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We sea-trialed on the St. Lucie River in Stuart. The 45's average top speed was 39.7 mph—fine, but we'd have done slightly better without the enclosure. Visibility coming out of the hole was unobscured and turning was broad, but the Teleflex hydraulic steering required muscle in the turns due to the absence of power-assist. Preston's helm seats were super: Stidds are expensive but rocking-chair comfy.
Preston began showing me around as soon as we'd docked. The 45's interior offers a three-stateroom, two-head layout that's conventional but detailed and finished to a fare-thee-well. On the lower deck there's a master forward with a shower-stall-equipped en suite head, two guest staterooms across the hall from one another, and a shower-stall-equipped day head all the way aft to starboard. On the main deck the saloon offers an L-shape dinette to starboard, an L-shape lounge to port (with nifty stainless steel swing-up window in the back bulkhead, alongside the door), and a U-shape, one-step-down galley opposite the dinette.
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Drawers and lockers throughout were loaded with Riviera-branded amenities, and the cherry joinery was book-matched, finely crafted, and robotically varnished with multiple coats of sparkling, high-gloss urethane. I found even inaccessible or seldom-seen aspects had been addressed with 220-grit sandpaper and paint or varnish.
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My one complaint had to do with the engine room, or rather its hatch. Because it doubles as a step for the saloon door, lifting it to enter the ER closes off traffic into and out of the interior, not handy if the crew has chores to perform while someone's below changing the oil. Otherwise I was impressed. The level of engineering in the machinery spaces was high, with oversize stainless steel Arctic Steel sea strainers, top-shelf BEP battery and emergency parallel switches, and lots of AC Delco 8D gel-type batteries in stout containers. Moreover, simplicity and expansiveness were key. Since air conditioning, Plumb Pex water manifolds, and electricals (like battery chargers and the inverter) were housed in an amidships "pump room" behind a sound-insulated door in the port guest stateroom, there was little else in the ER but engines, genset, and minor ancillaries.
Preston's wife arrived shortly after we'd returned to the cockpit. "Did you notice the extra cup holders I specified for the bridge, Bill?" she joked, adding, "And you do know about replacing the carpet with Amtico?"
The three of us stood for a while admiring the robustly built, attractively styled, solidly performing vessel underfoot. "Once the davit's on," said Preston, with a bemused, far-off look, "we're off to the Bahamas."
"Livin' the dream," I commented. "And havin' a heckuvalot of fun doing it," he added.
For more information on Riviera Yachts, including contact information, click here.
SPOTLIGHT ON: Engine Control
Our test boat was equipped with Twin Disc QuickShift marine gears and an attendant electronic engine control. What's great about this arrangement is that an operator can dial up the appropriate engine response for various activities. Maneuvering dockside, for example, is made considerably easier and more precise by opting out of "cruise" and selecting "express." The result? Thanks to a reduction in rpm range (and related boat speed), movement of the vessel becomes more contained, controllable, and almost instantly adjustable via the lever travel inherent in the control. No worries about forward creep while pivoting, a phenomenon that can subtly take a boat several feet ahead during the typical twin-screw maneuver and get her owner into trouble. No worries about stalling an engine or engines turning at conventional idle rpm, either. Sync and troll functions are easy to dial up as well and, of course, smooth boat operation even further.—B.P.
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This article originally appeared in the March 2008
issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
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