While conducting a Yachtmaster Instructor training course recently, I had to put my own teaching into practice in the most dramatic way possible. It was a grey day with intermittent rain, light winds and relatively calm sea.

We were 30 minutes away from port and one of the instructor candidates had just completed an excellent explanation of how to perform a man overboard (MOB) drill.

Having completed the explanation, the whole team did an excellent demonstration of exactly that process. At that point, our trainee instructor stood up and turned to leave the helm. As he turned, he lost his footing. His feet shot out from under him, and his body crashed to the deck.

By some miracle, his head was cushioned by the end of the seat next to me. Without a hint of pain or panic in his voice, he said, “I’ve broken my leg”. Incredulous at how calm he was, I said “You must be joking”. Then I saw a wave of pain cross his face.

So what did we do? First, a crew member positioned themselves by his broken leg to stabilise the foot and knee. I put in a VHF call to the Coastguard on channel 16, and another crew member went below to grab some cushions for the casualty’s head and leg.

As soon as he was reasonably comfortable, we turned for home. At this stage, my VHF call was not a Mayday as, whilst scary for all involved, it was not life- or vessel-threatening. However, the Coastguard was struggling to hear us from the fl ybridge VHF set so I went inside to try again. When this proved no better, I called 999 instead.

So, what did I learn from the experience?

• The safety briefing at the start of the day was invaluable; we all knew where to fi nd key equipment like the VHF radios, procedure cards and fi rst aid kit.
• Check your VHF at regular intervals; the boat’s owner had reported that he was struggling to transmit on a particular channel. It transpired that we were struggling to transmit at all.
• Liaise as early as possible with the coastguard and the harbour chosen for an evacuation; the early communications paid dividends as they were able to co-ordinate a land-based team to assist.
• The RNLI were superb. Most importantly they were able to assist with pain management and casualty reassurance. Both the Coastguard and RNLI were also much better equipped to move a heavy, injured casualty at sea.
• The UK emergency services are very stretched; we were initially advised it would take eight hours for an ambulance to reach us, which later grew to ten hours. We ended up taking the casualty three miles upriver to another marina and evacuating him in the owner’s car instead.

Never be complacent

It started as a perfectly normal day afloat – rather grey and wet, practising for the RYA instructor exams. From here we went out into open water for MOB training drills.

Slippery when wet

Despite an excellent safety briefing, our trainee instructor somehow managed to slip on the wet decks, falling down hard between the helm seat, my feet and the rails around the hatch to the cockpit.

Check your equipment

The built-in VHF set on the flybridge would not transmit effectively, nor would the set in the saloon, so we had to revert to calling the Coastguard on a mobile phone and a hand-held VHF.

Make them comfortable

Once safely off the flybridge and into the cockpit, the casualty was made as comfortable as possible and attended to by both the Coastguard and the RNLI with stronger painkillers.

Lift ashore

Once the casualty was positioned on the stretcher, they strapped him down for the lift ashore and along the pontoon. I was a little surprised by this. How, if they dropped the stretcher and he fell in, was he supposed to get out?

Seek professional care

Ultimately we needed to get the casualty to hospital. Thanks to a great team effort by all involved, we finally managed that. It turned out that his leg was broken in four places. Take care, this boating lark can be dangerous!!

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

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This article How to deal with a medical emergency at sea appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor”. There is so much truth in this well-known proverb. It reminds us that in life, true strength and skill are more often formed in adversity than on the easy path. That said, I feel I should clarify a couple of things.

Firstly, I do not regard myself as a skilled sailor but I do love to learn. And secondly, I fully appreciate that most of us, including Annette, Joe and me, much prefer calm seas to rough for our boating fun.

Even so, a key reason we bought Iolar, our Dale Classic 37, was for her exceptional seakeeping. This is due, in large part, to her underwater profile, which is derived directly from the legendary Nelson pilot boat lineage. The idea was not to battle the high seas for fun, but to extend our cruising windows, allowing us to go further and with greater confidence. And therein lies the rub. Having bought a boat that is so capable, the only way to realise the benefits was to develop the right skills, and that meant I needed to experience some unpleasant conditions first-hand…

Seasoned skippers use a variety of sources to gauge the likely severity of the sea conditions

Boat & crew

My first sea trial on Iolar, accompanied by Mike from Dale, was a 65nm trip around the islands off Pembrokeshire in conditions I would probably not have ventured out in on my previous boat. The ease with which she coped was astonishing – it was actually enjoyable and comfortable and that was despite having no helm seats at that stage!

Next came an autumnal rough-water training session (again with Mike) off St Anne’s Head. Annette and I both helmed in waves from 3-4m and started learning how to manage Iolar, even though it felt more like she was looking after us. Under the guiding hand of Mike, our competency grew.

Iolar is strong. Her hull is built to RCD Category A and she has plenty of power available. The way she handles steep and confused seas without slamming is difficult to describe. Even if you carelessly launch all 12 tonnes of her off the top of a large steep wave (which I confess I have done a few times) you get a thud rather than a crash. Experiencing how she handles different conditions has built our confidence in her as a boat.

However, the crew are even more important. Nobody wants to be scared so we operate on the principle that there is nothing wrong with staying in port or turning back. I’ve also learnt that helming in rough water is tiring so being able to share duties on a longer passage is vital. lessons learned I tend to obsess over trying to predict the sea and weather conditions but in the end, I accept you don’t know what you’re dealing with until you’re there.

Dale’s semi-displacement hulls are derived from the legendary Nelson pilot boat

I use apps like Predictwind and Windy, plus my tidal atlas, as well as live wave buoys (accessed through Surfline) and even the occasional call to an NCI station. In fact, on a recent trip, we were approaching the Lizard, returning from the Scillies with a decent following sea. A quick call to Lizard NCI confirmed it was “pretty bad” close in but four miles out they could see a ferry passing in more settled conditions – job done!

We’ve also learned to assess the conditions as we go and to change our plans whenever necessary – and honest communication is an essential part of that. On a trip back from Kilmore Quay in Ireland, I was fortunate that my crew was an experienced skipper from Dale.

We set off into a steep head sea with waves up to 3-4m. Backed off to 8 knots, throttling up and down each wave, we were in for a long trip. We discussed how we felt and each agreed we could manage the conditions. Then we assessed if things could get worse or better.

Confident that they ought to improve, for a number of carefully considered reasons, we jointly agreed to keep going. in the event, we were proven right, arriving safely in Wales just a few hours later. It was a satisfying trip and another valuable learning opportunity courtesy of a very experienced skipper.

lolar at anchor in more tranquil conditions

Rough water tips

I had read books and articles that talked about the importance of throttle control in rough water, but it wasn’t until I was in big seas myself that I fully appreciated just how fundamental using the throttles is in keeping control. Another common trait of the experienced skippers I’ve been lucky enough to learn from is their ability to stay calm. It’s a vital attribute for maintaining focus in tough conditions, but it’s also about keeping the crew confident and assured.

You have to understand your equipment too. When conditions are not great, particularly during the winter months, we always have our lifejackets on and wet weather gear close by; and we also carry a six-person valise life raft. It’s ready to go in the wheelhouse, together with our grab bag, which includes flares, a portable VHF and an EPIRB. It’s also become second nature now to monitor AIS and radar, while also keeping a look out for potential hazards.

I’m certainly not advocating boating in dangerous conditions. However, experiencing conditions that have pushed me out of my comfort zone, and spending time with experienced skippers, has been hugely rewarding. In addition to learning new skills, you get a tremendous sense of achievement arriving at a new destination, as well as more confidence as a family to go further and see more. And if we get caught out by conditions, we know we have a very capable boat, plus a bank of experience to draw on when panic may otherwise have been the natural reaction!

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

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This article Hard-won lessons from the Irish Sea appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

Considering my grandfather, Charles Wadham Lyne, chose to be a poor vicar, he wasn’t quite as hard up as he might have been thanks to the decisions of his forebears. Thankfully his great uncle Charles Lyne chose to be a rich merchant, which meant my grandparents could indulge in the occasional luxury, such as boating holidays on the Broads during the 1920s.

Given his interest in boating, there is every chance he spotted their holidays advertised in The Motor Boat, which by then was already a well-established periodical, having published its first issue in 1904.

Coincidentally, at about the same time, Hugh Poths of Boston, Lincolnshire, and almost certainly another reader of The Motor Boat, retired from his position as the manager of the Tai Thong Rubber Works Co., in Malaya (now Malaysia). Before leaving, Hugh had purchased and arranged for a quantity of the local teak to be shipped back to England for a special project.

Moored on the river Witham in Boston circa 1930. Photo: Charles Lyne

Cover star

Hugh had decided to have a boat built which he and his family could enjoy cruising on the local rivers. Once resettled in Lincolnshire, he chose H C Banham Ltd as the company to build it. As well as being local, Banhams ran a holiday charter business and knew what was required of an inland waterways boat.

Making available his ample supply of quality Malayan teak, Hugh commissioned a boat that would allow him to enjoy the delights of the inland waterways, including the narrow canals.

Sometime in 1925, Banham’s designer, A. H. Comben, put pencil to paper and adapted one of his existing Broads cruiser designs to meet Hugh’s wishes. Boatbuilder John A. Hodgkinson then set about creating this rather special boat.

Photo: Charles Lyne

As it neared completion in the spring of 1926, someone suggested that it might be of interest to The Motor Boat magazine, and sure enough, in the April 1926 issue, it was featured over one-and-a-half pages.

Described as being a “most interesting vessel” the article continues “due to the restrictions necessitated by lock dimensions, it is by no means an easy matter to evolve a good canal cruiser, but in this case the designer appears to have achieved the desired object and the boat is of by no means unprepossessing appearance.”

With the old diesel engine gone, the forward cockpit has been repurposed as a four-person dinette. Photo: Charles Lyne

Reading between the lines, the author was pleasantly surprised by how pretty it was, despite its unusually long, thin design – the LOA of 40ft dwarfs its narrow 6ft 11in beam.

On 10 May 1926 (amidst the turmoil of the General Strike), Hugh Poths registered this boat as ship no. 147966 with a 9.7bhp motor and a cruising speed of 5.6 mph. He named it Malaya.

Malaya crossing The Wash in summer 1938 – quite an undertaking in a boat designed for sheltered inland waterways. Photo: Charles Lyne

Lone Survivor

Malaya may not have been the first cruiser designed specifically as a leisure craft for use on the narrow canals of England and Wales (rather than a converted barge) but as far as we know, she is the oldest surviving example.

The Poths family enjoyed their unique boat for more than three decades, undertaking several long voyages. In the summer of 1938, for instance, Hugh’s eldest son Jack took Malaya across the Wash from Boston to King’s Lynn and up the Great Ouse to Denver Sluice and beyond, to Cambridge– a 14-hour voyage across open seas in a boat designed for inland waters.

Jack Poths with Hugh Poths (jnr) and Mary. Photo: Charles Lyne

After 33 years of happy ownership, the Poths family decided to sell Malaya. Her new owner, Jack Craddock, was a garage owner and a keen supporter of the newly formed Inland Waterways Association. Her history gets a little murky after that before she appeared on the market once again in 1980.

This time she was sold to Rod Beever, who saved her from being scrapped but was possibly not well advised on the subsequent restoration, which removed all her internal bulkheads in a rather ill-fated attempt to modernise her.

The lack of bulkheads, which formed an integral part of the structure, meant that Malaya gradually developed a middle-aged spread to the point where she struggled to pass through some of the narrow canal locks she was originally designed for.

Moored outside the Cutter Inn, Ely, in 1953. Photo: Charles Lyne

Going Cheap

By the time I first spotted an advert for her in 2012, Malaya was in a very sorry state. Being newly retired with lots of time on my hands but very little money, it sounded like just the kind of project I was looking for.

I’d been into boats for years, having grown up watching my grandfather’s 9.5mm films of holidaying on the Broads, so later in life, with an adaptable wife and three sons in tow, I suggested we try exactly the same sort of holiday I’d seen my grandparents enjoying: a cruiser on The Broads. We all loved it.

Hugh Poths (jnr) at the wheel of Malaya. Photo: Charles Lyne

One thing led to another and soon we were regularly hiring narrowboats for holidays. Then in 1998, we purchased a 1/12th share in a purpose-built narrowboat, giving us four weeks of cruising every year at a much lower cost than hiring.

We enjoyed many happy days on that ‘Ditch Crawler’, as some coastal boaters like to call it, and while its speed obviously fell some way short of an adrenalin rush, it most certainly boosted our dopamine and endorphin levels as we pottered along, taking in the fascinating sights and sounds of the rich variety of canal and river scenes.

In Boggs Lock on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire canal in 1963. Photo: Charles Lyne

So, many years later, when I spotted an advert for an elderly wooden narrowboat in need of restoration, my interest was piqued. Further investigation revealed that it was being sold very cheaply (to the right buyer) as it needed a significant amount of work: £20,000 – £30,000, according to the surveyor’s report.

It came with some disadvantages – such as a rather large and extremely noisy diesel engine – and was only configured to sleep two people. But, with a bit of work from us, she could be ours to cruise whenever we fancied.

Malaya takes to the water again in 2018 after a six-year restoration. Photo: Charles Lyne

Restoring an old narrowboat: Test drive

A short demonstration cruise on the River Weaver proved to be rather interesting! At some point Malaya had been fitted with a 37.5hp Beta diesel engine. It sounded monstrous; every stroke of the pistons reverberated through the structure.

New owner Charles Lyne at the helm of his lovingly restored Malaya. Photo: Charles Lyne

We later discovered that the owners wore ear-defenders whenever they went for a cruise.

Thankfully, I already had a plan to replace it with an electric motor and knew of a spacious under-cover area where I could restore it. I also discovered that the father of one of our son’s friends was a carpenter and a bit of a wooden boat specialist.

Malaya being wheeled into the cow shed in 2012. Photo: Charles Lyne

I invited Dave up to the River Weaver so he could check what work was needed. His response was largely positive but it would require considerable time and expense. He’d be able to do the skilled work as long as I could do the rest of it.

That was all the encouragement I needed. On a cold December day Dave and I drove up to the boatyard to oversee her being craned onto the back of a low-loader but first we needed to remove the heavy diesel engine. Dave set about disconnecting the engine from the diesel tank, cooling system, exhaust, battery and throttles.

Removing the old Beta diesel engine. Photo: Charles Lyne

Even then the engine couldn’t just be lifted out due to the limited gap between the gunwales and the roof. It had to be done in stages: lifting the engine, supporting it on pallets, shortening the strops and repeating multiple times until the strops were short enough to clear it.

Shirley and Hugh Poths, previous owners Mac and Dave, and Barbara Lyne formally relaunch Malaya in 2019. Photo: Charles Lyne

Disaster strikes

Two days later, a huge low-loader arrived at our farmyard with what looked like a very small boat on its back. In the intervening days, Dave had been busy assembling a custom-built trolley from old lorry wheels, timber beams and steel plates, so we could wheel our new (old) boat into the cowshed/workshop.

With Malaya safely under cover, we celebrated Christmas with our traditional Boxing Day BBQ. While the BBQ was warming up, I popped over to the cowshed to check on our investment. Disaster! The rain had flooded the farmyard and the shed. Malaya was still high and dry but many of the things I’d bought to restore her, including an expensive diesel generator, were already underwater. Not a good start.

Sparks fly as the restoration begins. Photo: Charles Lyne

The weather continued to dog our efforts. By mid-January we were under several inches of snow but eventually work could begin. Dave had given me a brief: clear the inside of the boat of everything. Partitions and flooring went first, then the sea toilet, which after polishing up its brasswork and adding a smart new seat, I sold on Ebay.

With the boat empty, we now had to decide where to site the new electric motor – up at the front where the diesel had been or in the middle, closer to the centre of gravity and the batteries in order to minimise cable losses. We chose the latter. Dave set about cutting down the propshaft with a disc cutter while I stood by with a fire extinguisher in case the stream of red-hot sparks set fire to Malaya’s drying timbers.

New deck beams. Photo: Charles Lyne

In order to prevent the boat from changing shape any more than it had already, I supported the roof with Acrow props and once the windows had been removed, we wrapped heavy duty ratchet straps around the hull and through the window frames to squeeze the beam back into shape.

Meanwhile, Dave taught me all about copper nails and roves, so I could assist him with the 2,000 fastenings that were required to hold all the planks securely in place.

The restored helm. Photo: Charles Lyne

Article continues below…

Renovating a bargain boat: I ended up with so much boat for so little money

After a 13-month delay our Rustler 41 motor yacht is finally ready!

Launch day

Perhaps inevitably, the restoration proved far more time consuming and expensive than expected. I’d hoped we’d finish it in two or three years, in the end it was almost exactly six years before we gently lowered Malaya into the Thames at Lechlade.

The original throttle was adapted for use on Malaya’s new electric motor. Photo: Charles Lyne

Despite having carefully caulked all the joins in the carvel-built hull prior to painting, I knew that it would be some time before the dry timbers below the waterline would swell and start to seal properly. I’d armed myself with a variety of pumps for that very reason but I still spent an anxious first night aboard, bilge-watching and pumping until the leakage rate gradually slowed.

‘Sea’ trials proved that most things worked as intended. The one disappointing aspect was the cruising range. I’d made up two coffin-sized battery boxes under the seats in the centre cabin to keep the high current cables (up to 450 amps) as short as possible. Each bank contained six 110 Ah batteries, each of which I’d hoped would be sufficient for a day’s cruising, so I could recharge alternate banks overnight.

Newly rebuilt foredeck overhang. Photo: Charles Lyne

In practice, even with both banks in parallel, there wasn’t enough capacity for a day’s cruising. I tried replacing them with 130 Ah lead-carbon batteries, which were better, but still disappointing. Eventually, I bit the bullet and installed LiFePO4 (lithium-iron phosphate) batteries which offer significantly more usable capacity in the same volume.

This has proved to be been hugely beneficial, not just in terms of range but also because I can now monitor the battery charging, temperatures and tank levels by remote.

A fully restored Malaya is lifted into the Thames at Lechlade. Photo: Charles Lyne

Hooray Henley

That was all in the future, though, back in 2019 we were still learning about our ‘new’ boat. For some years during the restoration we’d been visiting the Thames Traditional Boat Festival in Henley-on-Thames and decided this would be the ideal place to show off her newly completed restoration.

Malaya’s original registration number. Photo: Charles Lyne

Our progress downriver from Lechlade to Henley can best be described as stately. Although we could certainly go faster, doing so flattened the batteries too quickly, so we soon got used to being overtaken by almost every other river user from swans to paddle boarders!

The helm gives few clues to its new power source. Photo: Charles Lyne

We did eventually get to Henley – albeit four days later – having recharged at various locks and in at least one case, a charging point belonging to a fellow electric boat owner.

Having had the good fortune to find the descendants of Hugh Poths still residing in the Lincolnshire area, it seemed appropriate to ask the youngest Hugh Poths to officially relaunch his great grandfather’s old boat at Henley.

Galley mixes modern appliances with classic style. Photo: Charles Lyne

Hugh and his wife Shirley have since joined us at many of the subsequent Henley Trads and will hopefully join us again for Malaya’s 100th anniversary this year.

Malaya recharging her batteries outside the Kings Arms at Sandford Lock. Photo: Charles Lyne

We’re hoping that perhaps Motor Boat & Yachting would like to attend this milestone as well and complete the happy reunion that started all those years ago…

The new electrics panel. Photo: Charles Lyne

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

This article Restoring an old narrowboat: The 100-Year-Old teak canal cruiser’s journey to electric power appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

Inland boating has an additional hazard which isn’t nearly as prevalent as on coastal passages – locks. A lock is simply a way of enabling boats to ‘climb’ up or down a sudden change of water height, whether that’s on a man-made canal traversing hilly countryside or a river with natural hazards that need bypassing, such as fast-flowing rapids and falls. Sometimes a flight of several locks is required to allow for a particularly long or steep incline.

Locks usually consist of three main parts. The lock chamber, where the water level can be raised or lowered, the gates at each end of it and the paddles or sluices which allow the lock to be filled and emptied.

