PRACTICAL BOATER
NEW BOATS
INNOVATION RULES THE WAVES
BY MICHAEL VATALARO
NEW BOATS HIT THE BEACH Miami Beach that is! The spring boat-show season kicks off in Florida, which is always a great showcase for new models
CABO 36 EXPRESS AND 40 HTX
Cabo took their 36-foot fish-raising machine and added pods. The new ZF-pod driven ver- sion features a trolling mode that allows you
to slow the boat way, way down — slower, frankly,
than I could get my own shaft-driven boat to move
without bumping it in and out of gear. The ZF system
was selected because of its low profile, which didn’t
require the cockpit deck to be raised.
I drove this boat, hard, in Ft. Lauderdale, backing
it down with the joystick control into the oncom-
ing chop, trying to get it to squat and ship water
over the transom. No dice. Later, I launched it over
the steep, high wake of a passing 44-footer at full
throttle, which resulted in nothing more than a sat-
isfying thud of 25,000 pounds of hull, fuel, motors,
and journalists, smacking down on the water. Look
for a 40-foot version of the Cabo Hardtop Express
in Miami. www.CABOyachts.com
The ZF-pod driven version
of the 36 Express reaches a
top end of 35 knots, thanks
to the increased efficiency of
pod-power.
