Axopar 37 Sport Cabin

The cover draped over Axopar’s newest 37 Sport Cabin was intended to build suspense leading up to her official debut at the Düsseldorf show. It worked. A steady throng of show-goers bumped into one another as someone would invariably stop to snap a cellphone photo, or someone else crouched down to get a peek at what appeared to be the brand’s standard deep-V, stepped hull. (OK, so I looked. Sue me.)

When the cover was removed a sleeker and, well, sportier version of the brand’s aft cabin version of the 37 was revealed. Her profile simply looked aggressive; that was aided by the fact that unlike on many Axopars, the windshield was not vertical but rather sharply raked. The desired effect of which was to make the boat look less militaristic than her predecessors.

“We wanted to create a really strong, instantly recognizable DNA for our boats so it’s easy to recognize them whether you scale the line up or down,” explains designer Jarrko Jamsen in his thick Finnish accent. “We want the boats to be minimal in some ways; we want every line to serve a purpose from the stepped hull up. We want to create a nice quality feel. It’s definitely a new model, but it still has the family feel.”

Intended to be a direct competitor to center consoles in the U.S., the 37 SC has wide walkaround access, the kind where you don’t need to sidestep around the cabin. The usual trade-off for such comfort is a smaller cabin. Jamsen was able to mitigate that feeling.

“Boats in general have been getting bigger and bigger for their length. Axopars are big, but it’s a light boat, it’s agile, it’s a driver’s boat,” he says. “But there’s enough interior space to spend a nice weekend on the water.”

He’s right about that. Should the weather turn snotty there is room for six guests to relax comfortably, two sitting at the helm, and four around the hi-lo table that converts to a berth.

Below is a compact, yet cozy stateroom with a double berth, small galley, and seat.

The company says the 37 SC will have performance to spare. Twin 300-horsepower Mercurys should give the boat a 40-plus-knot top end while the deep-V hull should offer a comfortable ride. I for one look forward to putting that to the test sometime soon.

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LOA: 36'9" BEAM: 10'10" DRAFT: 2'9" DISPl.: 88,000 lb. FUEL: 192 gal. WATER: 26 gal. POWER: 2/300-hp Mercurys CRUISING SPEED: 32 knots TOP SPEED: 42 knots BASE PRICE: $88,000