You can pass through most locks in both directions, depending on whether you are travelling up to a higher level or dropping down to a lower one. I find rising up rather easier than dropping down so that is what I will cover in this article.

On approach, if the lock is not manned or automatic, you will need to tie up and assess whether the lock is set to your direction; i.e. is the water in the chamber at the same level as the water around your boat? If not, go to the controls and empty the lock by using the paddles so that the water drops to the same level as your boat. Once empty, you can then open the gates, manoeuvre your boat into the lock (along with other waiting craft), secure in place, then shut the gates and close the downstream paddles.

Now you need to open the paddles in the upstream gates to allow water into the chamber until it fills to the same level as the water on the other side of the upstream gate. If the paddles are manually controlled, don’t open them too fast as the sudden inrush of water can cause the boat to bounce and get damaged.

Article continues below…

How to cruise rivers and canals

How to use buoyage to navigate

Even at a slower pace the boat(s) within the chamber are likely to move fore and aft a bit as the water bounces off the bottom gates, so the lines used to secure the boat need to be monitored as the boat rises. Don’t tie the lines off, however, as you may need to bring in slack as the boat’s cleats rise to the level of the lockside rings, and then ease them off again if they carry on rising above that.

In some lock chambers you may also need to adjust the height of your fenders so that they don’t end up being lifted above the sides of the lock. Once the rise is complete, you need to tie off the boat again, go to the exit gates, close all the paddles and open the gates to allow your passage to continue.

Don’t move off until any swirling water around the exit has subsided. Once you have exited the lock, it’s good practice to moor again and close the gates behind you so that the next vessel can begin its own process.

Photo: Richard Langdon

Upstream approach

Locate the waiting berth, stop and secure your boat so you can walk to the lock and see what level the water in the chamber is. If it’s set to the upstream level you’ll need to empty it first.

Photo: Richard Langdon

Lock controls

The gates and paddles on this lock are electrically controlled by this panel when it’s left unmanned. We need the gates shut, the upstream paddles closed and the downstream paddles open to drain the lock.

Photo: Richard Langdon

Lock paddles

The lock gate paddles on this one are controlled hydraulically. They are opened in four stages, so the water flow is controlled and doesn’t cause excessive turbulence for the boats.

Photo: Richard Langdon

Setting lines

Once inside the lock, if your boat isn’t too large or heavy, a single centre line is a good way to stop it moving fore or aft while still allowing easy adjustment of the slack.

Photo: Richard Langdon

Adjusting lines

As the sluices on the upstream gate open and the water level rises, you will need to take in any slack on the line. In this photo you can see the water level has risen by about a metre.

Photo: Richard Langdon

Exiting the lock

Before opening the lock gates to exit, it’s best to wait for the swirling water to subside. If you attempt to move off too early you may find yourself being swept towards the lock wall.

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

This article How to use and upstream lock: Expert boating guide appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

Lets face it, this boat could have done absolutely nothing and it would still be deserving of its place on the Cool Page because, well, just look at it!

A metallic silver 78ft wave- piercing trimaran built of composite carbon fibre and Kevlar, it looked like an alien spaceship had touched down, seaplane style. That, however, would have been a short story and one thing that this boat does not have, is a short story.

Conceived and developed by New Zealander Pete Bethune, this incredible looking vessel was built to break a world record, literally, because the aim was to be the fastest motor boat around the globe. If that wasn’t enough, it was to be done in the most eco-friendly way possible to prove that performance could be green.

Everything was designed to be as eco-friendly as possible

The original idea was to be electrically driven, with the electric motors powered by low-emission generators, an idea eventually scrapped in favour of conventional marine diesels running on pure biodiesel with the aim of the project being (apart from claiming the record) to raise awareness of alternative fuels.

Three years and two re-mortgages later the boat was finally on the start line in Barbados in 2007. And that’s when the problems really started. From the fuel sponsor backing out to new propellers delaminating, issues came thick and fast, the very worst of them being running over a 26ft fishing skiff in the dark resulting in two of its occupants being seriously injured and one missing presumed dead.

Earthrace was impounded in a Guatemalan military base with the crew in court just days later. They were absolved of responsibility when it became apparent that the fishing boat had no proper lighting and all the crew were asleep. The attempt restarted but eventually failed after the boat (and crew) received such a beating in heavy Med storms that it began to crack up.

Article continues below…

World's coolest boats: Wider 42

World's coolest boats: Nelson 80 Blue Legend – Super-sized 4x4 of the seas

A year and a refit later they were back, and though numerous technical problems had to be overcome, the record was finally achieved, with the vessel making the return to Sagunto, Spain after just under 61 days on 27 June 2008.

The story doesn’t end there because, painted black and renamed Ady Gil, the boat joined the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, eventually sinking in 2010 after a collision with a Japanese whaling vessel.

Eathrace specifications

Year: 2006
LOA: 78ft (24m)
Beam: 23ft (7m)
Power: Twin Cummins Mercruiser 540hp diesels
Speed: 32 knots
Price: $2.5M (according to Wikipedia)

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

This article World's coolest boats: Earthrace – Part alien spaceship, part record-breaker appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

Wider is an Italian manufacturer of superyachts with a fleet of 150 – 200ft craft.

Although a very innovative brand (the Wider 165 has a float-in tender garage that converts to an indoor swimming pool, and generators under the foredeck that power electric pod drives instead of engines), it’s not immediately obvious where the Wider name came from.

To get to the root of that, we need to delve back to 2011 and the company’s very first product, the Wider 42.

At first glance, this 42ft sports boat was the very antithesis of wide. With a beam of just 11ft 6in and a carbon composite stepped hull designed by offshore racing guru Mark Wilson, the Wider 42 was a narrow go-fast machine.

The reason for the name becomes apparent when you press a button and the sides extend to create valuable extra deck space

The twin Cummins QSB 5.9 480hp diesel engines fitted to the boat powered Arneson Long Finn surface drives to speeds of over 50 knots.

And if that wasn’t fun enough, it came with a 215hp Sea-Doo RXT dock at the aft end with a power launch and recover facility, as well as a cuddy cabin with a dinette that converted to a double berth at the front.

Other innovations included inflatable cockpit furniture that could be tossed over the side if you fancied bobbing about on it, and ‘saddle bags’ that you could pack at home and then fit as lockers inside the cabin. There was even a touchscreen built into the steering wheel that controlled the whole boat. As a first model from a brand new yard, it was, frankly, off the chain.

All of the above would have been plenty enough to secure it a spot in the MBY Cool Boat pantheon.

But we’ve only just got to the boat’s party piece and the origin of that Wider moniker.

At the touch of a button, side panels on the gunwales extend outwards, while rectangular sections of the hull descend into the water on either side like outrigger floats to stabilise the hull. In just 12 seconds, the centre cockpit is 8ft wider, creating vastly more space and cementing the brand name for anyone seeing it in action.

Article continues below…

WiderCat 92 first look: Organic shapes fit for a modern art museum

Hybrid Widercat 76: A futuristic powercat

Wider 42 Specifications:

Year: 2011
LOA: 42ft 4in (12.9m)
Beam: 11ft 6in (3.5m)
Power: Twin Cummins QSB 5.9 480hp diesel engines
Speed: 53 knots
Price when new: €780,000

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

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This article World's coolest boats: Wider 42 appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

Boating inland on rivers and canals brings its own special set of circumstances that need extra consideration when afloat. Canals are generally man-made and have little or no water flow, as any level changes are done with locks. Rivers always have a flow of water downstream from the river head to where they either join another river or become tidal.

Again, locks are used to ease the passage of boats along stretches of river when the water level change is too great. These are usually accompanied by a weir and sluices to control the level and flow of the navigable river.

When boating inland, there are some special considerations that you need to take into account and that may affect your choice of vessel. The boat we used for this article was a Delphia 11 Flylounge powered by a single 150hp Yanmar engine.

Although this would allow for some coastal work, it was perfect on the river as it gave a tick-over speed of just under 2 knots, with good rudder control and added manoeuvrability from both a bow and stern thruster. Faster sea-going vessels aren’t designed to cruise for long periods of time at the inland speed limit of 5-6 knots and may struggle to maintain steerage.

We were blessed with a quiet, sunny autumn day but in the height of the season, dealing with traffic can be complicated, and some inland waterways, especially those with a lot of commercial traffic, have additional rules known as CEVNI regulations.

Both rivers and canals suffer from shoaling at the edges so care is needed when mooring along the banks or travelling around river bends where the inside of the turn is often very shallow, causing serious congestion on a narrow river. I like to travel roughly down the centre, moving to starboard when other traffic or moored boats mean that I need to move over.

Floating or hidden debris is another potential hazard, especially after heavy rain and flooding. Overhanging branches can also complicate things when manoeuvring. Other than locks, which we will cover next month, the main
feature you’ll need to deal with is bridges. These often cross the waterway at an angle, due to the direction of the road above, rather than at 90 degrees to the waterway.

The technique, especially if going downstream and with some current or wind with you, is to position your boat absolutely straight between the piers and then engage the minimum power that allows you to maintain steerage. Too slow, and any swirling water can easily push you towards the piers or arches; too fast, and if you do get it wrong, the consequences will be very expensive!

Stay alert

Here, the entrance from the river to the marina has shallowed dramatically and the red buoy is there to keep you away from the bank; the overhanging trees help focus whoever is at the helm!

Obey signs

The weir stream is used to divert the main flow of water away from the lock. Be really careful not to get swept into its path, especially after heavy rain when the flow can increase dramatically.

Deceptive conditions

While this was a slow-water-flow
day on the river, the volume going over the weir was still considerable. Getting caught in it doesn’t bear thinking about.

Floating obstacles

This large log was floating less than a metre from the boat. Not only could it damage the hull, but if it gets sucked into the propeller the repair bill could be substantial.

Negotiating bridges

You can see that this bridge is built at an angle to the waterway, so you need to control your speed carefully and get your vessel parallel to the arch before passing through it.

Rounding bends

All bends need to be treated with caution, as the inside often shoals and reduces the available depth. On this bend, the deeper outside line is further complicated by overhanging trees on the bank.

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

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This article How to cruise rivers and canals appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

A ton up, 100 bags of sand, a brick, 100K, call it what you will, £100,000 is a chunk of money to spend on a used boat even if, these days, it barely buys an outboard powered sportscuddy on the new boat market.

Fortunately, it still buys you an awful lot of secondhand boat, especially if you’re prepared to be a little brave, or just very hands-on and practical.

You can burn up the coast in a sleek muscle boat in the form of the evergreen British-built Sunseeker Superhawk 34. Or you could buy a stylish sports cruiser with a surprisingly large interior in the form of a Fairline Targa 39.

Live the 1980s dream aboard a 50ft Fairline, the flagship of the range back in 1989 when this one was launched! Or you can simply buy the most sensible boat in the world and trouser £10,000 toward the running costs.

We’re covering all the bases in this month’s column

Sunseeker Superhawk 34

Built: 2003
Price: £99,950

They really don’t build ’em like this anymore! Over then past 45 years Sunseeker has gradually evolved from a maker of predominantly high performance sportscruisers back in the 1980s, when its Hawk range ruled the roost, to a builder of ever larger luxury cruisers. The last true Hawks were the 1990s era Superhawks, comprising the 50, 48, 43, 40 and of course this beautiful 34 that launched in
1997 and ran until 2003.

You have to clamber over the original cream leather sofa to reach the bed in the forepeak

Interior

This isn’t a boat that you buy for the accommodation. But while a Fairline Targa 34 puts a Superhawk 34 to shame for interior space, that’s like comparing a BMW saloon with a Porsche 911 Carrera. This is the classic muscle boat layout, a double berth in the forepeak, a U-shaped hoop of seating aft of it and a small galley opposite a compact heads. However the finish is pure 1990s Sunseeker, polished cherry wood and cream leather – fabulous!

Exterior

The payoff is outside, because almost three decades on, this is still a spectacular looking boat. Low, lithe, curvaceous, it’s race-boat narrow and looks as though it’s doing 30 knots while still in the berth. There’s a big sunpad aft over the engines, a deep sheltered dinette opposite a wet bar and twin drop bolster seats at the helm plus a further seat to port.

Performance

Sunseeker offered a huge range of twin engine options. Twin V8 petrol engines of up to 8.2 litres and 500hp were popular in America and pushed the speed up to 60 knots. Mercruiser, Yanmar and Yamaha diesel engines were also available, with Volvo Penta’s KAD 40 series motors being the most popular. This being toward the end of the production run means it gets the largest of the KAD 40 series, the KAD 300 which produced 285hp for a 40-knot top end.

Slender beam means limited cockpit space but the pay-off is strong offshore performance

Seakeeping

Performance and seakeeping is what this boat is all about. The hull was penned by race boat designer and pilot, Don Shead. Deep vee, narrow beam and low profile, it’s a no-compromise hull designed for
high-speed performance.

Sunseeker Superhawk 34 specifications

Length: 37ft 2in (11.3m)
Beam: 10ft 2in (3.1m)
Draft: 3ft 9in (1.1m)
Displacement: 8 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 700 litres
Engines: Twin Volvo Penta KAD300 285hp diesel engines
For sale: Approved Boats

Beneteau Antares 30

Built: 2011
Price: £89,950

There’s a strong argument to suggest that if you simply want a really good family boat with minimal running costs then this could be the pick of the crop. Launched in 2009 at the Paris Boat Show, this is one of the most sensible boats in the world.

Forward owner’s cabin is fairly basic but scores well on space, practicality and natural light

Interior

Despite its compact dimensions at about 30ft long, Beneteau squeezed two cabins into the lower deck, a surprisingly generous owner’s cabin forward with a centreline double berth plus a second cabin with bunk beds further aft. It’s the perfect family combination, although those bunks are a full adult size.

There’s a heads down here as well of course, but the key to such generous lower deck accommodation for a 30ft boat is putting the galley in the saloon on the main deck, behind the helm seat. There’s a dinette opposite, and a neat forward-facing seat alongside the helm.

Exterior

Beneteau offered this boat as a flat-roofed coupé or as the flybridge version you see here. About 90% of UK boats (and about 75% worldwide) went out with the upper deck and it’s easy to see why because this is a really useful space, with its outdoor helm position and a small dinette area. A rather steep ladder links the flybridge to the aft cockpit where you’ll find further seating as well
as access to the side decks.

Performance

Initially supplied with a single Yanmar 6LY3 380hp engine, Beneteau later switched to using Volvo Penta’s D6-370 motor that this boat is fitted with. With only one engine to fuel and service powering a simple straight shaft drive, this is about as affordable to run and maintain as boating gets. Top speed is around 25 knots, making 20 knots a comfortable cruising pace.

Galley-up layout works very well given this boat’s compact dimensions

Seakeeping

Single shaft- drive boats can be a challenge to manoeuvre as you can’t vector the thrust like an outdrive or swivel the boat like a twin-engine installation, which is why the bow and stern thruster, unusual in a boat of this size, are welcome. On test, we said “Seakeeping is good, it doesn’t roll excessively and there are plenty of options for the crew, from the flybridge to the aft deck”.

Beneteau Antares 30 specifications

Length: 33ft 6in (10.2m)
Beam: 11ft 1in (3.4m)
Draft: 3ft 1in (0.9m)
Displacement: 5 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 375 litres
Engine: Volvo Penta D6-370 370hp diesel engine
For sale: Boats.co.uk

Fairline Targa 39

Built: 1996
Price: £89,950

When the Princess V39, first of the V Class boats, launched in 1994 it was a hit. Evolving through the V40 and V42, it ran until 2008 and sold over 500 examples. Now regarded as something of a classic, there’s one small detail that gets overlooked. Whisper it, Fairline’s Targa 39, launched a couple of years later (briefly badged Targa 38), was arguably a better boat!

Comfortable forward owner’s cabin is supplemented by a guest twin aft of the saloon

Interior

The layout is virtually a carbon copy of the V39, with a centreline double in the forward cabin and a transverse twin cabin aft, split by a dinette to port and a galley to starboard. The heads is forward of the galley, giving access both from the saloon and from the forward cabin.

It’s a winning layout, the current Targa 40 and the outgoing Princess V40 still use it.

Where the Fairline snuck ahead of the Princess back in the 1990s was in the finish, which was very good in the V39 but top drawer in the Targa 39, a choice of light maple or the classy cherry-grained wood that you see here, together with a high-gloss cream finish for the overhead lockers. It still looks great today!

Exterior

A good looking boat, it is again very similar to the Princess in the cockpit layout, other than a single helm seat where the Princess had a double, compensated for by a larger seating area next to it.

The bathing platform was the new extended version for sitting a tender on, although interestingly, this boat still has the davit system. Hull colours on offer were white, teal or this boat’s rather smart deep blue.

Performance

Volvo Penta’s supercharged and turbocharged KAD 42s were the motors of choice, largely because they were the most powerful that its AQ290 duo prop outdrives could handle at the time. The owner of this boat reports 28 knots flat out and 22 knots as a cruising speed.

Tartan sofa looks a little dated but the rest of the saloon and galley still hold their own today

Seakeeping

Like the V39, the Targa 38 came from the pen of Bernard Olesinski, which should give reassurance with regards to seakeeping. The owner says “I always fill the water tank before we start because she has a tendency to be stern heavy and I use the trim tabs to balance her”.

Fairline Targa 39 specifications

Length: 40ft 9in (12.4m)
Beam: 12ft 0in (3.6m)
Draft: 3ft 3in (1.0m)
Displacement: 8 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 745 litres
Engines: Twin Volvo Penta KAD 42 230hp diesel engines
For sale: Ancasta

Fairline 50

Built: 1989
Price: £360,000 ex VAT

Another “they don’t make ’em like they used to”. Never has this been more accurate than when looking at what were the very top-end models from high-end British builders in the 1980s. This was the flagship model of a range that back then started at 21ft with the Fairline Sprint 21.

And whilst clearly, this boat doesn’t have the space and the amenities of current models (something would have gone badly wrong with 35 years of evolution if it had), boats of this era are so solid that it’s almost like they were carved out of fibreglass!

As with most 50-footers from the 1980s, the owner’s cabin is located in the bow

Interior

Whilst the layout may not be as clever as a modern boat, this is a 50ft yacht, so there is still plenty to enjoy. Fairline offered a wealth of options, so although the ensuite forward cabin was fixed, the starboard guest cabin could have been optioned with two singles or a double berth (this boat has two singles).

To port, options included a dinette ahead of the galley, a large third cabin and a slightly smaller galley, or a bunk-bed cabin and an extended galley, which this boat has. There was even a bunk-bed cabin with an ensuite and a standard galley.

The main deck is pretty straight-forward; double helm to starboard with an L-shaped sofa behind it and either a small sofa with a sideboard in the forward port corner, or the dinette forward
to port with a sideboard aft, as fitted to this boat.

Exterior

No transom door, no high-low platform and a ladder to the flybridge instead of steps, this is a product of its age. Having said that, the well proportioned lines have aged kindly and this is
still an elegant-looking boat.

Performance

Fairline fitted a variety of twin-engine options into the 50. Volvo Penta TAMD 71A and 71B were the most popular, this one getting the 71A motors at 358hp each for a low 20 knot top speed. Caterpillars at 375hp or 425hp were also available and some of the very last boats got Volvo Penta TAMD122B 480hp engines.

The interior styling is of its era but like everything about this boat, it’s commendably solid

Seakeeping

As rock solid as everything else about this vessel, these were formidable sea boats back in the day, and nothing has changed.

Fairline 50 specifications

Length: 53ft 2in (16.2m)
Beam: 15ft 1in (4.6m)
Draft: 3ft 6in (1.1m)
Displacement: 16 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 1.818 litres
Engines: Twin Volvo Penta TAMD 71A 358hp diesel engines
For sale: Boat Showrooms

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

This article 4 of the best motor yachts on the market right now for £100,000 appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

We’ve debated on these pages before what makes a boat cool. History, filmography and style can all make a boat cool, but so can a single-minded (and successful) pursuit of a specific performance – it might be speed, it might be range or it might, as in this case, simply be the ability to go out and keep going, right around the globe.

