BENETEAU MONTE CARLO 37

BUILT 2008 PRICE £127,950

In an era in which you can easily pay £120,000 for a cuddy cabin sportsboat with a single outboard engine, it’s staggering to look up the 2007 boat test of the Beneteau Monte Carlo and find that the base price with twin diesel engines for the soft top version was £147,000, including VAT. It’s French though, so things like a cockpit canopy and a windscreen wiper were extra. With a proper spec, the hard top and larger engines this boat would have cost far more, but still…

INTERIOR

It’s the usual central saloon and galley flanked by cabins either end, but with a twist.

The forward cabin is pretty standard with its central double bed. But head aft and you’ll find the mid cabin on the centreline with its two beds running lengthways. It allows the cabin, and particularly the walkway between the beds, to sit deep in the centre of the hull, maximising headroom.

EXTERIOR

The optional hard top on this boat offers far more protection and the ability to slide the roof back on a nice day or close it up in inclement weather. Beneath it, the helm gets a single bucket seat with a bench seat for two more alongside it. There’s a dinette and wet bar aft.

PERFORMANCE

We tested a boat with the same twin Volvo Penta D4-260 engines as this example and recorded a very acceptable 33 knots flat out with a 28 knot cruise at 500rpm off max.

SEAKEEPING

Where this boat gets really interesting is the hull. Not only is it a twin stepped hull, rare enough in itself, but it’s also an air step. What that means is that air is channelled through vents down pipes and released at the first step, meaning most of the boat is running on an air/water mix to reduce drag and soften the ride. Does it work? In the 3ft chop of our test it ran “very smoothly with hardly any slam”. And 42lph at 20 knots from a twin engine 37-footer is not too shabby.

LOA 37ft 0in (11.3m) Beam 12ft 3in (3.7m) Draft 3ft 6in (1.1m) Displacement 6.5 tonnes Fuel capacity 650 litres Engines Twin Volvo Penta D4-260 260hp diesel

FOR SALE Ancasta www.ancasta.com