MONTEREY 275
BUILT 2017 PRICE £94,950
If you’re seeking the newest boat with the lowest running costs that you can still comfortably go cruising in, the 275 Sport Yacht by American builder Monterey is well worth a look. The big news with this boat is not just that it has a diesel engine rather than the usual V8 petrol that most boats of this type come fitted with, but that it’s the big D4-260 rather than the smaller D3 you often find.
INTERIOR A beam of 8ft 6in, making this boat trailerable in the States (the weight might be an issue in the UK), means that the 275 is comparatively narrow for its length. But by eliminating the side decks and taking the cabin right out to the hull sides, there’s a surprising amount of space, starting with standing headroom at the foot of the stairs. That forward dinette converts to a double berth, the toilet is also a wet room, a pull-out section of the faucet doubling as a shower, and there’s a permanent double berth stretching back beneath the cockpit.
EXTERIOR The lack of those side decks mean that access forward is through the centre of the windscreen, not around the outside of it. But like the cabin, that facet allows the whole cockpit to expand right to the edges of the hull. So there’s room for a double helm plus seating alongside it, while back aft the dinette features a drop-in table and the aft backrest tilts forward to extend the sunpad.
PERFORMANCE
The Volvo Penta D4-260 is a great engine in this size of boat – gutsy performance making for an effortless climb onto the plane even with a cockpit full of people. Top speed should be north of 30 knots with 25 knots an easy and very economical cruise.
SEA-KEEPING Slim boats, by definition, tend to cut through the chop well, although those high sides and narrow beam will induce some heel into the wind on blustery days, easily corrected using the trim tabs.
Length 27ft 6in (8.4m) Beam 8ft 6in (2.6m) Draught 3ft 0in (0.9m) Displacement 3.4 tonnes Fuel capacity 300 litres Engine Volvo Penta D4 260 260hp diesel
FOR SALE Clipper Marine www.clippermarine.co.uk