We pick 4 of the best all-weather motor yachts on the market right now. These highly flexible boats will allow you to extend you summer boating
When I was a small boy, my grandfather explained to me that, as you get older, so time speeds up and the years become shorter. He explained why – it’s because when you are five years old, a year is 20% of your life, but when you’re 50 it’s only two percent. And, as with most things, he has been proven absolutely correct.
When you’re five, something happening the following year is so far over the horizon that it doesn’t merit a single thought. When you’re 50, you’re eyeing up a five-year extended warranty and wondering whether it’s enough.
However, the thing that’s never been explained is the elasticity across 12 months – why summers seem to flash past and the September boat shows are taking place again, but the winter seems to take a millennium – two millennia if you’re a boater. That’s why we always find ourselves perusing all-weather boats at this time of year. So we’ve scoured the market to bring you these four highly flexible vessels…
Hardy Mariner 25
Built: 2001 Price: £39,950
Hardy is far from alone in this (see Sunseeker, Fairline and Princess for full details), but if you want to see how the boating landscape has changed in the last 50 years, compare the current line up with what a builder was making in the 1970s and 1980s. Today the Hardy range starts at 45ft and extends to 65ft – a far cry from the 18 Navigators, 20 Pilots, 22 Fishing Pilots and 24 Fast Fishers of the past.
You can’t blame them. It’s simply where the market seems to have gone, with mass-produced Merry Fishers now filling in the blanks at the bottom end. But in amongst those smaller models, the Hardy Mariner 26, was a fine looking compact motorboat.
With the most popular Yanmar 230hp diesel on a straight shaft, this is a 20+ knot boat
Interior
The 25 was made before yards started designing boats from the inside out, so the interior is fairly compact, but very practical and extremely solid. There’s a converting dinette forward with the galley behind it and a heads opposite. There’s also a quarter berth that runs aft of the galley to starboard, giving a third berth or very useful extra storage. The wheelhouse is also compact but very adaptable. A sliding roof and opening rear doors allow the two occupants as much fresh air as they’d like, or you can close it up and crank up the diesel heating on colder days.
Exterior
The traditional deep blue hull band and rope fendering are present and correct, however this boat is just a little sleeker and more modern than the traditional Hardy boats of this era. Again, majoring on practicality, the side decks are wide and deeply bulwarked and the cockpit is deep and feels secure.
Performance
A 170hp Yanmar diesel was available but unless the boat was to be based inland, most buyers opted for the larger 230hp Yanmar fitted to this boat. That brings you 20+ knots and a comfortable 16-knot cruise.
It’s compact and practical rather than spacious or plush but you still get three berths
Seakeeping
Although it uses a semi-displacement hull with a long shallow keel, the Mariner 26 will get up and go. Straight shaft drive keeps the mechanicals simple and a bow thruster helps with the deficit in manoeuvrability that is inevitable with this set up.
Hardy Mariner 25 specifications
Length: 25ft 0in (7.6m)
Beam: 9ft 7in (2.9m)
Draft: 2ft 0in (0.6m)
Displacement: 4 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 219 litres
Engine: Yanmar 4LM-STE 230hp diesel engine
For Sale: Parkstone Bay Yachts
Botnia Targa 30.1
Built: 2023 Price: £275,000
Launched in 2016, the 30.1 is often regarded as the first of the bigger Targas in a fleet that stretches from 23ft to 46ft. That’s because it’s the smallest model that is most commonly specced with twin engines and the smallest with a cabin at each end.
With its sheltered wheelhouse, it’s more a four-season commuter than an outright cruiser
Interior
Referred to in Finland as a ‘fast commuter’, it’s a boat designed to get you from point to point at high speed in all weathers. Because of that, the combined wheelhouse and saloon in the centre of the boat is clearly the focal point.
It’s accessed by sliding doors on both sides and if you enter via the starboard one, you’ll find yourself at a simple and well laid-out helm that features the clever trick of being able to adjust easily to a seated or standing position by dint of a rotating section that includes the wheel and throttles.
The tiny galley on the starboard side does, however, underpin the commuter vibe of this boat. This isn’t a model that majors on cruising, but the forward vee berths and double and single berths in a separate aft cabin mean you could spend a comfortable few days on board.
Exterior
Thanks to its walkaround design, this boat makes moving around exceptionally easy. And while the main outdoor living space is the bow cockpit, most Targa 30.1s also got a small flybridge built into the trailing edge of the saloon roof. That said, the sleeker flat-topped roof that you see here was also available.
Performance
Initially, twin Volvo Penta D4 diesel engines or a single D6 were the options, but with the rise in popularity of outboard engines, Targa started offering these in 2023. Twin Mercury Verado 300hp outboards give near-silent low-speed running combined with over 40 knots at the top end.
A rotating barrel puts the wheel and throttle exactly where you want them
Seakeeping
Seakeeping is what these boats are all about, the deep-vee planing hull slicing through big seas, leaving curtains of water hanging in the air on either side as it blasts through.
