Formula 240BR

I'm not sure if you're a gambler. I am not. But I do know that it helps on the racetrack if you pick a contender with good bloodlines.

The progeny of Phar Lap, if indeed there was one, or Makybe Diva, would have a better chance of winning the Melbourne Cup than the gangly offspring of a clod hopping quarter horse. So it is with go-fast boats. Look for bloodlines.

Enter the American Formula range of performance-oriented pleasure boats. For decades I have been reading reviews and results where Formula boats have featured on the winner's dais of offshore races and poker runs.

Producing a range of 24-40ft thoroughbreds, mostly with big-hearted V8 petrol tickers much like Phar Lap's, Formula's are bolters with the kind of construction and deep-vee hulls that jointly produce a bang-free ride for we jockeys at the reins.

So you can well understand my excitement when the 240BR bowrider arrived on a beautiful fully-imported Magic aluminium trailer with dual-axles and disc brakes, galvanised springs and supportive skids as well as multirollers. Here it was, the first Formula I have seen in the flesh, albeit the baby of the range. You didn't need to be Bart Cummings to see this strapping stallion had legs.

From the upholstery to the fittings, the hull and integral foundation, this is an impressive boat built with quality that's commensurate with its big-ticket price. In respect of wet-track form, I won't detail the long list of race wins, but check the 50-year-old boatbuilder's website to see where they're at.

And with the right towing gear, hauling a big boat like this isn't as much of a knee-knocker as you might think. Having said that, you will likely need a permit and be confined to towing the rig in daylight hours due to the 240BR's 2.59m-wide beam.

Irrespective of whether you tow, dry-stack or rack, or keep the boat on a mooring, here at least you can see why you're paying almost $135,000. Built for saltwater use, the boat is designed with CAD technology and CNC routers. High-modulus fibreglass and multiaxial rovings are used with a laminated stringer system for stiffness, while hull cavities are filled with structural foam.

The hull and deck are bonded and bolted together. Polyurethane plastic replaces timber to prevent rot and the quality of upholstery and stitching is just superb. Stainless steel fittings glint in the sun and there are nifty features around every sweetly moulded bend. 

BOWRIDER WITH THE LOT
The 240BR has 316L stainless steel deck gear and a fully moulded cockpit liner with snap-in carpet concealing a lot of clever features configured at the design stages. The boat comes with an anchor locker, too, and oodles of storage from the sub-seat lockers in the bow to the sub-lounge area in the cockpit where you will find a portable icebox.

Thirteen, yes 13, drink holders with plumbing tubes are supplied, along with sturdy stainless steel grab rails, popup mooring cleats, stainless-steel windscreen supports and a neat safety catch to hold the centre pane of the windscreen open, plus a bow ladder, sturdy stainless-steel bimini top frame and heavy-duty hinges on all the hatches.

And while talking details, the mouldings are exceedingly fair and the graphics and optional teal hull colour looked chic. The stainless steel logo and badge, engine vents and air horn add to the eye candy.

In more fundamental terms, the 240BR has a terrific amount of volume and flotation in the bow and, by virtue of its beam and waterline length, there's sufficient room to carry a big passenger load. The seating arrangement is certainly very accommodating, not just for one family but an extended family or even two families. As such, the 240BR is destined to be a big social boat and, with thick Dri-fast foam cushions and treated vinyl upholstery, there shouldn't be too many complaints.

With the optional infill cushion on the demo boat, which also had a padded backrest, you could seat three adults in a forward facing position in the bow. Or you could use the pit as a playpen for kids or as a daybed. Without the infill there's still plenty of room to stretch your legs and plenty of freeboard to cross wake at low speed without shipping water. And, with 100W stereo speakers, you can party on up here as you go.

Great use is made of the voids behind the dash. Behind the helm is a huge dry storage area for keeping covers, upholstered in-fills, changes of clothes, and picnic paraphernalia. Swing open the door to this compartment and use the barrel-bolt to relocate it across the companionway and you create a very effective wind-dam. This way, with the bow cover in place, your bowrider becomes a more amenable runabout for winter.

 Ahead of the co-pilot is a fully moulded WC with manual pump-out head linked to a 38lt holding tank, plus room to change in or out of your swimwear. Thus, the 240BR is lady friendly. And, while seated on the loo, I noticed a great internal liner and storage recesses for personal effects.

There is also plenty of room to stow waterskis and wakeboards in the rubber-lined subfloor locker, where there are clips holding anchor light extension and struts to tension the boat's covers, plus the option of fitting a cool wakeboarding tower.

The U-shaped rear lounge can accommodate four adults and, in the big engine room with lots of servicing space -- that you access at the press of a button -- you will find a bracket holding a moulded lunch table that can be assembled on the pedestal base before the lounge. A small but telling detail, the underside of this table was double moulded for a classy finish -- no flowcoat in sight.

Behind the lounge you can sit propped up against the backrest as though kicking back on two-person settee facing the water. Fold the backrest down and the lounge converts rather cleverly into a flat aft sunpad. The diamond-pattern non-skid walkthrough to the transom negates the need to tread on cushions. Aft you will find an upmarket skihook, swim ladder, freshwater handheld shower, and plenty of room to hang out. There was also a storage locker to port with supplied fenders.

The helm bucket seats, fitted with aft grabrails for passengers riding on the lounge, are fully adjustable, deep and sumptuous, and reassuringly hip-hugging in tight turns. At rest, the seats swivel aft to face the lunch table and your guests. All very civilised, really.

Flip-up bolsters let you sit in a higher position to peer over the windscreen when manoeuvring in tight spots. In the usual driving position, the racing dash and windscreen are fixed at the ideal height. Thus far, not an easy boat to fault. 

FORMULA FOR SUCCESS
The dash on the 240BR reflects Formula's race-boat pedigree, with trick chrome-rimmed gauges from Livorsi, Dino tilt wheel, and a sturdy-looking stainless steel windscreen wiper. The switch panels were simple and not filled with wanton switches.

There was a Clarion stereo remote on the dash and at the transoms, plus a breaker panel alongside the helm seat, and the switch to lift the engine bay where the freshwater-cooled Volvo 5.7lt V8 petrol inboard motors and CO detector were located.

With one of those Duoprops, which permits radical cornering, Formula's 240BR was a lot of fun to drive. Though it's the baby of the range, it has a big-boat feel at rest and underway, especially as it rides so high across the water and corners without feeling like you are going to dip the bow. I also like the fact the sterndrive leg is recessed in the transom, thereby gaining extra buoyancy and lift from the hull extensions either side of it.

While the boat did dance about somewhat due to the lack of weight in the bow, the addition of some crew, anchoring gear and safety equipment would button the bow to the water. As it was, at 3000rpm and 21.2kt, up to 3500rpm and 27 kt, the boat was delightfully quiet, smooth and amenable. Save the Quick and Quiet exhausts; for once I didn't need to shout to be heard.

Yet it was at 4000rpm and 32.5kt that the 240BR and Volvo 320hp V8 seemed to slot right into the groove. And at this fast clip we covered plenty of water on the estuary and into the open bay where the ride aboard the 20-degree deep-vee hull remained very good, indeed. And dry.

Maximum continuous cruising was clocked at 4600rpm and 37.5kt and flat-out I recorded 41.3kt on the out-of-the-box motor.

So the 240BR will likely reach the benchmark 50mph once the Volvo motor is run-in. But even parked on the trailer you can tell the Formula 240BR is a cut above your average production boat, race ready and rearing to go. One for the discerning dayboat buff.

HIGHS

LOWS