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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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Surtees 540 Workmate Hardtop
The Workmate perfectly embodies the Surtees philosophy – a basic, practical boat that gets the avera...
Horsepower (HP):
100
Length Over All (M):
5.4
Construction:
Aluminium
CONSTRUCTION:
Plate aluminium, 5mm bottom
Beneteau GT 40
Beneteau’s latest Sports Cruiser, the GT 40, makes quite a stylish statement. Combining sweeping cur...
Length Over All (M):
12.67
Displacement (M):
7935
Construction:
Fibreglass (GRP)
CONSTRUCTION:
Epoxy-wood composite decks and superstructure
Tristram 641 Offshore
The new 641 Offshore is Tristram Marine’s smallest ‘blue water’ model, pitched very much at the spor...
Horsepower (HP):
225
Length Over All (M):
6.4
Construction:
Fibreglass (GRP)
Buccaneer 630 Enforcer RIB
A new fibreglass trailer boat model from a New Zealand boat builder is always a cause for excitement...
Horsepower (HP):
200
Length Over All (M):
6.39
Construction:
Fibreglass (GRP)
CONSTRUCTION:
GRP RIB with PVC tubes
Admiral 10m Sports Cruiser
For the Admiral’s builders – Hamiltonians Jason McKenzie and Steve Clement – the 10m Sports Cruiser ...
Length Over All (M):
10
Displacement (M):
5.5
Construction:
Composite
CONSTRUCTION:
GRP, foam core
Extreme 795 Walkaround
Whakatane’s Extreme Boats has joined a growing number of NZ boatbuilders producing walkaround models...
Length Over All (M):
7.93
Construction:
Aluminium
CONSTRUCTION:
Plate aluminium, 8mm bottom
Fountaine Pajot Soana 47
All boats – says the old adage – are something of compromise. An inevitable trade-off between great,...
Length Over All (M):
13.94
Displacement (M):
13800
Construction:
Fibreglass (GRP)
Roger Hill 18m Foil-assisted Power Cat
Every new design from catamaran guru Roger Hill contains fascinating innovations. His latest vessel ...
Length Over All (M):
18
Displacement (M):
29500
Construction:
Composite
CONSTRUCTION:
Epoxy composite
Absolute 58 Fly
It’s big, it’s blingy, it’s blue . . . it’s the Absolute 58 Fly. This model from the Italian yard wh...
Length Over All (M):
17.27
Displacement (M):
30000.03
Construction:
Fibreglass (GRP)
Smuggler Strata 580
Smuggler Marine has really found a niche with its Strata range of high-quality, immaculately finishe...
Horsepower (HP):
100
Length Over All (M):
5.8
Construction:
Fibreglass (GRP)
CONSTRUCTION:
GRP RIB with Hypalon tubes
Elite 12.8m
Kooringal is the home of a family beach house on Moreton Island, Queensland, belonging to an Austral...
Length Over All (M):
12.8
Displacement (M):
7800
Construction:
Composite
CONSTRUCTION:
Epoxy-wood composite
Dan Leech L825 Power Cat
A family-friendly power cat cruiser, the Leech 825 was the design of choice for international ocean ...
Length Over All (M):
8.25
Construction:
Composite
Length Over All (M):
6.7
CONSTRUCTION:
E-glass, epoxy and plywood
Dickey 32 Semi-fly
The latest version of the popular Dickey 32 expands its appeal and performance.
Length Over All (M):
10.2
Displacement (M):
5000
Construction:
Aluminium
Length Over All (M):
9.1
CONSTRUCTION:
Interlocking lattice
Corsair Euro 44E
Reviewing a boat on a rough day is a rare experience, but with the photography already in the bag an...
Length Over All (M):
13.5
Displacement (M):
10500
Construction:
Fibreglass (GRP)
BRIG Eagle 10
The BRIG name was born round 25 years ago from the Russian space programme and when the big politica...
Length Over All (M):
9.95
Displacement (M):
3100
Construction:
Fibreglass (GRP)
CONSTRUCTION:
RIB, hypalon tubes
Given E-Cat 11.5m
The time comes for all yachties to slip into something more comfortable, and for the Elliotts, it’s ...
Length Over All (M):
11.5
Displacement (M):
5800
Construction:
Composite
CONSTRUCTION:
Hulls: moulded foam and glass; wingdeck and cabintop: glass-ply-glass sandwich
Surtees 750 Game Fisher sterndrive
It’s been more than 10 years since Surtees Boats last offered an inboard sterndrive option, so Under...
Horsepower (HP):
300
Length Over All (M):
7.5
Construction:
Aluminium
CONSTRUCTION:
Aluminium
Riviera 4800 Sport Yacht
If, as the bumper sticker suggests, the worst day’s boating is better than the best day’s working, s...
Length Over All (M):
15.23
Displacement (M):
15725
Construction:
Fibreglass (GRP)
CONSTRUCTION:
Solid GRP
Monte Carlo 5S
Monte Carlo 5S
There comes a time in every boatie’s life when comfort becomes a priority. And if it...
