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BOAT REVIEWS
Discover New Zealand’s best boats with expert reviews, specs, and local insights—sailboats, powerboats, and yachts covered.
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Smuggler Strata 800SS
New Zealand has led the world in the development of small amphibious recreational boats, and hundred...
Horsepower (HP):
300
Length Over All (M):
8
Riviera 4300 Sports Express
Building large, multimillion-dollar bluewater motoryachts for a global market is a serious business,...
Displacement (M):
15,500
Length Over All (M):
13.88
Viknes 10
Now headed to our shores, is this clever new family cruiser the ultimate all-rounder?
Very few bo...
Displacement (M):
6,300
Length Over All (M):
10.60
Construction:
Fibreglass (GPR)
Prestige M48
Showing your hand too early in poker, or indeed in any emerging market, is a gamble, so the Beneteau...
Displacement (M):
17.5
Length Over All (M):
14.79
Buccaneer 605 Exeed
The 605 Exeed impresses with its quiet, dry, and supremely comfortable ride.
Horsepower (HP):
150-200
Length Over All (M):
6.46
Purekraft Rova 29 Amphibious
The Purekraft Rova 29 Amphibious is an impressive beast however you look at it, whether on the hard ...
Horsepower (HP):
600
Displacement (M):
5000
Length Over All (M):
9.92
Dufour 44: Très Bon
Helming the Dufour 44 during a club race was both exhilarating and surprising, reports our Australia...
Length Over All (M):
13.91
Superbly Senator
Hawkes Bay’s Senator Boats is best known for its range of strong, capable, trailerable aluminium ‘ch...
Horsepower (HP):
90-115hp
Length Over All (M):
3.9
Construction:
5mm bottom, 3mm chambers, 4mm sides & decks, 3/4mm hardtop
Maritimo M50
Maritimo’s new M50 is the result of a lot of intensity, born out of a singular purpose – namely, to ...
Horsepower (HP):
1600
Displacement (M):
26,500 (dry)
Length Over All (M):
15.69
Construction:
Solid GRP hull
Fin Chaser 700HTA
I have always been impressed with the hull performance of FC Boats and a change of name hasn’t alter...
Horsepower (HP):
250/27
Length Over All (M):
9
Catalyst 45 Render
Lloyd Stevenson Boatbuilders’ latest iteration of the popular Catalyst high-performance powercat is ...
Horsepower (HP):
1200
Displacement (M):
7,300 (light)
Length Over All (M):
14.3
Construction:
Carbon/E-glass and epoxy laminates, foam cores
Assault 920 Amphibious
Assault Boats’ new Pursuit 920 Amphibious is a great all-rounder. Suitable for fishing, scuba diving...
Horsepower (HP):
350
Displacement (M):
2,800
Length Over All (M):
8.4
Construction:
GRP hull, Hypalon tubes
Innovision 616 Venture
It is over a decade since we reviewed the first production boat from Innovision, and in many respect...
Horsepower (HP):
200-250
Length Over All (M):
6.27
Construction:
6mm bottom plates, 4mm sides
Rayglass Legend 2700
Rayglass Boats’ new Legend 2700 is the spiritual (and, eventually, literal) successor to the Legend ...
Horsepower (HP):
270-450
Length Over All (M):
8.8
Construction:
Moulded GRP with integrated liner and foam buoyancy
Elliott 1150 Tourer
Denim is a classic Kiwi tale. Start with a solitary man and a dream, pile on the challenges, stir in...
Construction:
Composite
Stabicraft 2050 Frontier Profish
Where this model really excels is fishability.
Horsepower (HP):
150-200
Displacement (M):
875kg (dry, no motor)
Length Over All (M):
6.3
Construction:
Arrow pontoons, wide-body hull
Matera 40 cruising catamaran
This build philosophy—and its practical result—is best shown in the wide, uninterrupted arch of the ...
Horsepower (HP):
40
Displacement (M):
4800 loaded
Length Over All (M):
13.5
Construction:
Carbon fibre, PVC core, West System resins
Elite 13.8m Sedan Kaeā
The vessel will be Wellington-based but is destined to spend much of her cruising life in the Marlbo...
Horsepower (HP):
960hp
Displacement (M):
13,900
Length Over All (M):
13.8
Construction:
Three layers marine ply, glued, vacuum-bagged for the hull; ply, foam, ply sandwich decks
Candela C-8 Hardtop
The Candela C-8 is clearly a much more mature and technologically advanced model than its predecesso...
Horsepower (HP):
45/50kW
Displacement (M):
1850
Length Over All (M):
8.5
Construction:
Vacumm-infused carbon fibre
Dickey Pacific 62
Passage making is about long days at sea, often with swell and waves running at different angles, or...
