2018 Bella 600R, Flipper 600ST, Falcon BR 6 reviewed

From the Land of the Midnight Sun – Finland – comes Bella Boats, featuring a range of family runabouts brimming with bright styling and Nordic smarts.

Launched at this year's Sydney International Boat Show, Bella builds 30 models spread across four brands, focusing strongly on trailer boats suited to family and fishing needs. Three in every four boats it builds are exported.

In Australia, the newly introduced range covers three brands; Flipper, Bella and Falcon. Just days after the 2018 boat show closed its doors, boatsales.com.au jumped on board the first Aussie arrivals from each of the brands.

Bella’s range of boats offers a refreshing point of difference to locally made trailer boats, the brand’s local distributor, Dan Hanoumis, says. This, combined with a high level of safety and finish, makes them worth importing, he says.

Hanoumis visited a number of European boat manufacturers before taking on the Bella agency. He says these Finnish boats might come from the other side of the world, but are the "right fit for Australia and our style of boating”.

That’s because just like us Aussies, Finns love their small boats, and fishing. Finland has a very high percentage of boat owners for its small 5.5 million population, going some way to explaining why it can support a surprising mix of boat brands that also includes the likes of Axopar, Nord Star, Sargo and XOBoats.

But Bella is the big gun of northern Europe. It recently became part-owned by US boat making giant Brunswick Group, strengthening an already strong link with the group’s Mercury outboards division.

In Australia, Hanoumis's business, Euronautica, has teamed with Sydney's Chapman Marine Group to introduce the Bella range to local boaties.

The arrangement is more than just testing the waters for Bella, with the brand very committed to the Australian market. Hanoumis says it will listen to what local buyers want, and use that information to offer more locally fitted options. All the craft have International CE safety certification so they already come with a strong reputation.

Judging by a short water test of three models featured at the Sydney show – the Bella 600R, Flipper 600ST and Falcon BR6 – these Finnish craft offer much in terms of style, comfort and clever use of space. All three were fitted with Mercury's new generation of four-stroke outboards, so should be strong on fuel efficiency.

Pricing on the six-metre Bella 600R, Flipper 600ST and Falcon BR6 looks competitive, and standard specification features surprises such as hydraulic steering, navigation lights and swim ladder.

The standard specification sheet also reveals the Nordic newcomers are slightly ahead of the game; for example, they come kitted out with USB charging sockets and a 12-volt power plug for a cooler box. They also come with cockpit covers, a very handy accessory when leaving the boat overnight on a mooring or dock.

Bella also produces the Aquador range, essentially a motor cruiser range with designs ranging in length from 7-10.5m. It offers fresh Nordic styling and a high build quality, and will be a review subject for a later date.

The namesake Bella brand epitomises the progressive design approach of the Bella Group. A key feature seen in the Bella 600R (pictured) is a stubby bow that's right on trend with today’s latest power boat look.

The bow has a typical curved “spoon” entry below the chine, rising to almost vertical above, so there's no big overhang. This makes the Bella 600R longer in the water for its deck length, creating a better ride without losing bow buoyancy to deflect spray, and ensuring seaworthiness in rough water.

The Bella 600R incorporates much more passenger seating and comfort as centre console boats go, so it's well suited as a day cruiser. A pair of comfortable helm seats are behind a console framed in an unusually large and aerodynamic windscreen.

The Mercury 135hp four-stroke fitted to the Bella 600R has the sportiest performance of the three models on test, and impressive sports car-like handling. Rated to carry seven people, it has practical features such as a high freeboard and fully molded fibreglass interior with light grey plank effect flooring.

Combined, the Bella 600R’s traits make it a boat you'd buy as much for family cruising, water-skiing and other activities as you would for flicking lures to fish.

Bella 600R pricing starts from $59,000.

You’d expect a certain degree of fun attached to a name such as Flipper, and that is what this fibreglass craft line delivers. This 50-plus-year-old brand is highly respected in Europe for its mix of quality and up-market styling with an emphasis on comfortable interiors; think of Flipper and Bella in the same way that Audi sits higher in the automotive hierarchy than Volkswagen.

