Maxum 2100 Sports Deck

I'm not married - though I may as well be - nor do I have two young daughters aged nine and six. However I am a lot like Anthony Boudib, the proud owner of this Maxum 2100SD, in that I covet a boat with a big footprint for relaxing on the anchor, with great stability so you can sidle-up to the icecream boat, and which is deep enough not to ship water when the weekend crowds are out making waves and you're kicking back between towing the tube.

Maxum's 2100 sports deck provides all these attributes with both composure and style. But there's more to this high volume, deep-sided boat than meets the eye.

This is Anthony's first boat and, as such, much nail-biting deliberation paved the way to his purchase. He compared Bayliners and SeaRays and Four Winns - the three main opposition - and decided that the Maxum 2100SD was the most cost-effective boat that had the lot. He needed only a few options, namely full covers to keep his boat clean, and a tube for summer, which his daughters love.

Fitted with a 5.0lt MerCruiser MPI 260hp petrol inboard motor with an Alpha One sterndrive, the 2100SD goes pretty fast. Top speed was over 40kt or 76kmh, but this speed was hard to maintain even in fair weather mid-week on Sydney Harbour.

DEALER TRICKS
The importers and agents for Maxum also handle Bayliner. The former is pitched and priced as a prestige boat with a better finish than the Bayliner. It is also imported with a number of factory-fitted options for our market in a similar fashion to the Fairline or Lexus in the mainstream bowrider market.

Factory options standard with the Maxum 2100SD imported here include a bow-filler cushion - Anthony converts the bow into a playpen for his daughters - a bow ladder that lets the family disembark at a beach, and the bimini top that's essential for shade. Clears are supplied for weather protection should the need arise to turn this into a pretty handy all-weather bowrider.

 This boat has bow, cockpit and full-length covers, and a Cruise Pack with a second shower and additional moulded table in the bow, so parents have the run of the cockpit while the kids reign up front. All local models also come with a portable head and the Premium Dash package with wheel upgrade and digital depth sounder.

DESIGN CONCEPT
Rather than adopting a deeply-veed narrow sports hull, the Maxum sport deck is voluminous, wide and deep. Space, stability, seating, creature comforts and amenities take precedence over straight-line performance across rough water.

As such, you need to drive the 2100SD sensibly to "Maxumise" the ride comfort. This means backing off the throttle when crossing big wakes instead of going at it hell-for-leather, and mid-range cruising more often than streaming-eye redline runs. The rewards of the sport-deck design sure become apparent at your destination.

From bow to stern, this boat has creature comforts, higher sides and safety for the kids, and greater stability for romping around than a narrower sports hull.

Weighing about 2000kg on a dual-axle American trailer, the high-sided Maxum 2100SD is a big lump of a boat to tow and stow. The hull is 2.59m wide, which is on the trailerable daytime limit, but similar width-wise to Maxum sportsboats.

Compared with other sporty bowriders the 2100SD has a fuller entry, but the full bow does mean there's plenty of support for carrying kids or adults up there. And when you do back off the throttle, the bow doesn't drop down to the point where it's likely to ship water. In tight turns the full bow and buoyancy make the hull turn nice and flat instead of digging in.

While I didn't have a chance to see the hull out of the water, the brochure talks about tapered chines, large reverse strakes, an extended running surface and delta-step pad. The design doesn't break new ground, but harnesses proven technology for generating lift underway.

Construction-wise, the boat derives stiffness from a full-length fibreglass-encapsulated grid stringer system that's laminated to the hull. The internal fibreglass liner and key components are bonded to the stringer grid system.

It helps that Maxum's parent company Brunswick Marine also owns Mercury and MerCruiser. As such, the boat and motor is a ready-made combo. Though the 2100SD comes standard in America with a 5.0lt 220hp carburetted MerCruiser, the local importers prefer the multipoint injected version producing 270hp as seen on this boat. However, I can't see cause or water conditions that would warrant the jump to the optional 300hp 350 Magnum motor.

