Boat Reviews

XO Boats Unveils EXPLR 44

By Peter Janssen on December 13, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

XO Boats in Finland just announced that they will unveil their EXPLR 44, their first yacht, at the big Düsseldorf show starting Jan. 20. In the past, XO has made smaller all-aluminum adventure boats, but the EXPLR 44 is designed as a true family cruiser with forward and aft cabins, two heads, and room for two more people sleeping in the pilothouse. But it will still have XO’s durable aluminum build, with 8 mm aluminum stringers and 5 mm in the deep-V hull so it can go anywhere. Indeed, the company says it’s “the ultimate exploration yacht.” The new 44,…

New All-Electric Maine Commuter

By Peter Janssen on December 12, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The creative people at Stephens Waring Design in Belfast, Maine, just came up with an all-electric 26-foot commuter boat with lines inspired by the iconic and glamorous Italian-made Rivas of the 1950s. Stephens Waring developed the boat for a long-time (five boats over 20 years) client who wanted a boat to reach her vacation home on a remote island in Maine. She also wanted the boat to reflect the quiet and serenity of the lake itself, while having enough performance to reach a 25-mph speed for water sports. And the boat had to be big enough to carry passengers and…

Prestige X60: More Outdoor Space

By Peter Janssen on December 12, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The new Prestige X60 flybridge is a French-styled luxury cruiser with a creative “infinity deck” aft and an extra sliding glass door in the salon leading to an innovative mix of indoor and outdoor space. The aft deck, with modular furniture that can be moved around, has a low glass see-through transom so the views, even from inside the salon, reach out to the horizon aft. Most of the aft deck is protected by the overhang from the flybridge up top. A lounge and convertible sun pad provide relaxing and lounging space. Steps on both sides lead down to the…

New Alen 77 Flagship Now in U.S.

By Peter Janssen on December 11, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The new Alen 77, the flagship of the Turkish builder, is distinguished by its elegant long, straight sheer and clean lines, and that’s before you see the wide side decks and the extended swim platform with teak all around. Alen has been making boats, starting at 44 feet, for the past 20 years. The new 77 is available in flybridge or sedan models. The sedan was on display at the recent Fort Lauderdale show with a price of $4.5 million, a very competitive number for a solid, comfortable, well-built 77-foot yacht. Powered by twin 1,000-hp Volvo IPS1350 pod drives, the…

Sealine S390: Well-Designed Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on December 7, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Sealine’s new S390 is a versatile sportcruiser with lots of space for a day or weekend on board and even has room to sleep five on its accommodations deck below. Powered by twin 380-hp Volvo D6 diesel sterndrives, the new Sealine tops out at about 34 knots while providing a fun, safe ride for everyone on board. Designed by Britain’s Bill Dixon, who often works in the superyacht space, the new Sealine seems to have more room for relaxing and enjoying a cruise than is usual in this size range. The foredeck, for example, has 48 square feet of lounging…

Windy Unveils First Adventure Boat

By Peter Janssen on December 6, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Windy just unveiled its plans for a new adventure boat, the S38, entering a rapidly growing segment of the day or weekend cruising market. The S38 is the Norwegian builder’s first adventure boat, although it’s now building 17 different boats from 27 to 60 feet. It’s offering the S38 with either inboard diesel sterndrive power, or with outboards, preferred by the U.S. market. With twin Volvo D6-440 DPI sterndrives, the S38 has a top speed of 44 knots. With twin 450-hp Yamaha or twin Mercury 400-hp outboards, the top speed goes up to 48 knots. Windy is building the S38…

New Princess Y80 Heading to Miami

By Peter Janssen on December 6, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The large, luxurious and fast Princess Y80 flybridge motor yacht will make its U.S. debut at the Miami show in February. The British-built yacht had its global introduction at the Cannes show in September. With 1,900-hp MAN V12 diesels and straight shaft drives, the new Princess tops out at 33 knots, and it has an impressive range of 340 nm at a fast cruising speed of 24 knots. Dial back to 10 knots and the range jumps to well above 1,000 nm. The Y80 comes with a slash of glazing running almost full length of the hull side, suggesting forward…

VisionF Launches 82 Flagship

By Peter Janssen on December 5, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

VisionF, the four-year-old Turkish builder, just launched its new 82 all-aluminum power catamaran flagship. Powered by twin 800-hp Volvo IPS1050 pod drives, the new 82 has a top speed of 16 knots and a range of 1,600 nm. VisionFs can be heavily customized, but the new 82 has three staterooms holding up to six guests, plus two more for four crew. The cat’s beam of almost 40 feet allows for massive amounts of interior and exterior space for relaxing, entertaining or living on board for extended periods of time. The draft is just 2’ 6”, so the VisionF 82 can…

New Linssen 35 SL: A Couple’s Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on December 4, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Linssen Yachts, the family firm that’s been building steel boats in The Netherlands since 1949, just launched their new 35 SL couple’s cruiser. Powered by a single 75-hp Volvo diesel, the new 35 SL (for Sport Lux) with a displacement hull has a top speed of 8 knots. There’s nothing fancy about this latest Linssen, or previous Linssens either. They’re solid, functional, user-friendly cruising boats, made for coastal waterways or the canals and rivers of Europe and anywhere else. It doesn’t take a big leap to envision the Linssen 35 SL anywhere on the Great Loop, for example. The boat…

New Fast, Light, Jet Capsule Super Sport

By Peter Janssen on December 3, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Italy’s thinking-outside-the-box Lazzarini Design Studio has just launched its new 2024 Jet Capsule Super Sport, the fastest and lightest version of its pod-like capsules that are meant to inspire a new wave of mobility on the water. The new Jet Capsule SS is 26’ 2” long and weighs just 7,055 pounds, or 1,300 less than the previous version. It has a carbon-fiber shell laid up by vacuum-infusion molding. Powered by a 640-hp supercharged gas engine, it tops out at 38 knots, considerably faster than other Jet Capsules. It also accelerates to a 32-knot cruising speed in 12 seconds. Other gas…

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