We scour the classifieds to find a bona fide speed machine that won't break the bank. Can you find your dream performance boat?
Two more speedsters
Hunton XRS37 – 2004 £99,950
A classy, high-performance machine with true racing pedigree
The Hunton XRS37 can trace its roots directly back to Jeff Hunton’s 40ft raceboat with which he won the Guernsey Gold Cup.
A leisure version was launched in 1990, which evolved into the Thoroughbred 36 in 1996 that made way for the XRS37 in 2004. All boats shared the extreme deep-vee – 25º aft, sharpening to 28º amidships. They also shared the good looks.
Interior
A low profile and super slim 8ft 6in beam (on a 37ft boat! My 26ft Jeanneau is over a foot wider) mean that the XRS37 isn’t the last word in interior space.
But what’s there is well appointed and covers all the basics. There’s a separate heads, small galley, two sociable settees that face one another and a double berth in the forepeak. It’s all a couple needs for a weekend away.
There’s even a little galley below decks
Exterior
Like the interior, the cockpit is squeezed by both the low profile and slender beam, meaning that the back end is all sunpad atop the engines. But it’s deep and snug, with a couple of wraparound L-shaped settees aft.
Further forward, this particular boat has been modified with a double helm bolster instead of the two single bolsters either side of the central cabin access.
The sunpad dominates the cockpit
Performance
The trade-off for the paucity of real estate is performance. Earlier boats got a pair of Volvo Penta D6 engines at 350 or 370hp or twin 430hp 8.2-litre petrol V8s.
Yanmar was the other twin diesel option at 315hp or 370hp each. Even with the smallest engines, you can expect around 50 knots.
The berth is fine for a couple for the weekend
Seakeeping
With that deep-vee hull and anorexic beam you’d expect the XRS37 to slice through waves like a laser cutter through silk. And you’d be dead right. Running hard and fast in boisterous conditions is what this boat does supremely well, cutting journey times and cosseting the crew.
Data
Length 37ft 3in (11.5m)
Beam 8ft 6in (2.6m)
Draught 3ft 0in (0.9m)
Displacement 5 tonnes
Fuel capacity 150 gallons (680 litres)
Engines Twin Yanmar 315hp diesels
XSMG XRS48 – 2014 £350,000
An astonishing machine and astonishing value… at least compared to the original price
You could claim any of these boats as wild cards, but the XSR48 is the wildest of them all.
Conceived in 2006, this was billed as the Bugatti Veyron of the ocean, a no-compromise carbon and Kevlar-constructed high-performance 100mph luxury rocket ship.
Over 100,000 hours were poured into justifying that Veyron tag – and the price tag: £1.3 million ex VAT!
Interior
There are plenty of fast boats in this world, but the point of this one was to combine technology and luxury.
So the fully enclosed cockpit features sophisticated suspension for the twin helm seat with wraparound seating behind, all in Ultraleather.
Further forward you’ll find a neatly trimmed cabin, two settees facing each other beneath large skylights and a double berth forward. There’s even a carbon-fibre loo in the heads!
The fully enclosed cockpit with wraparound seating
Exterior
Legendary racer and powerboat designer Fabio Buzzi was the man behind the underwater profile (it’s based on one of his raceboats), while the design was by Redman Whiteley Dixon.
Customers could have the boat painted any colour they wished – this one is finished in Pearlescent White offset by a Candy Red roof.
Impossibly sleek lines from carbon and Kevlar
Performance
The stated 100mph aim was never realised, but the twin 11.3-litre Isotta Fraschini diesels of the first boats hit 80mph (67 knots). This boat gets a pair of FPT 570 diesels running ZX Trimax surface drives, also claimed to offer ‘in excess of 80mph’.
Seakeeping
Readers may have noticed that editor Hugo tests the fastest and most exotic boats.
Of the XSR48 he reported, “Up to 50 knots, it feels like any other fast sportsboat; above this, things start to get serious. No longer can I sense the boat riding up and down over the light chop, it’s ripping clean across the top of it. The ride is firm, flat and utterly controlled.”
Data
Length 48ft 0in (14.6m)
Beam 10ft 0in (3.1m)
Draught 2ft 5in (0.8m)
Displacement 6.7 tonnes
Fuel capacity 242 gallons (1,100 litres)
Engines Twin FPT N67 ENT 570hp diesels
For sale Sunseeker Sales Poole. Web: www.sunseekerpoole.com
