JEANNEAU
LEADER 33
With the rise in popularity of outboard engines on large craft,
Nick Burnham puts two identical 33ft sportscruisers back to back
- one with inboard diesels and the other with outboard engines...
WORDS Nick BurnhamI
t’s an incongruous sight, Jeanneau’s
latest Leader 33. It looks a little like
someone decided to fi t a back-up
auxiliary outboard but due to a communications
breakdown, a 250hp was mistakenly bolted on
instead of a 10hp. And then you notice that there are
two of them... Welcome to the future, which for
many, is outboard powered. Once the domain of the
small runabout, outboard power is big news in the
USA where petrol is (comparatively) cheap. They
think nothing of adding four engines to boats that
stretch past 50ft. And it’s a trend that’s starting to
catch on in Europe as outboards get more powerful
yet also quieter and more effi cient. Fans cite easy
access, compact size, the ability to tilt the entire unit,
drive and all, clear of the water (something you
certainly cannot do with an outdrive), cheaper
servicing, reduced space requirements and the ability
to easily swap out a motor if required – simply crane
one off and bolt a new one in its place. Even
traditional European builders like Azimut are
dabbling – its outboard powered Verve 40 havingjust been joined by the similarly propelled Verve 45.
Now it’s Jeanneau’s turn. What makes this test
particularly interesting is that berthed alongside
it in Cannes is a Leader 33 inboard. Available with
Mercruiser petrol or Volvo Penta diesel, I’m aboard
the latter; tucked under the back seat are a pair of
D3-220 220hp sterndrive diesels.
It’s a good looking boat. Identical bar the twin
outboards hanging off the cutaway bathing platform, it’s
an innocuous yet pleasing shape, short of foredeck but
consequently long of cockpit. Both examples are Sportop
versions – Jeanneau offers this boat with a completely
open cockpit or with the Sportop hard top (fi tted with a
solid powered opening roof section) as an option.
However the boat remains unashamedly cockpit on the
main deck, if you want a deck saloon then Jeanneau’s
NC33 is the boat for you. The port side of the cockpit is
one huge loop of seating from one end to the other
around a folding (but not removable) cockpit table, but
it contains a couple of neat twists. Lift the backrest of the
rear section vertically an inch or two and you can then
drop it fl at, creating a sunpad, and what’s really clever isA B O V E Twin 250hp outboards grace the transom of Jeanneau’s
latest Leader 33 but how do they compare with a pair of D3 diesels?