Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Sport 2024 Review

French brand Jeanneau uses the North Sea as its proving ground. As a benchmark for building tough all-weather boats, few other stretches of water can compare.

One of the hardiest boats in Jeanneau’s range has traditionally been the Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Marlin. It was a fishing version of the Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 coupe, but featuring an enclosed wheelhouse, more fishing friendliness, and yet with the same cruising utility.

A recent makeover has evolved the Marlin into the Sport, a three-boat line-up with the 895 Sport we’re testing here as the flagship of the range. This is also the offshore version, featuring a 50 percent larger 600-litre fuel capacity compared with the standard model.

It’s a boat that appears to be sitting in a market sweet spot, big enough for anyone wanting to take the next step up from trailer boating, and small enough for anyone right-sizing from a larger cruiser into something with outboard engine convenience.

Melbourne-based 38 South Boat Sales has the base price for the Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Sport at $330,000 before any options are added. This is fitted with a single 350hp outboard engine.

As tested, the price of our boat hitting the water is around $465,000. Before you are struck by sticker shock, it is a pretty richly equipped one.

For starters, it wears the maximum-rated pair of 250hp Mercury V8 Verado outboard engines with fly-by-wire shift and throttle controls, and electrically assisted hydraulic steering. Add to this Mercury’s joystick control system that adds next-level low-speed control to the hull.

The standard equipment list will get you out on the water. It runs to a bow roller; dual windscreen wipers and washer; pilothouse sliding door; twin roof hatches; folding saloon table; fabric upholstery; copilot seat with moving backrest; sink with pressurised water; water heater; gas cooktop; marine toilet with holding tank; LED navigation and anchor lights; manual and electric bilge pumps; port and starboard duckboards; telescopic swim ladder; transom gate; handheld cockpit shower; and rod holders.

Our test boat adds many factory-fitted options such as a bow thruster, shore power, hot water, Garmin 12” chart plotter, fold-up cockpit seats, cockpit table rear sliding sun awning, fishing kit, plumbed bait tank, underwater lights, front light bars, interior curtains, and deluxe helm.

It also includes a number of options installed during commissioning including a galvanic isolator, GME VHF radio, safety gear and antifouling.

Overhead, the Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Sport is equipped with matte black roof bars. Add the optional factory-fitted roof racks as this boat has, and you can pack a kayak, stand-up paddleboard or even a bike.

Jeanneau is a boat manufacturer with production lines more like that of a large-scale car-maker than a traditional boatbuilder.

The 8.8-metre Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Sport, which made its global debut in 2019, is the flagship model in the three-boat Sport line-up that includes the trailerable 695 Serie 2 and 795 Serie 2.

The Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Sport’s design is a collaboration between Jeanneau’s mown in-house team and naval architects Centowski and Denert Design. 

Interestingly, the 895 Sport’s hull does not use steps to mix air with the water flowing under the hull, more a feature of high-speed lifestyle boats rather than cruisers. Instead, it uses a more traditional hull featuring a 21-degree transom deadrise, hard outer chines that run right to the bow and lifting strakes, but no hull steps.

The Sport differs markedly from the more traditionally styled Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 cruiser. While the 895 features a more swept profile above the decks, the 895 Sport is more fishing trawler, featuring a tall, forward-raked wheelhouse so water and spray are cleared much faster compared with a traditional windscreen. While the 895 looks like it wants to hang around the bays, the 895 Sport looks like it wants to go to sea.

Jeanneau has also now adopted a high-tech vacuum-bag resin infusion moulding construction process using composite materials to save weight, boost hull strength and rigidity, and streamline the boatbuilding operation. This is backed up by Jeanneau's extended 10-year hull and structure warranty, as well as a five-year osmosis warranty.

Jeanneau’s build quality is evident in the fit and finish of doors, joinery, deck hatches, hard-surface benchtops, and more.

The interior is arguably utilitarian, more practical than luxurious, but there's no questioning the quality of the materials, fixtures and fittings.

Some clever thinking has made the Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Sport a unique boat to own. The key to that is a pilothouse that is offset to port.

The reason behind this is obvious once you step on board. Instead of companionways down either side of the pilothouse, Jeanneau has built one large companionway on the starboard side making it easy to move from one end of the boat to the other, and a narrow one on the other side.

From a bird’s eye view, it makes the 895 Sport look a little odd. The bow lounge is still C-shaped, but sits on the port side of the hull. Meanwhile, the anchor and bowsprit are offset to starboard, giving the boat a distinctly asymmetrical appearance.