To put some numbers on that, Wind Horse clocked up 37,000 nautical miles in the first four years of her life in the hands of owners Steve and Linda Dashew. In fact, Wind Horse was conceived and designed by the couple specifically for long-range all-weather cruising. Made from aluminium, she is 83ft long and weighs 41 tonnes.

But she’s far from the couple’s first rodeo. In the 1980s, the couple took their children out of school with the intention of home schooling them whilst spending a year circumnavigating the world (Linda is a trained teacher). In fact they ended up staying on the water for six years, cruising aboard a number of different sail boats that they had developed.

Article continues below…

Built by Circa Marine in New Zealand, Wind Horse was their first motor boat project. Steve had only ever spent an hour on a motor boat before designing this one, but those years of circumnavigation paid off.

Efficiency was the watchword, allowing the boat to be powered by a pair of 150hp John Deere engines. With a top speed of 14 knots, she cruises at 12 knots, or at the peak economical speed of 10 knots, the 13,900 litres of diesel give almost 10,000nm of range.

She has efficiency and offshore capability – there’s no point having the range if you don’t have the sea-keeping to match. Which is why the hull is 6mm thick and the wheelhouse glass is built to withstand a direct hit from a breaking wave.

It may be built to survive ocean storms but Wind Horse is also a comfortable home from home

But the journey didn’t end there. So popular did the concept prove that Dashew Marine was formed and a 64ft version developed.

Called the FPB 64 (for Functional Power Boat), 11 hulls were built, plus a larger FPB 97.

But Wind Horse was the original, and is currently for sale with Berthon International, now with 60,000nm beneath her keel.

FPB 83 Wind Horse specifications

Year: 2005
LOA: 83ft 0in (25.29m)
Beam: 18ft 0in (5.48m)
Power: Twin John Deere 150hp diesel engines
Speed: 14 knots Price: $3 Million

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

This article World’s coolest boats: FPB 83 Wind Horse appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

Understanding buoyage and how to use it is crucial for safe navigation. Most countries use an inland and coastal system. Inland is usually from above the first sea lock. Coastal systems are further split into IALA A and B. The main difference is the colour of the marks as the shapes remain the same.

Area B covers the Americas, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines. In this area the port side of inbound channels is marked by green buoys, which are pillar-shaped, and show a green light (if lit). The starboard side is marked by cone-shaped red buoys and a red light.

Area A covers pretty much the rest of the world, including Europe, Australia and New Zealand. In this case the port side of inbound channels has red pillar or can-shaped buoys and red lights. Starboard has green cones and green lights. I find a simple reminder is that when your boat’s port and starboard navigation lights match the buoyage then you are travelling inbound into a port.

Both systems have safe water marks (red and white vertical stripes with a single red sphere on top and a white light) and isolated danger marks (red and black horizontal stripes with two black balls on top and a white light). They also have special marks (yellow with an X topmark and yellow light) and emergency wreck marks (yellow and blue vertical stripes with a vertical yellow cross as the top mark).

Article continues below…

Both systems have cardinal marks but they are rarely used in IALA B. Cardinal marks are used to show you where the safe water is around a potential hazard. They do this by the arrangement of the yellow and black colours, the cone-shaped top marks and a white light when lit.

At night they are differentiated by the timing of the lights. This is usually indicated by the small letters below the buoyage on a chart. On a plotter, you need to hover over the mark and press for more information.

If you are venturing out after dark, then a study of the light sequences is essential. The marks themselves are usually named or numbered and can be as small as 30cm high to 5m or more. Mostly they are floating cans but they could also be posts or even branches driven into the sea bed identified by the top mark and colour. Just remember, the smaller the mark, the less the channel is used, so always ask yourself does that confirm what I expect?

Buoyage is expensive to install and maintain, so, a bit like markings on the roads, the more markers there are, the more hazardous the area is and the more you need to pay attention.

The questions that you should ask yourself about every mark are: What is it warning or guiding me about? Does that apply to me? Where should I be in relation to it? And must I comply with the information given or is there sufficient depth for me to safely navigate outside of an area or channel. Here are the main buoys you need to be familiar with…

Channel choice

This chart shows the entrance to Poole harbour. There are two channels, the main Swash Channel (blue arrows) marked with large red and green buoys, and a smaller Boat Channel (red arrows) running alongside it marked with red posts. You can choose which one best suits the size of your craft.

Photo: Richard Langdon

Size matters

You can see that the main Swash channel is about 200m wide and suitable for large ships and ferries, so depth permitting if you’re in a smaller craft it’s often prudent to navigate in the Boat Channel.

Channel markers

Port hand marks are red and ‘can’-shaped. Starboard ones are green and ‘cone’-shaped. These ones are ashore for repairs. Note the size of them in comparison to the car – they are huge!

Cardinal mark west

This west cardinal mark is identified by the ‘waisted’ top mark and its yellow-black-yellow colour sequence. The safe water is to the west of it. East cardinals have an ‘egg’ shaped top mark and a black yellow-black colour sequence.

Photo: Richard Langdon

Cardinal mark south

This south cardinal mark is identified by its two top cones pointing downwards and yellow on top of black colour sequence, indicating safe water to the south. North ones have two cones pointing up and black over yellow.

Photo: Richard Langdon

Lateral mark

This starboard hand lateral mark could do with a lick of paint but it’s still a valid navigation tool. There is no topmark but it does have a newly installed green light for night- time navigation.

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

This article How to use buoyage to navigate appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

The term millionaire is an interesting one, still conjuring up as it does images of impossible wealth. A mansion in the country, peacocks on the lawn, lighting cigars with £10 notes in the back of a chauffeur driven Rolls-Royce and, of course, a huge motor yacht. But the truth is that these days, a million barely buys you a new 40-footer, let alone the rest of the lifestyle to go with it – hardly the stuff of millionaire dreams. Thankfully, as ever, solace lies in the used boat market where the original millionaire lifestyle is still possible if you have a healthy six figures to plough into a boat. Here are four fantastic examples for Jeeves to point the Roller at.

4 big, bargain motor boats

Fairline Squadron 65

Built: 2010 Price: £650,000

Despite the occasional financial buffeting, there is no doubt that Fairline belongs in the highest echelons of production boat building. Based in Oundle with a history that goes back almost 60 years, it introduced the Squadron range in 1991 with the launch of the Squadron 62 – the predecessor of this 2010 Squadron 65.

High quality woodwork is a hallmark of Fairlines and the Squadron 65 is no exception

Interior

The stand-out feature of this boat is the amount of natural light that floods the interior. Huge windows are par for the course these days, but this boat was launched back in 2009. The forward cabin is a prime example, with a run of glazing that stretches the full length of the ceiling.

The full beam owner’s cabin is even better with big hull windows allowing a view out from the king-sized bed. Only cabin three shows its age a little by having porthole windows. That said, it still has its own ensuite bathroom. Intriguingly, Fairline added a further day heads halfway down the stairs, something you almost never find on a sub 80ft boat. The galley is up, but not aft, being positioned in the forward port corner of the saloon.

Exterior

New enough to have a hydraulic high/low bathing platform for tender launch and storage, this isn’t the only treat at the very stern of this vessel. There’s a really neat lift up section built into the transom that rises on a solid hinged arm to provide a proper overhead shower.

Yet more glazing across the back of the boat and stairs rather than a ladder transform the crew cabin into a genuinely useable fourth guest cabin. Meanwhile, the flybridge is one of the largest in its class, with multiple sunpads featuring prop-up backrests for support.

Performance

Twin MAN V10 1,100hp engines displace a monster 18.27 litres each, meaning that the combined 2,200hp is doled out at a relaxed engine speed of just 2,300rpm, at which point our test boat was pulling over 30 knots!

The midship owner’s cabin faces across the beam with hull windows on both sides

Seakeeping

It’s a big heavy boat that stretches past 65ft, so decent seakeeping is assured, although with a focus on internal volume, we didn’t find it quite as lithe as the earlier Squadron 66.

Fairline Squadron 65 specifications

Length: 66ft 11in (20.4m)
Beam: 17ft 2in (5.2m)
Draft: 4ft 6in (1.4m)
Displacement: 30 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 3,542 litres
Engines: Twin MAN V10 1100 CRM 1,100hp diesel engines
For Sale: One Marine

Trader 64 Sunliner

Built: 2007 Price: £699,000

Designed by Tony Castro, built by Tarquin and launched in 2007, the Trader 64 leans towards the explorer yacht end of the market. Designed for relaxed long-range liveaboard cruising rather than fast blasts from point to point, it’s backed up by a Category A RCD rating for offshore use.

The Trader 64 feels like a home from home thanks to its big open-plan saloon and galley

Interior

Any mid-60ft boat is going to have generously proportioned internal spaces, but throw in an aft-cabin layout that takes the accommodation right back to the transom and you have something truly palatial. Not surprisingly, the owner’s cabin takes full advantage of those square aft quarters to deliver an exceptionally large and private sleeping space.

The ensuite heads is forward, putting a double bulkhead between its lucky occupants and the machinery space. And of course it is completely separated from the three further cabins on the lower deck forward.

The VIP with its centreline double in the bow has its own ensuite while two further guest cabins, one with single beds side by side and one with cross-over bunk beds, share the day heads. Between them, the saloon has a galley-aft layout and the helm is up on a separate bridge level.

Article continues below…

4 of the best all-weather motor boats on the market right now

4 Of The Best Classic Motor Yachts You Can Buy Now

Exterior

The downside of an aft cabin layout is the lack of storage under the aft deck as that’s where the cabin is. However, Tarquin worked hard to mitigate this with multiple smaller deck lockers and storage under the seats and sunbeds. The tender lives aloft on a flybridge that features unusual crescents which extend out over the side decks like the wing stations on a ship. Wide side decks and twin anchors at the bow provide further evidence of its big-boat cruising credentials.

Performance

Featuring a deep keel semi-displacement hull rather than a full planing one, the Trader 64 is designed to run at low speeds for maximum efficiency. But twin Caterpillar C18 1,015hp diesels still give a 20 knot top end.

Even by big boat standards, the owner’s cabin is exceptionally spacious and private

Seakeeping

52 tonnes of boat steadied by standard-fit twin hydraulic stabilisers should give a pretty impassive ride.

Trader 64 Sunliner specifications

Length: 65ft 0in (19.8m)
Beam: 17ft 9in (5.4m)
Draft: 5ft 9in (1.8m)
Displacement: 52 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 7,000 litres
Engines: Twin Caterpillar C18 1,015hp diesel engines
For Sale: Sunseeker Poole

Princess 21M

Built: 2009 Price: £945,000

Princess has had a variety of model ranges over the years, all with their own names and identities. The F-class flybridges, V-class sportscruisers, S-class sports yachts and X-class tri-deck models all have their place. But the M-class is the daddy, because M stands for motor yacht and is reserved for the superyacht range.

The largest ever was the Princess 40M, a 40-metre leviathan, but at the other end of the scale, the original 21M still cuts a dash. At just under 70ft, it falls below the 24-metre industry classification for superyachts but this boat still has the look and feel of the big league without the crippling cost that usually goes with it.

Internal stairs to the fl ybridge is a practical but rarely seen luxury on modern 70-footers

Interior

The high-gloss cherry wood may be of its era, but it still looks spectacular, particularly in places like the cabin doors, where the grain is quartered (four panels with opposing wood grain angles). You rarely see carpentry like that anymore from production builders.

It’s not the only thing – the sweep of internal stairs that spiral up from the main deck to the flybridge is another forgotten gem. Despite the aft cockpit, it still sports a four-cabin layout, even if the smallest of them has bunk beds and shares the day heads with the third guest cabin. There’s a hidden stairwell accessed from the cockpit that takes you down to the crew accommodation as well as to the walk-in engine-room and a separate engineering space with twin generators.

Exterior

Launched originally in 2004, this model pre-dated hydraulic platforms and large hull windows (other than to the owner’s cabin), but a crane on the flybridge can lift a tender onto the bathing platform and/or the trailing edge of the upper deck. Deeply bulwarked side decks and flybridge overhangs cement the mini-superyacht feel.

Performance

A choice of twin MAN diesels, either 1,050hp each or the upgraded 1,300hp motors fitted to this boat, should push it towards 30 knots, albeit at a considerable cost to fuel efficiency.

High gloss fi nish may look dated but there’s no doubting the quality of the woodwork

Seakeeping

Multiply the size by the weight and then add the Olesinski-designed hull and you have something best described as capable. Very capable.

Princess 21M specifications

Length: 71ft 5in (21.6m)
Beam: 18ft 1in (5.5m)
Draft: 5ft 2in (1.6m)
Displacement: 41.3 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 5,000 litres
Engines: Twin MAN D2842 LE404 1,300hp diesel engines
For Sale: Parker Adams

Sunseeker Predator 56

Built: 2001 Price: £245,000

As we have seen, it’s entirely possible to buy a seriously big league boat from a big league builder for under a million pounds. But as I shall now demonstrate, it’s also possible to buy some serious kit from one of the most prestigious builders on the planet for under a quarter of a million pounds! Welcome to the frankly epic Sunseeker Predator 56. 150 of these were sold between 1999 and 2004, and it’s not hard to see why.

A lower saloon and galley separates the owner’s cabin from the forward VIP

Interior

Although dating from this century, at 2001 this boat only just sneaks in. Nowhere is this clearer than inside, where it’s a feast of turn-of-the-century Sunseeker, complete with lashings of beautifully capped high-gloss cherry wood and acres of cream leather. Is this a bad thing? Hell no, it looks fabulous, but if your tastes are more modern then it could easily be turned down with a change of upholstery and some panel re-trimming.

Sunseeker offered two- or three-cabin versions, this is the more popular two cabin with a full beam owner’s cabin in the centre of the boat, where the three cabin got a pair of twins, and another double cabin in the bow. A large saloon and galley sit between them, with all the white goods concealed by yet more glossy woodwork.

Exterior

Despite its age, this boat was fitted with a high/low platform for tender storage, which means the usual space-sapping garage is missing and the cockpit seating stretches right to the transom. This is also one of the first boats to get the now ubiquitous open-backed hard top. It was an optional extra, but can you imagine the amount of canopy you’d be fighting without it?

Performance

Sunseeker offered twin 800hp diesels from either MAN or Caterpillar (for the American market), both giving over 30 knots flat out for an easy mid 20-knot cruise.

Who needs mirrors when you can see your reflection in the high gloss cherry woodwork?

Seakeeping

We described the Predator 56 as having ‘a reputation for fun, dynamic handling, carving into turns and keeping the skipper very happy.’

Sunseeker Predator 56 specifications

Length: 60ft 2in (18.3m)
Beam: 15ft 1in (4.6m)
Draft: 4ft 5in (1.3m)
Displacement: 24 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 2,350 litres
Engines: Twin MAN 800hp diesel engines
For Sale: Sunseeker Poole

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

This article 4 of the biggest bargain motor boats on the market right now appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

Trimming your vessel correctly is vital for comfort, economy, seakeeping and ultimately safety. Good boat hull design usually requires very little trim from the helm to keep the ride comfortable. However, having the ability to affect the trim both fore and aft as well as side to side is great for altering the attitude of your boat to the sea.

In a perfect world as you accelerate your well designed, perfectly balanced boat to its planing speed, the shape of the hull will naturally lift it onto the plane, allowing it to skim over the top of the water with the boat’s weight supported evenly on the surface.

However, a boat’s weight doesn’t always remain constant; adding passengers, fuel, supplies and kit all change that perfect balance. Additionally, sea conditions also affect how your boat rides; calm seas being ideal.

Anything from a Force 4 upwards (or less in a small boat) will change the comfort and sea keeping of that perfect balance.

The same holds true for direction of travel; going upwind means you are facing steeper wave faces, going downwind risks dropping the bow into deeper troughs, and beam seas can cause the boat to list away from the waves or lean into the wind due to the counter steer you apply to stop being blown off course.

Short of shifting weight around, there are two main ways of trying to recreate that perfect trim scenario. Outboard and outdrive craft have engine trim buttons, usually on one side of the throttle handle, that allow you to alter the angle of the drive/thrust.

This allows you to raise (trim up) or lower the bow (trim down) to try and keep it at its most efficient. However, this does not allow much lateral trim even with twin engine installations.

Article continues below…

How to drive a motor boat with a stepped hull

How to navigate overfalls in a motorboat: 6 top tips

Shaft and pod drives don’t have the ability to trim the propeller’s angle of attack, so they (along with many outdrive and some outboard boats) are usually fitted with trim tabs or interceptor plates on either side of the transom at the base of the hull.

They work by increasing the pressure as they are lowered into the water, which in turn creates lift. The more you trim them down, the greater the lift on the stern, which in turn forces the bow down.

Lateral trim is applied by using one tab more than the other, so more starboard trim down will lift the starboard corner, which will lower the port bow. This lateral trim is great for offsetting a beam-on side wind, or too many crew on one side.

Single-engined outboard and especially outdrive boats also have a different issue, the range of trim fore and aft is the same but that single prop is also causing a rotational motion as well as driving it forward. This can induce the boat to run with a slight propeller-induced list.

This is evident on some stepped hulls as they tend to run very flat, making the list more pronounced. To alleviate that, some manufacturers fit a single tab on the port side to counter the propeller’s rotational-induced list.

The key to comfortable boating is learning how your vessel responds to differing loads, sea and wind conditions and using the controls available to match that perfectly balanced boat its designer drew.

Photo: Richard Langdon

Trim tab down – The hydraulic ram on this traditional style trim tab is fully extended, deflecting the water down as it passes under it. This creates pressure or lift on the transom, forcing the bow down.

Photo: Richard Langdon

Trim tab up – This tab is fully up with the ram retracted. Now it’s not producing any lift, so the stern sits lower, keeping the bow high. Always leave tabs up and outdrive legs down after use to stop the rams getting fouled.

Photo: Richard Langdon

Single tab – This stepped hull boat runs very flat at speed. Trimming the outdrive leg in and out resolves any fore and aft trim, while a single tab on the port side offsets the torque of the engine prop.

Photo: Richard Langdon

Trimmed too high – The stern is digging in and we can see a large area of bow unsupported. Dragging the stern increases fuel burn, making it slower to get on the plane and less stable in turns.

Photo: Richard Langdon

Trimmed too low – Too much tab down is causing the bow to dig in and create a spray. This is inefficient and makes it harder to hold a straight course. However, it can be useful to prevent slamming when rough.

Photo: Richard Langdon

Trimmed just right – The bow is nicely clear of the water but without the stern being dug in too far. This is good for fuel efficiency and perfect for downwind or any direction on a pleasant day.

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

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This article How to master your boat’s trim for a smoother ride appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

When I was a child, I was enthralled with the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. Those TV adventures took me far away from suburban life into a world full of adventure. I loved Cousteau’s freedom to escape on his famous expedition ship, Calypso, and when I grew up, my love of the sea remained strong.

I did an RYA competent crew course and sailing holidays in Greece. At first, work and family made boat ownership impossible, but when I turned 50, the urge couldn’t be denied…

Before the Schaefer V44: The boating CV

My first boat was a Sessa Key Largo 30, with two 250hp Yamaha outboards and wonderful seakeeping. It proved to be safe, fast and immense fun, but provided only limited sun protection. So in 2015, as my family grew in size, I traded up for a seven-year-old Sessa C52, Vamos II.

The Sessa Key Largo 30 made a great first boat

This was a handsome sportscruiser with large, D12 800hp Volvo diesels and three cabins. She had been unloved, with only 122 hours of use from her previous owner. Though the upholstery and paint were pretty awful, the boat was structurally sound and, after some cosmetic work, Vamos II proved a dependable boat that carried our family to some wonderful areas around Denia and the Balearics.

However, after 15 years, she was starting to develop recurring and increasingly expensive problems, including a leaking fuel tank.

Throughout this time, Vamos II was maintained by Amanda and Paul Osbourne at A&P Marine in Denia. Paul suggested that once the current crop of issues had been addressed, it might be time to consider selling up and looking for something simpler. This was all the more relevant as I was now approaching retirement and not as nimble as I once was! And so earlier this year, my wife and I went to the Düsseldorf boat show to look for a potential successor.

