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Impressive performance, an extensive list of features as standard and a competitive
price-tag make the new Icon 54 very
alluring, as Mike Hunter discovered.
Led Zeppelin’s smash hit Stairway to
Heaven played quietly on the Bose sound
system, as we eased to port at North Head
and set a course for Marsden Cove, and
the second-annual Northland Boat Show.
How apt. We’d not long climbed the
internal staircase to the plush flybridge
atop the slippery new Icon 54, and already
it was apparent that divine performance
– much like the luxurious fit-out – comes
standard on the latest offering from
Hobsonville’s Formula Cruisers.
Well below the waterline, the twin, ZF
four-bladed propellers whirred faster and
faster as the engine controls were eased
forward by Formula’s sales and marketing
manager Troy Woods. The sporty-looking
vessel gathered her skirts and soared
onto the plane, the attitude hardly
changing as the boat accelerated to her
maximum 32 knots.
We left Westhaven at 10am. An hour
later we were north of Kawau Island and
inwardly whooping with joy as the miles
were reeled off at a ‘cruise’ speed of just
under 28 knots. Sure, the twin MTU Series
60 825hp engines were needy at this
speed – 139 litres an hour per side – but
this was still performance to die for.
Needless to say, it felt like we arrived
at Marsden Cove, via a photo opportunity
at Sail Rock, almost before we’d left
Auckland. It wasn’t long after 1pm
and plenty of the more fuel-conscious
competitors, left in our wake on the ride up
the Northland Coast, were still hours away
from docking for the Hopper Development
Ltd-organised two-day show.
Formula for speed
Easy on the eye with her curvaceous
sheerline, the Icon 54 has staggering
acceleration out of the blocks and a
smooth ride to match.
The cruise speed is actually quite
deceptive. It’s only when a bearing is
taken that the miles, so quickly chewed
up, can be truly appreciated; to think
the Volvo Ocean Race leaders were
sustaining average speeds just a few
knots slower than this under sail in the
North Atlantic at the time!
I took the controls from Woods near
Kawau Island, and was mightily impressed
by the light helm and her tight turning
circle.
After throwing the 54 around for a
while, it was time to back her up gamefisher
style. There was no great vibration,
and the big stainless scupper drains in
the back quarters of the cockpit easily
dismissed the water that can come in
during these manoeuvres.
Design
Like all of Formula’s Icons, the 54 was
constructed in a combination of resin
infusion and vacuum bag technology,
with one-piece moulds for the hull, deck
and flybridge.
The hull forward has a distinctive
‘Carolina’ flare, as well as full-length
reverse chines which, combined with hull
strakes, give a very soft and dry ride.
With a beam of 18ft 7in (5.65m),
she is a wide boat for her length. A gas
barbeque, livebait tank, fish stowage bin,
rubbish bin and deep stowage lockers
come as standard.
Access to the side decks from the 11.2
square-metre cockpit is excellent, which
in turn leads off a large, teak-covered
boarding platform. The width of the
walk-around side decks is impressive,
considering that the internal volume of the
boat is considerably more than the earlier
Icon 50.
The foredeck has a small Brower
electric davit for a tender, a Lofrans Project
2000 winch and Delta anchor, and enough
room left over for a sizeable posse of
sun-worshippers.
Luxurious comfort
The 54’s interior, with upholstery by GT
Design, is all understated luxury, fitted
out in Beech timber and the latest,
easy-to-maintain fabrics – a combination
of Macrosuede, Macrosoft, leather and
Ultra leather.
An electric window fitted to the
aft-bulkhead opens the cockpit onto a
well-equipped galley to port, with a full-length Fisher and Paykel fridge/freezer,
complete with chilled water dispenser
and ice maker, and a bar area/stowage
to starboard just through the cockpit
entrance. A Bosch hob and oven, F&P
dishwasher, Blum soft-close drawers and
Corian benchtops all come standard.
The spacious saloon and dinette
forward of the galley sits opposite a settee
to starboard.
There is accommodation forward
and below decks for six in three cabins,
starting with the owners’ suite to port, with
its walk-around double berth and en-suite.
Up in the bow is the guest or VIP
double berth, which shares a bathroom
with the smaller, twin-bunked cabin (one
bunk is athwartships, the other fore and
aft), also to starboard.
Access to the enclosed flybridge is via
an internal staircase just aft of the saloon
settee. It has setteess of its own, forward
of the aft port-quarter helm position.
Behind the twin helm seats is a
full-width stainless steel and teak seat, set
into the aft rails for those wanting to stay
in touch with the skipper.
There are alarm monitors, a CD player
and navigation lights switches set into
the deckhead, but the main controls for
the engines – the autopilot (essential on
a big cruiser like this), engine gauges and
screens for the radar, camera monitoring,
VHF and the GPS – are all mounted in the
main helm module.
They are easy to read and the camera
monitoring of the engine room also has
an eye on the anchoring – essential for
an owner who has limited crew, so he can
ascertain just what is happening way up
there on the bow.
The instrumentation is all Raymarine.
User-friendly, it consists of two E120
GPS-chartplotters linked to radar and ST
60 Series instruments, including wind
information. Also on the dash, beside the
MTU digital engine room information, are
toggles for the bow and stern thrusters,
VHF radio, trim tabs and the ZF throttle and
gearbox controls.
Below decks
Engine room access is down a hatch at
the entrance to the saloon, the sole of
which has been raised to give almost full
headroom in the engine room. It’s very
good access for on-board maintenance,
and is finished in a sparkling manner
– its antiseptic cleanliness not dissimilar
to a medical emergency room.
The 4000-litre fuel tank is situated
in the service room, aft of the engine
room which houses the twin MTU 825hp
engines. The engines drive ZF four-bladed propellers, with stainless steel
shafts through ZF gearboxes. The shafts
run at a shallow angle, giving a more
direct driveline and assisting with ride
angle. Freshwater, black and grey tanks
are under the floor forward.
The MTUs give the Icon 54 a very quiet,
top-end speed of 32 knots. Pushing out
2155rpm, the boat speed is a consistent
28.3 knots. Fuel burn was 139 litres an
hour on the port engine and 144 litres
per hour on the starboard engine. This
disparity of the fuel burn was explained
by Grant Senior, Formula’s general
manager, as one engine working slightly
harder than the other as designed.
The starboard engine is running a
large alternator to charge the house
batteries, as well as driving through a
reversed gear box to make the propellers
counter-rotating. The underwater exhaust
exits make the running very quiet and
fume-free.
Boating’s verdict
The Icon 54 has come a long way from her
Icon 50 roots, most noticeably in the huge
increase in volume.
The boat is a very capable express coastal cruiser, and would be equally at home
as a gamefisher – indeed the review boat
was fitted with game poles, although they are
extras, like the linen package on board.
The next 54 – currently under construction
– will be a serious game fishing boat for an
Australian client. Building to NSW survey,
she will feature a number of custom features,
which include a tuna tower and revised cockpit
coamings, toe kicks, tuna tubes, no boarding
platform and a custom helm to house an
extensive electronics package.
The 54 has an impressive cruising range, with
her 4000-litre tank giving a 500 nautical mile
range at 24 knots. By dropping the cruise to 10
knots the range increases to around 1200nm.
Formula Cruisers come with a 10-year hull
warranty; the build process is subject to survey
standards, which helps produce a boat of high
quality with maximum strength and minimum
weight (24,000kg displacement half-ship).
With her distinctive styling, superb build
quality and sparkling performance, the $2.4
million price-tag seems conservative. ■ |
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