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Welcome to the special section “BAM 35 Years.” We are presenting “cult” articles from the Motor Boats archive, starting in 1990. A journey through time among stories unobtainable today, even in the great sea of the internet! A dive into the world of epic moments in motor boating. We begin with one of the stories we were most passionate about.
From Boats to Motor 1992, No. 3, April, pp. 44-49.
They made yachting history and marked an era, the legendary 1960s. Motor Boats has chosen for you ten timeless boats that are worth looking for. We reveal all the secrets to restoring and maintaining them to their original state. So you, too, can become the owners of the “divines” and preserve their charm unaltered.
Of the Cavalier 30° you must strictly restore the original blue band that ran all along the hull just below the bulwark and the sunbathing mats must be in blue terry cloth while the seats and the bow sundeck of the Baglietto Elba can only be in white sky and be careful not to replace the original windshield of the Magnum 35′ with that of the Magnum 40′. If you suffer the charm of the 1960s and the finishes and materials that modern-day plastic only makes you regret, if you are looking for a classy boat that gives you “scrapbook” atmospheres, we offer a review of ten “divines” that have made yachting history. Undoubtedly worth the adventure of restoration: here are all the tips for the ideal rigging.
Boston Whaler 13′ Sport. The first large series open with worldwide distribution and the most copied for its cutting-edge technological solutions. Must be original with the benches and helm console in polished coppice-painted wood, the sundeck base in white-painted wood and tilting. Prohibited bow pulpits, allowed side handrails. Standard color: white outside and blue-green inside. Only exception, blue hull with waterline and red name when used as a tender. No super engines: a 25-horsepower, preferably Mercury, is the right power.
Length: 4.03 meters – Width: 3.20 meters – Draft: 0.08 meters – Motorization: maximum outboard 40 HP – Year of birth: 1961 ( in Italy) – Value: about 6 million without engine if perfect and original.
Cavalier 30. Those who purchase this classic American Chris Craft marine plywood motoryacht must be careful to restore the original blue band that ran along the entire hull just below the coping. The transom must mandatorily be painted cupped and the name in chrome-plated brass letters. There must be small davits at the stern to which a strictly wooden gangway is attached, and the service pram is a Zodiac not with a rigid keel. To ascend from the sea a wooden ladder is de rigueur, which is still built in perfect style by Pin Craft of Viareggio. Of course, the chrome plating must be kept in perfect condition and the sundeck on the forward deckhouse furnished with blue terry mats. In the cockpit, the pilot and copilot seats should be in white sky, the blue canvas armchairs and wooden table sheltered by a white awning. The dashboard does not allow any instrument that is not chrome. Two fender holders in sets of three are needed on the bow pulpit. Classic Sanguinetti windlass, strictly white. Interior must be Savoie blue carpet, white curtains and the walls painted with glossy cup; Chris Craft gasoline engines.
Length: 9.15 meters – Width: 3.20 meters – Draught: 0.64 meters – Engine: 2×185 HP – Sleeping places: 2+2 – Year of birth: 1964 (in Italy) – Value: from 25 million to be restored to 50 if in order.
Bertram 31′. It is the quintessential fisherman, forever relevant. One of the earliest examples was used by the Aga Khan to go and explore the beaches of Sardinia and decide what land to buy. No anchor was used; they went directly with the keel on the beach without much care. Today this hull floats quietly in Porto Rotondo in perfect condition. Hull and frames should be strictly white, as should the crystals and cushions. We recommend you choose the open aft version where davits are prohibited. The boarding gangway should be, if at all necessary, white fiberglass. No to the comfortable stern platform and roll cage with “unnecessary” radar. Chrome plating must be in order and to the right of the VHF, to the left, if you just can’t do without it, the Loran antenna. One must have the courage to buy the gasoline version.
Length: 9.30 meters – Width: 3.42 meters – Draft: 0.78 meters – Engines: 2×210 to 2×290 HP gasoline Chrisler; 2×140 to 2×216 G.M. diesel – Sleeping places: 2+2 – Year of birth: late 1968 (in Italy) – Value: 80 to 110 million depending on year of construction and engine.