Horsepower (HP):
300
Displacement (M):
18,000
Length Over All (M):
18.75
Dibley 7.5m Sportsboat
Despite the lack of gennaker it’s still a fun and fantastic ride down the harbour, and reminds me ho...
Construction:
Vacuum-infused
Axopar 29 XC Cross Cabin
The ultimate multi-purpose craft for boaters who demand more from their vessel.
Horsepower (HP):
350
Displacement (M):
3220 (including engine)
Sargo 33
This is a cleverly designed boat with great space for a 33-footer.
Horsepower (HP):
680
Displacement (M):
7400
Length Over All (M):
10.99
Maritimo M600 Black Edition
The Black Edition of Maritimo’s M600 Offshore Flybridge Motor Yacht is no mere badge-engineering sol...
Horsepower (HP):
1600 (std)
Displacement (M):
31,700
Length Over All (M):
17.31
Proline Alloy 1860 HT
Mat says the hull is designed to cater for all, with ease of use being one of the main priorities.
Horsepower (HP):
90-115
Length Over All (M):
5.7
Construction:
5mm hull, 4mm sides & decks
Fi-Glass Viscount
Modern engines are bigger and more efficient. They need bigger platforms to host them. Furthermore, ...
Horsepower (HP):
200-250
Length Over All (M):
6.8
Construction:
Solid GRP, no wood in structure
Morris Metal Products S.J Seahawk
S.J. Seahawk is a development of the 7.6m Eliminator, which Phil and his team built 26 years ago.
Horsepower (HP):
700
Construction:
Aluminium hull, fibreglass decks, carbon fibre superstructure
JP Crafts Code 9.8
This is a beautifully finished boat with an attention to detail that we don’t often see.
Horsepower (HP):
600
Displacement (M):
3100
Length Over All (M):
9.8
Construction:
GRP composite hull, Hypalon tubes, aluminium hardtop
RMX 444
Optimisation can be for either economy or speed and it’s the same for the foil itself, with designs ...
Horsepower (HP):
1200
Displacement (M):
11.5
Length Over All (M):
13.6
Construction:
Fibreglass, foam, carbon fibre
Kiwi-Kraft 780WA
Pontoon alloy boats are seriously good sea handling vessels. I should know, having fished out of man...
Horsepower (HP):
400
Length Over All (M):
7.8
Construction:
6mm hull, 4mm sides, 3mm superstructure
Innovision IV7000 Amphibious
In engineering the IV7000 to amphibious duty, Innovision has hardly compromised its utility for fish...
Horsepower (HP):
300
Length Over All (M):
8.5
Construction:
6mm bottom, 4mm sides and decks
Elite 16m Mid Pilothouse Te Whara V
In another stellar example of a successful collaboration, boatbuilder Lloyd Stevenson and designer B...
Horsepower (HP):
1,100
Displacement (M):
22,500
Length Over All (M):
16
Construction:
End-grain balsa epoxy composite
Radian R27 Nordarc
Overall, this is an impressive boat. The styling is bold and unique and will certainly turn heads. T...
Horsepower (HP):
200hp max
Displacement (M):
1800
Length Over All (M):
6.67
Construction:
5mm bottom, 4mm sides, 3mm superstructure
Omikron OT-60
Stepping on board the yacht, it’s obvious everything centres on cruising in luxury.
Horsepower (HP):
300/500
Displacement (M):
18500
Length Over All (M):
18.41
Riviera 6800 Sport Yacht
The vessel’s low centre of gravity, combined with the Humphree fin stabilisers, gave us a comfortabl...
Horsepower (HP):
2000
Displacement (M):
34,000
Length Over All (M):
22.18
Extreme 795 Game King
Performance-wise, the new 350hp Yamaha, plus the Helm Master EX with bow thruster and Seakeeper Ride...
Horsepower (HP):
350
Length Over All (M):
7.93
Construction:
6mm bottom plates
Beneteau Oceanis 34.1
As you would expect from an experienced design team, the boat is well-balanced and, while the sail a...
Horsepower (HP):
21 (std), 30
Displacement (M):
5,470
Length Over All (M):
10.77
Saffier SE 33 Life
The Saffier SE 33 Life daysailer is a breath of fresh air in the production yacht world, with perfor...
Horsepower (HP):
15
Displacement (M):
3000
Length Over All (M):
11
Rae Line 206
Some boats are good to look at from the outside and some are good to be onboard. Like her sister the...
Horsepower (HP):
200
Displacement (M):
1580
Length Over All (M):
6.45
Construction:
Hand-laid GRP