The new boat search

In our search for a 40ft boat capable of reaching the islands, we found ourselves looking at a number of centre console boats. We investigated several models, including the excellent Fjord 41 XL and the Pardo. At that stage, my intention was to look for a good used model of about 2-3 years old. But then
I climbed aboard the Schaefer V44.

The Sessa C52 was a fine Balearics cruiser

I was only familiar with this brand from the odd advert in MBY, but I was immediately struck by the practical design, the impressive helm station and the quality of finish. In addition to this, the boat had a huge roof, providing real sun protection, plus an excellent social space that was made even larger by a pair of drop-down terraces.

I had been pretty clear that we needed a hi-lo platform with diesel inboards, preferably on shafts, and this boat had no rear platform and three enormous Mercury V10 400hp Verardo outboards? But two critical factors now came into play.

Firstly, my wife had left me alone at the show. And secondly, I had reached that moment when you know you’ve found the boat you want – the boat you really, really want. Yes, it blew the budget and deviated from the brief but somehow, it remained perfect…

Article continues below…

Pardo Endurance 72 review: A £5M Masterpiece

Schaefer V44 first look: Next-level luxury

Refining the plan

Over the next two months, I read as much as I could about Schaefer and the Schaefer V44, and was impressed by the online reviews, including the one from MBY’s own Alex Smith. That said, there were several obstacles ahead, including selling Vamos II and working out the finances.

Thankfully, A&P found a buyer quite quickly but I still had to see the Schaefer again so I contacted the Spanish agent, Tot Nautic in Mallorca, and arranged to see the Düsseldorf model that was housed by Schaefer EU in Belgium. Anton Boone, the owner of Schaefer EU and the agent for Northern Europe and France, showed me and my son around the boat and that helped confirm how many desirable qualities it had in terms of design and finish.

The all-important Vetus bow thruster is installed

Jeremy Hurney at Tot Nautic worked hard to make the figures work, but the brand was a novelty in Europe and the question of support was ever present. From the start, Jeremy and Jimmy Schwartz, the owner of Tot Nautic, went out of their way to ensure that back-up would be rapidly accessed.

But the key event was a drop in the US$ in late March, and the idea that Schaefer would have to ship the boat back to Brazil at significant expense. This led Jeremy to get the deal over the line and in April, I became the owner of a beautiful new V44, called Fox.

The Schaefer V44’s delivery day

She arrived in Denia in early June and, while she was very well equipped, she didn’t have a bow thruster, so A&P started by managing the installation of a Vetus unit that would integrate with the joystick system.

At €15,000, it was expensive but it immediately made mooring bow-to in a breeze much easier. I also ordered six sets of Phender Pro fender clips, which have made attaching fenders quicker and easier.

Zorro gets the “Flaming Orange” paint job it deserves

Another cool bit of kit we installed was a Scanstrut Atmos – a built-in air pump that allows rapid inflating and deflating of your toys and tender. As for the style, Fox was finished in white gelcoat, with an anthracite roof and dark orange boot stripe but I wanted something more interesting.

I eventually settled on Flaming Orange, which my friends deemed “bold” but which I thought fitted the spirit of the boat. And so finally, the job was complete. Fox became Zorro (Spanish for Fox), and plans were made for handover at the end of July!

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

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This article Buying the Europe's first Schaefer V44: 'I had reached that moment when you find the boat you want – the boat you really, really want...' appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

When I was a small boy, my grandfather explained to me that, as you get older, so time speeds up and the years become shorter. He explained why – it’s because when you are five years old, a year is 20% of your life, but when you’re 50 it’s only two percent. And, as with most things, he has been proven absolutely correct.

When you’re five, something happening the following year is so far over the horizon that it doesn’t merit a single thought. When you’re 50, you’re eyeing up a five-year extended warranty and wondering whether it’s enough.

However, the thing that’s never been explained is the elasticity across 12 months – why summers seem to flash past and the September boat shows are taking place again, but the winter seems to take a millennium – two millennia if you’re a boater. That’s why we always find ourselves perusing all-weather boats at this time of year. So we’ve scoured the market to bring you these four highly flexible vessels…

Hardy Mariner 25

Built: 2001 Price: £39,950

Hardy is far from alone in this (see Sunseeker, Fairline and Princess for full details), but if you want to see how the boating landscape has changed in the last 50 years, compare the current line up with what a builder was making in the 1970s and 1980s. Today the Hardy range starts at 45ft and extends to 65ft – a far cry from the 18 Navigators, 20 Pilots, 22 Fishing Pilots and 24 Fast Fishers of the past.

You can’t blame them. It’s simply where the market seems to have gone, with mass-produced Merry Fishers now filling in the blanks at the bottom end. But in amongst those smaller models, the Hardy Mariner 26, was a fine looking compact motorboat.

With the most popular Yanmar 230hp diesel on a straight shaft, this is a 20+ knot boat

Interior

The 25 was made before yards started designing boats from the inside out, so the interior is fairly compact, but very practical and extremely solid. There’s a converting dinette forward with the galley behind it and a heads opposite. There’s also a quarter berth that runs aft of the galley to starboard, giving a third berth or very useful extra storage. The wheelhouse is also compact but very adaptable. A sliding roof and opening rear doors allow the two occupants as much fresh air as they’d like, or you can close it up and crank up the diesel heating on colder days.

Exterior

The traditional deep blue hull band and rope fendering are present and correct, however this boat is just a little sleeker and more modern than the traditional Hardy boats of this era. Again, majoring on practicality, the side decks are wide and deeply bulwarked and the cockpit is deep and feels secure.

Performance

A 170hp Yanmar diesel was available but unless the boat was to be based inland, most buyers opted for the larger 230hp Yanmar fitted to this boat. That brings you 20+ knots and a comfortable 16-knot cruise.

It’s compact and practical rather than spacious or plush but you still get three berths

Seakeeping

Although it uses a semi-displacement hull with a long shallow keel, the Mariner 26 will get up and go. Straight shaft drive keeps the mechanicals simple and a bow thruster helps with the deficit in manoeuvrability that is inevitable with this set up.

Hardy Mariner 25 specifications

Length: 25ft 0in (7.6m)
Beam: 9ft 7in (2.9m)
Draft: 2ft 0in (0.6m)
Displacement: 4 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 219 litres
Engine: Yanmar 4LM-STE 230hp diesel engine
For Sale: Parkstone Bay Yachts

Botnia Targa 30.1

Built: 2023 Price: £275,000

Launched in 2016, the 30.1 is often regarded as the first of the bigger Targas in a fleet that stretches from 23ft to 46ft. That’s because it’s the smallest model that is most commonly specced with twin engines and the smallest with a cabin at each end.

With its sheltered wheelhouse, it’s more a four-season commuter than an outright cruiser

Interior

Referred to in Finland as a ‘fast commuter’, it’s a boat designed to get you from point to point at high speed in all weathers. Because of that, the combined wheelhouse and saloon in the centre of the boat is clearly the focal point.

It’s accessed by sliding doors on both sides and if you enter via the starboard one, you’ll find yourself at a simple and well laid-out helm that features the clever trick of being able to adjust easily to a seated or standing position by dint of a rotating section that includes the wheel and throttles.

The tiny galley on the starboard side does, however, underpin the commuter vibe of this boat. This isn’t a model that majors on cruising, but the forward vee berths and double and single berths in a separate aft cabin mean you could spend a comfortable few days on board.

Exterior

Thanks to its walkaround design, this boat makes moving around exceptionally easy. And while the main outdoor living space is the bow cockpit, most Targa 30.1s also got a small flybridge built into the trailing edge of the saloon roof. That said, the sleeker flat-topped roof that you see here was also available.

Performance

Initially, twin Volvo Penta D4 diesel engines or a single D6 were the options, but with the rise in popularity of outboard engines, Targa started offering these in 2023. Twin Mercury Verado 300hp outboards give near-silent low-speed running combined with over 40 knots at the top end.

A rotating barrel puts the wheel and throttle exactly where you want them

Seakeeping

Seakeeping is what these boats are all about, the deep-vee planing hull slicing through big seas, leaving curtains of water hanging in the air on either side as it blasts through.

Botnia Targa 30.1 specifications

Length: 33ft 1in (10.1m)
Beam: 10ft 7in (3.3m)
Draft: 3ft 6in (1.1m)
Displacement: 6 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 600 litres
Engines: Twin Mercury Verado 300hp outboard engines
For Sale: Wessex Marine

Seaward 35

Built: 2011 Price: £199,950

When we think of all-weather boats, we think of internal helms and central heating. But it’s not just colder in winter, it’s often windier and rougher. And when year-round commercial operators like pilots, harbour patrols and customs officers choose their boats, most of them go for Nelson semi-displacement hulls. So when Seaward was formed in 1980 in Guernsey, where seakeeping is particularly important, it based its models squarely on Nelson hulls.

Damped seats and solid oak joinery feel almost as purposeful as the Nelson-derived hull

Interior

You’ll have noticed how boats are getting higher and fatter to gain more internal volume. That’s not an option with a Nelson hull. It is what it is and you build whatever you can fit inside it. Which is why this boat feels a little tighter than a typical modern 35-footer.

Fitted out in beautifully solid oak joinery, the deck saloon is dominated by a pair of KAB suspension seats, one at the helm and one adjacent, and there’s a couple of settees behind them, next to a drop-leaf table. Head down to the lower deck and there’s a dinette opposite the galley and a vee berth in the forward cabin.

Exterior

This is a highly professional-looking machine with its low-profile, dark blue hull and porthole-style windows. And that impression continues when you get up close and spot the thick D-section black fendering, the Treadmaster non-slip decking and the pilot rail that encircles the deck saloon and coachroof. It gives you a sturdy waist-high inner rail, whenever you step outside of the deep and well protected cockpit.

Performance

Twin Yanmar 6LPA-STP2 diesels live beneath the saloon floor, keeping the centre of gravity forward and firing 315hp apiece down straight shaft drives. Top speed is 25 knots, with a cruising speed of around 20.

There’s a dinette opposite the lower galley, plus a vee berth in the forward cabin

Seakeeping

That Nelson hull is an absolute thoroughbred. There’s a reason why these boats have names like Bruiser and Buster, and it’s all about serious deep-sea wave-busting offshore performance. There are faster boats, but not many of them will maintain their speed like this one when conditions really deteriorate.

Seaward 35 specifications

Length: 37ft 0in (11.3m)
Beam: 11ft 3in (3.4m)
Draft: 3ft 10in (1.2m)
Displacement: 10 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 1,268 litres
Engines: Twin Yanmar 6LPA-STP2 315hp diesel engines
For Sale: Berthon International

Nord Star 28+

Built: 2023 Price: £239,995

BMW, Mercedes and Audi are so focussed on a similar market that no one buys one or the other without checking out all three manufacturers first. And in the boating world, it’s the same with Targa, Sargo and Nord Star. All Finnish built, all high performance walkaround commuters and all aimed at the same buyers.

However just like the cars, while in broad brush strokes, they’re all very similar, up close, they’re all aimed at slightly different buyers. The BMW is for the enthusiast, Mercedes is for those prioritising comfort, and the Audi is aimed squarely at people who want to drive 3ft behind any car that is in the way!

Access to the second cabin is found beneath the portside of the aft dinette

Interior

In the boating Finnish walkaround triumvirate, Nord Star is subtly configured to appeal to those wanting to spend a little more time on board – less the commuter, more the cruiser, and you only have to look at the galley to see the difference. On the Targa 30.1 it’s tucked in the corner of the wheelhouse; on the 28+, it’s a proper dedicated area on the lower deck. There’s a forward cabin with a convertible vee berth ahead of it and a heads opposite. The wheelhouse has two very comfortable captain’s chairs and a U-shaped seating area complete with a table that slides down a pole, but what’s not obvious is that if you lift the portside corner of it, you’ll find steps down to a second double cabin.

Exterior

Of course, as ever with boats, there’s a compromise, and the 28+ misses out on the forward cockpit of some of its competitors. There’s also a single step up on the side decks as you head forward. But the aft cockpit has more seating than some, and breaks in the rails either side of the sliding side doors make close-quarters handling easy.

Performance

A single Volvo Penta D6 340 gives about 34 knots with economical running. There’s a twin outboard option now with 47-knot potential – it’s not quite as economical however!

A dedicated lower galley suggests the Nord Star is designed as a family cruiser

Seakeeping

Like all Finnish commuter-style boats, the 28+ is designed to get there fast and in comfort, whatever the conditions.

Nord Star 28+ specifications

Length: 31ft 2in (9.5m)
Beam: 10ft 2in (3.1m)
Draft: 3ft 7in (1.1m)
Displacement: 5 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 585 litres
Engine: Volvo Penta D6-340 340hp diesel engines
For Sale: MCC Marine

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

This article 4 of the best all-weather motor boats on the market right now appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

In the 1990s, Audi built perfectly pleasant but fairly nondescript German saloon cars and hatchbacks. In 1995 the company showed a mad concept sportscar that looked like a cross between a turtle and a bar of soap.

It’s lovely, everyone said, but obviously it will never enter production. Then in 1998, it entered production almost unchanged as the TT, confounding everyone because it was just so completely alien to anything the marque had done before.

It was a similarly left-field move when Sunseeker launched the XS2000 the following year – it was just so un-Sunseeker! Yes, the company had previously developed high-performance boats with powerboat racer, Don Shead, but those were the fast, elegant weekenders of the Hawk range – the 27 Hawk, 29 Mohawk, 37 Tomahawk and 43 Thunderhawk. Yes they were low, sleek and highly capable, but they were recognisably Sunseeker.

With up to 1,100hp on tap and input from Italian designer, Fabio Buzzi, the XS2000 was a race boat in disguise

The XS2000 was developed by Italian powerboat racer and designer, Fabio Buzzi. If you’d put this boat into the London Boat Show without badges and asked people
to guess who’d built it, it’s extremely unlikely that anyone would have opted for Sunseeker. This wasn’t a fast weekender. It was a barely civilised out-and-out race boat!

Yes, it did technically have overnighting accommodation but you couldn’t reach it from the cockpit. You had to access it from a hatch on the foredeck so forget going down there while underway.

Sunseeker did modify Buzzi’s original cockpit layout of four stand-up racing bolsters, retaining the front two but incorporating a bench seat aft and adding a sunpad over the engine hatch. But this was basically a production racing boat in disguise, and it really wasn’t a very convincing disguise.

An absurdly narrow beam and fewer seats than a 20ft bow rider left you in no doubt about its purpose

Constructed of hand-laid FRP Kevlar/balsa/e-sandwich, the hull had two steps to reduce drag and a squared-off spoonbill bow designed to create lift in the event of stuffing it into a wave at high speed.

There was a bathing platform back aft, but it was mostly there to support the twin Trimax racing drives and rudders and to protect the Rolla five-bladed propellers that were spun via two-speed gearboxes by either twin 420hp Yanmar diesel engines or a pair of 550hp Mercruiser petrols.

Bizarrely, there was also a twin 350hp option, in case anyone wanted a slightly slower high-performance race boat. But when we sea trialled this absolute weapon of a machine, we achieved about 65 knots on test with the bigger diesel engines.

Even then, Sunseeker was convinced that there was another 5 knots to go with a little bit of fine tuning. But it was an utterly bonkers and ultra-cool boat back in the 90s, and it’s become even more so with the benefit of hindsight.

Article continues below…

Sunseeker Superhawk 55 yacht tour: The coolest new Sunseeker of the decade

World’s Coolest Boats: Fairline F//Line 33 – Its Hull Is up There With the Best We’ve Tested

Sunseeker XS2000 Specifications:

Year: 1999
LOA: 39ft 4in (12.0m)
Beam: 7ft 7in (2.3m)
Power: Twin Yanmar 430hp diesel engines
Speed: 70 knots est
Price when new: From £175,000

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

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Putting a step into the hull of a boat is not a new idea, versions of it have been around for more than 100 years. Done well it can deliver the holy grail of greater speed and better fuel economy. It works by introducing air under the hull that acts as a lubricant between the boat and the water.

Some stepped hulls use deck-mounted scoops and ducting to funnel air into the hull steps, whilst others simply extend the steps out through the chines so they can suck air in from the side.

Traditionally, a single step was employed but these days two-, three- and even four-step hulls are increasingly common.

The desire for greater fuel efficiency is driving the latest trend, with everyone from princess to Axopar and Saxdor now adopting them.

Other benefits, aside from looking cool, is that stepped hulls tend to ride softer and flatter than a conventional unstepped hull. But good ideas often have a down side and stepped hulls can become unpredictable when turning at speed.

In the worst-case scenario they can even spin out during a sharp turn – often referred to as hooking – when the bow digs in and the stern swings violently round it.

This tendency can be exacerbated by trimming the bow down too far or by slowing down too quickly mid turn, especially if you’ve also got the drive trimmed out to increase running efficiency.

Both these actions cause the stern to lift, to the point at which it can lose grip and slide sideways across the surface.

Article continues below…

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Stepped hulls are more prone to this because the steps break the contact with the water and allow the hull to ride on two or three small planing pads rather than one longer continuous one.

The safest option in most boats, but especially stepped hulls, is to avoid turning too tightly, be careful not to slow down dramatically, just before or during a turn, and to maintain a balanced throttle throughout, so the boat’s speed and angle of attack don’t change.

Every turn slows the boat to some degree, as the lean immerses more hull and causes more drag, so by using a bit more throttle through the turn helps counteract this and reduces the chance of dropping the bow and causing it to catch.

Good design helps as well. The Cormate Utility 23 we used to illustrate this article, for instance, has a ventilated Monostep in the centre of the hull. The vertical edges of this step add extra bite on the water that help prevent any stern slip. This section of the transom is also brought further forward and raised, allowing the engine to be mounted higher for extra enhanced efficiency.

At sea this translated to rapid acceleration with minimal bow lift needing almost no fore and aft trim on the outdrive leg once planing, as the efficiency was already designed in.

The very flat angle of attack meant that the step was able to introduce plenty of air under the hull, giving a really well controlled and cushioned ride. I could not get the stern to slide, let alone hook, even by adding excessive trim and pushing it irresponsibly hard through turns. Clever stuff.

Photo: Richard Langdon

First step

This first step cuts in a straight line right across the beam to the chines, and draws air in from the side.

Some boats have a scoop on the foredeck sending air down a tube to the middle of the step.

Photo: Richard Langdon

Second step

The second ‘monostep’ also draws in air from the side but the middle section extends further aft than the first one to increase the boat’s grip and stability.

Photo: Richard Langdon

Third step

This photo shows the third step and central tunnel.

Note the vertical hard edges on the outside of the central moulding and the inside of the tunnel, giving much greater lateral adhesion in turns.

Photo: Richard Langdon

Running angle

At speed the Cormate runs very flat and takes a bit of getting used to.

There is no hump speed as you accelerate and it pops onto the plane without any drama.

Photo: Richard Langdon

Turning

When turning, that same flat angle of attack is apparent and even with excessive use of the trim tabs and throttle i could not get the hull to unstick or slide out (hook).

Photo: Richard Langdon

Flat wake

Another characteristic of a stepped hull is a very flat wake, as the reduced wetted surface area causes less disturbance and allows the propeller to run horizontal to the sea surface.

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This article How to drive a motor boat with a stepped hull appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

I’ve always loved boats, both sail and power, and have been lucky enough to own a number of different ones over the years. I sold my last motor boat, a Palm Beach GT60, a couple of years ago.

It was a beautiful boat that my wife and I cruised extensively in the US and the UK, but someone made me a good offer for it, and I decided to accept it while I pondered over what our next purchase might be.

In the meantime, I went in search of something smaller we could use locally in the Solent.

A full respray helped restore this 1997 Hinckley Picnic to as-new condition

We used to have a RIB for this and while it was fast and seaworthy, we often ended up getting cold and wet on the way home, so I wanted something that would give us a bit more protection. It still needed to be a good sea boat with a decent turn of speed and enough space to host family and friends during the day but also small enough for me to handle on my own. And as with all my boats, it had to be pretty to look at and properly built. Not much to ask, then!

