Motor Boat & Yachting — February 2018

We put the latest kit through its paces

TRIED& TESTED

Musto

Effortless

Travel

JL Audio M650-CCX

Meaco DD8L

Zambezi

dehumidifi er

Shirt £90, chino £75

£423.56

£259.99

VALUE ★★

RATING ★★★★

VALUE ★★★★

RATING ★★★★

VALUE ★★★★

RATING ★★★★

The Zambezi is compact,

light and effective but the

controls are not intuitive

J L Audio’s 6.5in M-Series

speakers give a dynamic

sound but lack big bass

Stretch fabric

means creases

shake out

The trouble with boating is that you

spend half your time scrabbling

around in an engine bay in a T-shirt

and shorts and the other half trying to

convince the maître d’ to give you that

table by the window. The Effortless

Travel range is Musto’s attempt to

resolve this first-world problem.

An anti-crease fabric construction

means you can bundle them into your

crew bag, whip them out when needed

and still look like you’ve just stepped

out of your Jermyn Street tailor. Made

from a mix of 90% polyester and

10% elastane, the shirt has a degree

of stretch to it while the trousers are

65% polyester and 35% cotton. This

does make them look a bit shiny but

they’re still comfy and breathable.

There are a few nice details like red

sail stitching inside the waistband

and a button-down collar on the shirt,

but I was still a little taken aback at the

price of the shirt in particular. Perhaps

it’s all part of impressing the maître d’.

Hugo Contact http://www.musto.com

One of the best things I fitted to my

previous boat was a marine stereo

and four cockpit speakers. As

something of an audiophile, I was

keen to try and install something

a little special on my new boat.

The Jeanneau Leader 805 comes

with a car-type stereo installed in the

cabin and four speakers, two inside

and two small ones in the cockpit.

I wanted four speakers in the cockpit

as per my last boat but quickly

realised that since most surfaces are

curved, this was going to be difficult.

In fact, the only easy solution was a

simple swap of the original speakers.

I opted for a pair of JL Audio M650-

CCX, at 6.5in the smallest of its top-

end M-Series. In theory, a straight

swap; in fact, the boat apertures

needed carving out slightly – the

Jeanneau speakers really are tiny.

Stationary, the sound quality is

astonishing for such small speakers.

Clean and dynamic, they’re genuinely

Dehumidifiers have become a key part

of the winterising regime, allowing

boat owners to keep damp at bay

and ensure the interior stays mould-

free in the cold winter months. Meaco

says that its DD8L Zambezi is its best

dehumidifier yet and given that it was

voted as a Which? Best Buy last year,

it may be on to something.

Meaco claims that the Zambezi has

six world firsts for a dehumidifier but

the most noticeable is the digital

display to allow for far greater control

over what the machine is doing. For

instance, it displays the temperature

and relative humidity and gives you

control of timer settings and the option

to run a daily timer. You can control

fan speed using the touch pad and

set the different modes, like laundry

mode, which increases fan speed

but uses as little power as possible.

The controls themselves aren’t

particularly intuitive so it’s not a case

of plug ‘n’ play, but a couple of rounds

with the instruction booklet soon

gets you familiar with the functions.

The Zambezi is a desiccant

dehumidifier so the processed air

is around 10° warmer than the air

that goes in. This is useful on a boat

• it negates the need for bar heaters.
  It has a bucket which when full, will
  automatically stop the machine from
  running, or you can run it constantly
  and connect a hose to drain into
  a sink. If power is lost, it remembers
  your settings and will start again
  automatically once power is reinstated.
  It’s a very efficient machine that is
  light (7.8kg) and easy to move around
  thanks to its chunky handle. And the
  name? Meaco has teamed up with the
  David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation
  and named the Zambezi after one of
  its elephants. For every unit sold, £2
  goes to the foundation. Jack Haines
  Contact http://www.meaco.com

impressive. Head inside with all

speakers playing and the Pioneer

cabin speakers sound decidedly

‘muddy’ in comparison. Overlay the

harmonics and wind rush of an open

diesel boat at 25 knots however, and

whilst still a quantum leap from the

standard cockpit speakers, the bass

is getting lost and a little more punch

wouldn’t go amiss. I suspect that a

subwoofer and amplifier will add the

‘wow factor’ I’m looking for underway.

Watch this space... Nick Burnham

Contact http://www.jlaudio.co.uk

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