From the water, you couldn’t tell unless you were directly in front of or behind the Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Sport.

That bias, though, is likely to influence how you dock the boat, with the easy access to starboard making that the side to focus on.

The big thing to like about the Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Sport, though, particularly if you like fishing, is the large open aft cockpit. More on that later.

Below decks three steps down, the 895 Sport features a bow lounge forward that converts to a sleeping space with the help of an infill cushion. It’s quite wide and roomy, helped by a hull design that carries as much beam forward as it can. A hanging locker is tucked into one corner.

Aft is a crawl space that forms a large double bed.

Both the bow and crawl accommodations are well-lit with natural light provided by long, narrow hull windows and overhead skylights.

In between the two is a wet head with an opening porthole comprising a handheld shower and saltwater-flush manual pump toilet.

Entry to the pilothouse is via a sliding glass panel – it has a function so you can lock it open to leave a small gap for air to circulate – on the aft bulkhead.

Space in here is definitely at a premium. Jeanneau has opted to create a direct diagonal line through the pilothouse to the companionway leading below decks.

Immediately to port is a dinette with a drop-down table that can create another temporary sleeping space if needed. However, the dinette’s shape is a trapezoid, with space for two people sitting aft and only one, or two if they’re quite friendly, forward. The base of the aft seat has a 30-litre Isotherm fridge built into it.

The cloth seats look stylish but utilitarian and are comfortable despite their thinness. The interior uses carbonfibre-look panelling to contrast the trim.

The dinette’s table folds in half so that the forward backrest can flip aft, creating a jump seat beside the helm. It can also lower to form a day bed.

The pilothouse is flooded with natural light from the deep windows giving almost 360-degree views. Two sliding sections open up to provide cross airflow, while two hatches overhead, each with a sun blind and flyscreen, lock open in two positions.

To port, built into the console is a small galley station. It features a single-burner LPG stove and a sink with hot and cold water faucets. A storage bin and cupholders are built into the lid of the galley, so you’ll need to empty them before opening it.

The helm, to starboard of the split console, is compact, featuring a comfy helm seat on a pedestal in front of a very upright dashboard. The rubber-rimmed wheel is set quite low, meaning skippers are ever only likely to use the top half for steering inputs.

The view forward is through a curved, forward-leaning single-piece windscreen with two wipers to clear what spray comes over the bow.

The big feature here, though, is a large sideways-sliding glass door that gives the helm unfettered access to the starboard companionway. Combined with a coaming door that’s just a step away from the helm seat, it’ll be an easy task to dock the Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Sport short-handed, as long as you close the helm door before swinging open the coaming door, otherwise they clash.

The shift and throttle controls for the twin 250hp Mercury V8s powering our test boat are mounted on a high-set binnacle. There is space in the hardtop above to mount a radio, and easy-to-reach rocker switches for lights, bilge pumps and so on.

Our test boat is well equipped with electronics. That includes a 12.0-inch Raymarine Axiom multifunction touchscreen, a Fusion audio system, a mix of digital and analogue gauges for the Mercury V8s, switches for the Lewmar capstan, optional Zipwake automatic trim tabs (manual Lencos are standard), controls for the Lone Star drum winch, and the joystick for Mercury’s Joystick Control and Piloting for Outboards system. There is also a 12-volt socket and USB recharging on hand.

The optional deluxe helm seat has a lift-up bolster that makes it easier to stand at the helm, although space is tight, and the seat can flip forward to create more bench space in the cabin.

In the middle of the split console is the companionway to the accommodations below. It features a timber hatch above that opens up to improve headroom.

The Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Sport features a walkaround space on three sides, with the port side featuring restricted access.

The coamings are all topped in a system of low stainless steel rails, with the port side bow rail also featuring a cushion that helps it act as a backrest for the bow lounge seats.

The coamings are quite narrow forward, thickening considerably as they reach the Portofino-styled cockpit. That means there are only two rod holders built into them and none forward. That’s okay because the precise control via the Mercury joystick system makes it easy to keep the back of the boat facing the fish.

The self-draining cockpit floor features a large, almost full-width storage space below with rod storage. This space also houses the two starter batteries – one for each engine – and the house battery.

The transom seat of the Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Sport is mounted on a track that allows it to slide forward. This frees up space to fully tilt the engines out of the water when docked. On top it features a bait preparation station framed in a low rail with rocket launcher rod holders, and stainless steel cupholders that will also be handy for storing sinkers.

