Apreamare 11 Don Giovanni Sportivo

The Don is the Don Giovanni, an 11m craft named after the mythical romantic to whom Mozart devoted a movement or two. It's a boat designed to win hearts.

Made by Italian company Apreamare, an arm of the huge Ferretti Group, the Don redefines the notion of pleasure boating. Here, getting wet is fun, cooking in the galley is uncool and love and affection are everything. Which is to say nothing of the electronic two-speed gearbox and 10,000kg hull designed for conditions ranging up to Beaufort Force 8.

WHO IS APREAMARE?
An Italian company based in Sorrento, Apreamare is part of the growing Ferretti Group.

There are already three Apreamares in Australia: a 7.5m model, a 10m model and the 11m Don Giovanni Sportivo seen here. To satisfy worldwide demand, currently running at 400 boats a year, Apreamare recently released a new 16m flagship.

All models are fashioned from handlaid solid fibreglass and a box stringer system with side stringers for terrific rigidity, and are built to RINA certification.

Australian representative Yacht Italia likes to think of the Don as the Range Rover of the high seas. A unique boat, it could also be likened to a Maserati. Few will be sold down under, but those that are make a bold statement about their owners' exquisite sense of style.

The Apreamares come with twin turbo-diesel engines with shaftdrives from either Yanmar or Volvo. The Don I tested had twin 440hp Yanmar motors with interesting electronic two-speed ZF gearboxes that, when you flicked a switch, gave a turbo-like boost to acceleration.

STYLE MASTER
The boat is modelled along the lines of a traditional double-ended Italian fishing boat from Sorrento called the gozzo, which were popular in the days of displacement craft only.

Apreamare has moulded a modern-day gozzo with clinker sides and a painted silver hull, topped with a thick mahogany-veneered waistline and cap rails. Laid in-house, a forest of teak smothers the Don's decks.

The stainless work is wonderful designer stuff with oval sections for the bowrails and handrails, not the usual circular tubing.

While the Don looks like a gozzo, it has cleverly concealed hard-chine underwater running surfaces from amidships back, which help this boat plane at 30kt-plus. A flying gozzo.

FRESH LAYOUT
The Don could be described as a walk-around centre-cabin boat, but it's a special one at that. Called a sportivo, it's primarily an open boat for hot climes, with an optional bimini top and lots of deck for flaunting yourself.

The layout has been designed primarily for dayboating duties as a picnic boat, a fast city commuter, a restaurant runner and, most certainly, a playpen. Down below is five-star open-plan accommodation for an intimate couple and a delicious and exclusive interior-designer finish.

WALK AND LOUNGE AROUND
The Don has a big teak-planked boarding platform built around stainless framework and not a moulded number as you might expect.

Anchoring is made easy thanks to a Lofrans windlass and things like a neat chafe plate, big bollards, a separate rope and chain locker, and a stainless-steel anchor. Just behind the raised forecastle is a giant underfloor storage hatch.

Topped with a sky-blue marine vinyl, the giant sunpad on the foredeck is among the best I have seen. It has room for two couples to spread out on high-density foam cushions with leg and headrest. The cockpit has moulded modular lounges for six people topped with removable sculptured foam cushions. Add the folding teak table and you have an al fresco lunch setting pronto.

ENGINEERING TO PLEASE
Even on close inspection, the Don appears as well built as any Euro boat I have come across. There are watertight bulkheads fore and aft of the Yanmars, a 4.5kW Mase genset located centrally with a cover that doubles as a step, and great access to the strainers, seacocks and big Racor fuel filters up front. The main circuit-breaker board and engine-battery isolators are located on the forward bulkhead, along with a freshwater hose and fuel tanks with site gauges.

The Yanmars are fitted with two-speed ZF gearboxes in a V-drive configuration and underwater exhausts with idle-relief valves. The boat had an optional bow thruster to help close-quarters manoeuvring. But the big props on this boat have exceptional bite and you can spin the Don on a pizza by hitting the thruster switch.

APARTMENT LIVING
The pleasure principle applies to the interior. A dazzling ceiling feature gives the impression that you have stepped inside a giant clam or pearl shell. The open-plan interior includes a four-person leather lounge to starboard with a six-stacker CD player nearby. The teak folding table for the cockpit can be assembled beside the lounge for private dinners.

The small galley on the port side has fold-back covers. While there is no microwave oven or extractor fan, the Don has the goods to cook if you desire. But the boat's raison d'etre is the queen-sized island bed in the bow, which is big enough for a menage a trois!

Because the bed is set back from the bow, there is a surfeit of room around its sides and good access to the clothes lockers. The sense of space is boosted further by the use of a mirrored bedhead, the open-plan layout and high saloon ceiling, if not by the whopping 3.95m beam.

The bathroom to port is a fabulous five-star number that will serve couples or a party (the boat is rated to carry 12). The separate shower stall is as big as what you have at home.

ROMAN CHARIOT
Despite its 10,000kg displacement, the Don jumped to planing speed. There was some lifting of the bow, which could be corrected by using the trim tabs, though the boat displaces a lot of water when running and buttoning the bow down only makes the ride really wet.

At about 1500rpm, when the boat is about to level to planing speed, is the time to hit the two-speed gearbox button. When the second box jumps in, the boat snaps forward with a jolt. The extra thrust sees you reach level plane quicker than usual and the boat gains extra speed from less engine revs.

At 2200rpm, the Don drives really well and is as dry as you will get it. Cruising speed is 24kt. At 2500rpm, the boat pushed more water despite doing 27-28kt. I got 32kt top speed at 3400rpm, but the dealer has recorded 36kt without the bimini top. The 6LY2ASTP Yanmar motors are partly responsible for the great top speed, as they have a super power-to-weight ratio.

Offshore there was a truly big swell running, and it was here that the Don shone. The hitman of the high seas killed the waves, slicing them in half, and was loath to leave the water. When I did get some air under the hull, the boat came down super smoothly and without one hint of a thump.

FOR MORE DETAILS...
For our more detailed report on the Apreamare Don Giovanni Sportivo, don't miss the next issue of Big Boat Quarterly, on sale next month.