Palm Beach 50

The Palm Beach 50 - a lobster boat on steroids, a picnic boat for a whole family to devour - has a motion through a seaway that is to die for.

The hard-chine hull has a lovely shape, a flat run aft for horizontal lift, a super-fine bow to cut through the waves. It tracks on its small keel and doesn't skid about despite a draft that is just 0.8m and its high-tech lightweight construction.

The PB50's terrific hull comes from the boat design team of Murray, Burns and Dovell, who also draw the Sydney Yachts range, among other coveted craft. The lines, lay-up and good looks, a mix of old and new, deliver the best of both worlds.

MADE TO ORDER
Based on Sydney's upmarket northern beaches, Palm Beach Motor Yachts describes itself as a custom boatbuilder. Hence the reason this PB50, ordered by its owner as a luxury dayboat, has just an inverter, shorepower connection and a single cabin up front.

Depending on your needs, you may prefer twin cabins, a generator, a stove/oven and more.

No matter what layout you decide on, there is little room for variation in the construction. The Corecell foam-cored hull is lovingly laid up with epoxy vinylester resin and light but strong E-glass. All the longitudinals are foam cored, while the bulkheads are balsa cored. The bulkheads - topped with top-notch teak veneers - are structurally bonded to the hull and deck.

The engine room is reached by lifting back the saloon carpet and lead-lined underlay. Two big hatches lift on hydraulic struts. There are fore and aft watertight bulkheads and lots of sound insulation. Access to the strainers, Racor fuel filters, dipsticks, Twin Disc gearboxes and PSS shaft seals is unfettered. Polyflex mounts help reduce vibration from the very smooth-running motors.

An engineering space further forward, under the steps down to the galley, holds the 45lt hot-water heater, battery banks, freshwater pumps, fuel site gauge, eutectic fridge unit and, should you order them, your air-conditioning units, genset and long-range provisions.

RUNNING WILD
Yanmars rev harder than your traditional loping diesel inboard. The terrific power-to-weight ratio of the 420hp motors, combined with the flat run aft on this hull, ensure a good turn of speed.

Underwater, the PB50 has some hidden high-tech appendages, such as carbon-fibre rudders, stocks and brackets.

When I let the Yanmars have their head, their top-end speed touched on 33kt. A fast cruising boat, the PB50 dances along all day doing 28kt, but for long-distance cruising, 20kt is best. At this speed both motors consume just 45lt/h. Your theoretical cruising range is more than 800nm from the boat's 2000lt supply.

At 1500rpm, the boat holds a 10kt low-speed plane for cruising around a busy harbour or uncharted waterway with company.

Optimum cruise speed was 25kt at around 2500rpm, though the boat is just as comfortable at maximum continuous revs of around 3300rpm, doing 30kt. And at all speeds it was acceptably quiet.

CLASSIC CHIC
The interior of the Palm Beach 50 is a mix of classic chic and modern materials, dayboating comforts and longer-term amenities, superb craftsmanship and high-tech conveniences.

The teak joinery is outstanding - one neat example is the trick teak covers hiding the hinges on the hanging lockers.

The open-plan layout lends itself to spending nights aboard with your partner or entertaining a gaggle of say 10 people. There is a balance of outdoor space and indoor comforts, sun and protection, and the ability to meld both areas thanks to an electric aft window and double saloon doors.

In the bow the boat has a cabin with the only accommodation - an island double berth. There are twin hanging lockers, twin drawers and enough teak floor space to dress with the door closed.

Also nestled under the foredeck, the galley to port has benchtops fashioned from a chic granite material that has been crushed and reconstituted.

Amenities included an LG microwave with stainless facia, a big sink in which to hide your lunch plates and a custom-made eutectic fridge with a stainless-steel liner and a pull-out rubbish bin.

INDOOR COMFORTS
Opposite the galley to starboard is the boat's single oversized bathroom. The owner elected for an open-plan shower, but there is room to make a separate shower stall.

One wing of the bathroom has a long granite-topped vanity, with overhead mirror-backed cupboards and more cupboards under the sink. The electric loo is an Italian model with a macerator system.

Needless to say, the saloon offers views, lounges and protection from the elements, all much appreciated during my mid-winter water test. In summer, you would probably lower the electric side windows and open a hatch for fresh air.

Behind the big front windows sit twin benchseats with backrests - at just the right height for comfortable cruising - for two passengers to port and the skipper and first-mate behind the dash. A long L-shaped leather lounge runs down the portside. Opposite was a wetbar, or at least wine-bottle racks and glassholders inside a teak cabinet that also harboured the master switch panel.

OUTDOOR LIVING
The PB50 comes with an aft awning that can be assembled over the big self-draining cockpit, much like a boom tent, for shade when lunching alfresco in summer. There is certainly plenty of space to entertain, dine or spend the day doing nothing much in the great outdoors.

The L-shaped cockpit lounge can seat four for meals around a balsa-cored teak dinette to port.

The cockpit sole is topped with teak. There are plenty of storage hatches dotted about the place as well as a Grohe hot/cold handheld shower. Big deck cleats with neat stainless-steel rubbing strips are obvious, not so the speakers for the Clarion CD stacker.

A dayboating centre to starboard harbours a hot/cold tap, stainless sink and top-loading eutectic fridge/freezer.

An all-over accessible boat, the PB50 has nice wide sidedecks and a flat foredeck, a cabin topped with handy teak handrails, and stylish 316 stainless steel deck gear such as custom 'olde-worlde' fairleads recessed into a teak toerail.