The Miami Boat Show gets underway this week (February 15-19) and as always there’s a bevvy of brilliant new boats to admire. We pick out 9 of the very best…
One of the biggest events in the American boating calendar, the Miami Boat Show returns this week (February 15-19).
With hundreds of boats on display, there’s far too much to see in one day at this sprawling, multi-site festival of boating brilliance.
We’d always recommend staying for a couple of days, but that’s not always feasible, so we’ve distilled down the exhibitor list into what we think are the must-see boats at Miami 2023.
Best new boats at the 2023 Miami Boat Show
The 52’s next-generation design makes for a great looking boat
Absolute 52 Fly
Making its world premiere at Miami 2023, the new Absolute 52 Fly appears to adhere very closely to the dynamic blueprint laid down by the latest generation Absolute 56 and Absolute 60. Externally, it features the same oversized hull windows, cutaway bulwarks, glass aft balustrades and floor-to-ceiling main deck glazing.
It also uses the same extended aft cockpit and vertical transom to push the party zone as far back as possible, as well as three-piece sliding patio doors to open up the internal saloon.
It’s clear then that wide open decks, natural light and vast unobstructed sea views remain at the very heart of the Absolute 52’s ethos.
Read more about the Absolute 52 Fly
Article continues below…
Haulover Inlet: These videos show how Miami’s notorious spot earned its reputation
Cruising the Great Loop: From Miami to Savannah in a Princess V48
The Fairline F33 Outboard topped out at 45 knots on test
Fairline F//Line 33 Outboard
The muscle-boat appeal of Fairline’s entry-level model should play well at the Miami Boat Show. We tested this outboard-powered version back in 2021 and Jack Haines described that the F//Line 33 as “joyously swift” when powered by twin 350hp Mercury Verados.
“The hull has lost none of its ride comfort or tenacity in the transition from inboards to outboards, either,” he added. “There isn’t quite as much heel or grip compared to the super-slippery sterndrive legs but it’s still an absolute hoot in the turns and so composed during landings.”
Fairline has since upgraded the F//Line 33 to add an extended bathing platform that wraps around the upgraded twin 400hp Merc outboards, giving much better access to the water at anchor (not to mention an extra 100hp on tap!)
Read more about the Fairline F//LINE 33 Outboard
A strip of glass runs all the way from the bow to the stern, including the folding aft terraces
Galeon 560 Fly
Originally slated for a Düsseldorf debut last month, the glassy new Galeon 560 Fly will be making its first public appearance at Miami instead.
This all-new Tony Castro-designed boat replaces the outgoing Galeon 550 Fly and like its predecessor, it features a raft of striking new innovations.
Foremost among these are glass inserts in the folding bulwarks/side terraces that not only give guests a better view out from the cockpit and saloon when raised, but also allow you to stand or sit on the reinforced glass looking directly down at the water when lowered.
Read more about the Galeon 560 Fly
Hylas M49
Spare a thought for the folks at Hylas Yachts in Taiwan. Back in 2020, the builder was all set to ship the first of its lovely, New England Down East-style Hylas M49 cruisers to the US to show-off to potential customers. Then Covid19 roared into town, boat show plans were scrapped, and the launch was put on indefinite hold.
Now, after two long years, the original design by New Zealand boat builder and naval architect Salthouse, has been primped and preened, and the salty-looking M49 is ready for its Miami Boat Show coming-out party.
With classic, lobster boat-style lines, this rugged 49-footer will go head-to-head with offerings from established players like Hinckley, Hunt, Sabre, Grand Banks and Legacy for a slice of the lucrative Down East coupe market.
Leopard 40 Powercat
Cape Town-based Leopard Catamarans is expanding its oh-so-popular powercat line-up, currently comprising the flagship 53PC and Leopard 46PC. But instead of going large, it’s introducing a brand new 40-footer, the Leopard 40 Powercat, that’s getting its global debut at the 2023 Miami Boat Show.
Seems shrinking the cat isn’t such an easy task. Designer Alex Simonis, of Simonis Voogd Design says creating the 40PC was his studio’s “biggest challenge”. All the weight that goes into a top-heavy, family-friendly, three-cabin cruiser tends to mess with the trim, balance and general seakeeping when you make the hulls shorter.
But a 28ft 8in (6.6m) beam does help with stability, as does a whole bunch of design time spent with Computational Fluid Dynamics software. And stability is pretty key when you’re building the Leopard 40 Powercat for The Moorings’ charter fleet under the name Moorings 403PC.
Read more about the Leopard 40 Powercat
Scout 67 LX
South Carolina-based Scout Boats is equipping its brand new flagship Scout 67 LX with a quintet of Mercury V12 Verados packing 600hp apiece to deliver a nice, round 3,000 horseys. No wonder Scout’s internal reference to this speed demon was “Project Everest”.
This needle-nosed center console with its mile-long foredeck, is off the computer screen of Britain’s Harrison Eidsgaard design studio, best know for its work on everything from superyachts to Boeing business jets.
With a smooth-riding, stepped-V design evolved from Scout’s 53-foot 530 LXF’s, the hull is molded from epoxy-infused carbon fiber and e-glass to create one of the stiffest forms in the business.
Read more about the Scout 67 LX
Sunseeker Superhawk 55
Fresh from its global debut at the 2023 Boot Düsseldorf Show in Germany, the Superhawk 55 has hotfooted across the Atlantic to make its US premiere.
Hailed by MBY editor Hugo Andreae as the most exciting Sunseeker of the decade, this super-sleek design is sure to turn heads, even among some pretty glamorous company.
The yard is proclaiming two key firsts for the Superhawk 55: this is the first Sunseeker with (non-structural) 3D printed parts and the first Sunseeker with a slanted hull (it drops by 130mm from stern to bow to help cut through waves).
Read more about the Sunseeker Superhawk 55
Tiara EX 60
Michigan-based Tiara Yachts’ classy new Tiara EX 60 flagship will be one of the showstoppers at this year’s Miami Boat Show. No question. With this gleaming hull No. 1 recently fresh out of the factory, you might have expected Tiara to wrap it in cotton wool and truck it, very carefully, the 1,424 miles from company HQ to Miami.
That would have been way too easy. Instead, Tiara decided to give its gleaming new 60-footer a proper shake-down cruise. It took it on a near 2,000-mile adventure across Lake Michigan to Chicago, down the muddy Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, across Lake Okeechobee and down to Miami. Most of it at full throttle.
A perfect test then for Tiara’s biggest, most-luxurious, and at $3.7 million, the most expensive model to date
Read more about the Tiara EX 60
Voltari 260 Electric
Typically, the brand new Voltari 260 electric boat is all about going fast. With its high-torque 740hp electric motor juiced by a 142kWh bank of lithium-ion Evereadys, it can slice and dice the waves at an impressive 52 knots.
But when there’s a world record to be broken, it’s worth a compromise or two. So, to claim the gong for covering the longest overseas distance in an electric “vehicle” on a single charge, the Voltari streaked along at a heady… 4.3 knots.
That meant covering the 91-miles between Key Largo, Florida, across the often-boisterous Gulf Stream, to Bimini in the Bahamas in what must have seemed an endless 20 hours. But it got the job done, and on a single charge.
