Motor Boat & Yachting

Are we witnessing the dawn of a new multihull revolution? Powercats seem to be popping up everywhere at the moment. And not just the usual wide beam, modest performance, multiple-cabin craft that used to dominate this sector of the market. Take a loo

Princess Yachts has released details of its next X-Class model. The all-new X90 slots between the current X95 Vista and the X80 and will be the first boat in the British yard’s range to offer folding balconies as an option. These will increase the si

Imagine a 70ft flybridge cruiser that could bomb along at up to 60 knots, keep you comfy in 30ft swells and treat you to a 1000-mile range. Imagine a boat that could achieve all of that while returning twice the efficiency of a regular 70ft cruiser,

90% of body heat lost is through your head. The loudest noise in a Rolls Royce at 70mph is the ticking of the clock. If it depreciates, finance it, if it appreciates, buy it. The running costs of a boat are about 10% of the purchase cost. These, and

For boaters visiting Southampton Water, a berth for the night will most likely be found somewhere along the estuary’s easterly aspect – either on the rivers Hamble or Itchen or in the heart of Southampton itself at ABP’s Town Quay marina. However, si

For many people, the really big news at Boot Düsseldorf is the world debut of Princess’s new F58. The current F55 is already one of its best selling models and this new addition to the range looks set to raise the bar even higher. As you would expect

Award-winning Finnish builder, XO, will be taking not one but two of its new flagship models to Boot Dusseldorf. Boat number 1, which we tested back in the summer, will come in ‘traditional’ XO grey with twin 600s on the transom; and boat Number 2 wi

Making its world debut in Düsseldorf is a boat with a name that evokes plenty of happy memories for those of us who grew up in the 80s. But while the GTIs of that era were about sport, this new Galeon 435 GTI (or Grand Touring Icon) is clearly about

Italian design studio, Ferragni Progetti, has collaborated with Cobra Yachts in the creation of this latest 42ft flybridge cruiser – and while the bold window shapes and angular lines suggest a lot of effort has been put into the style, it’s the mult

This latest next-generation hardtop cruiser from Aquador is certain to be one of the most keenly anticipated world debuts at the show, but we’ve already managed a sneak peek, thanks to a December trip to Poland, where the new boats are being built. A

Solaris showed off its new Power 60 Open at Cannes and now it’s preparing to unveil the Coupé version at Düsseldorf. Judging from these renderings, it looks like this may be the better choice. As an open boat, there was almost too much deck space to

More a mid-life facelift than an all-new model, the 2025 edition of the Sunseeker Manhattan 68 boasts a number of desirable upgrades for Düsseldorf showgoers to ogle. You’ll need to be quite an expert to spot them, however, as the exterior changes ar

Making its first appearance at Düsseldorf is young Spanish yard, Maxim Yachts, with a 13m inboard-powered day cruiser known as the MAX43 Comfort. Designed by Alex Cherigny and engineered by Spanish studio, Isonaval, the main deck is arranged around a

Following on from last year’s V10 Open, Polish builder, Virtue, is using Düsseldorf as purpose four-season variant of that same platform. As the first all-weather boat in the line-up, it will use the same Swedish Petestep hull we saw on the original

A friend of mine has a 1989 Fairline Carrera 24 which is in good mechanical order and has no hull issues. However, it looks like an antique on the inside. It is functional and there’s nothing physically wrong with the galley or headlining – it just l

First full test of this remarkably spacious sportscruiser with three cabins, twin diesel engines and a healthy dose of style From an affordable canal boat in France to cruising the Croatian islands on a luxury powercat, we explore the full range of o

Powercats aren’t exactly famed for their good looks but this first boat from new company, Makai Yachts, aims to change all that. Developed in collaboration with Italian sports car designer, Emanuele Rossi, and built at Makai’s production facility in

After moving to the South Coast during the Covid pandemic, taking redundancy and completing most of the work on our new home, I began looking around for a new project to fill my time. I’m proficient at DIY and did an electrical engineering apprentice

After nearly 20 years of award-winning production, most of us know exactly what we’re gonna get from a mid-sized Galeon flybridge cruiser. While most builders in this talented sector tread a broadly centric line between shelter and openness, between

Imagine how hard it is to make anything as big, wide and tall as a tri-deck powercat look sexy, but all credit to Luca Dini Design and the Wider yard for managing to do just that. It wasn’t just the WiderCat 92’s striking exterior looks that set tong

Some yards like their boats to scream performance from every angle while others prefer a subtler approach. The Sanlorenzo SP92, which made its debut at September’s Cannes show, falls firmly into the latter category. At first glance it could be mistak