DECKED OUT
The boat's full-width non-skid boarding platform can double as a sunbaking area or diving board with swim ladder hanging at the ready. I noted a nearby handheld cold shower (the boat carries a handy 50lt of water) and a second moulded tier in the platform that doubles as seat where you can drip dry while watching the world wash past.

A padded infill section creates a full-width aft lounge when in place but, when hinged open and the cushion from the lounge base is removed, creates a passageway from the boarding platform to the cockpit. Thus, you can convert this boat from a watersports platform filled with dripping kids running amuck to a sumptuous seating area for lounge lizards to bask in the sun. A rear lounge seats four and doubles as a daybed.

The lounge base also forms parts of the engine box. Rather than having to dismantle seat bases and unclip catches, the engine room and prestart checks therein can be performed with a one-handed lift of the lid. The sender for the polypropylene fuel tank is accessible, as are the dipstick, fuel filter and lone engine/house battery.

The cockpit is a wide one and, with the helm and co-pilot seats swivelled to face the transom, it will work well with friends. The two tables and bases are stowed in the lockup storage area behind the helm, so the boat remains uncluttered when you are on the run. With tables up and canopy out, you get a useful, shaded lunch spot.

Storage is a highlight on this 21-footer. Aside from the lockup hold behind the helm, there's storage under the rear lounge, in the moulded head compartment forward of the co-pilot, and under the seats in the bow. A full liner means that most of these areas are lined. And underfloor is a ski locker that, like most of the storage, is topped with rubber non-scratch mats.

The boat comes with a portable icebox or Igloo and there is a moulded drinks box in the bow that drains through to the bilge. To these things you can add small cockpit sidepockets with drinkholders and a lockable glovebox near the helm. Both the driving seats have fold-down bolsters, too.

 Some might scoff at the moulded dayhead with portable loo, but it's actually big enough for kids and mums should nature call or a change of attire be in order. The boat had a small moulded sink on the portside for washing the prawns off your hands and rinsing the picnic setting. Other points of interest include the bow ladder, non-skid step and second shower up front, the stainless-steel cleats and nav lights, and the excellent padded backrests and grabrails that make the deep bow seating area nice and safe.

The dash sports Faria engine gauges, fuel and trim gauges, the digital depth sounder, plus toggle switches for the horn, blower, waterpump, bilge pumps, and courtesy, nav and anchor lights. The boat has two 12V accessory outlets for charging your phone and attaching a handheld spotlight, plus an adjustable and sporty wheel.

The supportive bucket seats lent a sense of purpose to the driving position and the tinted safety-glass windscreen wasn't too dark when wearing sunnies. The folding door blocks off the bow walkway so you don't get a cold blast up the trouser leg, but it rattled annoyingly in the folded position. A better locking device is needed.

WINTER DRIVING
It says something other than global warming that I didn't turn purple while driving this bowrider in winter in Sydney. The windscreen serves its intended purpose and there was only a brief loss of vision during the transition to planing speed with two adults seated back on the rear lounge and no-one in the bow.

I exercised caution with the big ferry wakes and walked the boat over the waves, but in the lightly-ruffled water the hull travels just fine. It is a surprisingly manoeuvrable and fun boat to drive.

With full leg-in trim, the hull held a useful 18kt (34kmh) at 2500rpm and a low-cruise speed of about 22kt (42kmh) at 3000rpm. Somewhere around 29–30kt (57kmh) seemed to be a handy cruise, while top speed of 40.1kt (76kmh) was recorded at 5000rpm. Though a small block, the V8 had a nice sound, as will the JBL stereo.

Tellingly, Anthony and his family had put 76 hours on the clock of this, their first boat, after a great summer afloat. This equates to lots of harbour runs, which is what they enjoy doing most. And for taking the whole family on the water, the 2100SD sport-deck is a great design.

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