Looking for something tough, fun and different? Alex Smith meets Britain’s first ever Ockelbo, the Ockelbo B25 Cabin
Aluminium seems to have been gaining traction in the UK of late and it’s thoroughly deserved. It’s tough, lightweight and highly effective when it comes to absorbing the mild impacts novice boating tends to involve.
It’s also corrosion-resistant, simple to fix and fully recyclable at end of life. And if you enjoy a rugged SUV aesthetic, you might even argue that its unaffected honesty puts stylistic appeal firmly in its wheelhouse too. Small wonder then that in recent years, we’ve seen established players like XO, Buster and Highfield joined by a range of new models from the likes of Arksen, Archipelago, Aquaspirit and Viggo.
With their famous appetite for effectiveness over glitz, it is of course the Nordic countries that have made most of the running in this sector – and with the arrival of the first Ockelbo on British shores, it seems they’re at it again.
Ockelbo comes from established Swedish aluminium sportsboat specialist, Anytec. In fact, it uses exactly the same combination of Swedish design and Latvian construction, but while Anytec boats tend to adopt a very slick, high-performance approach, this new 25ft flagship looks happy to trade a little bit of dynamism for some extra multi-purpose, four-season versatility.
The management of the beam is a good example of that. At 8ft 4in, it’s designed to provide the ideal balance between internal volume and easy trailering, so it’s good to see that a pair of narrow raised side decks enables the internal space to enjoy the lion’s share of that breadth.
While Ockelbo is new to UK shores, parent company, Anytec, can trace its roots right back to the 1960s
With cabin doors fore and aft, these side decks are as much for accessing the roof space as anything else – and given the fact that you can stow a load of gear up on the roof rack, that makes good sense. But the deck spaces both in the bow and the aft cockpit are really deep and secure.
And in contrast to the hybrid aluminium/GRP construction of some rivals, this entire boat (hull, deck and superstructure) is built solely from aluminium – 4mm in the topsides, 5mm in the hull and 6mm in the keel.
Chuck in a purposeful reverse screen and welds that are left uncovered by vinyl wraps and you’re left in no doubt what this boat is about.
When rigged, the bed measures an impressive 7ft by 4ft 9in
A trio of day spaces
The aft cockpit uses a pair of seat boxes and a swing-up table ahead of a 300hp outboard flanked by handy swim platforms. The 300hp unit should be enough to push this boat toward the mid-40s, but with a transom rating of 425hp, speeds in the mid-50s are also apparently on the cards.
Up at the bow, the test boat provides another three facing seat pods with plenty of safe embarkation points and a fat gunwale-top D-ring so you can chain it to the pontoon at a bow-to berth. But you can upgrade the sociability of this space with a full convertible U-shaped dining station big enough for six.
Fabric linings both inside and outside the storage spaces help keep the noise at bay
Either way, the fact that you get a set of scuppers big enough to discharge a bath tub in two seconds flat is very reassuring. And the roof space is engineered to accommodate a roof rack or even a Thule Roof Tent for sleeping up top if you enjoy a spot of adventure.
As for the pilothouse itself, that’s also much more enjoyable than you might expect. Headroom is great, the bonded windows deliver outstanding views all-round and you get a pair of sunroofs as standard. The furniture is cleverly arranged too.
The deep safe bow is ripe for some extra seating, infills and tables
Tapering side benches, a pair of optional lift-up seats aft and rotating helm seats enable you to seat up to eight people in here. You can also convert this furniture into a really generous bed measuring 7ft by 4ft 9in.
For many people, a loo is also critical on a multi-purpose family boat and that’s well catered for too. You can either spec a basic loo beneath the access step to the pilothouse for £3,400; or for an extra £3,000, you can opt for a full heads compartment with sink and black water tank at the starboard quarter, with access from the cockpit. That would be our favoured option but if a wet bar is also vital, you’ll have to supplement the optional cool box with a portable BBQ that attaches to your rails.
In the absence of a wet bar, the fridge option is well worth considering
Fun but refined
Impressive though it is that you can bolt a 425hp outboard to this boat for speeds in the mid 50s, it doesn’t make sense to us. It adds weight to the transom, money to the asking price and fuel costs to the ownership experience. And this is a lightfooted 1,800kg aluminium sportsboat with a relatively shallow hull, so even with the 300 you see here, there’s plenty of fun to be had.
It leaps onto the plane with all the vigour you could want, enabling you to dismiss the hump with nothing more than a brisk little blip on the throttle. You can then push through to 44 knots with very little fuss and, as long as you’re happy to give the boat a bit of input from the helm, the handling dexterity is excellent too.
You can drop the test boat’s sociable dinette layout and opt for individual bucket seats instead
Working the leg angle brings big dividends in terms of pace, ride and efficiency. And it enables you to really dig the hull in through some chop on the bow or through a hard-carved turn, which is really good fun. Ultimately, it can’t boast quite the grip or grunt of a boat like the XO DFNDR 8, nor quite the maturity or sophistication of the DFNDR 9.
But in its eagerness to leap to attention and please the keen skipper, the fact that it offers the same general order of driving experience is very welcome indeed.
It’s a really quiet boat, too, particularly by the standards of aluminium. The bulkheads, like the storage spaces, are lined with noise-damping fabrics and, when the various doors and hatches are shut, that pegs the decibel readings back to the high 70s, even at the very top end. The big views, the bright natural light, the voluminous cabin and the impact-mitigation seats all collaborate in that to deliver a drive far more refined than you might anticipate from its tough looks.
Headroom is great – the bonded windows deliver outstanding views all-round
That said, one thing that does limit the joy of the drive is the design of the test boat’s doors. The aft door is hinged (rather than sliding) with a magnetic catch, so you can’t leave it open underway. The glazed two-part bow door is also imperfect.
The upper part includes a roof section, which is great for head clearance as you make your way in and out, but the upper part needs to be shut at anything over nine knots, and the lower section can’t be open when the upper part is closed.
As a result, you can’t leave either section open at planing speeds, restricting ventilation to the saloon, and you can’t really use the bow space unless you’re at anchor. It’s good to hear then that a revised design is apparently in process to help remedy the issue.
Tough, spacious, robust and good-looking, this is one of those boats that just makes sense
Ockelbo B25 Cabin specifications:
LOA: 25ft 11in (7.90m)
BEAM: 8ft 4in (2.55m)
DRAFT: 1ft 4in (0.40m)
DISPLACEMENT: 1,805kg (light)
FUEL CAPACITY: 300L
WATER CAPACITY: NA
ENGINES: 250-425hp outboard
CONTACT: ockelboboats.se
Ockelbo B25 Cabin costs & options
Price: from £106,200 ex VAT.
Test boat includes the following options…
Mercury Verado 300 V8 upgrade: £3,000
Twin suspension seats: £3,100
Uprated equipment package: £11,900
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Verdict
This is one of those boats that just makes sense. Tough, spacious, robustly built, highly practical, well-priced, spacious, good looking and enjoyable to drive, it’s a really effective platform for mixed family recreation. But to really enjoy it to the utmost, you do have to spec it up. In particular, we would consider a roof rack for your toys, an aft heads compartment, some uprated seating in the bow, some side windows, a fridge and a portable BBQ to compensate for the lack of a wet bar option. But in stark contrast to the broader marine market, Ockelbo’s options list looks remarkably affordable; and if you pair these pursuit-specific upgrades with a revised set of doors, the Ockelbo flagship begins to look like a genuinely convincing solution for the year-round family boater.
