2020 NauticStar 25 XS review

There’s something distinct about North American brands that makes them stand apart from anything else out there. Look at an image of a boat, and the instant you see that signature deep vee with the big forward flare, raised bows and clean, soft-edged lines you know it's not what we're used to Down Under.

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So it is with Mississippi-based boat-maker NauticStar. Formed in 2002, it’s a fairly young brand when you weigh it up against some of the Aussie staples such as Haines Hunter, Savage and Caribbean.

The US brand specialises in a range of tournament, pro-fishing and pleasure boats ranging from 18 to 32 feet. Among them, NauticStar’s offshore boats all wear an “XS” tag and running in size from 20 feet up to 32 feet.

The boat we’re reviewing here is the NauticStar 25 XS, right smack-bang in the middle of the five-model XS field. It’s the cheapest way into an XS-badged boat that ditches a cloth T-top over the centre console for a hard T-top.

Sydney-based Marine Partners has the base NauticStar 25 XS priced from $195,132, so it’s far from a snap buying decision in the 25-foot boat range. Throw in a Boeing dual-axle electric-braked galvanised trailer and a few choice options, and the price jumps to $210,122.

Ouch. With the Australian dollar plumbing 11-year lows against the greenback, an imported boat is never going to be a cheap proposition. That said, going some way to justifying the high price is a level of quality, fit and finish that is arguably best in class.

Our test boat was also fitted with twin 200hp Yamaha F200 four-stroke outboard engines linked to the helm via SeaStar Pro hydraulic steering.

Fittings are either quality stainless steel – there are three sets of pop-up stainless cleats on each side of the NauticStar 25 XS – or brass where there are water shut-offs or pick-ups.

Options on our test boat included stainless steel props fitted to the Yamahas, an overboard waste discharge system linked to a pump-out toilet, a 45-litre pressurised freshwater washdown system replacing the raw water one with outlets at the leaning post and transom, an engine/house battery switch and panel with isolator, and a classy windlass system with anchor that integrates neatly in with the stem.

The superstructure of the finely welded T-top is powdercoated black, as is the underside of the hard canopy, to help reduce sun glare.

The “leaning post” – American for helm seats – is a newly overhauled, lower profile design that increases comfort compared with the one it replaces. It consists of two high-set and comfy bucket seats with flip-up bolsters.

Of note, our test boat is yet to be fitted with any marine electronics; MarinePartners leaves it up to owners to fit their preferred chartplotters and fishfinders.

The hull is protected with a limited lifetime warranty.

No wood is used to build the NauticStar 25 XS’s hull. The boat is built in three layers consisting of the hand-laid outer hull, a box frame fibreglass stringer system, and a one-piece hand-laid moulded self-draining deck that is first bonded in place and then attached to the hull with stainless steel fasteners.

The hulls are coated in marine-grade vinyl ester before being finished off with a “precision sprayed” gelcoat. Voids are foam-filled to provide positive flotation, and each hull is tank-tested before it leaves NauticStar’s factory to ensure it is watertight.

NauticStar prides itself as a sea-going brand, building hulls that have a deep vee and fine entry up front, and a shallow vee aft to help with getting up on the plane quickly and provide stability at rest.

The NauticStar 25 XS doesn’t stray too far from the sea-keeping theme, featuring a distinctly flared 45-degree Carolina-style bow optimised for slicing through waves, and near-vertical sides aft running to almost the full beam and supporting a 20-degree deadrise.

One thing the Yanks do really well is clean lines. The NauticStar 25 XS has no rails running along its deep-sided topdecks, and the pop-up cleats recess neatly when not needed, so the boat’s design has a lot less visual clutter above the waterline.

The boat’s self-draining cockpit means the bilge is not easily visible. Recognising this, the NauticStar 25 XS is fitted with two 50-litre-a-minute bilge pumps, one manual and the other automatic.

Superficially, the NauticStar 25 XS looks like a smartly tailored Zegna suit, with family-friendly lounge areas covered in comfy vinyl upholstery, and all the comforts of a changeroom with optional head.