As luck would have it, a fellow member of the Royal Yacht Squadron was selling a Hinckley Picnic Boat. It was a 1997 model called Picnic that wasn’t in great condition but ticked all the boxes. It had a good pedigree from a well regarded US boat builder, a proven hull design, timeless good looks and a layout that suited our needs.

Owner Stuart is delighted with the finished result

The hardtop provided a good level of protection for the helm and co-pilot, but there was still a big open aft cockpit for day guests. It even had a small cabin and heads compartment so my wife Emma and I could stay onboard for a night or two at a time.

As with all Hinckley Picnic Boats, it had a waterjet drive, which I wasn’t too sure about, but I reckoned I could live with it given the advantages it offered in terms of speed, manoeuvrability and draft.

The bowsprit was custom made from teak to hold the anchor clear of the stem

A Lucky find: Spotting the Hinckley Picnic Boat

It was being sold through the UK Hinckley centre, Vortec Marine, and because of its age and condition the asking price was below £100,000. I knew it would need some work doing to it, but it was safe to use and everything was running ok. I made an offer, and before long, Picnic was mine.

I decided to run it for the rest of the season before having any work done. As well as making the most of the summer months, it would enable me to get to know the boat better and figure out what needed doing. I did, however, take the precaution of signing up to Sea Start, just in case!

The new Yanmar 440hp is lowered into the engine bay

For the most part it performed as expected but as well as looking rather tired inside and out, there were a number of things that I wanted to get sorted.

The antifouling needed stripping off and redoing; all the varnishing was shot; the headlining was sagging; there were hairline cracks in the gelcoat; the helm and co-pilot seats were a bit ropey; and the only way of dropping anchor / anchor types was physically heaving it out of the locker and chucking it overboard. I was also concerned about the long-term reliability of the drivetrain.

If my wife and young adult children were ever going to have the confidence to take it out on their own, both they and I needed to know it would look after them. I asked Vortec to draw up a full schedule of works, including a new engine and waterjet. There didn’t seem much point in going to all the effort and expense of a refit and still being stuck with a near 30-year-old engine.

The new waterjet required a completely different transom mount

Richard Burlingham at Vortec had a good look at the boat and came back with his recommendations. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite as simple as we’d hoped; the hairline cracks in the topsides had actually penetrated through to the fibreglass beneath so the whole lot needed to be taken back and rebuilt before it could be repainted.

There were also signs of rot in some of the structural bulkheads due to water ingress in the bilges. And while the new 440hp Yanmar 6RY engine should be a relatively simple swap for the old one, replacing the waterjet was another story. Hamilton no longer made that model and the new one had a completely different transom and intake mount.

Needless to say, it all added to the expense but at this point half-measures weren’t really an option. I gave him the go-ahead and in October 2023 Picnic was lifted out for the work to be done over winter.

The topside gelcoat was ground back to the fibreglass matting

Sorting the topsides out went pretty much to plan. A gelplane was used to grind back the gelcoat, a thin layer of Biaxial cloth was then laminated to the existing fibreglass with epoxy resin to reinforce it before it was built back up again with three layers of Awlfair fairing and boarded back to leave a perfectly smooth surface.

A final layer of epoxy sealed it all in before being repainted in the same light grey Awlcraft colour I’ve had on all my boats. I think it adds a more modern look to the classic Hinckley lines and helps it stand out from all the other dark blue Picnic Boats out there.

A new layer of biaxial cloth was epoxied on as an extra protective layer

Out with the old

The damp bulkheads proved rather more problematic. It appears that a drainage duct in the bottom of the bilges had split, allowing water to seep into the unsealed bulkhead holes which had then tracked up to the deck itself.

All these damp areas had to be cut out and a new drainage pipe bonded into place before the deck and bulkheads could be rebuilt. They also fitted new carbon stiffeners to the boat hull and laminated over the new conduit to ensure it wouldn’t leak in future.

After applying the biaxial cloth, it was then filled and fared to leave a totally smooth painting surfaces

The only good news was that because we were also removing the engine, waterjet and tanks, the Vortec team had full access to all areas of the bilges. With everything out, the whole bilge area could be thoroughly cleaned, sanded and recoated with a resin gel wash to leave a completely clean surface.

Before that could happen, the transom had to be adapted to take the new waterjet. While the old jet had a round mounting plate, the new one was square and considerably larger. To accommodate this the transom had to be rebuilt with a special recess for the new mounting plates. As waterjets can go from full ahead to full astern without any gear box change, this also meant calling in a structural engineer to ensure it was strong enough to take the sudden change of loading.

The entire transom had to be rebuilt with a specially shaped recess to accept the new drive

The water inlet underneath the hull was a bit simpler but still had to be remade in a different shape and size to accept the new mounting plates. It’s not something you want to get wrong when you’re cutting a big hole in the bottom of your boat! Inevitably the new engine also needed slightly different mounting beds so these had to be rebuilt as well, not to mention a new coupling and shaft to connect it up to the waterjet.

Much like a shaft- drive boat, this all had to be carefully aligned to ensure it was at exactly the high water and angle. New fuel and black-water waste tank were also fitted before the engine was installed to avoid any chance of them having to come out again.

Soggy bulkheads had to be removed

The final piece of the re-engining jigsaw was fitting new helm controls. We’d intended to replace the original Hinckley jet-stick like for like but there was a six-month lead time before a new one could be delivered. Vortec suggested using a Glendinning system instead, which was not only easier to get hold of but roughly half the cost.

Full fly-by-wire throttle, steering and joystick controls now gives us fingertip control for both docking and cruising. Working out how to fit a satisfactory remote anchor mechanism was another mission. The Picnic’s upright stem means that a simple bow roller would risk the anchor flukes scratching the topsides every time it was deployed.

The refitters had to chock up the deck while a new water conduit was fitted

The only way to avoid this was by fitting a bowsprit that projected out far enough in front of the stem for the anchor to drop well clear of it. In the end, Vortec designed and made up a bespoke teak and stainless steel bowsprit with a matching Lewmar Delta anchor and windlass.

This did involve adding a new bulkhead and access hatch at the forward end of the cabin but the end result looks very neat and is so much safer and easier than dropping and retrieving it by hand. With the engineering now complete, the team could move onto the cockpit and interior changes.

The bowsprit starts to take shape in Vortec’s wood shop

This was largely a refresh rather than a full refit, the one exception being the helm and navigator’s seats. The original layout had a basic pedestal helm seat on either side of the companionway. I decided to replace this with a more supportive electric Stidd helm seat to starboard and a back-to-back co-pilot seat to port. This would give us an extra aft-facing seat under the cover of the hardtop and create a more sociable layout in the cockpit.

Once secure, new bulkheads and engine beds were installed

We also fitted Flexiteek decking throughout the cockpit and on the bathing platform, partly for aesthetic reasons but also because it’s softer and non-slip under foot than the previous moulded GRP.

While we were at it I asked for an extra grabhandle and transom shower to make climbing out and rinsing down after a swim easier.

A revitalised Picnic should be good for another 20 years of use by Stuart and his family

Inside job

All the varnished exterior woodwork including the window frames, capping rails, cockpit table and companionway doors were sanded back to bare wood and 10 new coats of Awlwood applied. Vortec originally allowed 180 hours for this but it ended up taking 425, which thankfully they didn’t bill for!

All the fittings were sanded back to bare wood and coated with multiple layers of varnish

The coachroof also had to be ground back, reinforced and repainted to repair some localised cracks and delamination. The final part of the equation was updating the interior fit-out. The sagging headlining was replaced with fresh vinyl and all the lighting inside and out was changed to LEDs.

The galley worktop was machined to accept the existing fridge and hob

A new Tecma toilet was fitted in the heads along with new taps both here and in the galley. The old galley’s worksurface was also removed and a new Corian one fitted with cut-outs for the two ring hob, sink and best boat fridge. Lastly, the teak and holly floor was replaced.

I always knew it was going to be a bit of a mission to get the job done on time and on budget, and needless to say, costs did creep up, largely because of unseen complications that only became apparent once the engine and waterjet were removed.

Modern Corian worktop and taps add a new lease of life to the original galley

The total refit ended up costing around £350,000 but it has totally transformed our enjoyment of the boat. My wife is now comfortable taking it out on her own, it’s a simpler and easier boat to helm and a safer one too thanks to the new anchoring mechanism.

It’s also a more comfortable boat to spend time on thanks to the new helm seat, heads and cockpit changes. I’m not sure it will have added that much to the secondhand value of the boat but that was never the intention.

New fly-by-wire Glendinning throttle and joystick replace the original Hinckley items

What it has done is given us a craft that is now perfectly suited to our needs with all the style, quality and reliability of a brand new Hinckley Picnic for a fraction of the cost. We have taken it across the English Channel to Guernsey, cruised it up the Thames to Henley and back and are now planning to head off to the West Country for a week or two.

Measuring the shaft alignment between the engine and the waterjet

Giving it a new lease of life means it’ll be good for another 20 years and when we do decide to sell it, its timeless design means there will always be a ready buyer for it.

New Stidd captain’s chair and a back-to-back navigator’s seat add comfort and versatility

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

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This article Saving a Beloved Hinckley Picnic Boat With a £350K Refit appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

It’s one of those immutable rules of the marine world that car manufacturers cannot build boats. Many have tried and they have been largely terrible. Mercedes came up with something very pointy a few years ago but forgot to add basic boaty stuff like side decks or any outside seating, bar the helm and navigator’s seats.

At least it had those – BMW’s Designworks recently put something out that looked like it had been designed by someone who had never even seen a boat. Or water. It was a sort of big glass-sided floating lounge. Lexus made a pretty good fist of collaborating with American boatbuilder Marquis Yachts to create the LY650 flybridge.

To be fair, this was actually a pretty decent-looking craft, but I don’t imagine anyone at Sea Ray lost too much sleep over it, let alone at Princess or Sunseeker.

But of course there has to be an exception to prove the rule, and Ferrari provided it back in the 1980s. Collaborating with, and built by, Riva, the boat was simply called the Riva Ferrari 32. Hardly surprisingly, given its parentage, it was fantastically cool.

Carbon-fibre wing and two iconic badges guarantee entry to the most exclusive of marinas

Finished in bright red (a few were yellow), it came with a black carbon-fibre central wing suspended on two narrow forward sloping spars that looked like it had been pinched from one of its F1 cars. On the side were strakes like a Ferrari Testarossa and it was long, low and sleek, just like a real Ferrari.

On board the layout was pure muscle boat, a cuddy cabin that could sleep two (finished appropriately in gloss black with bright red upholstery), then outside there was a helm and navigator seat with a bench seat behind and a sunpad over the engine space behind that.

Naturally, it had the go to match the show. Two 390hp BPM Vulcano V8 petrol engines linked to race-style surface drives with Rolla propellers gave triple figure performance. Admittedly, the marketing team achieved such lofty heights by quoting kph (100kph, to be exact), a highly respectable 53 knots.

And yes, of course there are faster boats and roomier boats and bigger boats and more practical boats. But really, could there be anything cooler in the entire world than rocking up in Port Hercule, Monaco, in one of only 40 Riva Ferraris ever built? I think not.

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Riva Ferrari 32 Specifications:

Year: 1989
LOA: 32ft 6in (9.92m)
Beam: 8ft 6in (2.65m)
Power: Twin 390hp BPM Vulcano V8 petrol engines
Speed: 55 knots
Price when new: $400,000

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

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This article World's coolest boats: Riva Ferrari 32 - A marriage made in heaven appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

A safety line or tether is one of those items you often see in the chandlers but rarely on a motor boat.

Sailors use them a lot, clipping on when it’s windy or at night when the consequences of falling overboard are that much more serious.

However, a recent Man overboard (MOB) training session with a life-sized dummy highlighted to me just how useful they can be on a motor boat as well.

Not only was the dummy very heavy but it was also unable to assist in any way – just like an unconscious MOB.

This really highlighted how hard it was to lift the MOB back onto the boat using my one free hand – my other hand was busy hanging onto the boat. Being safely attached to the boat with a lifeline allowed me to use both hands to help the MOB.

I could also use it to attach the MOB to the boat while I worked out how to lift them. For the exercise, I was using a standard tether with a clip at both ends.

These come in various lengths but you can also get elasticated ones with one, two or even three clips.

This enables you to attach one of the extra clips to the next point on the boat before removing the previous one so you’re always tethered when moving around.

That could be useful if, for example, you needed to venture onto the foredeck to sort out a loose anchor on a rough day.

There is always a clip attachment at one end of the tether to attach it to the boat but the person end can be either another clip or a loop that you thread back on itself. This does create an additional problem if you need to un-tether in a hurry.

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This is one of the reasons why I always carry a sharp knife on my person when at sea so I can quickly cut through anything under load.

Try a tether out before buying – check that you can operate the clips one-handed, some are quite heavy and stiff. You also need to consider how to attach the tether to yourself.

One option is to buy a lifeline harness but I prefer to wear a lifejacket that has a designated clip-on point. This can either be a metal ring or a reinforced fabric loop. I prefer the fabric ones as it can’t scratch the boat.

You also need to consider what part of the boat you are going to clip yourself to. Sailing boats often have dedicated safety lines running along the deck but motor boats rarely do. Ideally, look for something inboard that will prevent you falling overboard but do check that it is through-bolted.

Cleats and side deck guardrails won’t stop you falling overboard but will at least keep you attached to the boat.

Choose with care and talk through what you have chosen, and why, with your crew.

Tether options

There are three main styles of tether attachments: a fixed length of rope with a loop at one end and a clip at the other (left); an elasticated cord with a one-handed clip (middle); and a fixed-length strop with an overload strain indicator (right).

Harness options

There are also three types of lifejacket clip point.

No strong point provided so the tether has to be clipped around the straps (top).

Metal D-ring (middle) – this is strong but can damage the boat.

Reinforced fabric loop (bottom) is strong but soft and comfortable to wear.

Tether length

A tether can be shortened by doubling it back on itself.

The clips shown above are designed to be released one-handed but you need fairly strong hands so check you can open it one-handed before buying. one.

Emergency knife

When using a tether, always have a means to cut yourself free.

I carry the yellow knife clipped onto my lifejacket.

Some lifejackets also have a built-in hook knife, like this green one, to cut a tether.

Outboard clip point

Here I have attached myself to the guardrails.

This isn’t ideal as I could still fall overboard but by doubling the line it has reduced the length of the fall so I would be suspended in the air.

Inboard clip point

This inboard deck fitting is a better solution as it’s through-bolted for strength and allows me to use both hands, safe in the knowledge that the tether will prevent me from falling overboard.

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

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This article Why a safety tether is one item every motor boater should carry appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

Regular readers might recall that in 2019 I bought a very cheap 1980s Fairline Corniche 31. It only cost me £31,000 but the wiring was a mess and the interior was very tired and dated. With neither the budget to afford a professional refit nor the expertise to do it myself, I had to learn how to do everything from scratch before getting stuck in.

After watching dozens of ‘how to’ videos and scouring Ebay and DIY shops for cheap alternatives to premium marine equipment, I managed to turn our dark and dingy old classic into a bright, modern, floating home from home for the princely sum of just £10,000.

In the years since then we’ve had some fabulous adventures on board but after a while a number of things started to niggle me. When the conditions were right it was a wonderful boat but in any kind of waves it was really quite uncomfortable and it burnt through fuel at a frightening rate. A single trip to Poole and back from the Solent cost me over £500 – that was 5% of my entire refit budget!

‘I opened up the helm console to discover a bird’s nest of wiring, including one cable too hot to touch’

I also wanted to be more independent so we could stay at anchor for several days at a time.

As well as the cost of berthing in marinas, the whole point of owning a boat is to get away from it all, not just hop from one floating boat park to the next. However nice the boat was, it still felt a bit like we were staying in posh campsites.

The mast was adapted from an old sailing dinghy rig

Renovating a bargain boat: Trawling the Market

I hadn’t really planned on buying a new boat but one day I was driving past Deacons in Southampton when I saw a rather handsome looking trawler yacht for sale. I couldn’t resist popping in for a closer look. It turned out to be something called a Hershine 37.

The broker told me they were built in Taiwan during the 1970s and 1980s largely for the US market, where buyers appreciated their robust build, seakindly manners and spacious interior. However, only a handful of them ever made it to the UK, hence the relatively modest asking price of £70,000 for this 1978 example.

Refitting the saloon

I had a good look round and felt this could be just the thing we were looking for. It had a sturdy displacement hull, a single 200hp Volvo TAMD40 engine, two ensuite cabins separated by a spacious saloon and galley, and plenty of outside space including a sizeable flybridge.

The interior was very traditional with acres of teak-faced ply and forest green leather upholstery that made it feel like a mix between a gentleman’s club and the inside of a tree, but everything seemed in pretty good nick and it ticked a lot of boxes.

The hull had been treated with Coppercoat so I wouldn’t have to antifoul it every year, it could take to the ground so I could keep it on a drying mooring, the single shaftdrive engine would be easy to maintain and cheap to run, and the owner had recently installed an expensive fuel polishing system to guard against fuel bug. In short, it looked like a lot of boat for the money.

Sea Star’s sturdy displacement hull and single engine design make for a slow but very comfortable and efficient cruiser

Before deciding whether to make an offer, I put the Corniche on the market at an asking price of £55,000. It sold the next day for £53,000!

I took my wife, Lauren, to view the Hershine and she gave it her seal of approval. Her only condition was that it mustn’t become another all-consuming refit project. The last thing she wanted was to lose her husband for a further year. I didn’t have any issue with that.

It may have been a bit dark and dated but everything seemed to work and I could live with the decor in exchange for everything else it offered. I put in a cheeky offer of £40,000 and by the end of September 2023 Sea Star was ours.

As it looks now after another DIY transformation on a strict budget of £15,000

Broken Promises

As promised, I did nothing to it for the first six months. Well, almost nothing. I asked a mate of mine to spray-paint a few of the plywood panels in the saloon to brighten things up a bit. And we both agreed that the ensuite bathroom in the aft cabin needed a refresh.

I mean, who puts a hip bath on a boat? It’s far too small to have a relaxing bath in and utterly hopeless for actually washing in. And it had this bizarre sliding basin over the toilet that weighed a tonne and had to be wrestled in and out every time you washed your hands.

The original teak decking came up a treat with a bit of cleaning

I ripped it all out and put in a simple domestic shower unit, a fixed sink, a radiator and a new electric toilet from Force 4. Stick-on vinyl tiles from Amazon, teak grating for the floor and an offcut of kitchen worktop completed the look, all for a shade over £1,100.

I reassured Lauren that was it, and set about making the most of our new boat for the summer of 2024. The first few day trips were a great success but the first night we slept on board didn’t go so well. The double bed in the aft cabin was tiny and half of it was tucked under the side deck with so little headroom that I nearly knocked myself out getting out of bed in the night for a pee. We ended up topping and tailing just to get some sleep.

Work begins on the forward heads, replacing the old manual toilet and heavy sliding sink in favour of a modern electric loo, corner sink and shower

The next day it was raining and we ended up sitting in the saloon trying to watch a movie but the green dinette seats were so firm and the backrests so upright, it was like sitting on a church pew. I told Lauren there and then that I couldn’t keep my promise any longer, I was going to have to redo the interior.

Only this time, it wouldn’t take as long, now that I knew what I was doing. Besides, I was only going to do the aft cabin and the saloon since the galley and forecabin were fine. As a final incentive, I told Lauren I would get it done over the winter so she wouldn’t have to see any of it until I was finished.

Stick-on vinyl tiling, a sliding timbre door for the shelf recess and some well chosen
accessories result in a fresh, modern ensuite

Cabin Rebuild

I started by stripping out the old bed and wardrobe, tearing up the carpet and removing all the panelling. Initially, I looked at buying a ready-made bed but nothing I could find fitted the space so I went to B&Q, bought a load of wood and started laying it out on the floor to see how I could make better use of the space.

Once I’d settled on the shape, I built the frame and ordered a made-to-measure mattress. I also bought an electric ram so I could lift the base at the touch of a button and store all my tools underneath it. Lauren still doesn’t know she’s sleeping on top of my power tools!

