Bayliner 300 Cruiser

Weekend Socialite

There's a turning point, a pivotal moment when you go from merely camping to living comfortably aboard a boat. It is when you are no longer confined to a sleeping bag in a stuffy compartment, but treated to an accommodating bed in your own cabin; when rather than eating out of an icebox you can cook a hot breakfast on a stove or stage a barbecue lunch on deck; and when a hot shower and luxury head is at hand to freshen up.

The Bayliner 300 Cruiser is where such a life begins. Here's a weekender aboard which a family of four can go places, hunker down at night and kick about on deck without feeling like they are, well, camping. And with twin 260hp 5.0lt V8 MerCruiser engines with Bravo Three sterndrive legs - they're the ones with counter-rotating propellers for more thrust and grip - this Yankee sportscruiser is a fast getaway machine.

An altogether new boat from the keel up for 2008, the 300 Cruiser can be counted on delivering since it's built by the world's biggest boatbuilder. It slots in between Bayliner's 275, which in various guises has always been a popular single-engine, on-water camper, and the 320 Cruiser that we recently featured in this journal with MerCruiser's steerable underwater drive system called Axius.

Even though the 300 Cruiser hasn't a generator - you could carry a portable one easily enough - it has Shorepower so you can grab a visitor's berth at a marina and cook up a storm on the stove or small microwave oven. Away from dock, the same stove can be run on alcohol, so you can make plunger coffee, the 12/240V fridge will keep the milk cold, and one only needs to add a gas barbie for cooking the bacon and eggs and/or the bangers outside.

Meantime, there is a 20lt hot-water service and 124lt of water aboard. While this is a modest amount of water, you can wash the face in the morning, hose off the salt after swimming before bunking down, and keep comfortable over the course of a typical weekend of living aboard.

For entertaining, there's an especially generous open-plan cockpit with plenty of seating and floor space. In fact since Bayliner shifted its seating to the peripheries of its Cruiser range the boats have gained a lot more outdoor living space.

HOMEBAKED BAYLINER
While the 300 Cruiser doesn't exactly break new ground, you can take comfort from the fact it's based on a time-proven formula that's destined to work as well in Australian waters as hometown America.

Thanks to high production volumes and economies of scale, the global boatbuilder has the wherewithal to invest heavily in design, tooling (read robotics) and testing to make a boat that works.

Engineering-wise, the 300 Cruiser isn't much more complicated than an 18-foot bowrider. The engine bay beneath the cockpit sole lifts on a gas riser, without having to dismantle the cockpit seating, and there's a surfeit of space around the twin 5.0lt small-block V8s.

Oil and fluid-level checks, and a glance of the belts and bilge is virtually the extent of your pre-departure check, after which you should run the blower. Fuel filters can be screwed off periodically to check for water and dirt and, if you leave the boat on Shorepower, you will need to maintain the acid batteries monthly.

The main breaker and AC/DC distribution panel are self-explanatory, with scant few options on the 240V side. Besides the dual-voltage fridge, stove and microwave oven, you get several AC outlets for, say, charging or running laptops or games machines, boiling a kettle and heating the sandwich press. New chums to big boats will grasp the Bayliner systems in a jiffy.

Meantime, the hull is a handlaid solid GRP number backed by a fibreglass box-beam stinger system and a transferable limited five-year structural warranty. The vinylester skin coat wards against osmosis when the boat is left in the water - the 300 Cruiser will be doubly comfortable in a dry stack - while the non-skid deck seemed sturdy enough underfoot.

The decks of the 300 Cruiser are graced with a good spread of stainless steel fittings ranging from albeit small cleats to decent hand and bowrails. There is hard-wearing polypropylene carpet in the cockpit and heavy-duty vinyl upholstery on the seats. None of it is rocket science, but tried-and-tested boatbuilding and, as with all Bayliners, the 300 Cruiser is priced attractively at about $200,000 drive away.

OUTDOOR LIVING
Whereas previous Cruisers from Bayliner have filled the cockpit with lounges, the new breed keeps the seating to the edges so you get more floor and living space and a clear thoroughfare through the boat. And with an opening windscreen and walkthrough dash, plus twin foredeck cushions supplied gratis, the 300 Cruiser is an all over accessible and useable boat.

