Boat test for the 2006 Cabo Yachts 52 Express with boat pictures, boat specifications, and boat test results. Includes pricing, videos, engine test reviews, and ratings for the 2006 Cabo Yachts 52 Express.

Another place that stayed dry, and relatively cool thanks to well-designed hull-side vents, was the 52’s engine room. And it’s one of the most spacious ERs I’ve seen on an express boat. There’s 6’8” headroom down here, but to experience that you must go down three steep steps from the cockpit. The first is a doozie: a 20.5-inch rise. Once inside, you have more than two feet between the powerplants and inboard access for regular maintenance items like oil checks and filter changes. An engine-driven crash pump is also easily accessible inboard of the engine stringers, and there’s 25 inches between the engines and the forward bulkhead. At 5’7” and 160 pounds, I found working my way around them to be quite easy.

Rivaling the ER’s elbowroom appeal is the business end of the 52: her cockpit. I measured a usable 125 square feet of it. And she’s rigged to fish, with a standard 80-gallon, molded-in transom livewell, a bait-prep center to port with a sink, tackle stowage, a rigging board, and an insulated ice box that can be refrigerated. There are also two in-deck macerated fishboxes (my test boat’s had optional refrigerator plates), starboard-side gaff racks, a gated tuna door to accommodate a big eye, and five rod holders.

And if you want to get out of the cockpit for some shade while on the troll, the bridge deck offers a great respite. There are three Stidd helm chairs and an L-shape lounge aft and to port of them. Combined with optional air conditioning, it’s a great setup to keep captain and crew together during the ride out or hanging on the hook and eating some fresh-caught yellowfin.

For Cabo Yachts the 52 is a logical step. The company has built more than 100 45 Expresses, creating a strong step-up market for the new boat. The 52 also makes sense for anglers. For the family-oriented fisherman, it prevents the captain (a.k.a. Dad) from being a chauffeur on the flying bridge all day, and her two staterooms effortlessly accommodate a family of four, plus another two guests on the saloon lounge. For the hardcore offshore fisherman, she’s geared for overnights to the edge and tournament angling. She has the speed to put you out in front of the pack and is easily fishable thanks to her sizeable cockpit and efficient layout. Better yet, her express nature enables a team to easily communicate when a money fish is on the line.

The only decision you have to make is, do you want her with tower or without? I definitely say with.

Cabo Yachts
(760) 246-8917

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