If you're looking for a boat that can take you on a mini-adventure it would be well worth taking a look at this list of the best weekend motor yachts we've tested this year
For motor yachts, the journey from day-trip fun to extended weekend adventures is a pivotal step. It’s where the thrill of speed meets the comfort of home, allowing you to venture further, stay longer, and unlock a new kind of freedom on the water. But with so many options promising the perfect balance of performance and practicality, how do you find the best weekend motor yachts for your next getaway?
This year, we’ve put some of the most exciting new models to the test, from versatile family cruisers to high-performance sportscruisers. Our extensive sea trials and in-depth reviews reveal which boats truly deliver on their promise to be the ultimate weekend platform. Read on to discover our top picks from this year’s fleet, showcasing the very best in design, innovation, and value.
Best Weekend Motor Yachts
Windy SR40
The SR40 feels like a pivotal boat for Windy. Here at last is a practically minded weekender that offers most of the usual Windy thrills and build quality but with enough protection to be used comfortably all year round in both hot and cold climates.
It may not be quite as pretty or engaging to drive as Windy’s open sportsboats but that’s a small price to pay for the extra versatility it offers, especially when fitted with those excellent sliding side doors. If you can live with the lack of a permanent second cabin and the premium pricing, it really does deliver the best of both worlds.
Windy SR40 specifications
LOA: 40ft 0in (13.05m)
BEAM: 13ft 1in (4.00m)
AIR DRAFT: 11ft 4in (3.45m)
DISPLACEMENT: 10-10.4 tonnes
FUEL CAPACITY: 1,130 litres
WATER CAPACITY: 200 litres
ENGINES: 2 x 440hp Volvo Penta D6, 3 x 400hp or 2 x 600hp Mercury outboard
RCD: B
PRICE: From €627,800 ex tax
Beneteau Antares 9
The new Antares 9 is not big, fast or sexy. In fact, it’s not particularly special in any single discipline but it does enough of everything to cement its place as one of the most versatile easy-access family platforms you’re likely to encounter. It can seat up to ten people and sleep up to six.
It comes with a variety of indoor and outdoor seating options. It drives with sufficient composure and refinement to provide you with a lifetime of manageable coastal cruises. And it comes in at a starting price of just €146,550 plus VAT.
It may, of course, require a few options to bring it into line with your intended applications – not least some diesel heating, some air-conditioning, a set of solar panels, an opening sunroof, a storage rack for your various water toys and perhaps a lithium-ion battery bank or a generator, just to mitigate your dependence on shoreside facilities.
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As you would expect, ticking all these boxes will take you much closer to the €200,000 mark, but there’s no denying the fact that, given the size constraints at work with the new Beneteau Antares 9, this is one of the hardest working and best value entry-level family boats the modern market has to offer.
Beneteau Antares 9 specifications
LOA: 30ft 6in (9.29m)
BEAM: 9ft 10in (2.99m)
DRAFT: 2ft 0in (0.60m)
DISPLACEMENT: 4,620kg (light)
FUEL CAPACITY: 600 litres
WATER CAPACITY: 160 litres
ENGINES: twin 200-250hp outboards
RCD: C10
CONTACT: beneteau.com
PRICE: From €146,550 ex VAT
Fjord 39 XL
There’s no doubt that the greatest (and most surprising) dayboating asset on the old Fjord 38 XL was the safe, spacious bow lounge. In engineering some extra cabin space into the mix, the designers of the new 39 XL have had to do away with that, replacing it instead with a more conventional (and less practical) walkaround island sunbed.
The uprated day space aft of the console certainly helps make this compromise feel far less critical but it still means that, in spite of Fjord’s glittering dayboating CV, the new 39 is a dayboat with an eye trained very firmly on weekending practicality.
If that’s the kind of balance you want, and you’re happy to ditch the idea of a hi-lo platform and drop-down terraces for some of the best driving dynamics in the class, the new 39 XL is a really fine way to go about it. But while we consider the merits of this new entry-level Fjord, it’s worth lobbing in a brief postscript here.
Because while the new 39’s bow deck evolution is designed to better service the appetites of the next generation of dayboaters, it’s actually a return to the same forward arrangement we saw back in 2008 on the first ever Hanse-owned Fjord.
That raises some interesting questions about whether ‘progress’ – especially in the dayboating world – is more cyclical than linear, and whether the most effective ‘new’ ideas tend to steal a little wisdom from the past.
Fjord 39 XL specifications
LOA: 39ft 3in (11.97m)
BEAM: 12ft 8in (3.87m)
DRAFT: 3ft 8in (1.11m)
DISPLACEMENT: 8,790kg (light)
FUEL CAPACITY: 1,140 litres
WATER CAPACITY: 200 litres
ENGINES: Twin D4-320s / D6-440s / Verado 400s
RCD: B12
PRICE: From €459,000
Sirena 48 Coupé
When you chop off a flybridge, you want to know that the weight distribution, the style and the saloon ambience will all be direct and immediate beneficiaries – and that is absolutely the case here.
This is a very pretty and well conceived coupé that retains all of the flybridge’s merits, flexibilities and options with the sole exception of the upper deck itself. Little wonder then that Sirena is set to make the Coupé variant an option on some of its larger models, including the 58, 68, 78 and 88.
As for the hybrid powertrain, well that’s more likely to split opinion. On the one hand, it makes quiet, emissions-free operation an immediate and very straightforward reality for mixed use boaters. On the other, it all but halves your top end without substantially extending your low-speed operating range.
But it’s not for us to baulk at the luxury of choice. Because while once, there was only a single option at the entry point to Sirena’s award-winning fleet of liveaboard cruisers, now there are three – and what’s not to like about that?
Sirena 48 Coupé specifications
LOA: 52ft 8in (16.04m)
BEAM: 16ft 5in (5.00m)
DRAFT: 3ft 10in (1.16m)
DISPLACEMENT: 28,600kg (light)
FUEL CAPACITY: 1,900 litres
WATER CAPACITY: 600 litres
ENGINES: twin 213kW E-Motion motors
RCD: B16
CONTACT: sirenayachts.com
PRICE: €1.5M ex VAT
Aquador 400 HT
Given that the new 400HT measures just 39ft 7in in length, it provides an extraordinary combination of day boating flexibility and cruising capacity. There are four separate zones to sit, as well as the potential to accommodate up to eight people.
Storage is excellent, ergonomics are very strong and even the helming experience is decent. It’s not quite as pretty as the two smaller models and if you want a sportscruiser with two generous cabins rather than three tighter ones, the 400HT won’t fit the bill because there are no other layout options.
But with package prices starting from €500,000 including tax, we have no hesitation in affirming that this largest ever Aquador isn’t just the brand’s finest HT model yet. It’s also one of the best value family cruisers money can buy.
Aquador 400 HT specifications
LOA: 39ft 7in (12.10m)
BEAM: 13ft 0in (3.96m)
DRAFT: 3ft 5in (1.05m)
DISPLACEMENT: 8,200kg
FUEL CAPACITY: 700L
WATER CAPACITY: 250L
ENGINES: twin 300-350s outboards / Volvo D4-320s / Mercury V6 270s
RCD: B12
CONTACT: aquadorboats.fi
PRICE: From €499,000
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