Tactical Custom
Boats T40
A new name to the U.S. market, this boat—and builder—was born to attract attention.
I
f you prefer to blend in at the dock,
if you prefer to be left alone in idle
solitude in the back corner of a
harbor, if the thought of people
streaming live videos of you from
their phones while you maneuver into a
tricky slip gives you cold sweat, you do
not want to own the Tactical T40. Where
this boat goes, gawkers, cell phone
paparazzi and full-on blank stares are
sure to follow.
With militaristic lines, a forward
raked windshield, gunmetal gray hull
and matte-black hardtop, it’s more G.I.
Joe than Joe Schmo. Adding to the
overall aesthetic of this warship-turned-
cruiser is a pair of 627-hp Seven Marine
outboards that are likely to scare small
children when they roar to life dockside.While you may have never heard
of Tactical Boats, you may know the
brand’s sister company Crescent Yachts,
the British Columbia-based builder
of high-quality superyachts. Hull No.
1 of the 40, which the team and I had
the opportunity to test in Vancouver, is
owned by a couple that uses it as a ferry
from one adventure to another. Their
float plan includes the Inside Passage
and the Med.
Wherever they decide to go they will
have performance to spare. One of the
first boats to employ Volvo Penta’s new
DuoProp technology on Seven Marine
engines, for an outboard boat it has
truck-tire torque, and on the top end
we saw speeds hovering right around 40
knots. But according to Tactical FounderTim Charles, this craft wasn’t designed
to just be fast, “but to be fast in rough
seas.”
A big factor that allows it to deliver
just that is the choice of seating. Four,
forward-facing Shockwave suspension
seats mitigate any pounding from the
sea. It took some getting used to, to
really settle into them and not fight the
bouncing, which is the natural response.
But when we finally were able to relax
our legs and core and let the shocks do
the work, we could feel how they would
allow an owner to cruise longer and
farther without suffering from the fog of
fatigue.
Another nice touch around the helm
area was that the guests in Shockwave
seats to port have twin MFDs in frontNEW BOATS
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