Boat Reviews

Hylas Launches New 31-Knot, 49-Foot Power Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on August 31, 2020 Boat Reviews

Hylas Yachts has just launched its new M49, a two-cabin, two-head cruiser with a low profile, a seakindly hull, and a 31-knot top speed. The company said it built the 49 as the request of owners of its 44 who wanted a larger boat. The third cruiser in the Hylas power fleet is a 58. Hylas has a worldwide reputation for building high-quality sailing yachts. It turned to Dan Salthouse, the New Zealand designer, to build the new 49 power yacht based on his successful design of the 44. Hylas boats are built by Queen Long in Taiwan. The 49…

Beneteau Launches New Outboard-Powered Gran Turismo 36

By Peter Janssen on August 26, 2020 Boat Reviews

The latest express cruiser from Beneteau, the Gran Turismo 36 with twin outboards is designed for the U.S. market, and it combines French style with easy living and outboard performance. Built in response to the growing demand for outboard-powered cruising boats, the new Beneteau offers 35-knot performance with sporty looks and lots of social and entertaining spaces in a two-cabin boat. It has enough room on board for a family or two couples on a cruise, while there’s enough entertaining space for seven people just in the cockpit The foredeck, with two large sun lounges with backrests, offers another social…

New 59-foot Evo: Push a Button for More Room

By Peter Janssen on August 26, 2020 Boat Reviews

The new Evo R6 Open is a striking boat underway, bound to turn heads wherever it goes. But it really will get attention when it stops. (See the video below.) Push a button and the boats “XTension” bulwarks fold out to increase the deck space by 40 percent in just 30 seconds. And the aft swim platform has a Transformer platform that extends out and manages to rotate 270 degrees to help with boarding, or diving, or water sports. The 59-foot yacht, made in the Evo yard in Naples, is nothing if not versatile. It can hold 16 passengers out…

New 50-knot Platypus Swordfish with Submersible Pod

By Peter Janssen on August 24, 2020 Boat Reviews

Here’s something that you haven’t seen in, or under, your favorite cruising grounds yet: The new French-built 40-foot Platypus Swordfish, a 50-knot planing boat with a submersible pod that holds up to eight passengers. The new concept boat is a creation of Francois-Alexandre Bertrand, founder of Platypus Yachts, and L2 Concepts. It will be built at a subsidiary of L2 Concepts in Antibes, with construction scheduled to start early next year and the first hull in the water next summer. In its planing mode, the Platypus Swordfish functions as a stable trimaran with a 12-foot beam. In the submerged mode,…

New Hynova 40: First with Electric-Hydrogen Power

By Peter Janssen on August 18, 2020 Boat Reviews

The Hynova 40, which is billed as the first production electric-hydrogen powerboat, will make its debut at the Cannes Yachting Festival, starting Sept 8. Built by Hynova Yachts, a French startup, the boat can be used as a dayboat or a superyacht tender. The boat is powered by batteries and hydrogen fuel cell technology developed for the auto industry. Energy Observer Development created a hydrogen fuel cell module for boating, and it partnered with Hynova for the 40. The new boat can run on batteries or its hydrogen fuel cells. The advantages of an electric hydrogen boat are that there…

NorthCoast Boats Launches New 315HT Flagship Pocket Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on August 18, 2020 Boat Reviews

NorthCoast Boats in Bristol, Rhode Island, just launched its new flagship, the 315HT, a pocket cruiser that sleeps four, hits 55 mph with twin 300-hp Yamahas, and cuts through an offshore chop with a 23-degree deadrise at the transom. NorthCoast builds no-nonsense boats, with an emphasis on coastal and offshore functionality. Jose DaPonte, the owner of NorthCoast, a division of C&C Marine, says the new 315HT “defines the next generation of NorthCoast Boats, with more fishing and cruising performance, minus the over-the-top amenities boaters pay for but never seem to use.” The new 315 has a flared bow, high freeboard…

Revitalized Northern Marine Building New 57-Foot Pilothouse Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on August 16, 2020 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Northern Marine, the storied builder of high-end expedition yachts, is back, with a new owner, and it’s now finishing a 57 Raised Pilothouse cruiser in its yard in Anacortes, Washington. Northern Marine was started in 1995, at first building strong commercial vessels and then earning a reputation for its robust, world-circling cruising boats. It had a lineup of models from 57 to 100 feet. But then the 2008 recession hit, and a few years later the yard suffered a major blow when a new boat capsized in an accident during its launching, resulting in a video that went viral around…

Prestige Launches New 690S, 31-Knot Sports Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on August 16, 2020 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Prestige Yachts, the French luxury yacht builder, just launched its new 690S cruiser, with sporty looks, a swept-back bridge, and 31-knot Volvo IPS performance. The new 690S is a three-cabin, three-head yacht, with the appealing feature of a private staircase leading to the owner’s stateroom below. The 690S has a low, modern profile, with a raked front windshield; the bridge is situated fairly far aft. The electric sunroof and large windows all around the salon let in a lot of natural light, and long hull side windows on the accommodations deck let in even more light to the staterooms below.…

The New All-Electric Zin Z2R: The Next Tesla?

By Peter Janssen on August 12, 2020 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Is Zin going to be the Tesla of the water? Or, if you’re an early-adapter, will an all-electric runabout from a startup company in Seattle be your next boat? Zin Boats has launched its first vessel, the Z2R, a carbon-fiber 20-footer with head-snapping acceleration but no carbon footprint, fumes, noise or vibration. Piotr Zin, the company’s founder, says it’s perfect as a tender, a second boat, or a picnic boat that you can run up on a beach. Zin himself worked as an industrial designer at BMW and GM before he settled down and moved aboard a houseboat on Seattle’s…

New Dinghy Lift for Outboard-Powered Ranger 27, Cutwater 32

By Peter Janssen on August 11, 2020 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Ranger Tugs and Cutwater Boats have just come up with another good idea – a patent-pending Dinghy Lift. The new Dinghy Lift solves a problem that many people have when cruising on an outboard-powered boat: Where to put the dink? The new Dinghy Lift, created by the engineers at Fluid Motion, the parent company for Ranger and Cutwater, so far is in production and available on Ranger 27s, powered by a single 300-hp Yamaha outboard, and on Cutwater 32s, powered by two 300-Yamaha outboards. You can see it in action in the video below. The Dinghy Lift is made from…

Browsing: Boat Reviews