With their enclosed wheelhouses, safe walkaround decks and facilities for overnighting, this style of craft has become extremely popular with everyone from solo skippers to first-time family buyers and amateur anglers in search of year-round adventures. The only downside of this design is that it creates a lot of windage close to the bow relative to the size and weight of the boat, making the early single-engine shaft-drive boats notoriously tricky to berth.
These days they are almost all fitted with single or twin outboard engines giving better manoeuvrability at slow speeds as well as more performance when cruising, but the issue of a lightweight boat with lots of windage forward still applies when it comes to berthing. The trick is to berth stern-to the elements wherever possible so that the bow is less prone to being blown off course.
The only downside of outboards is that the small propellers used on these fast-revving engines give less thrust at tick-over. This means you need to master the art of adding a puff of revs to give control when manoeuvring, as at tick-over alone there often isn’t enough drive to overcome all that windage. By a puff I mean raising the revs just enough to give the propeller some bite. It may be as little as an extra 100 revs but it can make all the difference.
Denne historien er fra September 2023-utgaven av Motor Boat & Yachting UK.
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Denne historien er fra September 2023-utgaven av Motor Boat & Yachting UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Lofoten or Bust- Part 4- Grandezza owner Per Harrtoft heads back to Sweden after an epic 3500nm adventure deep into the Arctic Circle to visit the mythical Lofoten islands
After ten memorable days in the Lofoten Islands in the far north of Norway, we are on our way back south towards Sweden. We have already made it as far as Trondheim, a charming place even if it was raining so hard we had to cycle round the city centre clutching umbrellas. But now we are back on board Deamare, our Grandezza 40 Fly, eating up the miles at a steady 31 knots.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT YACHT TRANSPORT
As the name suggests it's a means of having your boat moved professionally from one location to another. It might be as simple as hiring someone to tow your RIB a few miles down the road or as complex as shipping a superyacht halfway around the world.
HANDLE A SINGLE SHAFTDRIVE BOAT PART 1
Single shaftdrive boats are relatively rare these days but the reduced costs of buying, servicing and fuelling such a simple but reliable drivetrain does mean they are making a bit of a comeback.
COCKWELLS MOTOR LAUNCH
There can be very few boats that have appeared three times at the Southampton Boat Show and been sold off the stand each time.
INSTALLING AN AUTOPILOT
Rick Channon makes solo boating simple with a Raymarine Evolution Autopilot
GOOD AS NEW
Why fit a brand new engine when Volvo Penta's remanufacturing service can rebuild you an old one to the same standard for a fraction of the price?
BENETEAU SWIFT TRAWLER 54
Alex Smith heads to France's Beneteau HQ for a UK exclusive on what might just be the best Swift Trawler yet
ΧΟ EXPLR 44
Can XO's all-new aluminium flagship really make it big in the Med?
BUYING OUR FIRST CLASSIC
Instead of whiling away their retirement playing bowls, Rob and Shona Adams decided to invest their time and money in a classic Silver gentleman's yacht. Would the gamble pay off?
PRINCESS S65
Torn between the V and F Class flagships? The new S65 might be the boat you've been waiting for...