Look beneath the facade, though, and you soon realise this is a hardcore fishing boat wearing a superficial veneer of comfort so that it doubles as a dayboat when you need it.

The bow is taken up with a large seating area that wraps around it, with a low grab rail and a swing-out bolster at each end so each side becomes a comfy forward-facing bench. The cushions are removable so the forward space becomes an elevated fishing deck, and the gas strut-supported seat tops lift up to provide shallow storage spaces limited a bit by the deep flare of the bow.

An optional electric winch that stows the anchor in the bow stem is located in the deep forepeak. It has a flip-up cover, and a set of push-button controls so you can lay or retrieve the anchor from the bow.

Behind this is a good-sized open space leading to a single seat forward of the centre console – the seat has a flip-up squab with watertight storage below. In the middle of the non-skid floor is a hatch hiding a recessed bucket for stowing a casting net – check your local recreational fishing regulations to see if their use is legal before you invest in one.

Forward of the centre console, the NauticStar 25 XS features excellent internal freeboard – one of the reasons it doesn’t need bow rails.

The console houses a changeroom that in our test boat also comes with an electrically flushing head – a very family-friendly feature. The space isn’t tall but it is wide, and a small oval-shaped porthole lets in natural light.

Behind the NauticStar 25 XS’s helm is a comfy, well-padded three-seater transom bench set to port with a swing-up base that allows it to be stowed away when not used. The starboard side of the transom has a swing-out door that provides access to the engine pod.

An extending four-rung swim ladder is mounted to the starboard side of the engine pod. It’s not really made for diving, as you need to climb about half a metre out of the water to board.

There are no extended shade options for the NauticStar 25 XS. Extended trips that run wide will leave passengers other than the skipper and first mate exposed to the elements.

The central dual-seat console makes full use of the NauticStar 25 XS’s 2.59-metre beam, with easy access on either side.

The fibreglass composite T-top above it leads well forward to provide shade over the instrument cluster, although its trailing edge, complete with four rocket launcher-style rod holders, extends back only as far as the edge of the two seats.

The extremely comfy and supportive skipper and first mate’s seats are set high, which helps when looking over the high bow. A flip-up rail provides a footrest while seated, and stows out of the way nicely when standing – the seats’ flip-up bolsters provide plenty of room to stand.

Visibility all around, even at speed and with the bow up, is excellent.

The boat’s three batteries are housed in the space beneath the seats, behind a removable access panel. The battery isolator switch is below the first mate’s seat.

The dual-width console has a stainless steel helm offset to port. The throttle binnacle controlling the twin Yamaha 200hp outboard engines powering the NauticStar 25 XS falls easily to hand, and the extreme offset of the helm leaves decent space for the Lemco trim tab controls.

The deep console, framed at the top with a low wrap-around screen, is large enough to fit twin multifunction chartplotter/fishfinder screens, although its surface is finished in reflective white rather than matte black – you can option a blackout kit which we’d recommend. At the console’s base are controls for the Yamaha CommandLink engine management screen, and the head unit for the Infinity audio system.

Switches for the boat’s electronics, which feature a blue backlight when on, are on the starboard side of the dash below a pair of cupholders – don’t spill your coffee. The font used to name each switch is small to the point of being almost unreadable while bouncing over a swell and trying to find the right one to hit.

There’s no dash-top storage for small items, and instead, there is a cavity below the helm and a glovebox to starboard with a USB charging point, all above a footrest cavity.

Our black T-top frame is well built and solid. The canopy is blacked out underneath to cut down on glare and houses the console lights and switches, speakers for the Infinity audio system, and rear-facing cockpit lights. Up front below the drop-nosed leading edge of the canopy is a flat, almost vertical space to mount radios.

The cockpit in the NauticStar 25 XS is quite short given the boat’s almost 8.0-metre stretch, but that’s no bad thing. Key to explaining why is the ease in which you can fish a full 360 degrees around the boat.

The NauticStar 25 XS is very clever at hiding its fishing features, which are surprisingly abundant. Down at the transom are a 110-litre plumbed live bait tank with a gas strut-supported see-through lid, and a 250-litre kill tank. The boat also has a pair of 90-litre fish tanks mounted forward in the bow that drain overboard.

