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New motorboats and motor yachts at boot

22/01/2006

Small Cabin from MV Yachts

A hint of nostalgia surrounds lobster boat-look new classics with large open cockpits aft and small cabins fore. Lobster boats were popular on the US east coast in the 1930s. Now they are experiencing a renaissance around the world.

The 9-metre-long Small Cabin from MV Yachts (Hall/Stand 11/ C 78), a composite structure of lightweight materials - carbon, vinyl ester and foam - was designed by Simonis & Voogd, specialists in composite construction. The Grand Azur Classic 33 (Hall/Stand 12/C 65), a 10.30-metre-long classic developed by Judel Vrolijk, looks elegant and graceful, with teak cladding on the lateral gangboards and focsle as part of the standard livery.

Having previously launched the Dolphin 51 and MaxiDolphin 74, Mochi Craft (Hall/Stand 6/E 23) is this year giving a German debut to the 44 Dolphin. Like the other two Mochis, it was developed by engineers Ferretti and Victory Design Studio. It features extensive glazing in the saloon and internal helm, a raised bow and supersize cockpit. Even the refrigerator in the galley looks retro.

The Catcruiser 45, making its European debut, has Italian charisma and an aluminium hull, and owes its nostaglic look to designers Vripack. On display at Linskens (Hall/Stand 15/D 41). The 55 Emozione from Franchini (Hall/Stand 6/D 11) is another lobster boat-style craft making its debut in Germany.

Small sportsboats are popular with beginners and people who don't have or want a fixed berth, or who prefer to trailer their boats to different locations. Open sportsboats are all-round fair-weather craft. Fitted with a small two-bed prow cabin they are known as daycruisers. This boat category is always extremely popular.

The cockpit and open bow of Larson's Senza 186 Supersport, making its German debut at Kreusch (Hall/Stand 11/A 05), has space for up to seven people. Of the six seats on German debutante Bayliner 192 (Hall/Stand 12/A 69 - A 70), four can be extended back to back to create two sun loungers. Thanks to newly designed lithium polymer cells, the electric-motor version of the Boesch 620 waterski tow boat (Hall/Stand 12/B 19) can now travel full-throttle at 32 km/h for up to 30 minutes with one battery charge, permitting skiing on waters which allow electric motors only.

The Skibsplast 685, on show at Cramer-Boote, (Hall/Stand 11/E22) offers a forward cabin as well as another cabin amidships below floor. The Super Air 220, to be seen at Active onwater (Hall/Stand 11/ C 22), is specifically designed for wakeboarders. It has a speedometer for keeping the tow speed steady, and three tanks which, depending on their level of fill, enable wave height to be varied. Practicality is a key feature of the Quicksilver boats from Marine Power Deutschland (Hall/Stand 14/A 42 - C 55), most of them designed for outboard propulsion. The Quicksilver 890 Cruiser boasts two MerCruiser inboard diesels. The 8.25-metre-long Dorado 26 from Sessa (Hall/Stand 15/ A 22) is intended notably for extended angling trips. The roof of the large cabin has a sliding hatch, while the 4-square-meter cockpit is expedient rather than roomy.

Aquador 28 Cabin from Bella

Sports cruisers offer a large lockable soft-top cockpit with outside helm position for fair-weather tours as well as a saloon and/or sleeping cabins in the forward section.

A neat feature on the Aquador 28 Cabin from Bella (Hall/Stand 12/C 51) is a teak saloon floor that lifts at the touch of a button and folds against the sliding door at the cabin rear, clearing the way to a huge centre cabin with plenty of extra headroom and two single beds located on either side. When folded down, the floor forms a continuous surface through to the helm position. The Four Winns Vista 318 and Vista 348 fall into this category, on show at Europe Marine (Hall/Stand 12/ A 21), as does the Crownline 315 SCR by Siegel (Hall/Stand 11/E 42).