Flipper offers models ranging in length from 6-8.5m in runabout and cabin styling. The model headlining the brand here is the Flipper 600ST, or “Sports Top”. It features an innovative, raked topside design where the cabin and windscreen become one.

In practice, the Sports Top works well and provides both good shelter and vision from the helm. However, it's a very different concept to the Aussie cuddy boat, and some buyers will need to try it for themselves before they’re sold on the idea.

The Flipper 600ST’s interior is big on comfort, and incorporates smart thinking such as a double-sided passenger seat backrest that converts the bench to a sun lounge. A high-quality interior finish also puts the Flipper 600ST more in the frame of a small cruiser than cuddy trailer boat.

We didn't get the chance to give the Flipper a proper high-speed test, but it should be a good performer with 150hp Mercury four-stroke on the transom. Enhancing handling and fuel economy are the Flipper's advanced stepped design and deeper vee hull.

Flipper 600ST pricing starts from $76,000.

Bella Boats launched its Falcon alloy outboard brand at February’s Helsinki boat show. It’s a very different to the tinnie that Australians know and love, featuring a fibreglass interior framed in the 5083 plate-alloy hull, with a foam sandwich filling the void. The Falcon’s hybrid construction gives owners the best of both worlds; the knock-about toughness of alloy, and the smoother, nicer looks of the fibreglass interior.

The foam core helps to make the Falcon a very quiet ride. It also makes the hull virtually unsinkable, with positive buoyancy even when totally flooded.

Falcon's range covers models from 5-7m in length. The Falcon BR 6 Bowrider is the model tested here.

This configuration also suits family boating, with passenger seats in the bow accessed via a clear walkway, two console seats and a three-seat rear lounge. The latter opens up to form a large sun bed, and even converts to a raised casting deck for fishing.

Nordic logic shines through in practical ways, such as a fold-away bimini behind the rear lounge, and a large fold-out stowage bin in the passenger-side console.

The Falcon line benefits from more than 40 years of experience in boat making, as well as countless hours of development, planning and testing. The result is a versatile, stylish and roomy craft for its size.

Power for our test was a Mercury 115hp Pro XS four-stroke.

The Falcon BR 6 is priced from $61,000

Bella Boats (Bella-Veneet Oy) was founded in 1970 in Kuopio, Finland. It has a long tradition in recreational product development, and boat manufacturing.

Today, Bella Boats and its four brands are the Nordic region's leading manufacturer of fibreglass motorboats. About 75 percent of Bella’s 800-boat annual production is exported to other European countries, Russia, Asia, the Middle East and now Australia.

The group has an extensive dealer network with more than 100 alone in northern Europe. All boats are made in one of four sites across Finland, and fully comply with the strict safety standards required in Nordic countries.

Founder Raimo Sonninen is still strongly involved in the business and retains 70 percent of the company after selling a 30 percent stake to Brunswick Group in 2003.

Quality fittings are used throughout the boats, and cushions and canopies are factory-made using Silvertex and Sunbrella fabrics. Deck fittings such as table pedestals and other fittings are made in Norway.

There's a positive precedence for Finnish craft coming to Australia. Swan was known as the Rolls-Royce of production sailing yachts when it was introduced at the Sydney Boat Show in the early 1980s. Not many sold, but even today the Swan brand is synonymous with quality offshore racers and cruisers, and fetch a premium on the second-hand market.

More recently we've seen the outboard-powered Axopar range make inroads into the fast day-cruiser market. Its slim lines and axe head bows are likened to a modern-day version of a Viking long ship.

The craft tested here hint that Finland is punching above its weight, not so much in the sheer volume of boats it builds and sells, but in the quality and innovation it offers Australian buyers. With that sort of heritage, Bella comes to our market with great promise.

Further information: Chapman Marine Group, Sydney Boathouse Rozelle NSW ph 02 9818 2000 or visit www.chapmanmarinegroup.com.au