Boat Reviews

Arksen 28, 30, To Debut at Palm Beach

By Peter Janssen on March 14, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Arksen, the creative British builder, will show its new Adventure 28 and 30 for the first time in North America at the Palm Beach show, starting March 23. The boats then will head west, all the way to Arksen’s first U.S. dealer in Seattle. Arksen was started about two years ago and makes larger expedition and explorer yachts, up to 86 feet. It makes its Adventure boats in partnership with XO boats. They’re designed to be rugged, go-anywhere vessels and they’re made with military grade aluminum. Even if adventure boating isn’t your thing, the company says you still can use…

Kadey-Krogen Making Long-Range 60 Open

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

Kadey-Krogen is making a new Kadey 60 Open, the second in its line of Open blue-water, long-range cruisers. It introduced the 50 Open two years ago, with an interior that seamlessly blends the salon and galley areas with the pilothouse. The 50 Open will be on display at the Palm Beach show that starts on March 23, while the 60 is under construction at the same yard in Taiwan that’s made more than 600 Kadey-Krogens in the past 45 years. During that time, Kadey-Krogen has won a reputation for building full-displacement cruisers that combine easy living on board with excellent…

Prestige Unveils New 65-Foot Power Cat

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

Prestige, the upscale French builder, is doubling down on its power catamaran line. It launched its first power cat, the M48, last summer. Now, it says it’s making a new M8 that’s 65 feet long and has as much room as a five-bedroom house. The new M8 will have the same semi-planing hull as the M48, with the same profile designed to look like a monohull. Its 19-foot beam is large enough to provide a lot of room inside and outside the boat, but it’s relatively narrow in terms of a 65-foot cat. The foredeck on the M8 is unusual;…

New Explorer 62 Heading for U.S.

By Peter Janssen on March 8, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The new Explorer Yachts 62 made its debut at the Düsseldorf show in January, and will head to the U.S. in time for the Fort Lauderdale show in October. Explorer Yachts are made at the LOY Sri yard in Bergamo, Italy, and they’re the brainchild of Riccardo Radice, the former owner of the Sessa yard. The 62 is the product of considerable R&D and testing, and is meant to be a safe and comfortable long-range cruiser. Explorer is working on a 92 that will be ready in two years. Powered by two 600-hp Volvo IPS800 pod drives, the 62 has…

Nimbus Unveils 465 Go-Anywhere Flagship

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

Nimbus, it seems, is entering the fast trawler market. Indeed, it just announced plans for a new flagship Nimbus 465 Coupé that the Swedish company says is designed as a “go anywhere, live on board” vessel that can be handled easily by two people. The 465, the company says will be “an island of its own.” The first hull will be powered by twin 480-hp Volvo IPS650 pod drives, delivering a top speed of 27 knots and a range of more than 450 nm. But Nimbus said it also is planning a separate hybrid-powered version of the 465, with an…

First Nordhavn 625 Reaches Dana Point

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

Hull number one of the new Nordhavn 625 series just arrived at the company’s world headquarters in Dana Point, California. It will be commissioned over the next few weeks before being delivered to its new owners, a couple from Nevada. The new 625 is based on a derivation of the hulls for some of Nordhavn’s most popular models, the 55, 60 and 63. All told, more 100 of these models have been sold. “It’s been a solid performer for us,” said Jeff Leishman, Nordhavn’s chief designer. “I believed doing an update would provide us with another outstanding derivative.” The new…

Carry Your Car To Shore on ROAM

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

The new 28-foot ROAM won’t win any awards for beauty, but if the idea is that form follows function, it’s definitely a winner. An outboard-powered “rugged all-out-utility vessel,” according to its website, ROAM was designed by naval architects Argo Navis specifically to carry a car or SUV from yacht to shore, and vice versa. ROAM was developed by Superyacht Tenders and Toys, a British company. They say their clients have “an increasing appetite for adventure and the desire to access remote areas in safety, comfort, and in the company of their toys.” Actually, I wish I had carried such a…

Performance e801: “Fastest Electric Boat in the World”

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

Performance Marine, the German builders, just introduced their new 26-foot e801 all-electric boat that they say is “die schnellste e-powerboat der welt,” the fastest electric boat in the world. In fact, the new e801 tops out at more than 50 knots – at least for some brief bursts. The Performance e801 is driven by an Evoy Hurricane 300+kW liquid-cooled inboard electric motor (Evoy already makes the world’s most powerful outboard); Evoy says it’s the equivalent of 400-hp. The boat has a waterproof 63.1-kWh dual battery pack configuration, working with a Mercury Bravo One sterndrive. The boat has a range of…

New X-Treme 54: A Pocket Superyacht

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

These are boom times for the Holterman Shipman in the Netherlands, builders of X-Treme Yachts. The yard’s flagship105-foot Lady Fleur won two superyacht awards earlier this year, it just launched a new 78, and it’s finishing the second hull of its 54, this one with more power than the original. The 54 (pictured) is the smallest of the builder’s six models, and it’s designed, by Bernd Weel, to function as a pocket-sized superyacht. The first 54, named Ferox, was powered by two 175-hp Volvos, and cruised at 7.5 knots. The new version will have twin 300-hp Volvos, for 10-knot cruising…

Ocean Alexander Launches 28E Luxury Cruiser

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

Ocean Alexander has launched its new 28E, the latest model in its Explorer line. The new 94-foot cruiser has some creative features, including a master stateroom on the main deck and an elegant teak-covered aft deck that seems to just keep on going. The 28E should live up to its Explorer designation. Standard power comes from two 1,650-hp MAN diesels, and the yacht carries 2,980 gallons of fuel. That combination gives it a top speed of 19.8 knots and a range of 844 nm at 11 knots, or almost 2,100 nm at 7 knots. The interior was designed by Evan…

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