Making its debut in Germany, the Absolute 39 (Hall/Stand 15/ D 56) offers a tender garage below the sunbathing platform aft. The Nimbus Super Nova 42 (Hall/Stand 12/A 65) is designed as a walkaround with very wide and deep-lying teak-covered gangboards. The cockpit is extremely spacious and forms a large continuous unit with the saloon with the sliding doors open. Making their world debuts, the Bavaria 42sport and 42sport HT (Hall/Stand 12/A 49) have a Volvo Penta IPS drive for sporty performance. The IPS has forward-pointing propellers, like on an aircraft, that pull rather than push the craft.

At Riva (Hall/Stand 6/E 23), the 52 Rivale with conspicuous gold-bronze-coloured hull is celebrating its German premiere. Its exterior lines, interior design and stylish details are testimony to the design skills of Mauro Micheli and Sergio Baretta from Officina Italiana Design. The equipment carrier for the aerials rises tower-like above the 3-person sunbathing area in the cockpit, rather than spanning it altogether and casting shade. The 52 Xanthos tops out the Draco-Windy range (Hall/Stand 6/ A 27). Its design relies on the good features of smaller Windys.

Each year sees more new products in the trendy New Open class. Open means that the hardtopped or fully enclosed helm saloons can be opened - either with airy sliding roofs, large aft doors, or side windows.

The Elan 42 (Hall/Stand 17/C 23), designed by Tony Castro and celebrating its German debut, has a large hardtop covering helm position and seating arrangement. The Volvo IPS-propelled Azimut 43S is the smallest "open” from Azimut (Hall/Stand 6/D 41) - based on the hull of the likewise new flybridge 43 Fly - and is another German first-show like the larger 62S with wine-red hull and large windows in the owner's cabin. Uniesse (Hall/Stand 6/D 11) is showing two hardtop opens, the 54 Sport and the Uniesse 58.

Pershing (Hall/Stand 6/E 23) is giving its German debut to the Pershing 56, an elegant silver arrow with Arneson surface drives for extreme speed. Based on the hull of the Neptunus 55, the new Neptunus 58 (Hall/Stand 15/B 56) has an aft tender garage. The Princess V65 (Hall/Stand 6/E 41) is making its German debut. Its slender, deep-V hull promises outstanding performance properties. The 72 Predator, making its German debut at Sunseeker (Hall/Stand 6/D 61), displays on the outside the power it has inside. The interior is flooded with natural light and is luxuriously equipped down to the last detail.

Flybridge models with a second helm and exterior seating high up on the saloon roof have a proven reputation.

Measuring only 8.60m in length, the Antares 8.8 from Bénéteau (Hall/Stand 12/D 22) is one of the most compact flybridge yachts around, a little space wonder that even boasts a walkaround with wide gangboards. The R1040 and R1170 from Rodman (Hall/Stand 15/A 26) are designed primarily for anglers and offshore fishing. Jeanneau (Hall/Stand 15/B 26) is giving its German debut to the Vittorio Garron-designed Prestige 42 Fly. The Nordwest 420 (Hall/Stand 15/ D 58) is available either with sporty Volvo Penta IPS or conventional drives. Its exterior lines by designer Benny Martinson betray a preference for curves over angular features.

At Carver Italia (Hall/Stand 6/D 62) the innovation for 2006 is the Carver 43 with large windows providing a well-lit interior. Ferretti (Hall/Stand 6/E 23) is showing off two German premieres, the Ferretti 550 and the Altura 690, a new type of boat occupying the niche between conventional flybridges and displacement or semiplaning boats in explorer look. The result is an exceptionally luxurious motor yacht. Its design with a lowered saloon allows an equally lowered flybridge which blends subtly and harmoniously into the boat's lines.

The German debutante Fairline 66 (Hall/Stand 6/ E 61) is based on the Squadron 74 - enhanced with new and refined details. For example, the saloon blends seamlessly into the wheelhouse. Lath-like blinds between the helm position and dining area and also between the galley and the round sofa arrangement provide for visual privacy without unduly impairing the overall spaciousness of the interior. Everything is nicely integrated, including a generous walk-around galley. Also new in the flybridge class: Uniesse 70 (Hall/Stand 6/D 11) and Sanlorenzo 88 (Hall/Stand 6/D 56) with a hardtop over the flybridge.