Coronet 32′. She comes from the north where the weather is most inclement and was built by the Danish shipyard Botved Boats. She has excellent seaworthiness and real compartmentalization: she is ideal for those who don’t like the sun too much but don’t want to give up the sea and comfort. No awnings on the flying bridge control and roll-bar. The hull and superstructures should absolutely be kept the original “dull green” that made Coronets famous all over the world. Yes to the VHF antenna and Loran antenna, large flag at the stern and courtesy flags on the small mast located on the saloon deckhouse. No walking around with fenders or pulling them in and resting them on the stanchion. The name at the stern must be in chrome-plated brass letters. Gasoline engines are mandatory.
Length: 10.15 meters – Width: 3.28 meters – Draught: 0.50 meters – Engine: 2×170 HP Volvo Penta AQ 170A/270 C gasoline – Sleeping places: 5+2 – Year of birth: mid-sixties (in Italy) – Value: 40/60 million depending on the state of maintenance.
Bora 103. Built by Italcantieri, it is one of the rare examples of a boat made by a state-owned shipyard. She is elegant, modern and at the same time a classic: the owner must avoid turning her into a cottage with a basil pot in the aft cockpit. The hull and superstructures should be white as well as the aft awning while the bow sun cushion is to be covered in light blue terry cloth. Dinette and cabin curtains are to be white. The dinghy, undoubtedly Zodiac, is to be gray. On the coaming of the flying bridge the twin antennas of the VHF, the Loran and, at most, a small central mast aft of the steering position for a Koden radar and a maneuvering light obligatorily chrome-plated. On the stern a small, unobtrusive all-fiberglass swim platform. The antifouling color is the only note of light blue with a navy blue waterline. The few chrome fittings present should be perfect, especially the fender holder on the bow pulpit. The engines? The original G.M. diesels with mufflers.
Length: 10.30 meters – Width: 3.35 meters – Draft: 0.53 meters – Engine: 2×2 16 HP G.M. 6V-53N – Sleeps: 4+2 – Year of birth:1968 – Value: maximum 60 million.
Maltese 35’Sport. The American school has created another way of going to sea, and this Magnum Marine fast commuter, along with the 38′, has set the fashion worldwide. The cockpit is large, the helm station rational with chrome instruments of clear automotive inspiration, the interior division essential and practical. The color must be white with only one concession to navy blue. Absolutely avoid the temptation to replace the original windshield with the ventilation windows at the bottom, with the “horrible” two-piece windshield with smoked glass of the Magnum 40. One should have the courage to give up the comfortable aft sundeck sofa and keep the entire cockpit free to arrange modular sun cushions that are practical to retire at night. One should use these boats as a comfortable family full of friends and children. Obligatory in the cockpit is the original cabinet containing the sink, mini refrigerator and useless icemaker. The settee next to the pilot is a bench along the broadside ending at the bow in an L shape. No davits, the only concession is the comfortable stern platform to be used with the awkward original steps. Absolutely to be installed are 330-horsepower gasoline engines and for those brave enough, and make no mistake, 650-horsepower BPMs with free exhausts.
Length: 10.75 meters – Beam: 3.75 meters – Draft: 1 meter – Engines: 2×325 to 2x 390 HP Mercruiser gasoline; 2×300 HP Daytona gasoline – Berths: 4 – Year of birth: 1971 ( in Italy) – Value: 80 to 110 million for the 35′ gasoline depending on the state of the engines. For the 38′ version it goes up to 200 million if with 1300 HP BPM gasoline engines.
Elba. This Baglietto is Italy’s first major motoryacht and should be kept as close to the original as possible. The only concession, much exploited by the owners for that matter, is to paint the deckhouse saloon in white instead of the shipyard’s original garda blue. Although not provided for by the Shipyard, a proportionate tientibene can be applied all around the boat. Those who do not put it on have good reason to want to lose their wives and children at sea while sailing. It is mandatory to keep the wooden parts cupped perfectly and to have the courage to repair various parts of the deck gone bad (in solid teak and not resined). No stern platform, only original boatyard davits are allowed for the wooden gangway and tender, absolutely a wooden dinghy. Yes to VHF antenna, no radar. Cockpit settees, helm and co-pilot seats and backrest as well as the bow sundeck must be in white sky with blue sponges. Flags must be at the stern, on the port edge, and at the bow, on the chrome pulpit. The shipyard pennant is mandatory for those who rig a Baglietto. The wheelhouse must have the original instruments. Plastic instruments should be avoided. The Loran is to be concealed as much as possible. An echosounder with “vintage” scribe is in view.
