Boston Whaler 320 Vantage: Review

We’ve all come to love Boston Whaler for its bluewater centre consoles and walkarounds. But this blue-ribbon fishing-boat brand is spreading its wings to catch more of the family as well. Softcore is the new hardcore with the Vantage dual-console crossover boats that aim to please everyone. This flagship 320 Vantage with twin 350hp Mercury Verado outboardsm giving a top speed of more than 44 knots, expands the multipurpose boat’s appeal even further.

OVERVIEW
- A new-wave bluewater day cruiser and fisher
The 320 Vantage is a boat that plays the part of ‘hostess with the mostest.’ For the fisherman, or woman, there’s plenty to keep you keen, from rod storage to live wells, fish boxes to an uncluttered cockpit for serious catching, be it bottom bouncing for coral trout, jigging for kings, trolling for macs, or lure casting from the bow.

On the lay days, there’s an alter ego with real comforts and five-star amenities for the weekend. There’s even a double cabin for overnighting with your dinner date or, for families, as a rumpus room for the kids looking to escape the midday sun.

With a huge amount of volume, flare and freeboard, and a sturdy moulded hardtop on top, this is an impressive and inspiring all-rounder. The flat floor from bow to stern is so expansive we hammed it up for the camera and did some laps while jogging.

That bit of impromptu frivolity captures the spirit of the 320 Vantage to a tee. This boat is like a fun park. There’s fishing fun. And there’s family fun. And all with the same entry ticket or pass.

But there’s also a serious side to this 320 Vantage. The twin 350hp Mercury Verado outboards add to the excitement, capability, comfort and safety of this big offshore sportfisher and family sports utility vessel. With a 300nm-plus range at 30 knots cruise, you can go places beyond the Gold Coast Broadwater or Pittwater.

As such, this twin-rig 32-footer is a perfect boat for crossing big bays, busy harbours, heading offshore, touring islands, whale watching, fishing and diving, hitting up new surf spots, and exploring. Everyone can enjoy the adventure and, most definitely, the fun.

PRICE AND EQUIPMENT
- Premium price for a premium outfitted boat
Parent company Brunswick Marine says Boston Whaler is its best performing marque in its 20-boat portfolio. Whaler has achieved this not through price cutting, but through innovation and product improvement. Boats like this big twin-rig 320 Vantage don’t come cheap, but they reward with a premium experience that people want these days.

With the base twin 250hp Mercury Verado DTS FourStroke outboards and hydraulic steering, the starting price was around $435k at the time of writing. As tested, with a boatload of options and bigger 350hp Mercury Verado DTS FourStroke outboards in white, the boat seen here cost around $530k.

That’s a big ticket, but you get the same kind of dayboating room as a big cruiser. No, wait, more space. Look at the amenities and options and you’ll find a feature’s list beyond what you get in a traditional sportscruiser or a straight-up sportfisher.

The options fitted to our test boat included the maximum twin 350hp Mercury outboards, a bow thruster, an inverter system for away-from-dock cooking and power, a SureShade electric awning and a full weather curtain set including rear curtain to enclose the helm. There was a bow sunshade, beach boarding ladder, hardtop hatches, raw water washdown, stainless anchor and rub-rail insert, and light-grey hull colour.

The cockpit amenities centre had a fridge and electric grill, while the dash had a 7in VesselView screen. The big electronics suite was yet to be fitted, but with a self-levelling trim tab system for the so-called Dynamic Running Surface, which features 21 degrees of deadrise in a wide 3.15m beam hull, the boat was rearing to go. At 4445kg, it’s no lightweight and feels like a big solid Whaler on the water.

LAYOUT AND ACCOMMODATION
- Carries more than a dozen crew and sleeps two or more on deck
We pulled into the pocket behind Wavebreak Island on the Gold Coast, where you can nose into the beach and step ashore while the outboards are in a few metres of water, to examine this boat’s clever layout in detail.

The first thing we liked was that optional bow ladder for easy beach access. More boats need this. Once aboard, the open bow is all seating, though you can add the moulded table for doing lunch. It’s basically a big bowrider with insulated underseat cooler, drinkholders, stereo speakers, and 12V charging plug. The depth and freeboard, and grab rails, make it really safe up here at sea.

The helm console hides a step-down head with handheld hot/cold shower, while the co-pilot’s side has a cabin that converts from a lounge into a double bed that sleeps two. You can even order a generator and air-con. As it was, the cabin would be a handy rumpus room for the kids, a big dry storage area for your covers, and place to overnight with your dinner date... all of which extends the boat’s appeal.

With a moulded hardtop and retractable electric SureShade awning, the main cockpit is the hot spot or, rather, the cool place to hangout. There was also a forward awning to shade the bow seating. Together, the boat has a lot of comfort even in the height of a stinking hot summer.

A bow door lets you close off the forward area in winter to create a quasi runabout and, with the full covers provided, you can derive weather protection on this boat as well.

The trick twin co-pilot seat converts to a lounge and daybed, plus a social seating nook and lunch setting when you add the table. The seating mechanisms are sturdy stainless steel, while the upholstery is a cut above.

The amenities centre behind the helm seat had a grill that works away from shorepower, off the boat’s inverter, plus a fridge and a live well that doubles as an icebox. Fish, grill, swim, relax sounds like our kind of weekend.

For fishing, the transom lounge folds away, there are rod holders and rod storage racks, a side dive or marlin door, in-floor insulated kill tanks, and you can even order an optional deluxe tackle-prep centre with larger livewell on this boat.

As it was, you can fish from the bow to the stern, but the main aft fishing cockpit is especially uncluttered and fish-worthy. With a walk-through transom door and a hull-side dive door with ladder, fighting fish, landing them, and getting into the water to spear them or just snorkel about will be easy.