Due to their weight, steel yachts run at low displacement speeds. That's why they are popular with motorboat drivers on inland waterways governed by speed limits. They usually offer a guest cabin and dining station in the forward section, a saloon with interior helm position raised above the machine room amidships, and the owner's stateroom below and outside helm above in the aft section.

Making its world debut, the Hanseatic 380 GT is the first representative of a new series of 8 to 13 metre long craft built by Müritz-Yacht-Management (Hall/Stand 15/ A 21) in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to designs by Steffen Schneider. Aquanaut (Hall/Stand 15/ B 58) is presenting two new yachts, the Drifter 1250 AK and the particularly curvaceous Privilege 1350 Pilot House. The Smelne Vlet 1275 (Hall/Stand 15/D 26), making its world debut, is noticeable for its sharp bow. It offers an air conditioner and washing machine/drier as standard - not a given in this boat category.

Trawlers are mainly designed for unhurried open sea trips. And they are becoming increasingly popular, enjoying a renaissance after their heyday in the 1970s.

Grand Banks is presenting a European premiere, the 44 Heritage Europa, designed by New York-based Sparkman & Stephens. Below deck there are two cabins with heads for the owners and their guests, while the saloon, galley and internal helm are arranged at deck level. On show at Kremer Nautic (Hall/Stand 15/ F 55). On the Nordhavn 40 (Hall/Stand 12/D 66), making its first appearance in Germany, wheelhouse and saloon merge almost seamlessly with the galley. For the night, there are two cabins for the owners and their guests.

The Adagio, created by American designer Douglas Sharp, was built to specifications of the exhibitor Koejac (Hall/Stand 15/ A 25) in accordance with European standards and requirements. Draught and height above waterline were reduced to allow travel on French canals without contact with any obstacles either above or below the waterline. On show for the first time in Germany and in any exhibition hall is the Farmont 70 (Hall/Stand 6/A 10). The design of this three-decker with offset levels is the brainchild of US American Kevin Kerwin, with Munich-based Joachim Kinder responsible for the interior design. In the huge wheelhouse is a seating arrangement, with further seats in the saloon one deck down. The galley opening into the saloon also offers plenty of room. The forward section has two separate cabins to sleep four, with a pipe berth in the corridor providing room for a slim fifth.

Superyacht business is booming worldwide, with around 250 motor yachts over 24m in length being built each year.

At 35m, the Elegance 115 from Drettmann (Hall/Stand 6/D 27) is the second largest superyacht on display at boot. Its flybridge with external control position is truly huge. On the tween-deck is the internal control position with observation sofa, and arranged on the main deck are the owner's split-level stateroom, the saloon, the dining area and the galley. A level further down and we find four guest cabins for eight people forward, and the tender garage in the stern, plus exemplary crew quarters with two cabins and a separate galley.

Measuring 40.50m in length, the Catwalk - a GRP-hulled semi-planer from the KaiserWerft yard (Hall/Stand 6/E 27) - is capable of speeds of up to 19 kn. It is the biggest yacht ever to stand in an exhibition hall anywhere in the world. From the cockpit astern, an illuminated walkway, the eponymous catwalk, extends through the saloon right up to the dining area. In the saloon with its high window frontage, the walls extend to up to 3m in height. The dining area is located further forward and imperiously raised on to a mezzanine-like tween-deck with a 270° panoramic view, the Conversation Lounge. Up to 12 guests can spend the night in 6 suites, and the 7-man crew is allocated 4 cabins. The penthouse in the Skylounge on the upper deck also doubles as a discotheque. Responsible for the exterior design were Christian Bolinger and Clemens Dransfeld, with the interior being penned by Birgit Schnaase.

Source: Messe Düsseldorf