150: Tour & Analysis of ANTARES 44i, SEAWIND 1600, and XQUISITE X5 2021 at Annapolis Boat Show

All right babe this is our final video review of the boats that we toured at the Annapolis Boat Show. Cool and where are we right now? We're in the middle of the ocean on our way to the Bahamas. Oh man I love that. So we got time to do this and we had time to reflect on the show and just how what a show. That was amazing. All the boats that we saw. All the people we met like the O'Kellys and we got to see old friends that we had sailed with. And subscribers and viewers. It was wonderful. Patrons. Yep. Guys this still it just warms my heart. It does that was such a great weekend. And uh we've done two reviews that are more complete uh the one on the Leopard 42 the new one by Leopard. Make sure you check that out. And also comparing the Lagoon 42 to the new Leopard 42. And then this one is going to be a little different. We are going to just kind of they're not so complete but we're going to touch on some of the more important things that we like and we don't like about these very popular catamarans. Yeah three catamarans. A little bit of our price range at the moment but the Antares, the Sea Wind and the Exquisite. These were the other three boats we were able to see. Boy it was hard to get on boats at this show. Yeah it was just line after line. Okay on to the boats babe. Yeah you want to start with the Antares? Sure let's start with that Antares. Okay here we are on the Antares 44. I have always liked these boats. I've always considered this as a boat for us. These are made in South America near Buenos Aires and they're high quality. I would say you know looking at a Lagoon or a Leopard they're Ford quality. This is more in the BMW Mercedes range because fit and finish more care the details and materials. This is a true liveaboard boat made not for charter but for people that are going to live on their boats and as we all know you need to have certain upgrades in order to do that. This boat only comes that way. These boats really hold their value well. They make about four a year and let's take a look at it. This particular one has a lot of improvements to keep up with what cruisers really want these days. One of the things they have are the solar panels that are hardwired four of them up top that really make a difference as far as energy production which is really important on a liveaboard and we've got two nice hatches here. The helm is really enclosed. That's one thing I like about this from a safety standpoint with windshield wipers so this thing is meant to go offshore in bad weather and to perform in bad weather. Look at that dash right there. It looks like a retro automobile right there. It's just beautifully designed. Wow and you can see all four corners of the boat. Oh wow that's incredible. That's good. Oh and there's a footrest. So these never come on boats. Of course this is meant to have all everything there. This cockpit right here there's been a lot of changes made to it. There's one in here it has a shade lounger. It's one of the newer boats. They did not get the hatch for that and it has a back here and then it goes out that way so you can just watch the water go by as somebody else is driving. Honey what do you think? It's not my style but I'm not a big wood fan. Oh man this is so nice being in the furniture business. I'm sure you love it. You can smell it and the way they lay up this plywood they do it on a foam floor so it's really lightweight. They match up the veneer. What Antares is really known for is their fit and finish. Also the fact that they sell a liveaboard that's it's all put together so you don't even have to think about it but this is just incredible. The wood, the wood floor, the quality. We have these windows that kind of rake out which is not that great because the sun you see they have these screens right there to block the sun. It's going to come straight in versus a lot of manufacturers. Lagoon and Leopard are doing the windows straight up with a lip over the top to block the sun. And then just look at how nice. These have shaft drive engines. The engines are down here. And then look at the very well-designed control panel and gauges. Stainless steel sink. Lots of storage. Even a real wood inset here. I mean just beautiful quality. Lots of room in the shower. I love the this is incredible the refrigerator. I like the galley down. My wife does not but I love it. And then man this is a full-size kitchen. On the GT we have standard 14.4 kilowatts of lithium and on the hybrid we have 40 kilowatts of Victron lithium with 1800 watts of solar standard on the hybrid which is tons of power. And that's where things are going. If you're going to live on a boat that's a great way to live. Absolutely. It'll change your life. It'll change your life. Yeah. You can just smell the new wood in here. How beautiful it is. This is the guest room and another guest room. Another guest room and this is an option on the boat where instead of having a sail locker you can put a full-size shower. Really nice. What'd you think? This boat is designed for people like us. For liveaboard cruisers. And so the whole psyche and from the ground up is designed with that in mind. It's not like taking a charter boat like ours and then turning it into a liveaboard. This is from the ground up and I think that's very important. There's a lot of handwork that goes into these and a lot of technology. So one thing that I love about this and I think it's because I've been in the furniture business the high-end furniture business for such a long time is the wood. It's very traditional looking but the way they do the wood is incredible. I can tell quality and this is real quality. Galley down. You know I have to say I like the galley down. I'm a cook. I like the full-size refrigerator. All the room that you have down there yet you're still within talking contact with people in the salon. I personally think it's a smart layout. I love the fact that this has Yanmar engines with a with a crankshaft. Shaft driven instead of sail drives. I hear this boat is really fast. It's a proven design. The things that I don't like is it's a little dated this design. The new cocktail design for the back I still don't like it for that size of a boat. To be good for entertaining on the whole that's my opinion. How about you sweetie? Everything you loved I do not like. It feels so traditional to me. I don't like that much wood. I like a more modern look inside. The galley down is a no for me. I understand that it keeps the salon neat but I just like the galley up and the sideways bend that you have to crawl over someone to get out is a no-go for sure. The one thing I do love is the protected helm and the windshield wipers. Let's move on to the Seawind 1600. We're not a gun boat. You're not gonna have to worry about flying a hull or anything like