As a boat to zoom out to the Barrier Reef or some other distant grounds to nail some coral trout, reds and mackerel, the 320 Vantage would be exceptional. It’s fishy, it's fast and it's far ranging.

You could also easily take the family out around the islands, overnight aboard with the kids on deck and the parents in the cabin, and with 113lt of water and 1078lt of fuel you have the freedom to explore.

The cockpit is self-draining, while the bilge is nicely accessible. Inside, we noted the engine and extra house/inverter batteries off the floor, top access to the boat’s pumps and the fuel and water systems and filters, and a very nice orderly installation.

They don’t market the Whalers are the “unsinkable legends” so much these days, but this foam-fill 320 hull has a 2189kg swamped capacity. The nice thing here is that you can take green water aboard or a tropical downpour without having to worry. But with such high freeboard, you will be hard pressed shipping water.

Underway, the 320 rig feels like it has been designed and assembled as one rather than a piecemeal thing. Certainly, from our extensive testing over many years, the Whalers perform very nicely and last well in the long run.

ON THE WATER
- An exploratory range of more than 300nm at 30 knots
With the twin 350hp Mercury outboards, you’re looking at a 44-knot boat with a 300nm-plus range at 30 knots. Boom. Now that’s what you want for high tailing it to the outer reef for fishing those remote spots.

First up, we ran around the Gold Coast waterways exploring the boat’s social side while shooting the accompanying footage. The tide was in, the water was sparkling and we were on a high on this big comfortable family platform, with reassuringly clear sight lines and sweet handling.

The boat planes down to about 3250rpm and 13 knots, but at 4000rpm you’re scooting along in the comfortable 21-22 knot cruise range. Optimum efficiency kicks in at 4500rpm, where the supercharged six-cylinder Verados return 29-30 knots fast cruise for a range of about 315nm.

As your power up further, the range drops a tad. At 5000rpm you’re doing 34-35 knots for 295nm, according to the official data, while 5500rpm fast cruise gives 38-39 knots for 267nm. Top speed tops 44 knots or 51mph at 6350rpm WOT.? Flying.

What stood out from the drive was the acceleration of this outboard rig, with no lag like some of the earlier big outboard-powered social boats.

You’re getting that Whaler offshore performance in a dual-console configuration that’s a tad wider and fuller in the bow than an Outrage centre console. But with a near-10m centreline length, it feels big and strong. When you look at the hull head-on, a lot of the volume is above the waterline.

Far from content with just a Broadwater day, we headed out the Seaway in the afternoon 15-knot easterly seabreeze with about a metre of swell. The boat just ate it up and you could have headed as wide as you wanted.

When you look around at what you’re bringing with you, this is a wild weekender and exploration boat that really does excite.

VERDICT
- A hardcore family and fishing boat
The flagship 320 Vantage is a stunning creation with more clever ideas, convertible seating, and trick features per foot than any other boat we’ve set foot aboard this year.

With a 14-person capacity, heaps of seats and amenities, you can share the adventure and boating fun... beyond just your backyard to new frontiers where the fishing and frolicking are first rate.

Whaler does these crossover boats so well that others are now following suit. Softcore is the new hardcore and the 320 Vantage expands the horizons and application of the multipurpose boat, while also cranking up the fun factor.

LIKES
>> Huge volume hull with lots of plush seating and amenities
>> True offshore boat with serious Whaler construction and engineering
>> Love the onboard 240V barbecue with inverter for away-from-dock cooking
>> Very high comfort level and dayboating amenities including bathroom
>> Twin cabin for overnighting and as a kids’ rumpus room
>> The brand commands a lot of respect and a strong following in Australia

NOT SO MUCH
>> We found the helm seat a little fiddly to spin around
>> SureShade electric awning is a tad noisy
>> Big ticket boat but special

PERFORMANCE DATA*
With upgraded twin 350hp Mercury Verado outbaords

RPM        SPEED        LITRES/HOUR           RANGE NM
1000        4.3 knots          9.8                                         483
1500        6.3 knots        14.4                                         493
2000        7.6 knots        22.7                                         376
2500        8.6 knots        37.8                                         254
3000        11.5 knots      54.9                                         234
3500        15.6 knots      68.1                                         257
4000        21.7 knots      83.6                                         290
4500        29.3 knots      104.4                                       313
5000        34.4 knots      130.2                                       295
5500        38.6 knots      162.1                                       267
6000        42.7 knots      229.8                                       208
6360        44.3 knots       31.3                                        214

Specifications: Boston Whaler 270 Vantage
Price as Tested: About $530k including twin Mercury Verado 350hp FourStroke engine upgrade, bow thruster, inverter system, SureShade electric awning, full weather curtain set including rear curtain, bow sunshade, beach boarding ladder, hardtop hatches, raw water washdown, stainless anchor and rub-rail insert, and light-grey hull colour, cockpit fridge and electric grill, 7in VesselView screen and more.
Priced from: $435k with twin 250hp Mercury Verado FourStroke
LOA: 9.78m
LOA with platforms: 10.21m
Beam: 3.15m
Weight: 4445kg dry, hull only
Maximum Weight Capacity: 1880kg
Swamped Capacity: 2189kg
Persons Capacity: 14
Maximum Horsepower: 2 x 350hp
Minimum Horsepower: 2 x 250hp
Deadrise at Transom: 21 degrees
Fuel Capacity: 1078lt
Maximum Engine Weight: 635kg
Transom Height: 25in twins
Water Capacity: 113lt
Bridge Clearance: 2.67m with hardtop
Bridge Clearance with Radar: 2.92m
Engine: Twin Mercury 350hp Verado FourStroke with s/s four-blade 17in Rev4 props