In his final review for Up to Speed, Sportsboat and RIB magazine editor, Adrian Porter, takes a look at the new Pursuit 3450S and eyes up the Mr D Thermal Cooker.
Pursuit 345OS
Do you have a passion for fishing, exquisite top class tastes
and the vast wads of sterling to indulge both? Then you need to get you
hands on the Pursuit 345OS.
Fresh from one of the most respected boat builders in the world,
Pursuit has taken it's most popular model, the 335OS, and redesigned it
from the keel up in order to create a replacement: the 345OS. Sports
Boat and RIB recently sent Simon Everett down to Pursuit dealer Drake Marine
(who also sell EVO boats, see last month’s issue) to check over this new
offering with his sharp eye for detail, hard-to-please demeanour
and his box of fishing tackle...
Slightly longer and a
little beamier than her predecessor, the 345OS has been designed around
the Yamaha V8 F350 outboard engine, of which it sports two on the
transom. The performance of the 345OS is quite impressive for a heavy
boat and whilst cruising at 3,700rpm, she’ll churn out 20 knots whilst
keeping to a fairly respectable 90 litres per hour, which gives a
cruising range of around 12 hours, or 240 miles with a reserve. Even
taking her up to 25 knots doesn’t increase fuel consumption greatly; just 10 litres/hour.
Being a vessel designed for
offshore expeditions (OS stands for offshore) she wouldn’t be much good
if all this power was only meant for calm seas. Happily Simon reports
the hull to be solid and stiff, with ‘surprisingly nimble turning’. Able
to get out to the middle of the deep yonder without shaking those
on-board to death, you can even throw the wheel whilst in a 40-knot
canter and she’ll come around with barely any stern slip.
The boat is loaded with features for the keen fisherman: a large
cockpit, high gunwale, toe rails, a pair of drained fish boxes and a
live bait well. But the coup de grâce is undoubtedly the cockpit galley
unit that sports an electric grill, sink with running fresh water and a very
well equipped rigging station for tackle and bait changes. Tackle
drawers, typical of Pursuit, are also included and lock shut so they
won’t spill open in rough water.
If all this talk of
fishing is making you queasy then head below and bask in the glow of the
sumptuous luxury found dwelling inside. Past the spacious wheelhouse
(complete with Captain T Kirk style captain’s chair) you’ll be
confronted by a solid wood mix of maple and teak interiors, two double
berths, a galley and a separate heads/shower compartment to starboard.
But all this means she will cost a pretty penny – around the
quarter million mark in fact. Still, if you have a desire for cruising
in luxury, a love of fishing and a level of spare cash higher than the
average UK house price, this is the boat for you.
Contact: 01202 890070 / www.drakemarine.co.uk
Mr D Thermal Cooker
The PSP Southampton Boat show has been and gone and as always there
were vast swathes of new boats and wonderful kit, designed to tempt the
cash straight out of your wallet into the hands of the exhibitors. There
were flash gadgets like Raymarine’s new handheld thermal camera (very
James Bond), the RYA’s new range of i-Friendly e-books (very
educational) but one item that really took my eye was the very practical
Mr D Thermal Cooker.
Revealing my bias for food based
products, especially when free samples are on the cards, this is a
wonderful device and perfect for those colder days on the water, of
which we now have plenty of. Using vacuum insulation to create a slow
cooker that does not need any power after the initial heating, the idea
is to remove the inner pot, prepare what you want to eat later, heat it
to the desired temperature on the hob/gas camping stove and then drop
the inner pot into the outer pot, where it will continue to (slow) cook
for up to seven hours. The outer pot never gets that hot so storage is
not an issue, and the thermal cooker can be used to cook a range of food
like soups, main meals, puddings, cakes and bread. Two pot versions are
available.
From £74.95
Contact: 023 8084 7834 / www.mrdscookware.co.uk
Goodbye and buckle up
As some of you may have heard, Sports Boat and RIB magazine is no
longer being published, sadly falling victim to the economics of the current
time. However, our website and forum continue to thrive and if you head
on over to the former, you’ll have the chance to win a brand new i-Zip
lifejacket as featured in last month’s edition and officially launched
at the PSP Southampton Boat show. From the Cowes based SeaSafe systems,
it is the first lifejacket to boast a changeable cover system.
For more
details and to enter the competition, go to: www.sportsboat.co.uk
Pictures and original review of Pursuit 345OS: Simon Everett
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