Food trucks, reggae, balloons and sunshine elevate the pleasant party atmosphere at MarineMax Pompano where a gaggle of journalists are to get an exclusive look at the full line of boats from Finnish builder Saxdor. Within the fleet is the 400 GTC, a new build that’s making headlines for its transformer-like abilities, as it can morph from a Med-style open dayboat to an adventure cruiser that stands up to the elements in its endemic Finnish waters.
Boarding the 400 GTC, I meet a nice guy in his 50s wearing a Depeche Mode T-shirt and a big smile. He flew in from New Jersey just a few hours ago, specifically to check out this model. “I’m so excited to be here,” he says. “I’ve been watching videos of this boat for months.”
Just then, the Jersey guy and I are joined by Keith Miller, Vice President of North American sales for Saxdor. He’s here to walk us through the boat. He begins by demonstrating how quickly the 400 GTC can shapeshift.
First, he presses two buttons to raise the side terraces in the cockpit and manually locks them in place. He then slides the glass doors shut within, I note, robust tracks on either side of the deckhouse. At the helm, he flicks a switch to seal the electric sunroof in the hardtop before stepping to port to shore up the windscreen and windshield that open onto the bow. Finally, he closes off access to the cockpit by securing a glass door to port and lowering the hydraulic window beside it. In just a couple of minutes, Miller has managed to button up the 400 GTC and create a whole new atmosphere on board.
“It’s like two boats in one,” says Jersey.
Of course, some boat owners don’t mind moving at a more leisurely pace, and for those people Saxdor offers the 400 in a GTO version that’s like this GTC, only it has acrylic enclosures for the wheelhouse, which take a little time to set up but save a few bucks. Having spent a few years on my own boats lugging around big rolls of acrylic and canvas, I’m sold on this quick and easy way to convert a boat for all-weather cruising.
The 400 GTC is generating a lot of interest in the States, in large part for its Scandinavian lines (the near-plumb stem is a headturner, if a fad) and an efficient list of standard equipment that includes the basics for turnkey cruising plus cool stuff like the joystick and Skyhook. And then there’s the competitive price. The company website lists the starting sum at $427,450.
Saxdor is a relatively new builder. It was founded 5 years ago by Sakari Mattila, who is also the company’s Chief Designer and the man who helped to establish a couple of other boat companies—Aquador, XO Boats and Axopar among them. From its headquarters in Helsinki, Finland, and a new yard in Elk, Poland, Saxdor has produced more than 2,000 boats and has plans to build 600 to 800 per year going forward. The company’s CEO, Erna Rusi, calls Saxdor a serial production builder, meaning its goal is maximum productivity (the generation of many identical parts) to ensure low unit costs. It has plans to grow the fleet—a new 460 will soon be built in Poland—and, to improve the owner experience for U.S. buyers, a location for parts in Florida.
Other guests at the event board the 400 and are clearly smitten with the panoramic views from the wheelhouse. Its layout includes an L-shaped dinette with benches to the sides that create a friendly social space. A galley with sink, cooktop, fridge and drawer stowage is to port. At the helm are seats for three, and a large station with triple MFDs. One guest notes that the grouping of two-dozen identical switches on the helm could make it hard to find the one you need in a hurry, but it seems Saxdor has plans to group those in clusters, with the most frequently used switches (for wipers, for instance) being nearest the wheel. We’ll see.
There’s cabin access to port of the helm. Below, a fixed window and skylights brighten the space, which includes a two-person berth and a private head compartment with about 5 feet, 10 inches of headroom. If you want to cruise with others, order the optional aft cabin, with a separate entrance concealed under the bench of the dinette. It’s a clever and cozy hideaway that will appeal to the kids, with just enough headroom for them to prop up their heads and hopefully read a book rather than scroll on their phones. Windows brighten the space, as does the opening hatch, which I like as a good safety feature.
To board from a floating dock, step onto swim platforms that flank the outboards and walk through the gates that are part of a glass and chrome transom. In the cockpit, there’s a grill and sink to port and an aft-facing bench that converts to a sunpad.
There are about 10 people aboard as a skipper from MarineMax powers up Saxdor for a test run. We won’t be invited to take turns at the helm today, but our group can get a sense of how she rides. There’s plenty of space for everyone to settle in comfortably as we run down a canal lined with homes and filled with traffic and wake. The Saxdor’s deep-V hull with twin steps maintains a straight track with minimal steering corrections from the driver, and there’s a good line of sight from the helm. At one point, we’re free of speed restrictions, and the 400 delivers solid acceleration. We spend some time at semi-displacement speeds (near 16 knots), too, where the boat seems happy—that’s encouraging if you plan to tackle big seas at a slower pace. As we make a sharp turn back toward the dock, the Saxdor demonstrates the agility of a true sports cruiser, and for a boat with so many moving parts, the 400 also feels (and sounds) commendably rattle-free underway.
As we approach the dock, it’s tricky for our crew to place fenders along the midsection of the boat, since the 400 doesn’t have walkable side decks (not surprising, given the boat’s narrow beam and full wheelhouse), but there are pop-out fender buttons within reach of the cockpit and bow— a nice touch. One criticism shared by our group is the lock/release handle for the windscreen at the bow. It needs beefing up, since the door kept flopping open on our run. And the walkway to the bow is narrow for some passengers, who must turn sideways to step past the cabin console.
What the 400 GTC does well is provide a dynamic deck environment that can be enjoyed under the warm sun along the Florida coast or on cool autumn afternoons off, say, Newport, Rhode Island. It’s adaptable to different climates and locations, it has the aesthetics to turn heads in any port and it appears to have the requisite speed and handling characteristics for traveling to and from these places in comfort. And then there’s the price.
“I just can’t believe how much boat you get for the money,” says Jersey, who is dialing his wife on his cell. “I think I just found our retirement boat.”
Saxdor 400 GTC Walkthrough Video:
Saxdor 400 GTC Specifications:
LOA: 40’8”
Beam: 11’7”
Draft: 3’5”
Displ.: 17,637 lb.
Fuel: 264 gal.
Water: 55 gal.
Power: 2/400-hp Mercury
