With a touch of the captain’s smartphone, the Evo 43 morphed into a shape-shifting cruiser. In 30 seconds, the aft gunwales folded outward, creating 10 feet of extra deck space. Another touch and the aft deck’s center section lifted up and backward to become a platform that carried a guest from a higher dock into the cockpit. I thought, What is this craft?
The Evo 43 is a sleek cruiser with a black exterior, long paneled windshield and all-teak cockpit and foredeck. Her exterior is simultaneously retro- and futuristic-looking. Naval architect Valerio Rivellini says that Evo Yachts did not design the Evo 43 to be a one-trick pony. “The big focus, of course, is the opening cockpit, which creates a new social dimension for a boat this size,” he says. “But we also designed the hull to run well in big seas.”
I ran the Evo 43 in a 2-foot chop, and the cruiser hit a top end of 38 knots. Powered by twin 435 horsepower Volvo Penta IPS 600s with pod drives, the boat maneuvered nicely with joystick control too.
The boat is also a party platform. Its cockpit expands by 40 percent to 270 square feet when the side wings are out, widening the beam to an impressive 21 feet. But my favorite moving part was the transom platform operating like a crane. It can scoop up guests onto the dock or lower into the water as a swim platform.
Sea Trial: Yachting Tests the Evo 43Yachting Magazine recently took the Evo 43 out for a spin off Fort Lauderdale.
Posted by Yachting Magazine on Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Boat Feng Shui
The modular cockpit design allows Evo 43 owners to move everything, from the seats to the boxes that hold them. The aft deck also folds into the shape of a sun lounge. This lets you fill the cockpit with seating or leave it bare.