As with all good lifestyle platforms, there's a deep, moulded swim platform for hanging out, swim ladder and (cold water only) deckshower, plus a boot to store fenders, lines, dive gear and the Shorepower lead. Courtesy lights illuminate the big single-level cockpit, while a moulded targa arch and canopy offer some weather protection when kicking back.

The cockpit layout is asymmetrical, with an L-shaped lounge and moulded lunch table to starboard that can be converted with the supplied filler cushion into a sun lounge. Opposite is the only moulded step leading around the sidedecks, plus a built-in amenities centre with sink, portable carry-on cooler in a dedicated recess, and handy storage space.

Naturally, drinkholders are dotted about the decks, a spotlight is included for finding a mooring or anchoring by the shore at night and the boat comes with a windlass. And as the two forward sunpads are located to the sides of the foredeck you can still trounce the length of the boat without stepping on sunbaking crew.

Behind the windscreen, the co-pilot lounge can seat three opposite the helm, but if you lean against the backrest one person can travel with the legs outstretched in sublime comfort. The twin helm seat is accommodating of a cruising couple and a wiper helps guarantee good views of the road ahead.

INDOOR COMFORTS
The open-plan accommodation on the 300 Cruiser is cosy but not cramped, with plenty of headroom and cheerful blue-and-white striped nautical mattress covers, cherrywood veneer joinery and beige vinyl upholstery. The signature Bayliner cabin windows, abundant opening portlights and escape hatch all direct natural light inside to enhance the sense of space.

The galley is a stand-alone cabinet containing drawers and cupboard space for provisions, a two-burner cooktop, and sink with hot and cold water, fridge and small microwave oven. And the overhead hatch should help dispense cooking odours when not wielding the tongs on the aftermarket deck barbie.

There's an AM/FM/CD stereo that is, of course, MP3 compatible and a small LCD television that you can view from the dinette. Big enough for a family of four, the dinette converts into an impromptu berth.

But with a transverse double bed in the open-planned interior, which gains privacy when you draw the curtain, and a separate aft cabin, the boat can sleep four really comfortably.

The aft cabin is hidden behind its own door and isn't pokey, with headroom for dressing at the foot of the bed, before some cabinetry, and a queen-sized mattress on the floor. With opening ports giving cross-ventilation, it may well be the best bed in the house. The moulded head, meantime, includes an electric loo, sink and a hot handheld shower.

DRIVE TIME
The so-called SRS hull, which now comes in three different colours rather than the ubiquitous Bayliner blue and features sportier king plank, stands for Smooth Ride System. The deadrise of 18 degrees at the transom is in the middle of the road, striking a balance between wetted surface area for lift and acceleration, and a wave-cutting deep vee.

Though there are smoother sportscruisers with a deeper vee on the market, the idea with a weekender like this is to go places comfortably and be mindful of all aboard. We traversed a busy and, at times, bumpy Sydney Harbour on the Bayliner 300 Cruiser whereupon I came away thinking the boat handled the rough stuff better than expected.

The twin 5.0lt MPI MerCruisers deliver plenty of punch thanks, in part, to their Bravo Three sterndrive legs. With full leg-in trim, the hull held plane at 2400rpm and 13.1kts, but low-speed cruise was more effective at 3000rpm and 22kts, a speed you should be able to maintain offshore in fair weather.

At 4000rpm, the boat remains smooth and none too noisy while cruising at 31kts. Fast cruise was clocked at 37.8kts at 4000rpm and top speed was 40kts at 5000rpm, pointing to a sporty cruiser.

The low-glare dash and helm seating work well in concert and you get a decent spread of gear including 12V outlet, compass, digital depthsounder, trim tabs, power-assisted steering, tilt wheel and engine gauges. A GPS plotter wouldn't go astray, however.

I'm told young families and soon-to-be retirees are among those jumping aboard this well-priced twin-engine rig. Between the spacious decks and the useful amenities and accommodation down below, all that's left wanting is a peaceful anchorage somewhere, be it a marina, or tucked up the back of the river or creek. Add a couple of rodholders, some bait and patience, crab traps and an inflatable tube or two, a small rollup duckie with 2hp outboard, and you're set for living aboard.

And with twin engines, you get an added level of security when heading offshore, to nearby ports, as you might for holidays with a boat like this. Periodically top up the water and you can probably extend your time aboard to a week if you want. And when it's time to step off the 300 Cruiser you won't have that hirsute appearance or that steeped campfire smell of the masses exiting the caravan parks.

LOWS