Length: 11.30 meters – Width: 3.10 meters – Draft: 1.00 meters – Engine: 2×197 HP G.M. 471T. – Berths: 4 – Year of birth:1958 – Value: if staged original ASDEC about 80 million, otherwise not more than 40.
Giraglia. Go ahead and abandon the idea of applying a flying bridge to this Picchiotti. The solution is a comfortable autopilot with remote control, which allows long journeys to be made comfortably seated on the forward deckhouse in the sun and air. The hull is to be white with the classic dark blue line that characterizes Picchiotti’s boats. The cockpit is large and comfortable, and you can have a good carpenter build a table to match the aft settee, which at rest disappears under the cushions of the settee itself, and allows it to be used comfortably by eight people. VHF antenna on the left and Loran’s on the right. The wheelhouse shelf must be covered with black faux leather and the timbers perfectly varnished in glossy coppice as well as the transom. The name should be written in gold surrounded by a thin blue fillet. The cockpit awning and window covers in white canvas. The bathroom is not to be redone: the original has a porcelain sink. The carpet should be sand, the curtains blue, the walls covered with acrylic, the furniture in the “old navy” style, the cushions on the sofas and beds yellow.
Length: 11.35 meters – Beam: 3.70 meters – Draft: 0.90 meters – Engine: 2×220 HP G.M. – Sleeps: 4+1 – Year of birth:1966 – Value: from 60 million if in good condition. To be refurbished: no more than 35/40 million.
Grand Banks 42′. This great little ship dedicated to lovers of comfortable living, thanks to ample interior and exterior space, is ideal for use as a year-round beach house. It must have a white hull and superstructures. It is mandatory that the transom, the comfortable but small aft platform, the handrails and various window frames, and all solid wood trim be kept in polished cupola at all times. We advise you to do as the Americans do: during the dead seasons, when you are not using the boat, cover all these beautiful and unnecessary cupped parts with canvas doghouses applied with snaps. The same canvas (preferably navy blue or rust red) should be used to make the bimini top on the outer helm deck, as well as the wheelhouse cover. A small plastic dinghy is mandatory on the aft cabin roof, but worked as if it were made of wood, or a rigid keel dinghy housed in the appropriate boxes. The dinghy must also be covered with a canvas cagoule and held up in the middle with a line that is cocked on the mast. As far as flags are concerned, the mast should be used using the crossbars for courtesy and owner’s flags. Two large chrome-plated deck lights will be applied to the spreaders at all times, one oriented slightly toward the bow the other toward the stern. Mandatory radar, radar reflector, Loran and VHF antenna. The interior is fine as is except for the wooden floor, which must be covered with a dirt-resistant carpet. The instruments should all have chrome bezels. The driver’s seat inside has the main autopilot control, radar and Pan Navigator.
Length: 11.30 meters – Width: 4.14 meters – Draft: 1.27 meters – Engine: 2×120 HP Ford 2704 E – Sleeping places: 4+2 – Year of birth: 1963 ( in Italy) – Value: about 110 million if in GRP, 50 million if in wood.
Polaris. Built by Cantieri di Pisa, it must have a white enameled hull, the band under the coping made of wood painted with chrome fillets. The handrails must be stainless steel while those in the cockpit must be solid wood cupped. No flying bridge except for the Super Polaris S model with a nice chrome headlight. The sundeck is covered with blue sponge. A coppered transom with the name in chrome-plated brass letters is de rigueur. No transom platform, but a classic armed royal ladder in the side with a shower within reach. The cockpit has a classic table with compass rose in the center, wooden folding chairs, and white awning. Interior should have navy blue carpeting, white curtains and bedspreads. Fenders lined in blue terry cloth.
Length: 13.20 meters – Width: 3.80 meters – Draft: 0.95 meters – Engine: 2×220 HP G.M. – Sleeping places: 6+1 – Year of birth: 1960 – Value: the first version around 60 million, the Super Polaris 70 million, the Super Polaris S without flying bridge 90 million and the version with flying bridge 120 million.
By Alessandro Mazzoni
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