When we decided on this design, we had another that we considered too futuristic (posted in this forum 2004). It is fun to compare them now, perhaps this grey one is right today?
Looking good, but how do you access the mini-flybridge? With a hard or soft bimini top it could be a nice Florida boat. A bonus is the inside steering station, come hell or high water, the helmsman will stay dry. (I had sail boats for almost 20 years, got tired of being wet and cold, yes, even in Florida it gets nasty when a cold front comes sweeping over the coast.) And, uh the teak deck better be vinyl with a 100 year warranty.
This boat is almost the same interior as the first 40 WA, so there are a few steps up to the mini-fly and from inside you have an aft window as on this picture. About teak decks, we are now back to installing Flexiteek as we did 20 years ago...
Flexiteek is good, some owner's report 20 years of service. I had a boat with a real teak deck, but 30 year old teak, never again.. Installed a blond SeaDek on a recent boat, but not a great idea in the long run: It was Foam, very comfortable to walk on while barefoot but it gets dirty very fast and my dog's claws did ruin the surface when she was fighting iguanas on the blonde, foam SeaDek. Picture of the deck when new: Picture of dog and dead iguana after a fight on the SeaDek: She jumped off the boat with this monster in her mouth, after tearing up my deck. Back on topic: I would be the typical target customer for your 40' all weather, twin engine cabin cruiser: Retired guy with a small family, can afford a nice 40' Bahamas boat, but not a big boat with big maintenance, expensive dockage, complex systems and a crew, as in "Yacht" Got burned out on maintenance on previous boat, an Albin with a Swedish heritage, made in the US. (Some Albins are made in Sweden, some in Taiwan, some in the US) Are you building these 40 foot cruisers we are commenting on? Volvo diesels probably, but I am allergic to outdrives, as in inboard/outboard, a no-go. No room for straight shafts? Your designs are probably targeted for Northern Europe with lots of interior room and less outside lounging? In Florida, The Bahamas and the Caribbean we are only inside the vessel to cook or to sleep, otherwise all social activities are outside, in the shade under a bimini top. Different in colder climes, I know..
Today we are only building with Volvo Penta diesel or petrol Aquamatic or with diesel IPS, no shaft or waterjet boats. The classic boat in my sketches will also be with Aq drives, but can probably also be built as an open or semi open boat with two cabins below. Our present 40-footer has three cabins... They are all cruising between 30 and 40 knots with a range of 300 NM at 30 knots, so pretty good boats for the Bahamas...
Wow, 300 NM @ 30 knots? Huge fuel tanks, that would be 1800 NM @ 8 knots? Crossing over to the Bahamas one can't cruise at 30 knots very often, maybe 4-5 times a year and hard to plan for it more than a day or two in advance. Once in the Bahamas and after crossing the Banks, it gets better as the Exuma Chain acts as barrier from the Easterlies. A Cabo or a Viking sport fish may the best choice for crossing the stream and the banks at speed: I see them all the time going fast across the stream, bow high in a hurry to catch a fish, then hurry up back to Florida to eat the fish. Bon Appetit. Your above rendering in green/gray looks really good, everything proportioned nicely with the big railing going up to the bow and back for safety. Close to perfect. The only thing I would object to is the black bottom paint: It will hide slime and growth with the black color. Prefer Trinidad Pro Blue in Florida, it last a long time, up to 4 years and you can see contamination from the dock. I have also used Trinidad Black and Trinidad Red, been there, done that and no, I don't have stock in the Petit Paint Company. As far as the radar: No fog in South Florida or the Bahamas, but radar is still popular around here to look for birds, to find fish, and in the past, before we had GPS with WAAS capabilities, to aid in navigation. My perfect Bahamas boat, if there is such an animal would have the above lines, no fly bridge but big windshields to crack open for ventilation, a single 450-500 hp for speeds up to 18 knots, a 10 hp bow and stern truster, a small generator, big solar panels on the hard-top, a large open aft cockpit with shade from a low sun. (Canvas flaps coming down for drinking the morning coffee without being blinded) Above all: Low maintenance, no external wood, not even a tooth-pick. Windows with max UV blockage and superior construction to stop and avoid future leaks causing core rot and delimitation. Lower portholes to be fixed: No openings, no water leaks, no maintenance. Large open engine room under deck for easy routine service and easy access for emergency repairs. Lots of room for spares and tool. I know, a unicorn.. Dear Santa, design me this boat Edit; The above hard- top grab rails appear to be wood..Light brown, as in varnish.Bad.. SS all the way.. The aft cockpit hard top could/should be pulled all the way back to the transom and above the swim platform: A light sandwich construction would not add much weight, or windage, but it would make it much more livable back there. (We have 2 blessings and 2 curses in South Florida, sun and rain, a large hard bimini top will protect against both)
I like traditional boats. Similar a Resto-Mod truck or car. The classic look of a traditional cruiser with the technology of today. The Seafoam (?) green hull doses it for me. Very nice.
Can ask a question Lars? Why no helm side doors? Every time you want to go forward to the anchor or put out a fender/line on the side deck, you have to go all the way to the aft doors and then forward. Not much fun when short-handed or even solo in a marina. Marex have started to fit helm doors on their new models following feedback from customers.
The short answer to your question is that we already have two boats with helm side doors on this hull, one with doors both sides and one with a starboard sidewalk. So this model will have a wider cabin than the other two. (Here it is with outboards...)
On the same 40 foot hull as above we also built a semi open RIB last year. With twin V8 430 hp it topped at 52 knots...
Aggressive and minimalist design, but I don't like the lack of handrails on the foredeck. How would it look with railings? (Probably just as good and much safer)
The funnels are inspired from Talitha G, I think it was Jon Bannenberg who designed them oversized to hide all the mushrooms...
Aha, mostly decorative, OR is there any main engine or generator exhaust coming out on top? If so, the radar antenna will soon be black when navigating downwind. (The ships I worked on spewed out a lot of soot even turbine ships as the boilers was blown once a day. Probably cleaner now with exhaust filters and other tech to run clean? ) Again, a handsome design, do you also have 3D computer models for more viewing pleasure?