Arvor 25

We happened to use a 61ft luxury sportscruiser as the photographic platform for this boat review. The importers of the $2 million-plus sportscruiser &151 a boat with everything including crystal supplied &151 looked across and declared unabashed admiration for the jaunty little French Arvor 25. Moi aussi!

The 25 follows on from the highly successful 20ft Arvor released in Australia several years ago and now produced locally by Collins Marine. The 25 looks the goods for everything from day cruising to charter work, serious offshore fishing, scuba diving trips and family boating.

Outdoors, the vast cockpit ensures summer fun is never far away. In winter, meanwhile, crew won't be challenged by the weather. The enclosed wheelhouse provides protection as well as somewhere to secure gear when the boat is back at its mooring.

Designed to be left in the water, the Arvor 25 might also be considered one of the lowest-maintenance 25-footers on the market. The boat is powered by a shaft-driven diesel inboard, leaving little to go wrong below the waterline.

Add a few coats of antifouling to the hull and you could leave your Arvor 25 for months at a time and still expect turn-key starting when you jet back home.

What's more, the savvy French cruiser sips fuel rather than gulps it. With a 4.2lt 220hp MerCruiser diesel, you can cruise from sun-up to sundown on significantly less than 100lt.

Should you run short of prawns or champagne, it won't take you all day to get to the source of fresh supplies. The Arvor 25 returns high-20kt speeds, which is what we maintained while running across Sydney Heads for the photos on these pages.

OUTDOOR OPTIONS
The French-made Arvor 25 has some interesting features. For example, there are two heavy-duty rollers recessed into the coamings to assist with lifting fish nets or lobster pots. This, I gather, is something that French recreational boaties are big on.

Having landed their langouste, crabe or poisson, they can return to port comfortable in the knowledge that the catch is alive and well. The boat has a recirculating in-floor wet well which operates on a siphon or scoop. Water recirculates when the boat is underway and the tank remains flooded at rest.

Also hiding underfloor, beneath a big central hatch, is the engine. It has sound insulation and excellent access to the sea strainer, fuel filter, wet exhaust system, battery, PSS shaft seal and the fuel tank situated further aft.

There is a lazarette which grants access to the steering gear and, should you prefer, you can drive your Arvor 25 with the supplied tiller like a real trawler man. If Sunday cruises are more your thing, you will find room to store a fold-up teak table and chairs under the floor.

There are gutters around the sub-floor hatches to drain ambient water or rain off the decks via scuppers, which didn't appear to let water back inside when reversing. The non-skid surface proved secure underfoot.

UPRIGHT & VIRTUOUS
Wide coamings provide support at groin level when leaning outboard. Even with three people pretending to reach for crab trap floats, the boat remained upright and had a very buoyant feeling about it.

It's my guess you could carry a party of six adults on the deck of the Arvor 25. Add a cockpit canopy and the boat would make a great summer cruiser, New Year's Eve fireworks viewing platform, and more along those lines.

Aside from those built-in rollers for reeling in crab pots, anglers will find rod holders supplied and room to mount extra holders in the wide coamings. There are two above-deck cleats, two under-coaming rod/paddle racks each side, and super-deep storage bins in the aft corners.

The starboard side storage bin contains a tap for the hydraulic steering, which you must close if driving the boat off its tiller. The port side compartment is used for gas-bottle storage for the optional internal stove. Strangely, there is no gas hot-water option.

Across the top of the two aft storage bins sits a removable fibreglass pew. It isn't the most comfortable thing, but it could come in handy when waiting for the fish to bite.

With a few deck winches, the Arvor 25 would be one neat reef-fishing boat. And essentially nothing more than a mop and hose-down is needed to keep the boat clean.

Divers and swimmers will like the big boarding platform with ladder. A cut-out in the transom lets you move freely between it and the cockpit and there is a ridiculously big handrail for support. A nice touch is the teak outboard bracket for carrying an auxiliary outboard.

GOING WALKABOUT
The Arvor 25 gains ground over its 20ft sibling in the area of its walkarounds. Two steps lead from the cockpit to the gutters which are still traversed foot-over-foot. There are handrails on the cabin top to help you along and I noted a 12V light, anchor light and aerials.