that. That's not gonna happen and that's what you're gonna see on this boat. It's all compromised right so as we go down below we're gonna be looking around and seeing there's like it's a little bit more spartan than a lot of stuff yeah but this is what's the weight of this boat? I think it's like I think it's 24. I think it's for a 50-foot boat. Yeah that's really good. There's so and the construction is it's vinylester so we don't have to worry about the blistering problem. This is what what you can expect from our machinery and then like this is where the water maker is installed down here. Oh wow. So this is the you know these guys think of it you got to get down there you can stand there alongside your the water maker installation is super nice super clean. Wow. Full size. Wow. It's a real deal. It's a vanity but like behind the mirrors there the shelving in there this hanging locker here. Oh my gosh I do love this boat. I like the Seawind line of boats. I like they're from Australia. I like the ones that they make. The smaller ones how spartan they are. This one is a real step up as well as the 45 which has yet to be released and this is part of the new direction of Seawinds. They really upped their game with the new naval architect to give them a fresh new layout and structure. They're also having these instead of making them in Australia they're making them in Vietnam which enables them to provide more craftsmanship. I love the high-end spartan look of it and the fact that it can go fast. It's designed with more narrow hulls but for that reason I also don't like it because you're gonna pay a lot extra for that and I can see this boat being for sailors who've grown up sailing who can appreciate trimming sails and dual helms and that type of thing but Dave that's just not us. We're out for more comfort. Sure we want a boat that will move along but we're just not willing to pay the extra and put up with the sacrifices. A single helm is fine for us and this boat just I love it but I don't think it's for us. Yeah. How about you? I love the modern look. I think it's beautiful. The unprotected dual helm is more of a performance cap. I know the 45 doesn't have the daggerboard. I'm very curious to see that this boat this particular model probably wouldn't be for us although I do like a lot of the features. I thought the salon was great, the folding table so they take into account the space. I think there's some great storage even though you really can't store much on it because you want to keep it light. I think you have to cut back on the Costco run. That's right, that's right exactly. The bow was a little bit messy with lines. I was surprised at how many things we had to step over so that was a little bit surprising to me that it wouldn't be clean with the lines going inside the boat but other than that I thought it was a beautiful boat but I agree not the right fit for us at least not this model. Yeah and I think their customer is aimed toward like the Outremer customer. This is not a Mercedes or a Beamer this is more of a Porsche. I love this boat but it's not for us. Yeah. All right moving on to the exquisite. Look at the storage up underneath. This is the X5 plus. This is the first one of the plus series. It's hull number 17. First 16 hulls were 51 feet and then this one's the X5 plus it's 53. The configuration inside and all is pretty much the same. It's really not a lot. It's a little more headroom in this one. So this is Tomas he's the owner of the boat company. Hey Tomas I've seen you on the videos I'm around. Nice meeting you. Yeah it's nice to meet you. This is my favorite boat by far at the show and we're being shown through by the owner of the company and here's a new electric that's larger and 60s that's coming out in the future. So you see on the new X5 plus everything's electric because we have so much lithium batteries and solar that everything's electric. It's induction cooking, electric convection. How many amp hours do you guys have? It's 22 kilowatt hours so it would be like if you look at a 12 volt system that you have it would be like 1,800 hours comparable but it's a bad comparison because it's a 24 volt boat. Talking about replacing the glass to a grating so you can step on it and the air comes through because we also have we are now opening port holes on this one. These owners didn't order it because they said they want the view. Doesn't it give the give you all some feedback also on the boat? We do that's a maintenance software that we're using all the user manuals every equipment on board like an air conditioner is uploaded there with serial numbers and then and then if their maintenance is scheduled based on their user manual pops up on your screen telling you have to do this maintenance you do it it logs in the history and then so you have your maintenance history of your boat plus we send our team at the end of the year to your boat with the checklist to check up everything and certify your boat. That's part of that's an option but if you do it it's worth every penny because it gives you it gives you peace of mind and then because a lot of things we find that you won't find until they break. Right how how much uh to have a technician live on board. Ah the exquisite wow man that is just one beautiful boat. You know what you know the one thing about this boat over all the others. What? The outdoor shower. Walking on this boat makes me have the sudden urge to go rob a bank. Yeah for sure. I mean this boat is just unbelievable. This boat and the owner the he is just a genius. Oh Tomas. Tomas and he's personable and we got a tour from Tomas and he was amazing. Yeah. The detail the just passion you could everything is so well thought out he really was. They only make one boat they know their customer extremely well and that's all they offer and there are options on this but it's bought as a complete liveaboard like the Antares. This could very well be a boat that we upgrade to one of these days. Wow that would be amazing. That would be amazing. This thing is like a high-end beautiful big city apartment but high performance also. Oh the shapes and the curves of the of the holes and the windows. The windows it's just so much. I also love the maintenance program that you can purchase it's pretty phenomenal. They just really understand necessity of power on a boat so I was really impressed. You have lots of choices on this as far as fit and finish. It's semi-custom this boat which I think when you get up in that price range that's really worth it. Everything is well thought out. Well done. This I would say is our dream boat. Well we hope you've enjoyed our reviews from the Annapolis Boat Show. We're so thankful for you watching our channel so thank you for that. Thanks for subscribing, for commenting. We love hearing from you. Please keep that up. Like our videos. We really appreciate it. Thanks guys!