Noble Supervee 7.5 Lifestyle

Super lifestyle

Noble's SuperVee 7.5 Lifestyle joins the ranks of big trailerable boats targeting a cross section of the market looking for the best of both worlds.

Its full-size cabin features a vee-berth with a polished timber table pedestal mounted in the leg well which collapses to form a double bed infill. Without the table deployed as a bed base, there's ample room for two to sleep on the bunks which cover stowage areas below.

A large shelf at the fore end of the cabin roof holds plenty of personal items with more room in sidepockets. The cabin roof has plenty of headroom above the leg well for dining and a very large tinted hatch will provide ample flow-through ventilation.

On the starboard aft end of the cabin, a walk-in head and shower is constructed against the dashboard bulkhead. The inside wall of this compartment features a large vertical hatch that allows access to the rear of the electronics installed at the helm.

The hot water in the shower emanates from a 12V heater installed below deck, while the head is emptied via a pump that takes the waste to a cartridge system, accessed near the leg room for the skipper. This is ideal, as it negates any odour within the cabin when being removed for emptying. The cartridge may also be connected to a waste station pump for draining, while securely installed. Toilet paper is stowed on a roller behind a sprayproof hatch with the shower rose and taps behind another. Privacy to this compartment is afforded by a sliding shutter-style door that optimises space both inside and out in the companionway, while looking very neat.

The fascias of the galley and opposing helm seat base are finished in light coloured polished timber. The double helm seat has a short back rest for the skipper while the passenger has a flat cushioned base to sit on.

The dash layout consists of a raised brow well back against the screen, which held Evinrude gauges, and a large flat area between the wheel.  This brow might be used for low profile stowage, but inclusion of gimbal mounted electronics here would block some of the instrumentation.

WEATHER PROTECTION
Generally in plate boats of this size, we see full wheelhouse structures, but in this case the Lifestyle may be open air at the helm with the rolling up and/or removal of the clears suspended from the hardtop on sail track. Use of this type of fixture lends towards a much dryer experience in big seas and heavy rain than with the zipper top type, which can leak and allow water onto the helm station. This style of open air layout would be welcomed in the tropics.

The helm seat module has a multi-drawer tackle rack flush mounted above a padded seat which is hinged and when opened, reveals the engine oil bottle for the Evinrude E-TEC. Oil bottles for the E-TEC engine come in two sizes and above 150hp, the larger version is supplied. This compartment has enough room for a spare 4lt oil bottle and then some for maintenance tools. As an observer seat, it's ideal if you have a skier in tow or watching a spread of lures out the back, though it did lack a padded backrest which is easily remedied.

Snug against the aft end of the galley module, a mirrored seat compartment holds the gas bottle for the cooktop. This is due to there being no lip on the entry to the cabin, which is required for holding back settling gas from a leak. The compartment is vented to the transom via a pipe, which tracks along the deck under the portside cockpit pocket and doesn't interfere with the feet when standing against the gunwales.

The hardtop is well constructed, with a large amount of semi-flat space to use for a small inflatable dinghy or stowage of long haul gear such as extra fuel, crab pots and the like. There are plenty of strong handrails all round on this boat and those up here will allow for ample tiedown points.

Fitted to the aft end of the hardtop is a semi permanent extension of aluminium and canvas for extra shade in the cockpit. Due to the beam of this boat, one has to stand on the gunwale and reach a long way toward the centre of the boat to access rods stowed near the centre of the rocket launcher because of this awning. A zip open panel in the centre of it would alleviate the need to stand on the gunwale in big seas.

The deckwash is in the portside aft pocket and plumbed through the transom bulkhead. In the bulkhead is fitted a livebait tank and over the back, above the marlin board, an auxiliary engine bracket is installed for when carrying a small tender on the hardtop.

In the starboard corner of the bulkhead is a large walkthrough aperture featuring a nylon panel safety door.

Refuelling is done through the filler in the top of the portside gunwale with the plumbing secreted behind a compartment running to the deck.

The gunwales on the Lifestyle are very wide; about 250mm plus the inner thigh padding, so there is heaps of room for top mounted outrigger poles and downrigger bases.

QUALITY FINISH
The finish on the Noble is of high quality with plenty of attention to minute detail. Of interest is the small nylon cupped washers under each stainless steel screw, designed by Noble Engineering to retard corrosion between dissimilar metals. Nice addition!

Manoeuvrability of this big rig is easy at the helm. It has plenty of holeshot power with the 250hp E-TEC on the transom and can manoeuvre tightly at speed with no sideslip or aeration at the prop. This match of boat and motor is ideal, and even with a full load, you won't need to look for more power. It has plenty of torque right through the throttle range and ambient noise in the cockpit is about on par with a four-stroke of the same horsepower. Top speed was around 70kmh, while a comfortable cruise had the boat loafing along at around 40kmh.

While these Evinrudes come with their own fuel flow information digitised on the gauges, it was not calibrated at the time so we cannot comment on consumption.

Stability wise, it will be ideal for long stints aboard, due to its wide ribbed chines which stop a lot of the side-to-side rock and roll. The sharper entry at the forefoot of the bow and very deep vee between the chines at the stern are what makes up the registered design of Noble SuperVee.

We tested the boat on northern Moreton Bay with 15 to 20kts of wind pushing chop to about 0.75m. The boat exhibits a dry ride and soft to boot running into/and at an angle to wind and waves.

This rig has been designed as a floating caravan and is destined to be towed around Australia behind a Nissan utility next year. It belongs to the boss of Noble Engineering and has had feminine input into the layout of the internals making for a comfortable liveaboard over extended periods.

This writer has spent three years bussing and fishing around the country, investigating this type of amphibious craft for a trip in the future. The Lifestyle might well fill the bill for many looking for a rig of this purpose or just one to cruise the bays and coastlines as a weekender.

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