This was the boat I was more curious about on the Dusseldorf boat show for several reasons, one of them to know if Delphia, now the owner of Maxi, had managed to bring the price down on the Swedish boats known by their quality and also by their high price and the answer to that is YES, a big one, at least in what regards the introductory price on the Dusseldorf boat show, that I don't believe it will last.
They were offering a very well standard equipped boat with an introduction package that includes equipment like webasto heating, 2 electric 50 winches, Gas detector and inverter, as well as several other equipment that will make it a well equipped sail way boat for 170 000 Euros (excluding VAT)!!!! The "normal" price of the boat equipped this way would be 198 000 Euros, a price that does not look excessive to me.
Has the quality been affected? In what regards building I don't think so, in what regards the interior it looks a bit less luxurious than an "older" Maxi but the quality is certainly above average with very nice detail designs. I cannot say that I like very much the interior design in what regards small details and mostly in what regards the wood color combination with the fabric of the cushions, but for that price I could live with it. The wood is too dark and the wood implementations too heavy (for instance on that massif saloon table) for the light cabinet style. However the boat has some great details like the smoke extractor with illumination that extends over the oven with a touch on a button or the rotating seat that provides a very good and comfortable navigation station without "spoiling" the nice saloon area.
Has the quality been affected? In what regards building I don't think so, in what regards the interior it looks a bit less luxurious than an "older" Maxi but the quality is certainly above average with very nice detail designs. I cannot say that I like very much the interior design in what regards small details and mostly in what regards the wood color combination with the fabric of the cushions, but for that price I could live with it. The wood is too dark and the wood implementations too heavy (for instance on that massif saloon table) for the light cabinet style. However the boat has some great details like the smoke extractor with illumination that extends over the oven with a touch on a button or the rotating seat that provides a very good and comfortable navigation station without "spoiling" the nice saloon area.
Regarding sailing hardware everything is of great quality and I (and many for what seems to me) just complain about the lack of a traveler even if the way the main sheet is brought to the center of the boat to a powerful winch at very easy reach of the helm's man can contribute to a good control. The truth is that this is a modern tendency and boats like Swan and XP yachts come now without a traveler. I don't like it but it seems to work relatively well even in performance cruisers.
The hull looks as nice as it looked on the renderings, the storage on the three cabin version (that I saw) is a bit short for extended cruising but it will be certainly more than enough on the 2 cabin version and more details have come out in what regards the boat structure that is outstanding with a big carbon beam as central frame (that will reach the rudder that goes through it), carbon reinforcements on the bow area (carbon bowsprit) and on the link between the chainplates and the main carbon beam. Over that a more conventional structural grid distributes the efforts and takes the furniture over it. The hull is made using Vinylester resins and it is cored using PVC as core.
The stability curve and the Polar speeds confirm what I have said previously, a very fast boat, specially with light winds, sailing faster than the wind till about 6,5K wind. Regarding planning the narrow hull does not allow planning without very high wind speeds (less than 10k with 20k wind) but will certainly provide a very good upwind performance. It will be a boat that with 8k wind will sail over 7k and that on most conditions it will sail between 7 and 8.5K and that will allow for very good average speeds.
The stability curve shows a stiff boat with particularly good reserve stability with a high AVS (near 130º) and a very small inverted stability in comparison with the positive one. Regarding the outstanding reserve stability it suffices to say that the boat is making as much force to right itself up at 90º as the force it is opposing to the wind when it is sailing with 25º of heel, that as you can imagine, is a very big one.
A great boat, very well built, very seaworthy, fast at an incredible introductory price. If I was looking for a boat I would not let pass this one and I could live with the high quality interior, even if some of the design integration pisses me off. A true sailors boat that I don't believe will be a big success since the narrow hull provides a comfortable interior but a small one for a 40ft and it seems to me that will not please the wives that look mostly to that part of the boat and have a decisive say on the choosing of the boat.
No comments:
Post a Comment