WINDY 37 GRAND MISTRAL
BUILT: 2008 PRICE: £165,000
Quite often there is a single boat that inspires this “Find Me A...” feature, and this month it’s this boat. The vast majority of Windy 37 Grand Mistrals went out with the optional hard top, which makes good sense. But when I saw this open version I immediately thought “she’s just about perfect”.
INTERIOR
Some makes of boat have an unmistakeable vibe, and Windy is no exception. I could be lead aboard blindfolded, but once inside I’d know exactly what it was. The combination of beautiful woodwork, including the practical wooden floor, the well-fitted linings and the subtle colour scheme just scream, or more accurately whisper, “Windy”. The layout is snug but entirely conventional and none the worse for it – double cabins at either end are split by the saloon and galley. The centreline bed in the owner’s cabin forward is a nice touch in a sub-40ft boat.
EXTERIOR
It’s a similar deal in the cockpit where neatly paired instruments down either side of the helm console, plenty of chunky grab rails, a thick wooden cockpit table and practical touches such as the steps up to the port side deck let you know you’re aboard a proper boat from a proper builder.
PERFORMANCE
Although early Grand Mistrals (the boat launched in 1997) were offered with a variety of twin Yanmar, Mercruiser or Volvo Penta engines, the vast majority got the Volvos, and in fact the other makes soon
LOA 36ft 7in (11.1m) Beam 101t 6in (3.5m) Draught 3ft 2in (1.0m) Displacement 6.5 tonnes Fuel capacity 800 litres
Engines Twin Volvo Penta D4-260 260hp diesel engines
FOR SALE Salterns Brokerage www.salternsbrokerage.co.uk
disappeared from the options form. In production for well over a decade, the KAD 44 260hp and KAD 300 285hp engines were usurped in 2004 by Volvo Penta’s brand new D Series motors, hence the D4-260 engines in this example, which should push the top speed into the high 30s.
SEAKEEPING
Designed by Hans J Johnsen, this is an extremely capable boat. When we asked powerboat racer Steve Curtis to test a number of like-sized sportscruisers in June 2005, he concluded that the 37 “had the best combination of ride comfort and agility of all the boats tested”.