2024 Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show: Small boats

We’re still counting down the days to the start of the 2024 Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show and already boat brands are lining up to try and steal the show.

This year’s event is already almost fully booked out by exhibitors that include some of the nation’s, and the world’s, biggest and best brands.

Some of the boats to go on show will be from brands that have not yet been seen in Australia.

As always, there is likely to be a host of new electronics and a few innovations that also make the show stands.

We’ll keep adding to this story as we learn more about what surprises are around the corner.

In the meantime, here is what we know will be there.

After seeing a pre-production version of the Quintrex Freestyler X at the 2023 Sanctuary Cove Show, this is Queensland's first chance to get a close look at the production boat as it is delivered to customers.

The first customer deliveries started slipping out of the Coomera-based Quintrex factory late last year.

The two-model Quintrex Freestyler X range is an all-new concept for the brand, featuring a 115hp or 150hp Rotax engine, a revolutionary repackaged outboard engine that allows it to act more like a sterndrive than a traditional outboard.

The big benefit of this is that instead of having a transom built around the engine, the Freestyler X is more like a sterndrive, allowing Quintrex's design team to create a large, flat deck at the rear of the boat that greatly increases the amount of room onboard.

The Freestyler X, available as either a 5.8-metre 555 or a 6.2-metre 595, is part of Quintrex's Freestyler bowrider range of family-friendly boats made for everything from water sports to lazy days at the beach.

Australian Marine Centre is gearing up to host the world debut of the all-new, 800hp Edencraft 255 Formula.

This new model, making the long trip north, is built out of Edencraft’s home base in Geelong, Victoria. According to Edencraft, the new model will be built to AMSA Survey Standards with structural updates utilising composite materials, positive foam buoyancy, a flared bow, dual bait tanks, a reconfigured dash, an upgraded cabin and a newly designed hardtop paired with a 24-degree deadrise that will help “create the smoothest ride in rough conditions”.

Power options, in single or twin outboards, will range from a single 300hp engine to twin 400hp Mercury Verado V10s. What’s not to like?

Short Marine will use the 2024 Sanctuary Cove show to officially introduce luxury dayboats from US boat maker Chris Craft to the Queensland market.

Chris Craft this year celebrates its 150th anniversary, and the brand has celebrated by dropping the Launch 27 decked out in a special anniversary trim. The company has recently opened a new manufacturing facility in the US that can increase its production by an extra 50 percent – important when the brand has flagged it is working on many more next-generation dayboats.

Chris Craft models include the Launch GT dayboats, Calypso split consoles and Catalina walkaround ranges.

New Zealand-based powered catamaran brand Kingfisher will launch in Australia via Queensland-based Wynnum Marine, one of the stalwarts of the local marine industry.

Kingfisher produces monohull boats, but it’s the cats that will be out of the bag with Wynnum now the distributor for a line of models ranging from a 3.9-metre twin-hulled tinnie up to a yet-to-launch 7.3-metre flagship featuring a 2.4-metre beam.

Wynnum plans to have a 6.0-metre-plus model on display, suggesting we’re either going to see the Kingfisher Powercat 620 or the current flagship, the Kingfisher Powercat 680. Both these boats come either as a cuddy cabin or hardtop configuration.

Being New Zealand-based boats, they’re also likely to be well-suited to running wide.

Sanctuary Cove will also host Wynnum Marine’s launch of Finnish boat brands

Yamarin models are all fibreglass, while the Cross boats feature alloy hulls capped with a fibreglass cuddy. 

These boats are built to tackle the Baltic Sea, so should easily adapt to Australian conditions.

Sirocco Marine is back at Sanctuary Cove, this time with around 30 rigid inflatable boats from brands including Williams, Zodiac and Ukrainian RIB specialist Brig.

On that last note, attending this year's show will be Slava Rodionov, co-founder and chief executive of Kharkiv-based Brig, which last year resumed production despite the ongoing conflict with Russia.

Front and centre of Sirocco's display will be the 10.2-metre, deep-vee Brig Eagle 10, a high-speed, high-end luxury dayboat that includes a couple-friendly cabin for overnighting.

Alongside it will be the Brig Eagle 8, a 7.98-metre family-oriented dayboat with seats for up to 10 people.

The 2024 Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show runs from May 23-26.

Tickets are only available online, and if you buy them before May 8 they will cost $30, with children aged less than 16 admitted free with a paying adult.