Length Over All (M):
15.1
Displacement (M):
14360
Construction:
Composite
CONSTRUCTION:
Polyester resin/ fibreglass/balsa core sandwich, structural hull counter-moulding in monolithic laminate
Truekit Explorer and Navigator tenders
“The tender revolution is upon us.” Sounds like a statement from a fascist dictator or advertising e...
Length Over All (M):
3.0
Construction:
Inflatable
Surtees 610 Game Fisher
Launching or retrieving a trailer boat fills many owners – especially new owners – with dread. By fi...
Horsepower (HP):
150
Length Over All (M):
6.1
Construction:
Aluminium
CONSTRUCTION:
Aluminium
Custom Protector 12.5m
This custom Protector 12.5m RIB only just squeaks into her berth at Orams Drystack, but negotiating ...
Length Over All (M):
12.5
Displacement (M):
6500
Construction:
Fibreglass (GRP)
CONSTRUCTION:
RIB
Caribbean 2400 Stern Drive
At 7.2m LOA with a towing weight a touch over three tonnes, the Caribbean 2400 is a serious towing p...
Length Over All (M):
7.8
Construction:
Fibreglass (GRP)
Length Over All (M):
7.2
CONSTRUCTION:
Solid GRP
Astus 16.5m Tri-maran
Easy to tow, simple to rig, quick to launch – topped by a generous splash of adrenalin-inducing perf...
Length Over All (M):
4.94
Construction:
Fibreglass (GRP)
CONSTRUCTION:
Polyester resin
Monterey 196 MS Montura
The Monterey 196 MS (Monterey Sport) Montura is an American sports boat that feels perfectly at home...
Length Over All (M):
5.97
Construction:
Fibreglass (GRP)
CONSTRUCTION:
Solid GRP
Don Senior 17.2m
With her exceptional craftsmanship and modern interior, Wawata is a good example of how a custom-bui...
Length Over All (M):
17.2
Displacement (M):
20000
Construction:
Composite
CONSTRUCTION:
timber and composite
Welsford Navigator
The elegant simplicity of the Navigator design has struck a nerve in a society flooded with high str...
Length Over All (M):
4.5
Displacement (M):
140
Construction:
Wood
CONSTRUCTION:
Plywood planks on frames
Sea Blade 20
It’s been three years in development, but the wait for the 6.35m Sea Blade has definitely been worth...
Horsepower (HP):
225
Length Over All (M):
6.35
Displacement (M):
1250
Construction:
Fibreglass (GRP)
Regal 28 Express
Taupo couple James and Shelly Thomson wanted a boat that would allow them to enjoy Lake Taupo throug...
Length Over All (M):
8.78
Displacement (M):
3440
Construction:
Fibreglass (GRP)
Leech 8m CR
Trailer-sailers tend to fall into one of two camps – cruiser or racer. But occasionally you come acr...
Construction:
Other
Extreme 645 Game King
Bait Balls – a new Extreme 645 Game King equipped as a demonstrator for Josh Western’s marine electr...
Horsepower (HP):
200
Length Over All (M):
6.45
Construction:
Aluminium
CONSTRUCTION:
5mm bottom, 4mm sides and decks
Grady-White Seafarer 228
If there’s one style of boat Americans do better than anyone else, it’s the blue water sports fisher...
Horsepower (HP):
300
Length Over All (M):
6.76
Construction:
Fibreglass (GRP)
Beneteau Swift Trawler 44
Beneteau goes back to its roots with this trawler-style launch, but the Swift Trawler 44 is far from...
Length Over All (M):
13.88
Displacement (M):
10870
Construction:
Composite
CONSTRUCTION:
Polyester resin-fibre glass sandwich with balsa core
Gem 23 class day-sailer
You know something’s up when a hardened petrol-head launching his jet-ski at the boat ramp stops to ...
Length Over All (M):
7.01
Displacement (M):
1100
Construction:
Wood
CONSTRUCTION:
Carvel planked, glassed over
Arvor 755 Weekender
With its Australasian main dealer in Sydney, Brunswick Corporation’s Arvor Boats is a relatively min...
Length Over All (M):
7.76
Displacement (M):
2432
Construction:
Fibreglass (GRP)
Tino 570 HS
There’s nothing quite like the new Tino 570 HS centre-console on the New Zealand market and quite p...
Horsepower (HP):
115
Length Over All (M):
5.73
Construction:
Composite
CONSTRUCTION:
GRP composite bimini and solid-core buoyancy
Fountaine Pajot MY44
Tapping into the growing power cat market, Fountaine Pajot’s new MY44 is destined to become a serio...
Length Over All (M):
13.4
Displacement (M):
22500
Construction:
Fibreglass (GRP)
Lancer RK5000
When Yachting New Zealand began looking for the ‘ultimate support boat’, it turned to Lancer Indust...
Horsepower (HP):
80
Length Over All (M):
5
Construction:
Inflatable
CONSTRUCTION:
Alloy RIB