For the headboard I found a nice piece of fluted panelling which I cut to fit and installed on the aft bulkhead. The wardrobe took a bit of planning as I wanted to watch television in bed, so I designed a new unit with a false interior panel that left room for a TV on the side facing the bed.

Ross designed and built the aft cabin bed himself with space for his tools under the mattress

The wardrobe door was another challenge as a conventional hinged one would have clashed with the cabin door. In the end I found a roller door online that was originally designed for a motor home. Once I had painted and upholstered the side panels with my usual vinyl and spray glue, I then topped it off with another wood offcut I bought on Facebook Marketplace and some traditional brass fiddle rails. The cost for the aft cabin refit came to £1,288.

The forward cabin is where our daughter Georgia (10) sleeps. The vee berth beds were fine so that was just a case of brightening it up with some fresh paint, retrimming the deckhead and bulkheads with white vinyl, installing a new bedhead and fitting electrical sockets and lights for the grand sum of £260.

The finished aft cabin is much lighter and more comfortable, with room on both sides of the bed and a built-in television

I’d already done an initial refresh of her ensuite in spring 2024 but this time I started all over again, fitting the same electric toilet as ours, a pull-out shower that was originally designed for a bidet, vinyl tiling from Amazon and finding more space behind the toilet for a handy shelf and locker. Total cost £560.

The saloon proved a little trickier. Part of the problem was how to make everything work around the old galley units. In the end, I decided to strip out the galley too – in for a penny, in for a pound! Now I needed inspiration for what to replace it with so I watched countless MBY video tours of modern trawler yachts.

A quick repaint sufficed for their first season afloat

I loved the look of the Beneteau Swift Trawler 34, especially its practical U-shaped galley. I actually joined a Facebook group for Swift Trawler owners so
I could ask questions and seek advice about what they did and didn’t like. One of them even sent me all the measurements of his galley.

I marked them all out on the floor and came to the conclusion it was far too small. I also wanted to use off-the-shelf kitchen cabinets rather than making them all myself and inevitably they were larger than most boat galley units. In the end I contacted a young chippy, sent him the drawings and asked whether he could built it for me.

The forward cabin just needed a light refresh to brighten things up a bit

He took the drawings to Howdens, got them to design it on their software, ordered it all and installed it himself. I found a simple two-ring induction hob for the worktop, bought a sink and combination oven/microwave online and managed to re-use the Dometic fridge from the existing galley. I even fitted a Water2 filter system that I’d seen Bear Grylls advertising on Facebook for £129.

Nobody could tell me whether it would work on a boat but I went ahead anyway and am delighted with it. I would now happily drink straight from the tap. The whole galley ended up costing me just over £6,000 – a little more expensive than if I had made it myself but a lot quicker and far less hassle.

The original helm wiring was a mess

Saloon Style

The sofa was another online find. It took a while to track something down that fitted the corner space but eventually I found a Swiss company called Beliani that made a stylish looking sofa bed for £500. The icing on the cake was a folding centre backrest that turned into a snack table with a built-in bottle holder.

Reupholstered cushions and a smart set of outdoor furniture transform the flybridge

That just left the problem of where to put the television. There was a narrow side unit between the helm and the galley where a small television could sit but it was hardly the home cinema experience I was hoping for. Once again I stumbled across the solution while watching another boat video tour. It showed the television swinging down from a recess in the deckhead.

I made a box with a hinged bottom to fit the television, attached it to the deckhead, wired it all up and now have my own manual version that drops down when we want to watch it and clips out of the way when we don’t.

The uncomfortable sofa and wood panelling

To make the space cosier I decided to swap the original worn parquet flooring for modern grey carpet. However the saloon had multiple hatches in it for access to the engine and bilges. From previous experience, I knew that cutting holes in fitted carpets soon led to frayed edges.

Carpet tiles were the obvious solution but finding ones which didn’t look like they belonged in an office block took a while. Eventually I tracked down something called Cosy Toes carpet tiles from DCTUK.com. These had a lovely deep pile but were still stain-safe and hard wearing. I bought 68 of them and cut them to fit so the fitted edges lined up with the hatch openings.

The finished saloon has a modern fitted kitchen from Howdens and a clever convertible sofabed

The blinds were all made to measure and ordered online from Blindstogo.co.uk, except for the two rear ones which are mounted on a slanting bulkhead. Thankfully, I found a guy on Ebay selling caravan blinds with encapsulated cassette-style frames. The standard ones were too big but I asked if he could make some to fit and sure enough when he contacted his supplier in Turkey, they made them to measure for just £80 each.

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Engine, Electrics, Exterior

As the depth sounder on Sea Star wasn’t working properly, I opened up the helm console only to discover a bird’s nest of wiring, including one cable that was too hot to touch. Safety being my top priority, I ripped the whole lot out and started again with one big power cable leading to each helm.

New digital fuel gauges and programmable Veriton dials for the flybridge helm gave me all the information I needed to drive the boat from inside or out.

A mate of mine works for Raymarine and managed to get me an Axiom 12 and Axiom 7 MFD at trade rates as well as a new autopilot control, radar and VHF. I also kept the old Garmin chartplotter as a back-up and added a new sound system using Fusion speakers and a cheap Chinese copy of the head unit.

Ross overhauled the Volvo Penta TAMD40 engine and repositioned
the fuel filters

I bought a set of garden furniture from the Range for the flybridge aft deck and a new removable teak table for £400.

I also reupholstered the cushions for the fixed furniture myself and fitted a small Dometic fridge in the locker where the gas bottle used to be. I did splash out on a new bimini and frame, though, which at £1,200 was one of my more expensive buys.

The mast for the steadying sail, steaming light and radar scanner was another headache. The original one had been removed and sawn up by mistake before I bought it and when the quote for making a new one came in at £8,000, I nearly fainted.

Ross’s home-made drop down television cabinet

After a bit of scratching around I found an old aluminium dinghy mast going for free, cut it down to size, fitted new spreaders and stays and asked my brother-in-law to make up a stainless steel footing. The total cost came to £235.

I do all my own servicing anyway so I gave the engine a once over and fitted new glow plugs, alternator and water pump. I also added a camera in the engine bay and repositioned the fuel filters so they were easier to clean without crawling into the bilges. My final job of the refit was to clean the decks using a two part Wessex treatment and a lick of Semco teak sealer.

The sofa’s folding backrest bceomes a drinks table

Final Reckoning

I finished the rebuild of Sea Star in July 2025, just in time for the school holidays. The refit cost came to just over £15,000, so all-up the boat owes me just £55,000. When Lauren came to see it for the first time, she could barely believe it was the same boat.

White bulkheads, ceiling panels and blinds enhance the natural light from all those doors and windows

Sea Star still has all the charm of a traditional trawler yacht exterior but the interior is now a fresh, modern and above all comfortable place for the three of us to live aboard. The proof of the pudding will be when we set off this summer for our first proper cruise.

If all goes well, we will only be popping into marinas for refuelling and recharging the batteries – a portable AC power pack and solar panels are next on my list. And this time I really hope it will be our forever boat…at least until I stumble across the next unmissable bargain!

Ross shows of his newly refitted pride and joy

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

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This article Renovating a bargain boat: I ended up with so much boat for so little money appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

Those of you as old as me (or even older, heaven help you) might see the name MGB 81 and wonder why we’re covering classic British Leyland sports cars from 1981. However, the MG MGB ceased production in 1980 and the actual subject of this month’s Cool Boat is the Motor Gun Boat 81, a far more appropriate machine.

In 1940, The Second World War was in full swing, and while the RAF was doing a valiant job of defending Britain’s skies, the ship convoys bringing us supplies were under attack, targeted by torpedoes from German E-Boats and suffering heavy losses. Conventional Navy ships were too slow to react to sightings and drastic action was required. Step forward Hubert Scott-Paine, former powerboat racer and founder of the British Powerboat Company.

His answer to the dilemma was a 70ft high-performance gun boat with a planing wooden hull and three Packard 1,250hp petrol engines, giving an incredible (by today’s standards of 70ft boats, let alone nearly a century ago) 40 knots! They must have sounded pretty amazing too.

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A two-pounder gun capable of firing over 100 rounds a minute at a range of over two miles was fitted to the bow and depth charges could be deployed amidships to finish off any E-Boats that dived underwater to dodge the shells.

The Admiralty was impressed and ordered 24 of them.

MGB 81 was the very last of the second batch built in July 1942. Constructed from double diagonal half-inch thick mahogany planking above the waterline and triple beneath it, it’s bent over a framework of rock elm and spruce. The result is a light but impressively strong hull that used its speed and agility to dodge enemy fire and catch E-Boats unaware.

After seeing active service during the war, she was sold off in 1945, eventually ending up as a house boat in Gosport, before being restored to her wartime appearance by the British Military Powerboat Trust between 1999 and 2002.

Imagine what you could do with an interior like this…

In 2018, thanks to a Government LIBOR grant, she underwent another major refit at Berthon International in Lymington.

By that time, the original petrol engines had been replaced with MAN diesels, which were again upgraded during the refit to triple FPT 825hp diesels.

During wartime, she would have needed two engineers huddled in the tiny engine bay, operating the gears and throttles in response to commands from the bridge. Happily, today, separate triple levers for gears and throttles give direct control. Top speed is a rather more modest 30 knots but it no doubt uses just a fraction of the 12,000 litres of fuel that those Packards must have guzzled.

The most notable aspect of this warship, though, is its style. From the flared bow to the arching sheerline and narrow transom, it’s a great looking piece of design, particularly when you consider that it was conceived so single-mindedly as a war machine. But perhaps that’s no surprise. You’ve only got to look at the fighter aircraft of the era, the Supermarine Spitfire introduced a few years prior, or the Vulcan bomber of a few years later, to realise that dead serious doesn’t have to mean dead ugly.

Motor Gun Boat 81 specifications

Year: 1942
LOA: 21.9m
Beam: 6.3m
Power: Triple Packard V12 1,250hp petrol engines
Speed: 40+ knots
Price when new: N/A

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

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This article World’s Coolest Boats: Motor Gun Boat 81 – 'The Spitfire of the seas' appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

Unlike cars, which use air to cool the liquid coolant flowing through the engine and radiator, most boats rely on the water they’re floating on to keep their engines cool. Some use this ‘raw’ water (be it fresh or salt water) to cool the engine directly, continually drawing in water through an impeller pump and circulating it around the engine before expelling it out via the exhaust. This is called ‘raw water cooling’ and is the simplest, most basic cooling system.

One step up from this is a raw water system with a thermostatic valve. This opens and closes as required to maintain the engine’s temperature at or near its most efficient operating range before discharging it. On outboard engines, the hot water is mostly discharged underwater through the propeller hub along with the exhaust gas, although a thin stream of water, known as a tell-tale jet, is dispersed separately above the waterline so you can see and feel that it is working correctly.

Smaller inboard engines often use a similar direct raw water cooling system, albeit with a single exhaust/cooling water exit above the waterline instead, allowing easy visual inspection to check that everything is working.

Larger inboard engines tend to use a more complex indirect cooling system. This has a closed circuit for the engine coolant – a special mix of fresh water and antifreeze to circulate around the engine – linked to a series of one or more heat exchangers.

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These heat exchangers have the coolant passing through one side of the system, and ‘raw’ fresh or salt water from outside the boat passing through the other, so the heat from the sealed side is transferred to the raw water and expelled
along with the exhaust as usual.

This system has several advantages. It allows much finer control of the temperature while enabling multiple engine parts and ancillaries to be cooled by a single passage of water. It also reduces the chance of corrosion (as no saltwater is passing through the engine) and it reduces the risk of trapped water freezing over winter and damaging the engine block.

However, it does have a number of disadvantages, as there are far more elements to go wrong. So knowing how your system operates and understanding what to check can make it much easier to spot any form of trouble.

Most overheating issues result from a lack of cooling water flow around the engine. On outboards and small inboards with above-water exhausts, this is fairly easy to spot, as you will see a reduction in the flow of water being expelled and you can test its temperature with your hand (be careful, it could be hot).

For inboard engines with underwater exhausts, a visual check isn’t possible, so they have gauges to monitor the temperature of the closed-loop coolant. If you’re lucky, they might also monitor the temperature of the raw water exhaust.

The downside is that you are only made aware of the problem once the engine has overheated. I prefer to be more proactive and use a heat gun to measure the temperature as it enters and leaves each cooler. This gives an early indication of a problem before it causes a bigger issue. On a vessel with a well maintained cooling system and new impellers, I would expect a doubling of the temperature in the cooling water system between entry and exit.

Above water exhaust

On some inboard boats the exhaust and water mix are discharged above the water line, allowing a simple visual check that all is well.

If the flow of water looks slower or steamier than usual, you could have a problem.

Tell-tale sign

Outboard engines use a combined system with most of the cooling water and exhaust gases being discharged below the water line. However, they also have a small tell-tale stream above the water, which makes it easy for you to monitor and spot any problems.

Water strainers

Inboard engines need a large supply of outside cooling water. This is filtered through raw water strainers to prevent debris entering the heat exchangers. These need cleaning out on a regular basis to maintain the flow.

Impeller check

If the hose temperature on the entry and exit of the raw water pump is the same, the impeller should be working as intended. If the exit temperature is higher or the face plate of the pump feels hot, you may have an issue.

Spot checks

It’s sensible to work your way around the cooling system and check the temperature before and after each cooler to check everything is working as it should. I find a heat gun is invaluable for this task.

Exhaust check

Lastly check the water temperature just before it enters the exhaust system. On this engine, the sea water inlet temperature was 14°C and the exit temperature was 22.5°C – less than double so everything’s working well.

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

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This article How to Check Your Boat Engine Cooling System appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

There are no kennel or cattery fees to worry about if you choose to take your pet to Europe by boat. They’re also great company and dogs make great walking companions when you get to your destinations. However, the rules and regulations of travelling with pets are very complex.

Are there any requirements for travelling with pets within the British Isles?

If you’re traveling with your pet between Great Britain, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands or you are entering GB from Northern Ireland, there are no pet documents or health requirements for travel. You do not need to use an approved route or port of entry and you are free to take your pet on your private boat with you.

What about travelling to Northern Ireland from Great Britain?

From 4 June 2025, pets travelling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland are required to have a Pet Travel Document. This is issued free of charge and lasts the lifetime of the pet. Your pet will need to have been microchipped but it does not need a rabies vaccination or tapeworm treatment. You can apply for the document via the Government Gateway service at www.gov.uk.

You should wait 21 days after a rabies vaccination before travelling

Can I take my pet to the EU on my own boat?

Yes, you can but there are a number of rules you need to follow and you must enter the EU via a designated Traveller’s Point of Entry (TPE). These are specifically for animals rather than the usual Ports of Entry, which are for people and goods. France has 33 listed sea port TPEs, Holland just eight and Belgium just one. You can find a full list of the various European TPE sites on https://food.ec.europa.eu

Have the rules changed since the UK left the EU?

Yes, the old EU pet passports issued in the UK are no longer valid for travel to the EU and haven’t been since 1 January 2021. You now need an Animal Health Certificate (AHC) instead of a pet passport. An AHC is only valid for a single journey and a maximum of four months from the date of issue. It typically costs more too.

EU pet passports issued in the UK are no longer valid when cruising from the UK to the EU. They have been replaced by the Animal Health Certificate (AHC)

Are EU Pet Passports still valid?

Yes, Pet Passports issued in the EU and Northern Ireland are still valid for travel to the EU.

What do I need for an Animal Health Certificate (AHC)?

Before your dog, cat or ferret (the only three animals that legally qualify as pets) can travel to the EU, you’ll need to take the following steps:

• Ensure your pet has been microchipped.
• Ensure your pet has an up to date vaccination against rabies. (Pets must be at least 12 weeks old before they can be vaccinated and it needs to be kept up to date with a booster vaccination every one to three years).
• Wait 21 days after the primary rabies vaccination before travel.
• Apply for an Animal Health Certificate (AHC) from your vet no more than 10 days before travel to the EU.

Dogs make fantastic boating companions, but you must ensure they have all the correct travel documentation

Is this the same for all EU countries?

Yes. These requirements are the same for all EU countries. However, if you’re travelling with your dog directly from another EU country to Finland, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Norway or Malta, it must have treatment against tapeworm. This will need to be done 1 to 5 days before arriving in any of these countries. Your vet must enter full details of this on the AHC following treatment.

How much does an AHC cost?

An AHC typically costs around £220-£250, although some providers offer AHCs for as little as £99. Rabies vaccinations cost around £50-£90. Not all vet practices offer an AHC service as not all vets are qualified to sign an AHC, so make sure you call and check in advance. You will need to take proof of your pet’s microchipping date and its vaccination history.

You may be able to ask a friend with a car to take your pet on a ferry but you will need to sign a declaration giving them permission to do this

How long does an AHC last?

An AHC lasts for 4 months from the date of issue but it must be used to enter the EU within 10 days of the date of issue.

What about coming back to Britain?

There is no change to the health requirements for pets entering Great Britain from the EU post 1 January 2021 so EU pet passports issued in the EU or GB before January are still valid for return journeys.

However, your pet must have one of the following three documents when returning to Great Britain from the EU:

• An EU pet passport (issued in the EU or in GB before 1 January 2021)
• The AHC issued in GB for travel to the EU can be used for the return journey up to 4 months after it was issued
• A GB pet health certificate for travel into GB only – for example, when you have exceeded the 4-month validity of the AHC.

Whichever document you use must show that your pet meets the same requirements as those required for travel to the EU, plus it must have had treatment against tapeworm 1 to 5 days before arriving in Great Britain with the details entered onto the AHC or Pet Passport by a vet. However, there is one other very important difference when returning to the UK from the EU…

The typical cost of an AHC is around £220-£250, but you may be able to get one for as little as £99

Can I bring my pet back to GB from the EU on my own boat?

No. You cannot bring your pet back from the EU on your own boat. It must travel on an approved ferry or air route so your pet’s documents and microchip can be checked when entering the GB. Most ferry operators to and from France only allow pets to be taken on board in a vehicle.

DFDS do allow foot passengers to travel with dogs from Newhaven to Dieppe and on some other routes but it is advisable to check before travelling.

What if I don’t have a car?

You may be able to ask a friend with a car to take your pet on a ferry but you will need to sign a declaration giving them permission to do this.

Are the rules different for cats?

The rules for cats are the same as for dogs and ferrets. The only exception is that cats and ferrets don’t need treatment for tapeworm before entering GB and certain other EU countries.

Cats (and ferrets!) are subject to the same rules when entering GB – although unlike dogs, they don’t need to have undergone tapeworm treatment

What if I don’t have the right paperwork?

If you do not have the correct, valid paperwork your pet could be refused entry and may be required to go into quarantine. You would then be responsible for all associated costs.

Is all this really necessary?

The rules are in place to protect the health of animals and people in GB and the EU so they clearly serve a purpose. However, things were simpler when we were part of the EU.

The Government has recently struck a new deal with the EU, which will include the reintroduction of EU pet passports

Might the rules change in the future?

Yes. In fact, following an announcement by the Prime Minister on 19 May 2025, a new deal between the EU and the UK will include the re-introduction of EU pet passports. This should mean that for travel between the EU and the UK, you can apply for a lifelong passport, rather than a one-off Animal Health Certificate. There are currently no more details or timescales for the change.

These developments may also lead to changes to the Pet Travel Document process for travel from GB to Northern Ireland.

Where can I find more advice about this?

The government website covers most of the information you will need in relation to travelling with your pet. Visit www.gov.uk/taking-your-pet-abroad for full details.

You can also contact the pet travel helpline if you need more help by calling them on 0370 241 1710. You can also email them at pettravel@apha.gov.uk. However, you may need to allow up to five working days for an answer.

Thanks to the Cruising Association for their help with this article. Additional information is available at www.theca.org.uk/pets

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

This article Everything you need to know about taking your pet to Europe by boat appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

Goldfish is such a wonderfully unlikely fish to name a high- performance boat after. Piranha, maybe; Barracuda, sure; Stingray, absolutely. But Goldfish? Better yet when the boat in question is such a hunkered-down, pared-back RIB that you could imagine the SBS using one to storm an island.

