Axopar hints at Land Rover Defender-themed boat

The Axopar 22 is the brand’s first trailerable boat, small and light enough to be pulled behind a mid-size SUV.

However, the boat is marketed squarely at people with a strong sense of adventure – exactly the type of people who are likely to buy and own a trusty new Defender.

Axopar had a Land Rover Defender parked up next to the Axopar 22 Spyder, the latest version of the boat to be revealed.

When Axopar founding partner Jan-Erik Viitala was asked why the Defender was parked up next to the boat, he replied: “Let’s say this way, that in the coming spring, keep an eye out on our social media – there might be something in an adventure theme coming up.”

“It’s going to be pretty exciting,” Viitala said.

Axopar used last night’s reveal of the Axopar 22 Spyder to also show off the Axopar x Jobe Revolve XXII, a themed collaboration with Netherlands-based watersports group Jobe.

It revealed a version of the Axopar 22 Spyder made to perfectly match the colour scheme and graphics used on a new stand-up paddle board – a hint of what it may do with the Defender.

While Axopar is mainly focussed on building bigger outboard engine-powered boats, Viitala said the challenge was to take everything it was doing for the 28- to 37-foot boats and shrink it down into something that was easier to manage.

“Doing a small boat is way harder than creating a big boat,” he said. “There is such a small margin of error when it comes to handling and driveability of a boat.

“There are small spaces, so in order to get the smaller spaces to work for all our customers all over worldwide, for them to be able to modularise their boats for their own use and their own preference, that’s actually more challenging than doing bigger boats.”

Axopar designer Jarkko Jamsen said the Axopar 22 also was introduced to help cut down on transport costs on what is a highly competitive corner of the new-boat market.

“When we started to discuss with Jan and the team … we asked how we can keep the end costs, transport costs reasonable, because that’s an important thing for Axopar,” Jamsen said.

“Transport cost is a key because if you are in Australia or somewhere, we are produced in Europe … so that’s why we had to find a solution to making the transport costs go down.”

The new Axopar 22 is designed so that it fits in a standard shipping container, whereas the bigger boats that Axopar makes need to be shipped on open flat tracks, increasing cost while exposing them to weather and potential damage.

It also means the smaller boat will be sealed up in a container at the factory, and not re-opened until the boat is delivered to the dealership at its destination.

The new Spyder is a walkaround centre console version of the Axopar 22 featuring a rear-facing bow lounge, two-seat helm station, a head tucked away under the console, and a U-shaped transom lounge.

Powering it is an outboard engine ranging from 150hp to 200hp.

Axopar said the Axopar 22 Spyder was also available with a bimini, spray hood and a fully enclosed canopy.

Sydney-based eyachts has sold more than 100 Axopar models in Australia over the last five years.