Boat Reviews

New Doug Zurn-Designed Duffield 58: Quiet, Elegant, Fuel-Efficient

By Peter Janssen on January 18, 2017 Boat Reviews

It’s not a surprise that when Marshall “Duffy” Duffield wanted a new cruising boat for himself that fuel efficiency and quiet operation were top priorities. After all, Duffield owns the Duffy Electric Boat Company, and electric boats are nothing if not quiet and fuel efficient. To design his new trawler, which Duffy will run himself, he turned to Doug Zurn, the Marblehead, Mass., designer who’s already drawn fuel-efficient, quiet – and beautiful – boats for MJM Yachts, Marlow, Vanquish and Samoset, plus the Shelter Island Runabout and Vendetta for Billy Joel. “I wanted a traditional-looking boat that was proportionally correct…

New Cutwater 30: Easy Cruising with Twin Yamaha 300s

By Peter Janssen on December 14, 2016 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The trend toward outboard power keeps getting stronger and stronger. Now Cutwater Boats is introducing a new 30-footer with twin Yamaha 300-hp outboards because, says Cutwater President John Livingston, “We’ve had customers asking us to build a boat like this for a while now.” Livingston also says the new boat is “our biggest, fastest and most exciting Cutwater to date. The boat absolutely screams across the water.” I haven’t tried the new 30 yet, but two summers ago I drove a Cutwater 28, with a single 260-hp Volvo diesel, from New York Harbor to Quebec City, and it cruised easily…

First Look at New, Super-Exclusive Mercedes-Benz 46-footer Sea Trial

By Peter Janssen on December 1, 2016 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Yes, I know this isn’t the typical cruising boat that we usually write about, but I think it’s just too cool to ignore. The first-ever Mercedes-Benz boat, here on a sea trial, will be ready for sale next spring. With twin 480-hp Yanmars, the new 46-foot-long Benz is supposed to top out at 40 knots (I had a Mercedes many years ago that did that in second gear!), but then this boat is both multi-national and super-exclusive. The German Mercedes-Benz boat is being built by Silver Arrows Marine Project in Monaco, although construction is in Switzerland. And they’re only going…

Aspen C120: A Cat with a Difference

By Peter Janssen on November 17, 2016 Boat Reviews

The new 42-foot Aspen C120 power cat is anything but just another pretty boat. Developed by Larry Graf, one of the more creative people in boating, the new C120, like all Aspens, has an asymmetrical proa hull (think of native boats in the South Pacific), where the port side is 35 percent narrower than the starboard side, which houses the single 330-hp Volvo diesel. The point: Stability, performance and above all, fuel efficiency. Graf says the boat burns just 11 gph at 17 knots. Graf founded Aspen Power Catamarans in Burlington, Washington, in 2008; he had founded Glacier Bay Power…

MJM 35Z: An Elegant, Fast, Outboard Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on November 1, 2016 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

We first reported on plans for the new MJM 35Z back in September. Now we can flesh out the details of this latest collaboration between Douz Zurn, the designer, and Bob Johnstone, the founder of MJM, and so far the new outboard-powered 35Z is living up to our expectations. It’s no surprise that the new boat has all the classic Down East lines of earlier MJMs, with its low profile, gentle tumblehome and long sheerline. Or that it’s a serious offshore boat, with a 20-degree deadrise at the transom and the highest rating for stability and seaworthiness for any boat…

Eye-Catching, But Still Traditional, Ellis 28 Just Launched

By Peter Janssen on October 31, 2016 Boat Reviews

It doesn’t get much more traditional and Down East than this – an Ellis 28 “lobsteryacht” just launched in the company’s family-owned yard in Southwest Harbor, Maine. I’m pretty sure that it never crossed Don Ellis’ mind that he’d be building a red-hulled boat when he took over the Bunker and Ellis yard in the early ‘80s. He’s launched 300 boats since then, with the 28 as the most popular. (The Ellis line goes from 20 to 36 feet, and Ellis’ two sons are now running things.) Ellis started out with traditional lobster boats and then turned to fishing and…

Fountaine-Pajot 37: Lots of Room, Lots of Performance

By Peter Janssen on October 25, 2016 Boat Reviews

You really don’t appreciate how much room there is in the new Fountaine Pajot 37 power cat until you climb aboard. There’s space everywhere – in the clean, wide cockpit, the spacious flying bridge, the super-sized salon, the three cabins below and even more on the bow. When I was on the boat at a recent show, I looked around and counted nine other people there, with room to spare. Not bad for a 37-foot cruising boat. But extra space is only one of the advantages of this latest entry from a highly respected French builder. Performance is another. With…

Marlow 53E: New High-Tech, Long-Range Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on October 25, 2016 Boat Reviews

The Lauderdale show is the first display of the new Marlow 53 Explorer, a fuel-efficient, long-range, state-of-the-art cruiser. For long or short trips, the new Marlow offers the same elegance, comfort and sophisticated engineering as its siblings. David Marlow uses aviation-like standards in the yachts bearing his name, with lots of Kevlar, carbon fiber and modified epoxy, while keeping both the overhead height and the center of gravity low. The new 53 tracks straight with Marlow’s exclusive Strut Keel. The engine room has standing headroom and walkaround access to the twin John Deere diesels. The boat’s salon has a desk…

Nordhavn 60: A New and Improved Take on a Proven Blue-Water Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on October 25, 2016 Boat Reviews

Nordhavn has just launched its new 60 on the east coast, and the company expects it to be as popular as the 55, a proven world-wide displacement cruiser. In fact, the 60 has almost the same interior as the 55, but with an additional five feet in the cockpit and lazarette to make it easier to enjoy water sports or evening cocktails as the sun goes down. The additional five feet also mean a larger boat deck up top, so there’s more room for a larger tender or more water toys. The extra footage also means a slightly higher speed…

Azimut 66 Magellano: Head-Turning, Long-Range Italian Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on October 25, 2016 Boat Reviews

A contemporary, stylish Italian version of a classic trawler, the Azimut 66 Magellano is a four-cabin, four-head cruiser that is designed to bridge the gap between traditional blue-water boats (think Grand Banks or Fleming) and more avant-garde designs. It also has what Azimut calls a “dual-mode” hull, with two chines and a less rounded bottom than previous Azimuts, which means it can run efficiently through all speed ranges. If you want to go slow, the 66 Magellano has a range of 1,000 nm at 9 knots. If you’re in a bit of a hurry, the boat tops out at 23…

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