The clue is in the name. Custom Line’s 38m debutante at the latest Cannes boat show was called Telli, which makes it the latest in a longish line of yachts owned by the group CEO. Norberto Ferretti started it, and Alberto Galassi is continuing the tr

A pristine example of Van der Valk’s semi-custom 32m model, Jangada, was exhibited in the brokerage section at the recent Cannes Yachting Festival. It was owned by a serial customer of the Dutch yard who plans on trading up and it was a delightful lo

Way back in the beginning was the Record!, an 80-foot, grey-and-yellow monohull designed by Fabio Buzzi and packing 6,000hp, built for the express purpose of making a splash. True to its name, in one hectic season more than 20 years ago it set three

Motoryachts are a wonderful way to travel but when you arrive at that perfect anchorage it’s the toys in the tender garage that can make all the difference to your own enjoyment as well as your guests. For a charter yacht, it’s arguably even more imp

The first time we set eyes on the S80 during September’s Cannes Yachting Festival, it was stern-to on the quay and wedged in among several other big Princesses and a number of larger models from other competitors. In that setting, alongside much bigg

There are several different types of survey each with a different scope of coverage and outcome. The most common type is a pre-purchase and condition survey carried out on behalf of a buyer looking to purchase a secondhand boat. This is a detailed re

CUSTOMER SERVICE AWARD sponsored by Award for FLYBRIDGES OVER 60FT sponsored by The finalists for the 2025 Motor Boat Awards have been announced. After months of testing, reviewing and debating, the judges have selected the shortlist of boats in each

PART 3 Given the wonderful weather we’d been enjoying, it was an unpleasant surprise to wake up at 7am on 29 May feeling perishingly cold. This was meant to be prime cruising season. But perhaps what had stirred me so early was the thrill of anticipa

Plenty of modern boat builders claim to be committed to “adventure” and “exploration” – but while some are more closely aligned with blue-sky marketing narratives than outright performance, Safehaven’s credentials look absolutely impeccable. Based in

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British newcomer Seabird Technologies is developing a high-powered electric outboard motor that promises to outperform almost every other outboard on the market. Called the 400X, it packs a peak power output of 400kW (530hp) and an even more extreme

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A little over a year ago we brought you the EZraft, a super-lightweight inflatable that, in its smallest guise at 2.5 metres, weighed just 11kg by dint of using kite surfing technology. The only real downside was that it really was more of a raft tha

Even if you use your boat all year round rather than tucking it away for the winter, it still pays to have a list of jobs to do over the colder months to keep everything working correctly. These are jobs that most owners can do for themselves but it

While my own boating is confined to whipping around in our sportscruiser, I’ve long been a fan of beautifully crafted boats, such as those that grace the annual show at the Thames Traditional Boat Show in Henley. On top of that, I’m also a sucker for

Worrying about your boat sinking is enough to keep you awake at night. If outright sinkage isn’t W enough to trigger insomnia, there’s plenty of scope for other stuff, such as intruders and battery condition, to prey on your mind. Given that my own b

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When we first put Jeanneau’s Prestige 36 through its paces W in 2000, we noted that this well-specced flybridge came in at an astonishing £40k less than its nearest rival. While the Prestige 36 was a tad smaller than its British competitors, the Seal

Price point time is upon us again, always my favourite due to the sheer breadth of choice that can be found by playing around with all three sides of the size-age-price triangle, and that’s before you add in parameters like the type of boat or the pe

BUILT 2000 PRICE £149,950 Remarkably, the new Superhawk 55 is now the only open-cockpit sportscruiser in the range, a genre that used to be heartland stuff for the brand. Of course, the company is simply reacting to customer demand for hardtops on th

BUILT 2010 PRICE £139,950 British manufacturers major on high quality and luxury. Scandinavian builders are all about seakeeping and year-round capability, while the Italians like to dial up the flamboyance. The French, meanwhile, seem to delight in

BUILT 2009 PRICE £149,950 In the 30 to 40ft hardtop sportscruiser category, the SC35 is the obvious Sealine offering, but there’s an intriguing alternative – the SC38. A more expensive boat when new, it was less popular for that reason as its smaller

BUILT 2015 PRICE £149,950 As the saying has it, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Which left Windy with something of a dilemma, since its evergreen 28 Ghibli dated back to the Nineties, yet was nigh on the perfect sub-30ft cuddy cabin sports boat due

In an age of customer clinics, market research and a continual quest to be all things to all men, it’s great to come across a boat that was simply designed around one single person’s hopes, wishes and requirements. In the case of the Solent Spear, th