surprise, it’s a beauty, both outside and in. The joinerwork is simply elegant. Designed by Vicem’s in-house team, the boat carries classic Downeast lines that just as easily could have been drawn in Southwest Harbor, Maine. The Classic 46IPS is powered by two 435-hp Volvo IPS 600s, offering joystick control and pod drives for easy maneuvering around the docks and greater fuel…

Minorca 34: A Totally New, Bright, Prize-Winning Cruiser from Spain

By Peter Janssen on March 28, 2017 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Just introduced at the Palm Beach show, the Minorca 34 is an entirely new entry, a light-filled, well-built Spanish cruiser being represented in the U.S. by SYS Yacht Sales of Jupiter and Sarasota, Florida. The two-cabin, one-head Minorca, made in the Balearic island of the same name, has an exceptional design on the outside, with gentle curves almost everywhere,while the interior is bright and open in a contemporary style that just as easily could be at home in Scandanavia as in the coast of Spain. Although new to the U.S., the Minorca 34 has already been displayed in Europe, winning…

New Fitzgerald Marine F-28: A Land Rover for the Great Loop, and Beyond

By Peter Janssen on March 20, 2017 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Here’s a preview of the new custom F-28, designed and built by Mark Fitzgerald of Thomaston, Maine, that’s now being finished with a teak deck and Awlgrip at French & Webb in Belfast, Maine. It will be ready for launching in mid-May. Fitzgerald, of Fitzgerald Marine Architecture, Inc., designed the F-28 for an experienced client who wants to do the Great Loop. Originally, the client wanted a boat similar to a center console, since he expected to spend nights in hotels along the way. When he learned that there are stretches of the Loop, particularly along the Mississippi, where it’s…

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