Jeanneau Prestige 38S and 42S

French affair

The French have a term - actually they have coined many savvy phrases - that applies to the pioneers or innovators of art in a certain period. It is, of course, avant-garde. And it is an apt descriptor for this brace of French-designed femme fatales.

Kissing cousins, the Jeanneau 38S and 42S Prestige not only make a fashion statement - the haute couture of cruisers, perhaps! - they tick a lot of boxes for de rigueur kit in a sportsyacht these days. Garage for your tender? Tick. Sunroof? Tick. Outdoor entertaining stations with chaise lounges? Tick. Pod drives? Tick on the 42S.

The 42S is powered by a pair of perky Volvo Penta IPS 500s, putting out 370hp aside, and packing enough punch to propel this a la mode sportsyacht to more than 35kts. The 38S, meanwhile, had the latest Cummins MerCruiser QSD4.2 320hp common rail diesel engines fitted with Bravo III sterndrives. This new power and leg pairing produced better than 34kts with even sportier handling.

Fast getaway machines, the Jeanneau Prestiges team their performance with great ergonomics and utility. Vision remains intact while driving under the hardtop at protected helm stations. Press a button and the anchor is down. After which these boats offer considerable static appeal.

Go a la carte and follow up with an après lunch swim. Such hedonism is part of the charter of these boats and, for some years now, I have witnessed this very thing occur aboard one of Jeanneau's Prestige 34s in the fleet of a time-share operator.

While the 34S has proven popular, the 38S and 42S take your on-water liaison further. With twin upmarket cabins and twin heads in the 42S - the head on the 38S is a communal number - the boats deserve more than just a day of outdoor entertaining. Their 320lt water capacities will last four days of living it up and with tenders at the ready in their garages, reprovisioning or dining ashore has never been easier.

NUTS AND BOLTS
Built to CE standards applicable to all European boatbuilders, with passenger capacities for eight to 10, the Prestige 38S and 42S are foremost social creatures. Joining the party, Trade-a-Boat started on the 42, stepping aboard the big integrated boarding platform, and noting a deep-reach swim ladder with trendy teak treads.

The boat has a huge in-transom wet locker for carrying your masks and snorkels, bikini tops and togs, while the door for the central garage lifts at the press of a button. There's room to carry a 2.4m soft-bottom ducky, plus fishing gear, inflatable water toys and more inside.
An accommodating walkway to port leads into the cockpit, where there's a huge aft sunpad for four atop the aforesaid tender garage. There is a seating option, too, with a bigger U-shaped lounge set around an aft dinette instead of the sunpad. And with this optional layout you get a smaller garage for taking a 2m ducky, whose outboard is carried on a transverse outboard bracket.

This latter layout was fitted to the 38S tested alongside. And if entertaining is your thing, then it's a superior layout since it seats eight people back in the cockpit otherwise given over to lounging. Add a Euro-style awning overhead for shade from the midday sun and you're done.

In both cases, engineroom access is via a day hatch and, better still, through the garage. I noted great access around the Volvo Penta D6 diesel engines that, with electronic management and common rail injection, don't leave much room for owner input. Dip the oil, glance at the fuel filters and, without overflow bottle, let the engine-monitoring system inform you of the coolant levels. And the Cummins engines on the 38S were similarly accessible.

Though not fitted, both boats need generators for away-from-dock independence to power their cockpit griddles or barbies and, perhaps, optional air-conditioning for taming extreme climes. At which point I should add that there's a 42S in Melbourne with the option of an electric drop-down rear saloon window, thereby creating a full lock-up cruising cabin in which you can cocoon.

Amenities extend from the outdoor 240V grills and sinks in moulded storage modules designed for icemaker or fridge, neither of which was fitted - yet. Meanwhile, those chasing rays will find it a breeze to waltz around the walkaround decks, which are traced by a nice high bowrail with lifelines and trick LED lights at night, to the optional sunpad cushions fitted to the bows.

The helm station of the 42S had an enthusiastic spread of Volvo analogue engine gauges, EVC controls, switch panels and the IPS Joystick controller for intuitive docking and slow-speed cruising. The two-person helm seat lets you drive with your squeeze, there's a drop-down platform for additional elevation when driving on your feet with your head out of the sunroof, and 180cm of headroom at the helm with the platform flipped out of the way.

A similar helm station graced the 38S but, naturally, there was a spread of Cummins engine gauges and a MerCruiser DTS gearshift. The 38S was fitted with a bowthruster to assist with docking. In both cases, as touched on, vision from the helm was excellent for tackling busy waterways during the day or night sorties.

GRANDE CABINS
The forward cabin on both boats is virtually identical, however, it's designated a VIP guests' cabin on the 42, since it has a full-beam stateroom to mollycoddle owners. In both cases, the forward cabin has an island double bed on the centreline, an especially big wardrobe on the 42S that's almost a walk-in number, and a door to the communal head or second en suite on the 42.

Twin adult-length single bunks are a feature in the aft cabin of the 38S, as are oversized picture windows, a settee and hanging locker. It's still a great guest's cabin and with a cabin door you get excellent privacy when sleeping aboard. Further, the dinettes on both boats double as impromptu berths, thereby boosting accommodating to 4+2 should you need it.

But the 42S is the bomb if you intend spending longer than a weekend aboard. Its stateroom has an offset queen bed, abundant storage, vanity/bureau, plus an en suite with trendy vanity and, in due course, the importers were going to fit a custom shower screen in place of the shower curtains. The heads themselves are electric models and the shower roses trick pencil-style numbers, while the mattress had optional slat bases. Mmmm.

Opening ports and skylights direct fresh air and natural ventilation below decks and the designer interiors have a chic feel derived from the high-gloss moabi joinery, which is akin to mahogany, and trendy European fittings.

With a couple of lose chairs, the dinette is capable of seating six before the galley. Gourmands will like the galley's proximity to the companionway to feed the hordes above decks, plus the two-burner stove, microwave oven and fridge with albeit just a freezer tray. There's a nearby wet bar to store the Cointreau after you flambé the crepes, and provision for mounting a television with AV system alongside.

FRENCH FLIES
It was interesting comparing the 38S with sterndrives to the 42S with pod drives. The latter was snappier, but while the 38S took a short while to wind up it had sportier off-the-wheel steering and was no less of a buzz to drive. Think of it as a café racer and hightail around town to a harbour or bayside venue when not chasing your place in the sun.

On the 38S, low-speed cruise of 16kts was clocked at 2500rpm, cruise of 26kts came in at just 3000rpm and, should conditions allow, the boat slots into a nice high-speed cruise of 30kts at 3500rpm. I put two ticks alongside my notes at this point, underscoring the 38S' sweet ride. Top speed was 34.3kts.

Acceleration was more exhilarating on the 42S and, at 2500rpm, the boat is cruising at a sprightly 22kts. Smooth cruise of 29.2kts was recorded at 3000rpm, 3200rpm gave 31.6kts and fast cruise of 32.6kts was clocked at 3300rpm. Throttle to the dash, we saw 35.6kts. That's the IPS for you.

I shouldn't continue practicing my schoolboy French, but what the heck. The Jeanneau Prestige 38S and 42S have what's known as savoir-faire or the ability to perform appropriately in social situations. The boats will also serve as pied-à-terre, which means second homes, typically an apartment in Paris.

But for more and more Australians the holiday house is increasingly a boat on their favourite waterway these days. As the French would say, "Bon voyage!" Two sweet sportsyachts aboard which to get away from it all.

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