Anchoring is made easy thanks to a split bow rail, moulded bowsprit, and decent rope/chain locker with a sturdy centre bollard. But I would like to see a windlass so you can set the pick at the push of a button on the dash.

There is provision to store two fenders up front and an area of flat deck that could be used as a casting platform. In calm water, two people could sit on the cabin top and enjoy the views while idling about the waterways.

HAILING THE CAB
I like the fact you must take a 30cm step up into the boat's cabin because that step will help keep water out. In treacherous conditions you should close the lock-up cabin door. In summer, leave it open and slide the cabin side windows across for fresh air.

The wheelhouse is surrounded by a five-piece windscreen with tinted safety glass panels. It offers good views of the ocean and, via an aft window, you can see the cockpit. There are two wipers and with Rainex on the glass you should be able to see through rain and spray.

The finish inside is best described as no-frill, with lots of French oak-like joinery, flow coat or moulded walls, and mock teak flooring. Headroom is good at the wheelhouse and when seated on the V-berth in the cabin proper.

Storage comes via three shelves to port and two shelves to starboard beside the helm station. There is further storage under the V-berth in a sub-floor locker, and in a big void in the moulded amenities centre on the port side which could be used to mount a 12V fridge.

The amenities centre contains a sink (linked to 100lt of pressurised water) and single-burner gas stove. There was no fridge, but I did find a liner in one of the underbunk storage recesses which suggested it could be used as an icebox.

Stepping down into the cabin reveals the depth of the Arvor hull. There is, as mentioned, good seating. A small table offers somewhere to play cards or crack a bottle of red and a wheel of brie while the storm passes.

With infill, the V-berth converts to a double bed that can sleep a 1.80m long couple diagonally. The berth will certainly be loved by young children. An overhead cabin hatch delivers fresh air.

A very small moulded head hides behind the dash with just enough room to use the portable loo provided. There is no internal or external shower, however.

CAPTAIN'S VIEW
Unlike the Arvor 20 which has seating for only one person at the wheel, the 25-footer has a helm bench seat which can take two people. The bench seat, which isn't terribly deep, folds down to make extra standing room in case you prefer driving on your feet.

In my view there is still room for improvement with the helm and passenger seating. I would like to see raised seating for a family of four, so they can cruise and muse while escaping the elements.

The dash, which is prominent in your view when seated, is fitted with MerCruiser gauges relaying engine revs, temperature, oil pressure, running hours and battery volts. An engine-monitoring system is included with audio and visual alarms.

There is also a fuel gauge, 12V outlet, two switch panels, a VHF radio and room to mount depth sounder, GPS and stereo.

The sidemount throttle was in the right position, but it had an annoying neutral lock that requires you to depress a button each time you want to go into gear. Because you must walk a single-inboard boat into its berth, which demands that you shift the motor in and out of gear, this design of Mercury throttle didn't suit the Arvor 25.

The quaint French timber ship's wheel was a good match, however, and the screw-out trolling valve, which reduces idle speed from around 4kt to 1.5kt, could be handy for trolling.

BON VOYAGE
Propeller torque, which is common to all single-screw boats, means that the Arvor 25 turns to port in a tighter circle than to starboard. A big rudder helps counter this trend, however, and you can eventually reverse the boat both ways.

Throttle response could be described as lively or, perhaps, touch and go. The boat cruises keenly, pulling speeds of around 23-24kt, and it was possible to milk 28-29kt out of the boat while flying down the harbour.

There is a big cut-out or tunnel in the aft centre section of the hull that has the interesting effect of making the Arvor 25 turn like a powercat at high speeds. In other words, it leans out in the turns.

Otherwise, the French North Sea boat seemed quite steady on its feet, with a deep-vee that cuts the waves, and not too much spray on the windscreen. It probably runs even better when loaded.

The Arvor 25 certainly has savoir vivre, which translates to knowledge about how to live. As the couple on the cameraboat attest, you needn't be a Francophile to appreciate its cute and comely lines.

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