DELPHIA 10 SEDAN

If you're happy to trade speed for serenity, Delphia has something that's likely to appeal

- Alex Smith

What is the point of speed? It can be quite a disarming question for a powerboater but it's one that needs asking. After all, while speed can save time and provide a bit of sporting exhilaration, even those of us with fast planing boats tend to cruise at moderate speeds to save fuel, and the market increasingly reflects that. The continued boom in trawler yachts and sedate but spacious cruising cats suggests that the public sees more value in simply being afloat with friends in sustainable comfort than in charging to the next anchorage at 40 knots. And that's exactly where a boat like Delphia's new 10 Sedan is likely to find its fan base.

Sitting alongside Dutch barges, steel narrowboats and diminutive fibreglass day cruisers at a picturesque pontoon in the Thames and Kennet Marina, it looks nothing like your average inland cruiser. With its low-profile roofline, its inverted screen, its raised hull sides and its tinted glazing, it's far more dynamic than that. You might even say it has the look of a fourseason adventure boat from the likes of Quarken or Wellcraft but there are, of course, some key differences here.

The hull is designed for displacement and the Delphia takes full advantage of that with all kinds of volume, particularly in the forward quarters. The absence of outboard engines also creates a full-beam swim platform aft of the cockpit. And if you look beneath the saloon deck, you'll find that the test boat's engine option is in fact a single Yanmar 110hp diesel. You can opt instead for a 45hp or 75hp diesel or you can go full electric, but here, with the juiciest powerplant, we have about 9 knots to play with- and we're going to play with them right now...

OUT AND ABOUT