To port is the optional plumbed live bait well, while to starboard, there’s a handheld freshwater shower and a gate that provides walk-through access to a duck board including a stainless steel extending swim ladder. A second duckboard is on the other side.

All three sides of the cockpit feature thick padding that acts as a backrest for optional flip-up seats that fold out from the sides. The backrests double as leg padding when fishing and leaning against the gunwale. Cleats for tying up sit proud, so could snag a line.

The boat also has an optional sun awning that extends from the trailing edge of the pilothouse to shade the cockpit if desired.

The Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Sport is rated as an offshore boat, so you’d expect it to perform well in rougher conditions.

It just so happens that Melbourne’s Port Phillip, the location for our test, was in one of its surly, windswept moods and throwing up a short, uncomfortable chop that’s fairly typical of the shallow waterway.

Our first test is the at-rest stability. The 895 Sport runs a beam just shy of 3.0 metres, with vertical sides leading down to wide hard chines on either side.

The result is good, with the Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Sport barely showing any list even with two adults walking into one corner of the transom.

Cruising Port Phillip in a building westerly is never going to be fun, and surprisingly, for the Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Sport, you could still go hard. Testament to this was our chase boat, a Jeanneau Merry Fisher 695, which struggled to keep up with the 895 Sport in the rough and tumble conditions.

Our performance data, taken at various rev ranges, doesn’t truly represent the experience behind the helm of this boat. Roll on the throttle and this boat will burst up onto the plane, with plenty of in-gear acceleration at hand to make any adjustments.

The Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Sport responds well to engine trim, taking a natural bow-down attitude that makes it easy to see the water ahead.

This is a cruiser, and the performance data backs that up. Humming along at 4000rpm, the twin 250hp 4.6-litre Mercury V8 Fourstroke outboard engines are at their best, stretching their legs to cruise for close to 200 nautical miles. My notes say in these poor conditions the ride is a little rough, but still manageable.

Performance

*Both engines
Maximum range based on 5% reserve of 600L fuel tank: 192nm@4000rpm

If you need to run home, pushing the digital shift and throttle lever right forward will see the Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Sport hit a top speed approaching 40.0 knots, fast enough to beat the weather home or make the most of a flat bar crossing.

The hull is a solid performer. Pitch the 895 Sport into a turn and despite its physical bulk, it confidently and cleanly carves out an arc like a much smaller boat. The only criticism is the low-set wheel, which can get in the way of making finger spin-fast steering inputs.

An enclosed pilothouse is one of those features that will have you stepping onboard a boat and heading out for a day on the water far more often than if the space was open to the elements.

If you like your fishing, this is a good package able to confidently head offshore and work a drop-off. It’s a platform also capable of bringing the family onboard and heading out to an anchorage for an overnight adventure.

The enclosed pilothouse extends your boating season well beyond the fine, sunny days and can even extend it into winter when everyone can sit inside in warmth and comfort.

The challenge for owners will be to match their ambitions to the Jeanneau Merry Fisher 895 Sport’s strong suite of abilities.

Specifications
Length overall: 8.56m/8.92m (with options)
Hull length: 7.98m
Beam: 2.99m
Draft: 0.62m
Air draft: 2.66m
Weight: 3299kg (hull only)
Engines: 350hp (min)/2x250hp (max)
Fuel: 2x200L/2x300L (Offshore version)
Water: 160L/60L (hot water, opt)
Holding tank: 80L
Passengers: C-10 inshore/B-6 offshore (CE Certification)

Priced from: $330,000 including bow roller; dual windscreen wipers and washer; pilothouse sliding door; twin roof hatches; folding saloon table; fabric upholstery; copilot seat with moving backrest; sink with pressurised water; water heater; gas cooktop; marine toilet with holding tank; LED navigation and anchor lights; manual and electric bilge pumps; port and starboard duckboards; telescopic swim ladder; transom gate; handheld cockpit shower; rod holders

Prince as tested: $465,000 including twin 250hp Mercury V8 Verado outboard engines; Mercury Joystick Control and Piloting for Outboards; Garmin electronics pack; Garmin VHF radio; Fusion audio system; luxury pilot seat; pilothouse curtains; electric windlass; port and starboard folding benches; Zipwake electric trim tabs; cockpit sun blind; mooring kit; anchoring kits; shore power; 600L Offshore fuel capacity

Supplied by: 38 South Boat Sales, Melbourne