Powerboat racer Pål Sollie is the man behind the Norwegian company and the boats are his designs, built uncompromisingly and to a very high standard with just one thing in mind: high performance.

My introduction to the Goldfish 38 Supersport was in 2018, when I was invited to the Goldfish rally running from the South of France to Corsica. Unfortunately, the weather was too rough to make the crossing comfortably, so we improvised and ran the boats along the south coast instead.

But first we had to take the 38 Supersport from its home port of La Napoule to the mustering point of Le Lavandou, about 50 miles west. We met in the early evening and discovered that the batteries were flat.

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A couple of hours passed while an engineer was found and new batteries sourced. By the time we set off down the narrow estuary, time was short and a stiff breeze was rattling the tree branches.

Beneath the aft sunpad lay a pair of Mercruiser TDI 4.2 litre V8 370hp diesel engines in a staggered configuration. Staggering them, rather than fitting them side by side allows the engines to be positioned closer to the centreline and therefore sunk lower into the vee of the hull. Unusual on a leisure boat, as it takes up more room, it’s common on raceboats. As is the deep-vee, double-stepped, narrow-beam hull.

Staggered V8 engines sit low in the deep-vee hull, contributing to the impressive handling and seakeeping

Once clear of the estuary, the speed rose in tandem with the huge rooster tail of spray from the semi-surface sterndrives. While 40 knots felt like an easy canter across water choppy enough to produce a few white caps, once around the headland the power went on and things got a lot more serious.

With the drive and trims set just so, 50 knots came and went, the boat absolutely smoking across the Mediterranean, feeling utterly rock solid. Still, the speed piled on incrementally, until the GPS SOG readout was nudging 60 knots. It should have been frightening, but the Goldfish felt super stable and absolutely built for purpose – because it was.

Just one hour later, and with the sun now below the horizon, we were easing into Le Lavandou. Frankly, if you’d wanted to do that exact trip any faster, you’d have needed a helicopter. At that exact moment, the Goldfish 38 Supersport was the coolest boat in the world!

Goldfish 38 Supersport specifications

YEAR: 2018
LOA: 39ft 0in (11.8m)
BEAM:10ft 6in (3.2m)
ENGINES: Twin Mercruiser TDI 4.2 V8 370hp diesel
SPEED: 60 knots
PRICE WHEN NEW: €253,000

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

This article World’s Coolest Boats: Goldfish 38 Supersport - Off The Scale Cool appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

Last month I explained why it’s important to make a proper passage plan for every boat trip, however small, and how to do that by using the recommended APEM mnemonic (Appraise, Plan, Execute and Monitor). To illustrate the Appraise part of it, we looked at how you might go about preparing for a cross-Channel passage from Poole to Honfleur. This month we’ll be looking at the Plan stage of this trip; specifically choosing waypoints and working out tides and timings.

Most people only use waypoints when a change of heading is required, but they can also be used as reminders to do something. In our route from Poole to Honfleur, for instance, I might add a waypoint as we leave UK waters on the edge of the 12-mile limit; then another to let me know we’re approaching a traffic separation zone (we don’t actually cross the formal TSS on this route but we’ll still need to check for traffic); then another on our arrival into French waters to remind me to put up our courtesy flag; and finally a radio check-in point for the port of entry with the right VHF channel number and so on.

The next stage is to decide on your passage date and time. This may be determined by tidal constraints. Most of the ports along the Normandy coast have tidal restrictions on entry. The only exception is Cherbourg, much further west.

Technically, Honfleur has a 24-hour lock but at low tide the approach channel is so shallow and silted at the edges that you need to hold a very central line for entry. To be safe, I’d aim for an arrival window on a rising tide, with at least half the tide already in.

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The tidal port for Honfleur is Le Havre, which, according to the almanac, is about an hour earlier than Dover. Honfleur itself is about an hour earlier again. So High Water Honfleur is roughly two hours earlier than Dover in the UK. Based on that, a Dover high tide in the early evening, say 1900, would give a Honfleur High Water of 5pm so our planned mid-tide arrival would mean reaching Honfleur from1400 onwards.

Based on the seven-hour passage time we calculated during the Appraise stage, that would require leaving Poole at 0700. There is a slight catch, though, as France is one hour ahead of UK time so with a 0700 departure our actual arrival time will be 1500 local time. I’m happy with that as it’s still two hours before HW.

Lastly, we need to factor in the conditions as seven hours at sea is a long time in a small boat, which could easily be aggravated by any wind against tide. A check of the tidal almanac shows that on leaving Poole, the tide would initially be flowing west, Slack Water would be roughly five hours into the journey and then the tide would turn and flow east.

This means at least part of the passage is likely to be wind against tide so I’d aim to make the passage when the forecast is for less than a Force 4.

Research – The first step is to check for any tidal limitations at the port of entry. The port’s own website should tell you this along with a mine of other useful information. Often this includes a live webcam showing the current conditions.

Timing – Honfleur’s website even has the facility to place your own minimum depth line through the lock’s tidal curve, showing what your earliest and latest arrival and departure times should be.

Conditions – Honfleur’s webcam shows live images of the entrance, which is a great way to familiarise yourself with how it looks at both low and high water and in different wind states.

Tides – I find a printed tidal atlas is quicker and easier to use than the plotter as you can see all the hours at once. We are aiming to leave at HW+1 Dover so we have a West-going tide for the next five hours.

Arrival –  It’s also worth checking the tidal flow at your destination. At the time of our planned arrival at the entrance to the Seine, where Le Havre is situated, the tide will be with us and will help carry us towards the harbour.

Waypoints – I find the simplest way of recording a route plan is by using a screenshot. This one is from an iPad but I can save it to multiple devices and share it with the crew to build in a degree of redundancy.

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This article How to plan a passage across the English Channel appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

Trim systems are devices, invariably electro-mechanical, which are attached to the transom. They help the skipper to control and optimise their boat’s running trim (attitude) and in some cases the real-time dynamic behaviour underway.

These systems vary immensely in their level of sophistication and control. Although these are not dedicated stabilising systems such as gyros and fin stabilisers, the most advanced trim systems are so powerful and fast acting that they are capable of providing a meaningful stabilising function, especially on small fast boats.

Why do all boats need trimming?

Never-ending change, that’s why. A strong crosswind will induce unwelcome heel; away from the breeze on a long-keel semi-displacement boat, and into the wind on a deep-vee planing boat. That heeling adversely affects visibility, steering and handling.

Interceptors are vertical blades which retract into their casing when not in use to sit flush with the bottom of the boat

Sea state typically has an even more discomforting effect on boat motions. Driving upwind into big head seas, most planing boats will benefit from having their bows pushed down to reduce pitching and slamming. In a beam sea, even the best designed boats can roll around, especially the big ’uns.

Finally, it is all but impossible to position all the tanks – fuel, water, black and grey waste – directly over the centre of gravity, so real time changes in tank levels will change the trim and therefore the behaviour of a boat underway. On a small boat, so will crew moving around the decks.

The weight and positioning of cruising stores and tenders can vary enormously. And pity the poor designer whose 10-metre RIB hull might have to cope with everything from a single 450hp outboard weighing 480kg to a pair of 380hp diesel sterndrives topping 1,520kg. So the notion that a perfectly designed boat might not need any help is a complete myth.

Humphree’s interceptors lower down vertically, trapping water in front of them. This acts as a wedge for the main flow of water, generating upward lift just like a trim tab

How do they work and what is their function?

There are two principal types: trim tabs and interceptors. Trim tabs comprise flat plates, arranged symmetrically port and starboard, that hinge along the front edge. Pushing either or both plates down into the water that flows aft from the transom creates a pressure build-up that pushes the plates, and hence the stern, upwards.

Interceptors generate the same pressure build-up, but use a flat blade that descends vertically into the water flow. That immersion generates a wedge of inert water in front of the blade, and that wedge mimics the effect of a conventional downward-angled trim tab plate.

Seakeeper’s new Ride system is something else. It employs rotary blades that swivel down to generate pressure on the fixed seal plates in front. It’s certainly different; however, in hydrodynamic and speed of operation terms it’s significantly closer to its interceptor siblings.

The aim of all of these systems is to control the degree of trim tab or interceptor immersion and hence the pressure build-up, and consequently to make the skipper and crew’s life better by managing unwelcome boat motions, in particular pitch and roll.

All boats are affected by wind, waves and loading but a good trimming system can dramatically reduce pitch, roll and yaw

Which boat motions can and can’t be controlled?

Beyond driving intelligently to suit the conditions, there is little anybody can do to control sway and surge. In theory, trim systems do not control heave or yaw directly. However, a boat which is running correctly and more unwaveringly because its trim system is reducing pitch and roll to a minimum will at the very least feel like it is heaving less. Yaw – that feeling of the bow wandering from side to side – will definitely be reduced.
That is because, when a boat rolls haphazardly over to one side, the underwater lines become asymmetric and that asymmetry introduces an unwelcome steering effect.

All planing boats will benefit enormously from a trim system, as will fast semi-displacement boats. Full displacement craft from the likes of Nordhavn do not go fast enough for interceptors or trim-tabs to generate consequential levels of lift.

With slower semi-displacement boats in mind, we asked eight trim system manufacturers at what speed could their systems begin to exhibit a meaningful effect, as opposed to a simply perceivable effect.

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The answers varied considerably from 7 knots to 13 knots. Seakeeper’s answer thoughtfully separated the onset of simple trim assistance (about 9 knots) from the onset of the stabilisation (circa 17/22 knots) that its Ride system can provide.

Lenco said, “We see usable effectiveness beginning around 13 knots,” and that, “by about 16 knots an appropriately sized tab system should be considerably impactful.” Those latter speeds are the ones that really chime with our hands-on experiences. So our advice for owners of slow semi-displacement craft is to chat with the manufacturers to get assurances that their system can definitely provide a worthwhile trimming effect at typical cruising speeds.

Rough water causes the bow to pitch rapidly up and down.

What is the most basic system I can fit?

The most rudimentary system of all is a simple fixed affair which can either be angled plates akin to fixed trim tabs, or vertical plates equivalent to fixed interceptors. You would normally only fit these to a boat with an underlying condition that needed correcting.

For instance, a boat whose owner has fitted an abnormally heavy tender on the bathing platform, or a heavyweight aftermarket crane at the back of a flybridge, that was not in the original design brief. The idea would be to pre-emptively correct the stern-heavy running trim of the boat, regardless of whether an adjustable trim system is subsequently fitted or not.

Our advice here would be to fit interceptors near the centreline, leaving space for an adjustable trim system outboard, but also because fixed interceptor plates can be manufactured with elongated bolt holes that allow for adjustment to help get the running trim spot on.

Lenco and Bennett also make extremely simple trim tab systems for tenders and small boats which have spring-loaded rams. The plates are immersed at rest and generate lift at low speed to help them get on the plane but then automatically rise as the pressure builds up when the speed increases.

Trimming the bow down will help it to stay planted

What is the next step up?

An adjustable system with straightforward manual control of the interceptors or trim tabs. If you do stick with a manual system, think very hard about the physical controls, because you’ll be using them far more than you would on a system with full automatic control.

Some manufacturers use up/down rocker switches, others use dials or wheels, Bennett has a joystick option, and a few boatbuilders fit indicator-style stalks behind the wheel. Subjectively, we’ve always found the rotary controls from the likes of Lenco (Pro series) and Zipwake to be the quickest and most intuitive to operate, especially on small fast boats which react quickly to change.

Most modern automatic trim systems can also be linked to the boat’s MFD screen

Electric or hydraulic?

The electric ram versus hydraulic ram question is one you won’t need to ponder too deeply. The interceptor systems from Humphree and Zipwake and Volvo are fully electric, as is Seakeeper’s Ride. Almost all trim tabs sport electric rams.

So the only time you will encounter hydraulic rams is if you approach, say, Bennett, for an unusually high load trim tab setup suitable for a racing application, or possibly heavy commercial use. And in that case the manufacturer will steer you in the right direction.

This Zipwake controller uses a pair of rotary dials for both side to side and fore/aft trim

How do automatic systems work?

Automatic systems use a combination of sensors – gyroscope, GPS/compass, and accelerometers – to measure rates of turn, acceleration and movement. In combination, they can measure all six boat motions, and they typically log data at a frantic rate, up to 1,000hz.

This data can then be used, courtesy of a digital controller sporting adaptive algorithms, to control the interceptors or trim tabs directly. Consequently, auto systems can take over the task of micro-managing the two most impactive boat motions of pitch and roll, far more quickly and effectively than any human could.

Humphree’s automatic Lightning system can be upgraded in stages

Do auto systems undermine the skipper’s control?

Quite the opposite. There’s an initial setup routine for auto systems which varies from a simple ‘set to zero’ at rest for Seakeeper’s Ride, to the inputting of Length, Beam and Displacement for Zipwake’s system, to mapping the most efficient pitch curve for Lenco’s Pro Control. A flat calm day is essential, but none of these setup processes are difficult.

Once you’re underway in automatic mode, all these auto systems provide the skipper with the ability to fine tune the automatic programming. The first way is to adjust the system’s initial auto programming so that every time you go afloat, the system remembers exactly how you like your boat to run and trim.

This fine-tuning process varies, but it is not at all difficult, and can usually be carried out underway. The other technique is to tweak the controls on an as-needs basis to adjust the all-important pitch and roll to suit the prevailing conditions and the boat’s behaviour, for example bow down when heading upwind in choppy conditions.

These adjustment methods are complementary, not either/or choices, and in both cases the boat remains in auto mode, continuously controlling pitch and roll, but with your preferences overlaid on top.

This simple set of manual Bennett controls also shows the position of each trim tab

Trim tabs or interceptors?

Interceptor manufacturers are fond of claiming that their interceptors are more efficient than trim tabs, although in what capacity is invariably ambiguous. In practice it’s irrelevant because in their most sophisticated forms the advantages of both systems are so impactive and numerous.

The crucial difference is operational speed. Zipwake’s new Pro series 60mm stroke blades can go from fully up to fully down in 1.5 seconds, and Seakeeper claims that its rotary blades can perform up to 100 adjustments every second! In comparison, electric trim tabs would typically be around three to five times slower than an interceptor blade.

The smaller, lighter and faster the boat, the more it will benefit from this superior deployment speed, especially in automatic form. Smaller, lighter, faster boats react to fluctuating conditions more quickly and more noticeably, so the quicker the trim system reacts the better.

Plus, the extra interceptor speed means that, on small, fast boats in particular, a correctly sized automatic system can provide a meaningful stabilising function that the slower trim tab systems are unable to fully emulate with their auto-levelling.

A perfectly trimmed Riva Iseo running fast and flat

So are trim tabs past their sell-by date?

Absolutely not. Larger powerboats increasingly rely on gyros or fins for stabilisation, obviating the need for stabilising assistance from an interceptor trim system. If highly effective auto-levelling is all you need, then conventional trim tab systems are typically whole orders of magnitude cheaper than their interceptor siblings.

Using the Axopar 37XC Cross Cabin as a platform, we asked manufacturers for a price for their most sophisticated automatic trim system. Lenco’s trim tab 12 x 12 Pro Control Auto system was £2,636. At the other end of the scale Seakeeper’s fully automatic Ride 600 came in at £10,936 (both include 20% UK VAT).

Of course, the functionality and engineering of competing systems can differ enormously, so no comparison can ever be wholly like-for-like, but these figures do provide a useful pointer.

Finally, my hands-on testing suggests that interceptors are not the best choice for every single powerboat. Back in 2007, during back-to-back testing on a 44-foot Volvo IPS600-powered sportscruiser, I found that the boat was dynamically happier and slightly more stable when we switched the original interceptors for conventional trim tabs.

So it’s important to note that interceptor systems have in no way rendered their trim tab rivals redundant.

Mente Marine’s clever ACS controller

A special mention goes to…

Mente Marine. We wouldn’t normally single out a solitary supplier, but Mente Marine has a very singular product. It sells an ACS (Attitude Control System) control panel that links with other manufacturers’ trim tabs such as Bennett, Lenco, Eltrim and several others.

Despite its modest dimensions, the control panel contains all the necessary software and hardware (gyro, accelerometer, GPS/compass) to provide full automatic control of roll and pitch. Its big selling point is its price: assuming that a suitable set of trim tabs arrived with our Axopar 37XC Cross Cabin (or any other powerboat for that matter) Mente Marine would only relieve you of £648 (inc. UK VAT). It’s the cheapest way into automatic trim system ownership that we know of.

A top spec Humphree system is quick enough to provide stabilisation

What are the key benefits?

A correctly sized trim system will continuously correct for wind induced heel and for the movement of crew around the decks, but the list of benefits extends far beyond simply making life on board more comfortable by controlling and optimising the two principal evils of pitch and roll.

The frequently unsung benefits of a trim tab system is how it can contribute to safety on board. A correctly trimmed boat will produce less spray, improve the skipper’s forward visibility, increase crew comfort, reduce fatigue, minimise the potential for seasickness and reduce the chance of injury. At its most impactive, this can be life-saving stuff.

Handling also improves, as does performance – perhaps not significantly in calm conditions, but increasingly so as the weather deteriorates. During testing, we have found that it’s not uncommon to squeeze an extra 5% to 8% top speed from a boat by fine-tuning its trim, and that feeds directly into improved fuel consumption.

Remember too that a trim system can help a boat stay on the plane at much lower speeds; useful in speed restricted areas, not to mention for improving fuel economy.

It cannot be overstated just how much easier and more effective it is to achieve and maximise all these benefits with an automatic system, especially on a boat whose trim system settings have been optimised to suit the owner.

What more can automatic systems offer?

The functionality of automatic systems varies enormously, far too extensively to list here, but here are some of the collective functions available from the world’s pre-eminent manufacturers.

Acceleration or ‘hole-shot’. This trims the bow down and helps to propel you onto the plane as quickly as possible.

Deceleration. This maximises forward visibility should you ever need to bang the throttles into neutral, plus a separate ‘exit planing’ mode for the times you decelerate gently.

Auto-retract or full-up. This lifts them up to prevent damage when you’re reversing or beaching.

Co-ordinated turn. This trims the hull during turns, so your body is neither forced towards the outside of the bend, nor falls towards the inside of the turn. Think of it as a neutral-G turn which improves comfort and increases safety on board.

Trim tabs should be fitted with anodes to prevent electrolytic corrosion

Any other benefits?

RIBs and sportsboats are increasingly being fitted with extremely powerful engines. It’s easy for budding Max Verstappens to trim their engines out too far in the pursuit of maximum speed and suddenly find their boat chine riding or porpoising alarmingly. A fast automatic system should curtail these behaviours before they get out of hand.

A curious effect we’ve encountered, albeit inconsistent, is at very slow speeds on small boats, the sort you might expect to wander (yaw) a little. If you lower the trim tabs or interceptors fully, the directional stability sometimes improves slightly.

Zipwake’s dynamic trim control system incorporates a special steering mode. This is because interceptors can exhibit a useful steering effect. Having successfully piloted an XO360 most of the way through Poole Harbour using Zipwake’s user-friendly rotary control, I can vouch that it worked effectively enough to provide low-speed emergency steering. The corollary, which applies to all interceptors, is that this steering effect can sometimes be felt as unwelcome tugging on the wheel.

A non-copper based antifouling will help keep weed and barnacles at bay

Will a sterndrive or outboard conflict with a trim system?

Many modern boats now have systems that automatically adjust the trim of their outboard motors or sterndrive legs (for example Volvo’s Powertrim Assistant) usually by linking engine revs to leg trim. If your boat also has an auto trim system, our advice is to first programme the outboard motor or sterndrive leg in flat calm conditions with the boat loaded as close to its normal cruising condition as possible, and the auto trim system switched off.

After that, engage the auto trim system and if necessary and/or possible fine tune this to suit your requirements. Since the two systems do not talk to each other (in a digital sense) the trim system will simply ‘see’ a boat which is running more optimally as its starting point.

Note, you will almost certainly still have to trim the sterndrive leg or outboard motor out (up) going downwind in waves, to lift the bow. Trim systems can push the bow down, but once the interceptors/trim tabs are fully up, they don’t lift the bow any further.

