Motor Boat & Yachting - January 2016 UK

BOAT MASTER NEWTECH

JANUARY 2016 81

AND YOU THOUGHTAND YOU THOUGHT YOUR BOAT WAS SPECIAL YOUR BOAT WAS SPECIAL

The sides slide out, the

sunloungers pop up and

the party platform is ready

What is it?

If there’s a lake on the Death Star then

this is what Darth Vader’s personal

boat must look like. Engineered and

built in Italy by Sea Engineering Group

with interior and exterior design by

Valerio Rivellini, it fuses hints of

WallyPower with shades of stealth

bomber to create a minimalist form

that will turn heads at 100 paces.

What’s it built of?

Composite materials – resin-infused

fibreglass to you and me.

What’ll it do mister?

38 knots apparently, with a cruise

speed of 30 thanks to a pair of Volvo

Penta IPS600 engines.

What’s downstairs?

Fairly conventional if beautifully

finished, the Evo 43 has a dinette

forward and a double berthed mid

cabin. The ‘floating’ illuminated

perspex steps are a neat touch, as is

the teak dinette sole that rises to

become a table.

AND YOU THOUGHT YOUR BOAT WAS SPECIAL

AIS View

Most AIS apps

are little more

than toys; they

rely on AIS data

received via the

internet – so

are unreliable at sea and out

of date even if you can get it.

But, as you’d expect from Digital

Yacht, AISView is a far more

serious bit of kit.

It relies on a proper, on-board

AIS receiver and either an

on-board Wi-Fi network or an

NMEA-USB converter – both of

which will add significantly to

the cost if you haven’t already

got them. But what it offers is a

full-featured AIS display,

showing AIS contacts on a

background Google map, or a

simple ‘radar-like’ display. It will

sound an alarm if any target is

likely to get dangerously close,

and a single tap on any target

will reveal a drop-down list giving

its identity, heading, and CPA.

Compatible with any Android

tablet or smartphone with GPS

£6.49 from Google Play

Smart Tabs SX are the latest addition

to the Smart Tabs range and designed

to be fitted to planing boats between

14-20ft with power outputs from 40hp

to 225hp.

Made from rust-free composites

(and available in white as well as black),

they’re a passive trim tab system that

uses water pressure against the tabs to

hinge against a nitrogen gas actuator

(effectively a gas spring).

So at low speeds the tabs are right

down, helping the boat on to the

plane, reducing planing speeds and

keeping the bow down. As speed

increases (and the need for increased

lift aft reduces) the water pressure

gradually forces the tabs flatter to the

It all sounds pretty cool, but what

makes it really special?

Ah, you’ll be needing the digital

control panel to discover that. Touch a

button and the bulwarks extend

outwards in 30 seconds, increasing

usable space by 40% to create your

own 25m^2 pied dans l’eau. Add a huge

bathing platform that can be lifted

and turned into a diving platform,

Put a spring in your trim

New trim tabs from Smart Tabs use gas springs to angle themselves

running surface of the boat the

faster you go.

The downside is that you can’t

adjust the tabs from the helm

independently, so they can’t be

used to correct lateral tilt caused

by uneven loading or a strong

beam-on wind.

Likewise, you have no fore/aft

trim adjustment from the helm

(although five preset drilled locating

points for the rams mean that you

can fine tune them to your boat

when stationary).

However if your boat struggles to

get on the plane, ‘porpoises’ (a

constant exaggerated nodding

motion at speed in calm water), or

rides bow high at low to medium

speeds then these are certainly

worth a try.

The manufacturer is so confident

of the benefits that it is offering a

money-back guarantee if they fail

to improve the performance of any

planing powerboat.

Ultimately they won’t replace fully

controllable trim tabs, but they do

offer a cheaper and far easier to

install solution for smaller boats and

retail at £132.99 inc VAT.

Contact http://www.nauticusinc.com

lowered or extended on its 270º

mechanical arm and you have an

aquatic transformer on your hands. Or

more precisely in your hand, as you

can control the whole thing via an

iPhone app for extra kudos.

OK, I’m sold. How much?

Just €615,000.

Contact http://www.evoyachts.com

The paddle-like trim tabs use

water pressure to position themselves

How about on deck?

The super-minimalist sweep of teak

that makes up the helm station is

stunning – minimalist chic at its best.

Aft of that is an L-shaped dinette

opposite a streamlined sideboard

and then a flat deck with three

sunloungers that morph from the

floor like the sunbeds on the bow

of a Bénéteau MC6.