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Any skipper worth his salt knows there’s always more to learn about boating. I was reminded of that while walking the docks at Bahia Mar in Fort Lauderdale. It had been a long day at a major boat show, and with 20,000 steps logged on my Apple watch, I was ready to call it quits and cast off from the show via Uber. But then, as I was making a beeline for the exit, the seductive sheerline of an unfamiliar boat caught my eye. So, I abandoned course and took a sharp turn to port to check out this stranger. The 37 Tournament Edition by Onslow Bay Boatworks was over in a corner of the show, in one of those spots that’s not ideal if you want to attract attention,…
Eric Brown was aboard the 130-foot Argo, wrapping up for the night along with the rest of the crew, when Manu San Félix asked to have a word. “It was a classic day,” Brown told Soundings. “But when we came back that night, Manu came up to me—I’m the coral reef scientist on board the boat—and he says, ‘Eric, I found something here.’” Both men are part of the National Geographic Society’s Pristine Seas project, which is exploring the tropical Pacific to improve conservation efforts. The Argo is like a modern-day version of Jacques Cousteau’s Calypso, trying to get to places that human beings rarely, if ever, go. San Félix is a marine biologist and underwater image director. He’d been capturing photos and video all day, and had noticed a…
Think electric boat and odds are you’ll envision a catamaran covered stem to stern with solar panels, or a boat flying on foils. But the Sialia 57 Deep Silence doesn’t fit those descriptions. It looks more like a sleek Northern European weekend yacht, and it’s propelled by electric motors, batteries and a range extender. “We wanted a boat that goes fast and far on batteries. The idea is not to get compared to a normal electric boat, but to get compared to a boat, full stop,” says Sialia co-founder Tomasz Gackoski, an aerospace engineer. “It’s an electric boat with no compromises.” The two-stateroom 57 has all the bells and whistles you’d expect on any internal combustion-powered luxury yacht. The boat is the brainchild of Polish entrepreneur and Sialia CEO Stanislav…
In an age of electronic helms, joysticks, bow thrusters and automatic docking systems, it’s important to remember that not all boats have these modern systems. In fact, many don’t. Go to any boat show or walk the dock in most local marinas and you’ll see a lot of modest boats powered by single outboards. Some of these vessels are new, and yet they’re not packaged with that equipment because it can drive up the purchase price. As for used boats, many don’t have these systems because some of the technology wasn’t available until a few short years ago. Almost everywhere I go I see many recreational boats powered by one outboard, simply because that’s a popular entry-level package. For many seasoned boaters, a big single is preferred because of the…
LOA: 34’3” Beam: 10’4” Draft: 2’1” Weight (dry): 11,302 lbs. Fuel: 285 gals. Water: 30 gals. Power: (2) 300- or 400-hp Mercury outboards Boston Whaler introduced the Vantage line in 2013 and has been releasing new and updated Vantage models ever since. Its latest addition to the series, the 330, was revealed at the 2024 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show as the line’s new flagship. Fabrizio DeLuca from parent company Brunswick’s Tech Center in Everglades, Florida, was aboard to show me around. DeLuca, the lead designer for the 330, said the boat is a refresh of the Vantage 320, which was introduced in 2015. “We wanted to implement the new styling from the [two most recent] Vantages, and to add more features that were requested by the customers and the…
LOA: 29’11” Beam: 8’6” Draft (motor up): 1’7” Displ.: 7,310 lbs. Fuel: 90 gals. Water: 14 gals. Power: (1) 300-hp Mercury At last fall’s Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, Sea Ray Boats unveiled two new models in its SDX line, the 2025 SDX 270 Outboard and 250 Outboard. Part of Sea Ray’s massive mandate to update the entire SDX series, which ranges from 25 to 30 feet, these two outboard-powered deck boats feature all-new designs. “Sea Ray’s next-gen SDX line was introduced in January 2024 with the launch of the SDX 270 Surf and SDX 270 sterndrive models. Throughout this year, we have expanded the series’ offerings to the SDX 250 available in surf, sterndrive and outboard propulsion, and the SDX 270 Outboard. Improvements from the previous SDX design include…
