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Holy smokes!" I exclaimed while pouring the coal to San Juan's new 48 Motor Yacht, a sleek, blue beauty with the styling machismo of a Maine lobster boat, the fit and finish of a jet-set Italian villa, and the engineering subtleties of a BMW 7-Series sedan. Did this baby perform or what? She was virtually leaping on plane!
A grin enlivened my countenance. In seconds the boat was swooping across the choppy surface of Fidalgo Bay like a low-flying fighter plane, with whitecaps blurring past, picturesque Anacortes, Washington, in the background, and her Series 60 MTUs purring away like big, contented 825-hp kittens. I glanced down at the readout on the Furuno NavNet. Top speed: 45 mph or thereabouts. I could hardly believe my eyes. Already? The sense of control I enjoyed—and the tranquil ambiance at the helm—were indicative of a much gentler pace.
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A rousing turn seemed in order. With an index finger I rotated the destroyer-type wheel to starboard tentatively, then (quite satisfied with the result) spun it with a vengeance, ultimately carving a tight, foaming white crescent in the cold, blue waters of the bay. For the pure livin' heck of it, I then carved two more hard-over crescents and a half-dozen compact figure-eights, every one a joy. Such wholehearted agility, enlivened by a constant sense of seamless solidity underfoot, was more fun than a barrel of boat-show tickets, of course, but it was also evocative of a strong, integrated approach to construction.
The 48 is composed of just four basic parts: hull, deck, interior liner, and superstructure. All are vacuum-infused using pricey E-glass, CoreCell coring, a high-end hybrid epoxy-vinylester resin, and in the hull alone, lots of impact-resistant Kevlar. Combine such a highly technical, lightweight assemblage into a single, unibody chunk, add four, cored-glass, watertight structural bulkheads, a PVC foam-filled E-glass stringer grid, and a box-type hull-to-deck joint, both chemically bonded and mechanically fastened, and what results is a sensation of pure, velvet-gloved brawn underway, despite the boat having a mere 32,000-pound displacement.
But construction's not the entire story. The 48's propulsion system also plays a major role in her performance. Rather than the waterjets and computerized joystick-type engine controls that hallmark boats from competing companies, San Juan opts for a straightforward approach: inboard diesels routed through close-coupled V-drives to straight shafts, with big props in tunnels and big rudders for lots of steering control, especially in following seas. Single-lever DDEC electronic sticks at the helm put the finishing touches on the package.
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