Spotlight: Cormate Chase 35

The new brand made quite the impression, too, showcasing a Cormate 23 Super Utility and the flagship model in the range, the 10.6-metre Cormate Chase 35.

Cormate’s design philosophy has followed that of cars, where drivers have tended to stray away from luxury sedans to now drive high-performance luxury SUVs such as the Porsche Cayenne and Range Rover.

“However, we couldn’t find any equivalence when it comes to boats,” Cormate says. “You can buy a fast ocean-going RIB, with excellent rough-sea capacity, or you can buy the comfort and quality feeling of a high-quality day cruiser.”

However, Cormate reckons there was nothing on the market that combined the best aspects of both styles of boat in the one product, the so-called SUV of the sea. Enter the Cormate Chase 35.

The boat is compact and light enough to store in a dry stack, but is built to pack a punch on the water. That includes a bluewater-friendly 24.0-degree deadrise, a second-generation “i-tech” hull, and the option of plenty of performance on tap – more than 80 knots of straight-line speed with twin 450hp Mercury Racing supercharged V8 outboard engines to push it along.

The base engines for this boat are twin 250hp MerCruiser V6 inboards.

The Cormate Chase 35 is built using a foam core sandwich, with a layer of lightweight foam sitting between an inner and outer fibreglass skin to make it light, yet strong.

The standard equipment list for the boat is extensive and enough to get you comfortable on the water as soon as you’re handed the keys.

That includes stainless steel fittings; a leather-look interior; a leather-wrapped Isotta steering wheel; a wet bar with a Wallis cooktop and a 75-litre drawer fridge; a 100-watt solar panel linked to a lithium-ion battery system; a teak table in the cockpit; handheld transom shower; underwater lights; a bow thruster; twin-berth cabin with enclosed head and pressurised water system; seat covers; two Simrad GO12 multifunction touchscreens; a Bluetooth audio system; and a bow thruster.

The cabin is unique in that you can lift up the front of the cabin’s coach-house to allow air, and the vista, to flow inside.

Being a luxury boat there is also a long list of optional comforts including a choice of topside colours; upholstery fabrics; teak decks; a mahogany table for the cabin; a hot water heater; a mattress to turn the aft storage space into a sleeping pad; and a ski pole to count but a few.

The boat is simply laid out with a swim platform aft on sterndrive models (and pods on outboard versions) backing onto a large sun pad with a backrest that flips aft so you can use the forward section as a seat.

The cockpit features a dinette space with the optional table, with the forward bench also providing forward-facing seats that face a compact galley station and wet bar built into the back of the helm seats.

Wide side decks lead forward to the bow, where infill cushions turn the space into a large sun bed.

The helm console is protected behind a wavebreaker-style forward-leaning windscreen and fronts onto the coach-house for the cabin space below. 

The cabin is equipped with an enclosed head and vee berth that extends as a bench along the starboard side. 

Engine choices also vary widely, with both sterndrive and outboard options available.

Two petrol sterndrives are available – twin 300hp MerCruiser 6.2Ls capable of a top speed of 49 knots or 350hp versions capable of more than 60 knots – and a single 270hp MerCruiser 3.0L diesel also capable of 49 knots.

In terms of outboard engines, there are two choices; twin 300hp Mercury Verados with almost 60 knots of speed, and the flagship Mercury Racing 450Rs.

Sydney-based Marine Co is the official Australian distributor for Cormate.

Prices? They’re in the league of if you have to ask, you can’t afford it, and will vary widely on the engines that power it. But expect a base boat to be around the $700,000 mark.