Spotlight: Cobalt R6

Billed as introducing the next generation of Cobalt’s R Series of luxury day boats, the company says the Cobalt R8 has lifted the game as a sleek, sporty and luxurious runabout.

Measuring 7.5 metres long, with a beam of 2.59 metres and a dry weight of around 2600kg, it’s a bit too big to pull around behind a vehicle without the fuss of permits and the like. But find a marina that has a spare dry rack space, and suddenly this boat comes to the fore.

Onboard, there’s space for up to 14 people spread across a bow lounge featuring an L-shaped companionway, three seats across the dual console, and a rear lounge space that wraps around the interior.

The Cobalt R6, with its hand-laid fibreglass keel build, features a deep vee hull that helps it cut through the water and smooth out the ride in a variety of conditions.

Inside, double French-stitched upholstery adds a layer of opulence.

The Cobalt R6 is available as either a sterndrive model featuring 300hp/350hp 6.2-litre MerCruiser petrol engines or 380hp/430hp 8.2-litre MerCruiser petrol engines, or 250hp/300hp/350hp Mercury Verado outboard engines, or 250hp/300hp Yamaha outboard engines.

On sterndrive models, the layout features a sunbed over the top of the engine compartment with a starboard walkway to a wide transom-mounted swim deck fitted with an electrically lowering swim step to make getting into and out of the water much easier.

For outboard-engined models of the Cobalt R6, the aft sunbed is split in two with a central walkway to the transom that also forms the outboard engine pod, with little space lost to the engine hanging off the back. The outboard-engined version of the Cobalt R6 also gets the option of an electrically lowering swim step, although smaller than the one for the sterndrive model.

Standard equipment on the Cobalt R6 includes a Bluetooth audio system with six speakers, carpet, a 34-litre cooler box, a head built into the passenger side console, a rubbish bin, glove box, an anchor locker, stainless steel bow scuff plate so you can beach without damaging the Kevlar-reinforced hull, stainless steel window trim, and a dual battery switch.

For those who want to make the Cobalt R6 a bit more personal, there are options for everything from rod holders, towers with sunshades and ski pylons to rear-view mirrors and trim tabs.

The helm includes alloy trim with a baseball-stitched dash surround and piano black accents around where the multifunction touchscreens mount.

The Cobalt R6 is available through Cobalt Boats Australia.