BOTNIA TARGA 31
BUILT 2010 PRICE £145,000
Another Finnish boat, Botnia is synonymous with high-quality, all-weather walk-around boats, and the 31 sits in the middle of the range. This is one of the last and has the unusual but popular twin-engine option, sporting a pair of Volvo Penta D4-300s.
INTERIOR For a boat so unfocused on accommodation, the 31 has a surprising amount of sleeping space, with permanent berths for up to five. Drop down into the small cabin ahead of the wheelhouse and you’ll find a pair of single berths. Back aft there is another small cabin, this time with a double and a single berth running forwards. Between them is the wheelhouse, with the usual ‘pole-dancing’ table that lowers from the ceiling on a stainless steel pole when you wish to dine and a pair of seats behind a helm that allows the lower section to pivot to within easy reach.
EXTERIOR Like the Minor, the Botnia Targa 31 is a full walk-around configuration. But it swaps the Minor’s sliding roof for a small flybridge – there are two seats mounted behind a helm on the trailing edge of the wheelhouse roof for when the all-weather capability is not required.
PERFORMANCE The pair of Volvo Penta D4-300 engines fitted to this boat are probably the optimum option, giving the power to push the top speed toward 40 knots yet without the weight of the more powerful but heavier D6 330hp engines that were also offered.
SEA-KEEPING A deep-vee hull and flared bow mean the Targa 31 will not only punt through some pretty turbulent seas without slowing down, it will do so relatively dryly too – unless the wind is on the beam and blowing the huge curtains of spray that it punts out either side back across the boat. Those outdrives mean that, improbably given its appearance, it corners like a sports boat too. Just make sure everyone aboard is hanging on – they won’t be expecting it!
LOA 33ft 3in (10.1m) Beam 10ft 4in (3.1m) Draught 3ft 3in (1.1m) Displacement 5.5 tonnes Fuel capacity 780 litres Engines 2x Volvo Penta D4 300 300hp diesel