Can a 40ft boat be all things to all men? Jeanneau takes on the impossible to find out
Hybrid is one of the buzzwords and the hull to make slow and displacement course that boat costs about a billion pounds and has no real interest in going slowly. Here the price is in line with the current crop of production 40ft cruisers at around £350,000, similar to that of its closest rival the Bénéteau Swift Trawler 44.
Getting on for once access isn’t simply via the (optionally hydraulic) bathing platform because while the gunwales are quite high, Jeanneau has incorporated a lifting section to aid access and also cleverly conceal the diesel fillers. A flat foredeck with sun cushions makes this area entirely useable, useful in a boat designed to operate at low speed, allowing easy use of this space on passage. The aft cockpit is a good size and the single transom door allows plenty of seating.Flybridge access is by ladder and the flybridge itself extends well aft, increasing upper deck space and shading the cockpi of the 21st century, along with i-anything and credit crunch.
First coming to prominence in the automotive world, hybrid – “a thing made by combining two different elements” – is widely used to describe petrol/ electric cars such as the Toyota Pious, which in the interests of being green combines the weight, cost and ecological nightmare of how to dispose of a huge battery bank with a petrol engine in order to create a small car that’s almost as economical as a diesel Golf. It’s a trick that’s been tried in the marine world too, with the diesel/electric Greenline cruisers being the major (and possibly only) success story.
More recently a new form of hybrid has entered the maritime lexicon. This is a simplified hybrid designed to operate at displacement speeds yet maintain the ability to achieve planing speeds, in theory giving the owner the best of both worlds – low-speed economy with some high-speed performance.
The Magellano 43 I tested in the April issue is one of the first of this type, offering the looks
motorboatsmonthly.com speeds feel right, while still offering mid-teen cruising and a 20-knot top end. The Voyage 42 you see here follows a similar concept, but Jeanneau has taken it a step further, keeping the near 30-knot performance of a flybridge cruiser while still looking to deliver slow-speed efficiency and plenty of practical trawler-style thinking. A sort of ‘hybrid hybrid’ then.
Price: £400,468.33
(excluding VAT)
Pros
- The boat is useful, practical and versatile, but above all offers buyers something genuinely different.
Cons
- Recently we are seeing some real diversification within ths market and the voyage 42 is perhaps the most diverse of all.
Price as reviewed:
£400,468.33
Verdict
The builder of Jeanneau's size could have taken such a gamble, but it has certainly paid off.
Details
Displacement: 10.1 tonnes
Cabins: FORECABIN BERTH 6ft 6in x 4ft 8in (2.0 x 1.41m)MID CABIN BERTHS 6ft 6in x 2ft 1in (2.0 x 0.63m)
Fuel Capacity: 264gal (1200lt)
Beam: 13ft 6in (4.13m)
Water Capacity: 88gal (400lt)
Air Draught: 3ft 7in (1.10m)
RCD Category: TBC
Length Overall: 44ft 11in (13.70m)
Engines: Cummins QSB6.7 – V-drive