Trim tabs are flat plates hinged at the leading edge which are pushed down into the water flow at an angle

Can a gyro stabiliser be used with fully automatic trim systems?

In short, yes. If your boat has both, our advice would be to experiment to determine the highest speed at which the effectiveness of the gyro alone is beginning to fade, and separately the lowest speed at which the effectiveness of the trim system alone is beginning to pick up.

Then examine how they work in conjunction throughout the speed range. Use that collective information to decide when, or if at all, to disengage the gyro (with its characteristically higher current drain) and rely on the trim system alone to deal with roll (lateral trim). Correctly sized interceptors or trim tabs will have the biggest effect on roll at planing speeds, so if you experience any strange effects with both systems engaged, try disengaging the gyro first.

Seakeeper, which also manufactures gyro stabilisers, confirmed that its Ride system can be used with a gyro. It also reports that, ‘the addition of a Seakeeper gyro stabiliser enhances the underway performance of Seakeeper Ride by an additional 10-20% from our tests.’

Does my trim system need antifouling or anodic protection?

Stainless steel trim tab plates do require anodes to protect them from electrolytic corrosion. Bennett warns owners NOT to ground the trim tabs to other underwater appendages. Don’t forget the usual anode selection criteria: zinc or aluminium for salt water; aluminium for brackish; and aluminium or magnesium for fresh water.

Interceptor blades and their housings are typically made from corrosion-free materials, and the composite materials do not cause the galvanic corrosion that would require them to have protective anodes. Normally, unless you have the luxury of a dry stack and a handy pressure washer, antifouling is recommended for interceptor casings and trim tabs (along with a base coat metal primer for the trim tabs). Make sure you leave a paint-free zone under the anode.

Seakeeper’s new Ride system can be retrofitted to most planing sportsboats

Do manufacturers recommend any other routine checks?

A regular gentle pressure wash is generally recommended by all. Seakeeper stresses that you should avoid the fierce turbo and rotating nozzles, and use a gentler 15-degree nozzle or more. Interceptor blades usually have a self-cleaning function that scrapes the blade clean when it is extended and retracted (ergo, do not antifoul these parts).

Zipwake recommends that if the boat has been in the water for a long time, to remove the front of the interceptors and pressure wash inside. However, Humphree lists an annual service routine that, over a period of ten years, includes calibration, replacing parts and seals, and re-torquing bolts, so interceptors are not entirely maintenance free.

As long as the correct anodes are fitted and regularly inspected (ideally ashore, but this can be done afloat) along with checking the hinges and the seals on the rams, stainless steel trim tabs should be relatively low maintenance.

Owners of Seakeeper’s Ride should refer to its online maintenance schedule, which sports the most wonderfully detailed and clearly illustrated instructions I’ve ever seen; it’s a benchmark destination for online help.

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

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This article Everything you need to know about motor boat trim systems appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

Propel, a company founded by former professional snowboarder Jason Toth, has unveiled what it claims is the world’s first modular 5-in-1 electric watercraft. The platform can be configured as an electric stand-up paddleboard (e-SUP), electric scooter, scooter with hydrofoil, standalone eFoil, or a seated watercraft called the “Jet Kart.”

Could this be one of the best watersports toys of the year? Only time will tell, but it certainly looks promising. Toth says the concept came from a desire to simplify foiling and make it easier for newcomers to get started.

“We wanted to remove the fear and complexity from foiling,” Toth said. “This isn’t just about a new board; it’s about creating more ways for people to connect with water.”

The system is designed to allow riders to switch between modes without tools, and the company says it takes just a few minutes to change configurations. Some might question the ‘world’s first 5-in-1’ claim as it’s certainly something we’ve seen claimed previously – as far back as 2022 the Mo-Jet made similar claims.

By offering multiple riding styles—some of them more stable and beginner-friendly—Propel hopes to attract everyone from first-timers to experienced foilers.

A Modular Approach

The five configurations include:

E-Scooter: An upright, handlebar-equipped ride designed for stability and ease of control.

E-SUP: A powered stand-up paddleboard for relaxed cruising on flat water.

Scooter-eFoil: A foil board with handlebars, offering more stability during takeoff.

eFoil: The standard foil board setup for more advanced riders.

Jet Kart: A seated, go-kart-style mode intended to be accessible for all ages and ability levels.

Propel in eFoil mode

The watercraft features an enclosed jet drive system, a long-lasting lithium-ion battery which the builder claims offers up to three hours of runtime, and a lightweight inflatable hull that can be packed down into two travel bags weighing in at 40kg total.

So far so impressive. However, the real question will be whether this new watersports toy will be able to complete all of the tasks satisfactorily or whether compromises have been made to enable so many usage cases.

The company’s product was launched through a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo starting May 6, with early backers receiving discounted pricing on the full system – early backers can pick up the full 5-in1 package for $7,495 (£5,586).

But the modular system can also be purchased individually, as such early backers can get the the e-Foil only mode for $5,397 (£4,022) which is not the cheapest eFoil you can buy, but there are plenty of more expensive options out there too.

Toth, who previously worked in high-end film production and is now a dedicated foiling enthusiast, says the goal is to open up a traditionally niche activity to a broader audience. “We’re not just building a toy for thrill-seekers,” he said. “We’re trying to redefine what personal watercraft can be.”

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If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

This article This Startup is Crowdfunding the 'World’s First 5-in-1 Electric Watercraft' appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

Passage planning is a key part of any boater’s skillset but there’s more to it than just entering some waypoints in a chartplotter. Both the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) have made it very clear that every boater should use ‘APEM’.

It’s not the catchiest of acronyms but it stands for Appraise, Plan, Execute, Monitor and even as leisure boaters we should follow it every time we put to sea.

That might seem like overkill for a quick potter over to a nearby bay for lunch but if you do have an accident and can’t demonstrate that you’ve adhered to it, you might end up on the wrong end of the law. Every trip you make, even to a local anchorage, needs the same considerations, but clearly you don’t need to put the same effort into that as you would for a more demanding cross-Channel passage.

So what does APEM actually look like in practice? Let’s take a more challenging example of crossing the Channel from Poole to Honfleur.

It starts with Appraise – which covers a multitude of sins including the route, the boat, the crew and, in this case, the paperwork. But for me, I always begin with the destination.

I want to know whether there are any tidal constraints, whether it’s well-lit if we arrive after dark, if it requires tricky pilotage to enter and if it’s a big commercial port with lots of shipping. That always used to be Almanac territory; now I simply check the destination’s website for all the latest information and contact numbers. A lot of them even give a live tidal height.

Next I’ll do an overview of the intended route. I still prefer to do this with a paper chart as it gives a better sense of scale. All I want at this stage is a rough distance so I can calculate a passage time based on my boat’s cruising speed.

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Poole to Honfleur is roughly 120 miles, so assuming I can cruise at 20 knots that’s 6 hours cruising, plus an hour for some slower speed work at each end and a comfort break en route, giving a total passage time of 7 hours. I’ve also researched that Honfleur has a large lock to negotiate that opens on the hour for entry, so that needs to be factored in too.

The second part of Appraise is the boat and crew. I am basing this example on a Botnia Targa 27.2, which is small but has excellent seakeeping, so in my appraisal I will consider when it was last serviced and check that it has suitable spares and a toolkit.

I’ll also check the fuel capacity and level to ensure it has sufficient range with at least a 20% reserve, as well as the safety kit and lifejackets (all in date and serviced). There’s also my crew to consider. Can we cook on the move or do we need flasks and pre-made sandwiches? How many of us are travelling and can we all sit comfortably facing forward? Another often ignored factor is whether you can actually use the bathroom facilities at sea.

Finally, there’s the paperwork involved in leaving the UK and entering the EU.

Do I have the necessary ship’s papers, including insurance, passports and proof of VAT status? I’ve already checked that Honfleur is an official entry point (it is) but we also have to submit a ‘pleasure craft report’ (C1331) for our departure from the UK (you can do this online at www.gov.uk) and a second one for our arrival into France.

Lastly, I will research alternative ports in case weather or mechanical difficulties disrupt our journey. If this were to happen, during the first third of the journey I would return to the UK. For the middle part I would divert to Cherbourg in France, as entry is possible in any weather. In the latter stages, if the wind had picked up from the west and the tides were right, I could divert to St Vaast on the eastern side of the Cherbourg peninsular as it’s tucked away and completely sheltered when inside.

Appraise – Traditionally passage planning was just paper based and started with an overview of the chart and a good look at an Almanac but it should take in all the following steps.

Passage duration – The first step is to check the distance involved, in this case about 120 miles. That, along with your intended passage speed (20 knots) will give you the time: approx 6 hours plus 30 minutes at each end.

Destination – Then I look at the destination. Is it difficult pilotage? Is it well-lit at night? Is there an access window for the lock? An Almanac or the port’s website should provide all this information.

Departure point – Then I come back to the starting position, in this case Poole harbour, with a similar set of questions about tidal restraints, shipping movements, areas to avoid when setting out and so on.

Boat – Your appraisal process should also include the vessel. Is everything working as it should? Have you got enough fuel? What about spares like fuel filters, belts and a toolkit? Food and drinks?

Paperwork – If you’re leaving UK waters the correct paperwork is also essential. You’ll need passports, vessel insurance, entry and exit forms and a crew list. Much of this can be done online but paper copies can be used too.

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

This article How to plan a safe passage at sea: An expert guide appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

Sunburn is the body’s reaction to excessive ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Some people are more susceptible to it than others due to differing skin types. This is largely down to genetics, which control the amount of melanin your skin produces.

Melanin is the body’s natural defence against sunburn and works by darkening the skin. That’s why fair skinned people (and children) tend to burn quicker than darker skinned ones. It’s also why some people tan quicker than others.

Whether you are light or dark skinned, protection from the sun in the form of sun protection clothing or in picking the best waterproof sunscreen you can find is a non-negotiable, even if it’s a precaution.

Are you more susceptible to sunburn on the water?

Unfortunately you are more susceptible to sunburn on the water for two reasons. Firstly, because boating and watersports ares primarily outdoor activities you are more exposed to the sun’s UV rays and secondly because water reflects the sun’s rays almost as well as a mirror, effectively doubling the exposure you get on dry land.

Photo: Getty Images

Is sunburn dangerous?

Not in the short term. Mild sunburn, medically defined as First Degree sunburn, is confined to the skin’s outer layer (epidermis) and usually heals within a few days. It is best treated by cooling the skin down (a quick dip in the sea can help), moisturizing it while still wet and if necessary taking an anti-inflammatory medicine like ibuprofen or applying a mild (1%) hydrocortisone cream.

Severe sunburn is more problematic as it also affects the mid-layer (dermis), causing blisters which may take weeks to heal. Third degree sunburn is extremely rare, penetrating right through to the fat layer beneath your skin and damaging nerve endings.

The trouble is that even mild sunburn significantly increases the risk of developing skin cancer in the longer term. A single blistering sunburn in childhood or five mild sunburns more than doubles your risk of developing a potentially fatal melanoma later in life.

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Is skin cancer on the rise?

Yes, melanoma skin cancer rates in the UK have risen by a third in the last decade and are projected to reach a record high this year of more than 20,000 cases. More frequent foreign travel, misconceptions about tanning making you look healthy and an ageing population are thought to be the primary causes.

The incidence of less serious but more common non-melanoma skin cancers is also increasing with over 230,000 cases diagnosed in the UK last year.

Skin cancer is now the most frequently diagnosed type of cancer around the world and the fifth most common cancer in the UK. This trend is repeated across all age groups and sexes but is most prevalent in people over the age of 80 (up 57% in the last decade) with men being slightly more at risk than women. For adults between the ages of 25-49 the rise is still a troubling 7%.

There is a wide range of sunscreen choices from oil sprays to gels and creams. Photo: Getty Images

What is melanoma and non melanoma?

Melanomas develop in the skin’s pigment producing cells (melanocytes) and can appear as a new mole or a notable change in an existing one such as the size, colour, shape or feeling (pain, itchiness etc). They are most commonly found in areas exposed to the sun such as the face, hands, arms, legs and back. Although less common than non melanomas they are more prone to spreading to other parts of the body and pose a greater risk to life.

Non-melanomas develop in other skin calls such as basal or squamous cells. These usually appear as small red lumps of flat, scaly patches that don’t heal after 4 weeks or more. They are less prone to spreading and more easily treated, usually by surgical removal.

Is skin cancer preventable?

Absolutely, 86% of melanomas are caused by over exposure to UV rays, usually due to cumulative sun damage over time (one of the reasons older people are more prone to it). In theory all of these cases are therefore preventable by taking appropriate precautions in the form of shade, sun clothing or a good sunscreen.

Most open boats are now fitted with a collapsible bimini shade, while more permanent T-Top or Hard Top structures are an increasingly common sight on sportsboats and cruisers. However, even these can’t protect you against UV rays reflected from the sea’s surface so some form of additional sunscreening is a sensible precaution.

Are all UV rays dangerous?

Technically there are three types of ultraviolet light: UVA, UVB and UVC but as UVC doesn’t penetrate the earth’s atmosphere, we only need to concern ourselves with UVA and UVB. Of the rays that do reach the earth’s surface, 95% are UVA and only 5% UVB. However, it’s the UVB rays that cause sunburn.

UVA rays, while less harmful in the short term, still cause longer term skin damage, leading to premature signs of aging such as wrinkles and DNA deformities, which increase the risk of skin cancer. UVA can also penetrate cloud cover and even windows. That’s why it’s advisable to use a broad spectrum sunscreen that protects against both UVA and UVB rays.

What does SPF mean?

Sun Protection Factor is the means of measuring the effectiveness of a sunscreen against UVB only, whether that’s a lotion or a piece of clothing. The SPF number is effectively a multiple of how long it takes before you burn, so if you are fair skinned and normally burn within 15 mins, applying sun cream with an SPF10 will extend that to 150 minutes, while an SPF20 will increase it to 300 minutes.

However, this only works if you apply the correct amount at the correct time and don’t wear it off through swimming, sweating, rubbing etc. Most health professionals now recommend using SPF20 or higher regardless of skin type.

What’s the difference between a physical and chemical sunscreen?

Sunscreens fall into two main groups; physical sunscreens (sometimes referred to as mineral sunscreens) and chemical sunscreens.

As the name suggests, physical sunscreens sit on the skin’s surface and act as a barrier, blocking the sun’s rays from reaching your skin by absorbing and reflecting UV light. The most common ingredients are titanium dioxide and zinc dioxide, which give it a distinctive white, chalky appearance.

Chemical sunscreens are absorbed into the skin and work by chemically converting the UV rays into heat that dissipates naturally. They tend to be clearer and lighter, typically in oil or gel form, so they can be easily absorbed into the skin. The most common active ingredients used are oxybenzone, octinoxate and avobenzone.

Photo: Paul Wyeth

Are mineral or chemical sunscreens best?

Both are equally effective at blocking out UV rays provided you apply them correctly but which you choose depends on a number of factors.

Physical sunscreens start working straight away and can be gentler on sensitive skin. However, they tend to be thicker, less easy to apply and leave a distinctive white cast on the wearer.

Chemical sunscreens tend to be easier to apply but take longer to bond and are slightly more prone to causing irritation or allergic reactions.

Both are equally suitable for boating but if you also enjoy swimming, it’s important to look for a water resistant chemical sunscreen or a robust physical one that doesn’t rinse or sweat off easily.

Hybrid sunscreens use a combination of both to give comprehensive cover.

The key is to find one you are comfortable using, as much like wearing a lifejacket, it’s only any good if you use it.

When and how much screen should you apply?

You should apply sunscreen at least 20-30 minutes before exposure to the sun as it can take a while for chemical based sunscreens to bond with the skin. Typically the correct dosage is one teaspoon (5ml) per body part such as a leg, arm, chest, back and face. Use too little or apply it unevenly too late and you can still get sunburnt. This should be reapplied every 2-3 hours, especially after swimming, excessive sweating and towel drying.

Does sunscreen harm marine life?

Some can pose a threat to marine organisms, especially coral reef ecosystems. Reported side effects include coral deformities, reduced fertility and growth hindrance. The primary culprits are said to be oxybenzone and octinoxate, both of which were commonly found in some mass market sunscreens.

As a result, in 2021 Hawaii banned the sale of sunscreens containing either of these chemicals. Many sunscreens now carry a reef-safe or reef-friendly label for that reason.

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This article Everything you need to know about sunburn and how to avoid it on the water appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.

Whether you’ve left your boat in the water over winter or tucked it away ashore, the beginning of a new season is always an exciting moment. But before you take to the water once again, it always pays to run through a pre-season checklist to make sure you don’t get caught out by any unwanted surprises.

Most boaters tend to remember the obvious items – servicing the engines, gearboxes and drives, antifouling the hull, changing the anodes – but smaller tasks sometimes get overlooked. Fire extinguishers need their gauges and service dates checking, both the handheld ones (the powder variety benefit from a good shake to stop them solidifying) and fixed ones hidden in the engine bay and bow/stern thruster compartments.

These often have a shelf life of around five years and may need replacing altogether. The same applies to lifejackets and liferafts, so check when they were last serviced too.

Hopefully, you remembered to leave your fuel tanks full over winter, as this reduces condensation and the possibility of diesel bug, but if not, or if you’ve got a petrol boat that you’ve deliberately left low, then a dose of treatment and plenty of fresh fuel should ward off any future issues.

Steering systems often get overlooked too. Some may need the pressure reserve re-pumping, and they will all benefit from winding the wheel from lock to lock to help lubricate the parts (don’t forget the flybridge helm too, if you have one). Outdrives often have a fluid top-up tank buried in the engine bay, as do hydraulic trim tabs, so check the fluid levels on them, and while you’re there, look for any loose wiring and exercise all your seacocks to prevent them from seizing.

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Hopefully, you drained down the water system at the end of the previous season, but if not then open all the taps and let any remaining water work its way out, then refill the tank with fresh water and flush it through again. If it still smells or tastes bad, then add some water purifier solution and flush it through again. Several flushes of the toilet systems should also ensure they are nice and fresh for the season ahead.

If you have aircon or heating, run the systems up and leave them on full for a couple of hours to circulate the air and/or fluids and ensure they are working as they should. A customer of mine complained that their heating was not as good as they remembered and sure enough, a search revealed a split pipe.

Fridges and any freezers will need to be run up and temperatures checked too, and if you have an ice maker, switch it on and discard the first two loads of ice, as they often taste stale.

Lastly, I like to update all my electronic chart systems. Some of these are easily done over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth but some older models may need the chart chip removing and taking to the chart agent for updates. It’s also worth having a play with them before you set off, as any updates to the operating systems may mean a new look, new features and a slight change in how you use them.

You’ll also need to update your printed charts and almanacs. We may all ignore the warning on our chartplotters saying, “Do not use as your primary means of navigation,” but maritime law for any boat without a full ECDIS display (and the small print of most insurance contracts) dictates that we should have access to up-to- date paper charts and know how to use them.

Be prepared

Now is the time to check all your boat’s systems and equipment to ensure it’s ready to go as soon as the new season starts. And don’t forget to add fresh fuel to your tender’s outboard, start it up and check the gears are working.

Safety gear

Most leisure-use lifejackets are designed to be serviced every two years to ensure the inflation mechanism is primed and the bladder is airtight. You won’t want to be without it when the season starts, so get it done now when you won’t miss it.

Exercise seacocks

Make sure you open and close all the seacocks to keep them moving freely. This will also ensure you remember to open them before starting the engine(s) for the first time after being laid up for winter.

Fire extinguishers

Check the pressure gauges and service dates of all fire extinguishers. Powder-type ones should be shaken to redistribute the powder. The gas type will need their levels checked.

Plotter updates

Update the charts and/or software of any plotters or MFDs fitted to your boat. For older plotters, give the chart card to a chart agent for an update. More modern versions can be updated over the internet.

Chart updates

Any boating apps on iPads and smartphones that you use as a back-up will also require updating. The same applies to any paper charts. Check the supplier’s website for the latest Notices to Mariners.

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

This article How to carry out pre-season motor yacht checks appeared first on Motor Boat & Yachting.