Botnia Targa 30.1 specifications
Length: 33ft 1in (10.1m)
Beam: 10ft 7in (3.3m)
Draft: 3ft 6in (1.1m)
Displacement: 6 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 600 litres
Engines: Twin Mercury Verado 300hp outboard engines
For Sale: Wessex Marine
Seaward 35
Built: 2011 Price: £199,950
When we think of all-weather boats, we think of internal helms and central heating. But it’s not just colder in winter, it’s often windier and rougher. And when year-round commercial operators like pilots, harbour patrols and customs officers choose their boats, most of them go for Nelson semi-displacement hulls. So when Seaward was formed in 1980 in Guernsey, where seakeeping is particularly important, it based its models squarely on Nelson hulls.
Damped seats and solid oak joinery feel almost as purposeful as the Nelson-derived hull
Interior
You’ll have noticed how boats are getting higher and fatter to gain more internal volume. That’s not an option with a Nelson hull. It is what it is and you build whatever you can fit inside it. Which is why this boat feels a little tighter than a typical modern 35-footer.
Fitted out in beautifully solid oak joinery, the deck saloon is dominated by a pair of KAB suspension seats, one at the helm and one adjacent, and there’s a couple of settees behind them, next to a drop-leaf table. Head down to the lower deck and there’s a dinette opposite the galley and a vee berth in the forward cabin.
Exterior
This is a highly professional-looking machine with its low-profile, dark blue hull and porthole-style windows. And that impression continues when you get up close and spot the thick D-section black fendering, the Treadmaster non-slip decking and the pilot rail that encircles the deck saloon and coachroof. It gives you a sturdy waist-high inner rail, whenever you step outside of the deep and well protected cockpit.
Performance
Twin Yanmar 6LPA-STP2 diesels live beneath the saloon floor, keeping the centre of gravity forward and firing 315hp apiece down straight shaft drives. Top speed is 25 knots, with a cruising speed of around 20.
There’s a dinette opposite the lower galley, plus a vee berth in the forward cabin
Seakeeping
That Nelson hull is an absolute thoroughbred. There’s a reason why these boats have names like Bruiser and Buster, and it’s all about serious deep-sea wave-busting offshore performance. There are faster boats, but not many of them will maintain their speed like this one when conditions really deteriorate.
Seaward 35 specifications
Length: 37ft 0in (11.3m)
Beam: 11ft 3in (3.4m)
Draft: 3ft 10in (1.2m)
Displacement: 10 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 1,268 litres
Engines: Twin Yanmar 6LPA-STP2 315hp diesel engines
For Sale: Berthon International
Nord Star 28+
Built: 2023 Price: £239,995
BMW, Mercedes and Audi are so focussed on a similar market that no one buys one or the other without checking out all three manufacturers first. And in the boating world, it’s the same with Targa, Sargo and Nord Star. All Finnish built, all high performance walkaround commuters and all aimed at the same buyers.
However just like the cars, while in broad brush strokes, they’re all very similar, up close, they’re all aimed at slightly different buyers. The BMW is for the enthusiast, Mercedes is for those prioritising comfort, and the Audi is aimed squarely at people who want to drive 3ft behind any car that is in the way!
Access to the second cabin is found beneath the portside of the aft dinette
Interior
In the boating Finnish walkaround triumvirate, Nord Star is subtly configured to appeal to those wanting to spend a little more time on board – less the commuter, more the cruiser, and you only have to look at the galley to see the difference. On the Targa 30.1 it’s tucked in the corner of the wheelhouse; on the 28+, it’s a proper dedicated area on the lower deck. There’s a forward cabin with a convertible vee berth ahead of it and a heads opposite. The wheelhouse has two very comfortable captain’s chairs and a U-shaped seating area complete with a table that slides down a pole, but what’s not obvious is that if you lift the portside corner of it, you’ll find steps down to a second double cabin.
Exterior
Of course, as ever with boats, there’s a compromise, and the 28+ misses out on the forward cockpit of some of its competitors. There’s also a single step up on the side decks as you head forward. But the aft cockpit has more seating than some, and breaks in the rails either side of the sliding side doors make close-quarters handling easy.
Performance
A single Volvo Penta D6 340 gives about 34 knots with economical running. There’s a twin outboard option now with 47-knot potential – it’s not quite as economical however!
A dedicated lower galley suggests the Nord Star is designed as a family cruiser
Seakeeping
Like all Finnish commuter-style boats, the 28+ is designed to get there fast and in comfort, whatever the conditions.
Nord Star 28+ specifications
Length: 31ft 2in (9.5m)
Beam: 10ft 2in (3.1m)
Draft: 3ft 7in (1.1m)
Displacement: 5 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 585 litres
Engine: Volvo Penta D6-340 340hp diesel engines
For Sale: MCC Marine
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