One of the running changes made to the NauticStar 25 XS’s centre console is the inclusion of a large aft-facing plumbed, lit and aerated 80-litre live well. To one side of the live well is a pair of pull-out drawers – one shallow, the other deep – for storing tackle.

The cockpit space doesn’t have side pockets but instead has a rod storage recess. Surprisingly, the rod storage spaces are the only part of the boat to provide under-toe space, making it easier to comfortably brace against the sides as you fight a fish, and to reach down into the water. In other parts of the boat you make do with deep topdecks and cushions.

The boat is fitted with three stainless steel gunnel-mounted rod holders down each side. The one glaring omission, though, is a bait preparation station.

The “XS” in the NauticStar 25 XS name denotes that this boat is one of the members of NauticStar’s five-model offshore range made for serious anglers.

Our test day on Sydney Harbour included a run outside the heads and out past Manly to test the boat’s ocean-going chops.

Through Sydney Harbour’s messy chop, the Carolina-style flared bow performed remarkably well, the deep vee allowing us to travel at speed while any spray was deflected out and way from the boat. The NauticStar 25 XS remains remarkably dry.

That smooth ride means you can tap the talents of the twin 200hp Yamaha F200XB outboard engines. With this much performance on tap, the NauticStar 25 XS planes easily, and the hard chines and strakes, combined with the bow’s fine entry and sharp deadrise, provide plenty of cornering grip.

Our test day wasn’t the best of conditions, with building northwesterly winds that later that evening would hit more than 100km/h as it tore through Sydney and surrounds. Despite that, we were still able to hit a top speed of more than 30 knots in a trying sea state, well shy of the NauticStar 25 XS's 50-knot top speed.

Performance

*Both engines
Maximum cruising range based on 95% of 526L fuel tank: 376nm @ 3000rpm

Even when cornering at speed, the hull remains very flat and controlled.

In fact, the hull proved so comfortable at speed and responsive to engine trim that we question the need for the Lemco trim tabs. They’ll definitely help to balance the boat when there are more bodies, and weight, onboard, though.

The NauticStar 25 XS is one of a number of sharp-looking premium US boat brands looking to establish a loyal following Down Under in the hope that what works for the North American market can resonate with buyers here.

On the surface, the 25 XS looks all the world like a well-made day boat, but explore its subtly hidden features and underneath you’ll find a competent fishing set-up that’s made to run fast, safely and comfortably to offshore fishing grounds.

That goes some way to justifying the high price of entry to the NauticStar club.

Specifications
Model: NauticStar 25 XS
Length: 7.62m
Beam: 2.59 M
Engines: Twin 150hp (rec)/twin 200hp (max)
Engines as tested: Twin 200hp Yamaha F200 extra longshaft four-stroke
Draft: 0.38m (est)
Deadrise: 20 degrees (transom)/45 degrees (bow)
Bridge clearance: 2.49m (inc T-top)
Weight: 1814kg (est)
Fuel: 526L
Livewells: 57L (aft)/79L (leaning post)/114L (aft)
Fish boxes: 2x95L (forward port and starboard)
Passengers: 12

Priced from: $195,132 including powder-coated T-top with curved windshield; SeaDek console top; stainless steel steering wheel; flush-mount compass; horn, 12V accessory plug; Infinity stereo with four speakers; LED navigation and courtesy lights; fold-down aft bench seat; bow cushions and cockpit bolsters; in-floor casting net storage; dual pressurised raw water washdown; stainless steel rub rail, thru-hull fittings, drink holders (6), pull-up cleats (6); swim ladder; SeaStar Pro hydraulic steering; and twin Yamaha F/LF200XB outboard engines. Boeing dual-axle galvanised trailer adds $14,990

Price as tested: $210,122. As above including dual stainless steel props; overboard waste discharge system and pump-out head; 45L freshwater washdown system; dual engine/house battery switch and panel with isolator; windlass system with anchor

Supplied by: Marine Partners, Sydney