Boat Reviews

New Regency 65: Designed for Extended Cruising

By Peter Janssen on April 17, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The new Regency 65 is designed for comfortable, long-range cruising anywhere from Alaska to the Caribbean, plus anywhere else you might have in mind. It’s a relatively heavy yacht (88,105 pounds) and its 18-foot-plus beam gives it a large footprint, so there’s lots of room. But that also means it will give you a good ride in a seaway where stability is always a blessing. The Regency 65 is powered by twin 900-hp Volvos, giving it a cruising speed of 15 to 17 knots. Dial back to 8 to 9 knots and the yacht has a range of more than…

New Alva 90 Flagship: All-Electric Power Cat

By Peter Janssen on April 11, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Alva Yachts, the fairly new German builder, is making a 90-foot flagship all-electric power cat that has trans-Atlantic range and a cruising speed of 8 to 10 knots. The entire surface of the new Alva 90 is covered with solar body panels; the solar modules have been adapted to the shape of the yacht. They produce 40 kWp; the battery capacity is 240 kWh. The luxurious cat is powered by two 500kW electric drive motors and two 100 kVA generators. A hydrogen fuel cell and storage tank are an option. The yacht also comes in a hybrid diesel-electric option, with…

Greenline 48 Fly: All-Electric or Diesel Power

By Peter Janssen on April 6, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The Greenline 48 Fly is a thoroughly modern, family-friendly, hybrid-powered cruiser with one-level living on the main deck and 360-degree views from anywhere in the salon. But what really sets the 48 Fly apart is Greenline’s hybrid drive system, where, with pushing one button, you can shift from electric to diesel power, or back again. So far, the Slovenian builder has produced more than 1,000 yachts with this system, and it’s elegant in its simplicity (see the video below). In the diesel mode, with standard 220-hp Volvos, the boat has a top speed of 17.4 knots; with optional 370-hp Yanmars,…

All-Electric Sarvo 37 Tops Out at 70 Knots

By Peter Janssen on April 4, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Sarvo Marine in Denmark is finishing work on a new all-electric 37-foot boat that pushes the boundaries of speed, power and looks in a shimmering aluminum hull. The company says the Sarvo 37 will hit a top speed of 70 knots when it’s launched in June. (The problem is, it will only run at that speed for 15 minutes or so, before it runs out of juice, but then, how long do you really want to run a boat at 70 knots?) If you dial back to 10 knots or so, the boat has a range of 100 nm. An…

CL Yachts Announces New 65 Family Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on March 30, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

CL Yachts just announced that it will build the CLB65 flybridge motoryacht with an understated contemporary design and a hull by Howard Apollonio, the veteran naval architect. The three-cabin, three head cruiser is due to be launched at the end of this year. CL Yachts is the new luxury brand from Cheoy Lee Shipyards, which has been building ships and yachts in Hong Kong for five generations. The B in the new CLB stands for the company’s Bravo series of family-oriented cruising yachts. The Alpha series designates its high-performance yachts. The new CLB65 has an open layout, designed to make…

Iliad Launching New 60 Long-Range Cat

By Peter Janssen on March 30, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Iliad Catamarans in Australia is making a new 60-foot power cat that it calls the ultimate voyager. The new Iliad will have a range of 3,500 nm at 7 knots when it’s launched in July, and it is one more example of the growth in long-range power cats around the world. Iliad Catamarans were launched just two years ago by Multihull Solutions in Mooloolaba, Queensland, on the Coral Sea. So far they have launched a 50 and a 70, and are working on an 80 after they complete the new 60. All the boats are made in China. The 60…

Navier 27: Semi-Autonomous Foiling Electric Boat

By Peter Janssen on March 29, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The people at Navier, a Silicon Valley startup, like to think big. Indeed, they say they are “reinventing the boat as we know it,” and they are designing “the boat of the future.” Hyperbole aside, the Navier 27, still in the design stage, will be the first U.S.-made foiling electric boat, and it will be semi-autonomous, at least at first. Later on, the company says that software updates will include self-driving capabilities, making the Navier 27 fully autonomous. Navier was founded by a pair of MIT engineers with backgrounds in ocean robotics, aerospace hydrodynamics and autonomous systems. The resulting Navier…

Front Street Shipyard Making New Hunt 41 Dayboat

By Peter Janssen on March 29, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Front Street Shipyard in Belfast, Maine, is building a new, custom 41-foot Hunt Dayboat, powered by twin 480-hp Volvo IPS650 pod drives. With Hunt’s classic deep-V hull, the new 41 is expected to top out at 38 knots and cruise at 32 knots. The new boat has classic Down East lines, with a fine entry, long sheer and low profile, all the work of the iconic Ray Hunt Design studio in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Hunts have been known for their superior seakeeping abilities for past 60 years, ever since C. Raymond Hunt developed the first deep-V hull. The Hunt Dayboat…

Arksen Sells First 85 Explorer with 7,000-nm Range

By Peter Janssen on March 29, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Arksen has sold its first hybrid-powered 85 explorer yacht, with a range of 7,000 nm at 9 knots, to a family that plans to cruise around the world, starting with the fjords of Norway next spring. Arksen is a new company, the brainchild of Jasper Smith, a tech entrepreneur and adventurer, working with Humphreys Yacht Design in the UK and the Wight Shipyard on the Isle of Wight for construction. Design Unlimited did the interior. The Arksen 85 is designed for long-range cruising efficiency and it’s built to minimize its carbon footprint. It has a hybrid propulsion system, with an…

Silent-Yachts Building New 62 Tri-Deck Cat

By Peter Janssen on March 24, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Silent-Yachts is working on a new solar-electric 62 tri-deck catamaran, and the innovative Austrian builder has already sold three of them, two to Americans and one to a European. The new 62 is based on the platform of Silent’s popular 60, but with two additional feet aft and with the third deck, providing another level of space. The new yacht also will have a lot of carbon fiber to reduce weight. The self-sufficient cat has 42 solar panels, providing 17kWp, two 250kW electric motors and a battery capacity of 210kWh. The yacht has a cruising speed of 6 to 8…

Browsing: Boat Reviews