Friday, April 26

Browsing: Boat Reviews

Cruisers Yachts just introduced its new 50 GLS luxury sport cruiser at the recent Fort Lauderdale show, powered by three 600-hp Mercury Verado outboards. The new cruiser is the largest in the company’s GLS sport line that starts at 34 feet. It’s a two-cabin, one- head boat, with large, open spaces fore and aft. The aft deck, which can be covered by an extendable awning overhead, has an unusually large amount of open space, particularly when the two balconies are deployed from the bulwarks on each side. Even with the outboards, the swim platform is large enough that there’s room…

EXTRA Yachts just launched its first X99Fast yacht in Ancona, Italy. EXTRA says it has Americanized the new 43-knot yacht, and it will be heading for Miami. The new EXTRA was designed by Guida, and the naval architecture was by Palumbo Superyachts. The X99 Fast can hold up to ten guests in four cabins, plus four crew in two cabins. The galley is aft in the salon, concealed behind a glass partition that can be raised or lowered for privacy. It leads to a large aft deck that slopes down to the water. Twin balconies can be lowered from the…

Outer Reef is re-engineering its 650 Classic Motoryacht, a size range that’s popular with cruising owner-operators. The updates include many trends that American owners have desired on their yachts in recent years. Outer Reef has been making the 650 for more than a decade, and Jeff Druek, the builder’s president and CEO, said they considered feedback from existing and potential owners before re-engineering the 650. Many of the changes have already been incorporated in the Outer Reef 700 Classic, one of the company’s most popular models. But some owners prefer a slightly smaller yacht than the 700 for a variety…

Bluegame just announced that it’s building a new line of luxury multihull yachts, called BGM, that will start with a highly creative 75 and include Volvo’s hybrid diesel-electric powertrain. Bluegame, part of Italy’s Sanlorenzo Group, unveiled plans for the new BGM75 at the Cannes Yachting Festival; the boat is scheduled to be ready for the same event next September. It was designed by Philippe Briand, the London-based, performance-oriented naval architect. The idea was to create the space and efficiency of a multihull with the style of a monohull. The BGM75 has a relatively narrow beam for a 75-foot power cat,…

Looking for a long-range, comfortable power catamaran, an experienced cruising couple from Las Vegas have just bought a Longreach 44 in Australia. They plan to take delivery next spring and keep the boat in Seattle in the summer and San Diego in the winter. The couple, Chad and Maren Schwartz, filmed a video with Longreach at the Sydney boat show. (A new company, Longreach is based just outside Sydney.) They said they originally wanted to cruise around the world, but had trouble finding the right boat. They decided they wanted a catamaran platform for its comfortable ride. About four years…

HMY Yacht Sales and Two Oceans Marine just announced that they’re developing a new line of luxurious outboard-powered, express cruising boats, starting with a 50- and a 60-footer. HMY is one of the largest yacht brokers and dealers in the U.S., with offices in Florida and South Carolina. Two Oceans is a long-time builder of blue-water catamarans in Cape Town, South Africa. The two companies joined forces last year to introduce a line of power cats to the U.S. The new express cruisers are the ECLIPSE 505 (pictured at top and below) and ECLIPSE 605. They are designed by Michael…

Pearl just unveiled its new 72 at the Fort Lauderdale show, with some creative touches inside and out. For the interior, the new Pearl has the equivalent of two master staterooms (so nobody feels like a second-class citizen), while the exterior, by Dixon Yacht Design, has Pearl’s supersized raked windshield, deep cut-outs in the bulwarks to open up the views from the salon, and one long piece of glass that replaces windows in the hull sides. It also has a large garage that is revealed when the transom lifts up. The garage is large enough to  hold an 11’ 3”…

The striking-looking Alte Volare 12M Hydrofoil Tender is the result of a technical study by the superyacht tender specialists at Cockwells in the UK. So far, the 40-knot, electric limousine tender exists only on paper, in a report presented at the Monaco show last month. But the Alte Volare shows what is possible in the high-performance, foiling sphere right now. Henry Wars, the Cockwells design director, says the new tender combines a “distinctive design with a fully electric drivetrain and retractable foiling technology to create a tender that is efficient and elegant, inside and out.” The forward foil contains the…

The TEMO 1000 is an innovative, lightweight, all-electric outboard that’s made to power tenders and RIBs and small sailboats. It also has a clear appeal. Since it’s powered by a 1,000-watt electric motor (the equivalent of a 3-hp gas outboard), you don’t need to carry a gas tank on board, and there are no noise, fumes or pollution either. The TEMO 1000 consists of a rudder-shaped shaft with the motor at the bottom and a long, thin battery that slides down into it. You don’t need to connect any wires or plug it in; it connects automatically. And its slim…

Sunreef just announced that it’s building a new 55 Open Power, a luxury hybrid catamaran with a blend of speed, stability and comfort. With low-slung, modern, aggressive lines, the Sunreef 55 almost demands that you take a second look. The cabin roof slopes forward to enhance a sense of motion, and the cat is marked by its reverse bows and a slash of windows along the lower hull sides that provide a lot of interior light to the cabins on the accommodations deck below. But it’s when the boat stops that it’s really eye-catching. The bulwarks on both sides of…

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