Cruising Life

Crewsaver Building 3 New Inflatables

By Peter Janssen on January 27, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Crewsaver, the well-established British supplier of marine safety and survival equipment, is entering the inflatable boat market. Part of Survitec, with a 60-year history, Crewsaver just announced that it is making three sizes of small inflatables, suitable for the tender or stand-alone boat market. “Survitec is well recognized as a leading rescue boat supplier to the commercial marine and defense industries,” said Matt Bridge, commercial director of Survitec. “As such, we are well positioned to transfer these technologies into an inflatable boat range for the leisure industry, helping to ensure a design and build quality that our customers can trust…

Adopt a Manatee for Valentine’s Day

By Peter Janssen on January 26, 2021 Cruising Life

In case you were running out of ideas about how to celebrate Valentine’s Day on Sunday, Feb. 14, here’s one you probably haven’t considered yet: Adopt a manatee. The large, slow-moving aquatic mammals aren’t your typical Valentine. Adults are usually about ten feet long and weigh in at about 1,000 pounds. But they do have lots of personality, once you get beyond the face whiskers. Jimmy Buffett, who knows about these things, recognized the manatees’ appeal when he helped start the Adopt a Manatee program in 1984. It’s part of the Save the Manatee Club. Now, adoptions start at $25…

EPropulsion Announces New Electric Outboard Lineup

By Peter Janssen on January 25, 2021 Cruising Life, Engine Room

Here’s some interesting news if you’re thinking of getting a new outboard for your dink or RIB. EPropulsion just announced its 2021 model lineup with seven electric outboards, ranging from 3- to 9.9-hp, including the first with hydrogeneration capabilities. A Hong Kong company founded in 2012, ePropulsion now has standardized its lineup. All new motors are built on a 48-volt architecture to allow greater flexibility and a consistent performance delivering up to 3,000 charging cycles. The new motors also come with an easy-to-wear safety wristband, instead of a kill switch, and their Spirit battery is said to be the first…

New Aquila 54 Power Cat: An Instant Hit

By Peter Janssen on January 25, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

It would be a considerable understatement to say that the new Aquila 54 Yacht Power Catamaran is a hit right out of the box. Indeed, the big new Aquila has already been nominated as a finalist for the Multihull of the Year Award, and it hasn’t even officially been launched yet. But it’s easy to see why the judges choose the Aquila. Lex Raas, the president of Aquila product development, says that the 54 “breaks new boundaries, bow to stern, on a boat of this size.” He said it has “integrated hull bulbs, optional fully enclosed flybridge, Portuguese bridge, choice…

New Prestige 630 Sport Flybridge: Light-Filled and Elegant

By Peter Janssen on January 25, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The new Prestige 630 Sport Flybridge is a light-filled contemporary cruiser with an elegant French touch and a 30-knot top speed from twin Volvo IPS950 pod drives. Below, the yacht has three staterooms, all with en suite heads, and the mid-ship, full-beam master has a private entrance from the salon. On the main deck, there are social and entertaining centers from stem to stern, and up top, the low, set-back flybridge is home to another social area, complete with a grill, in addition to the upper helm. On its website, Prestige says the 630 has “a refined, luxurious interior and…

Wave Piercing 75-Foot Explorer Yacht For Sale

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

If you think you might run into some heavy seas on your next cruise (or even on the cruise after that), you might want to take a look at Enmer, a 75-foot explorer yacht that’s built to handle them all. Enmer in a 2019 version of a 75-foot, 44-knot Safehaven Marine XSV20 that’s built to go anywhere in the world. The front windshield is supposed to be bulletproof: It’s made of inch-thick ballistic glass. The hull is designed to blast through waves offshore, not riding over the top. The hull is reinforced with carbon fiber and Kevlar, and it has…

Great White Shark Bites Boat’s Motors off Tampa

By Peter Janssen on January 23, 2021 Cruising Life

A great white shark took a bite out of the outboards on a SeaVee 34 in the Gulf of Mexico about 65 miles southwest of Tampa last week. The shark also tried to bite the boat itself. “It was breathtaking,” Erika Almond told FOX 13 in Tampa. “It came right up and took a chunk out of one of our motors.” She said the shark, about 14- to 16-feet long, approached the boat cautiously, looking for something to eat, before it started biting into the motors and the hull. “We couldn’t believe what we were seeing,” she said. Almond has…

Winners of the Annual MBY Motor Boat Awards

By Peter Janssen on January 20, 2021 Cruising Life

The editors of Motor Boat & Yachting, the British magazine, just announced the winners of their prestigious annual Motor Boat Awards. The awards were for boats in six categories, and they were announced in a virtual ceremony, because of the pandemic. The editors tested all the finalists for the awards, some 29 boats, in the past year. Hugo Andreae, the magazine’s editor, said that all the finalists were “boats that I’d happily recommend to a friend.” (The Prestige 420 Fly is pictured above.) Here are the winners: Sportsboats and RIBs: Nimbus T8 Sportscruisers Up To 40 Feet: Grandezza 37CA Sportscruisers…

New Electric 3400 Herley Power Cat with 2,500 nm Range

By Peter Janssen on January 20, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Herley Boats, the New Zealand builder, just launched a new electric, aluminum Herley 3400 power cat with a range of 2,500 nm at 8 knots. The new Herley is silent, and has minimal impact on the environment. It runs on solar/electric or diesel power. Its top performance comes from running on electric and diesel simultaneously. Running on its battery alone, the boat travels at 6 knots for six hours. But it has a “range extender” that includes a 120kW permanent-magnet diesel generator that provides the 2,500 nm maximum range. The electric drive comes from twin 100kW motors that can propel…

Brunswick Starts On-Water Classes for New Boaters

By Peter Janssen on January 19, 2021 Cruising Life

The good news is that more and more Americans, often seeking an escape from the pandemic, bought powerboats last year than ever before. The bad news is that at least some (many?) of them were new to boating, and were not familiar with the Rules of the Road or even basic boat-handling. Now the Brunswick Corp. is doing something about that. Brunswick, the corporate parent of Mercury Marine, Bayliner, Boston Whaler, Crestliner, Cypress Cay, Harris, Heyday, Lowe, Lund, Princecraft, Quicksilver, Rayglass, Sea Ray, Thunder Jet and Uttern boats, plus the Boating Services Network and the Freedom Boat Club, just announced…

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