47 Cabo

Source: Capt. Chris Kelly, Power & Motoryacht Magazine

The Last Fishboat

An 80-year-old angler is the first in line for the new Cabo 47 Sportfisherman.

Fred Smith’s boating career started out like thousands of others’. He took to the water at age 10 aboard his father’s rowboat and with rod in hand set out to see what he could catch. Over the years the boats got bigger, the fishing grounds expanded, and the cruising activities took him and his wife Mary up and down the Intracoastal Waterway between Florida and Annapolis, Maryland, and oftentimes out to the Bahamas.

The difference between Smith and most other boaters, however, is that he’s been at it for 70 years, and the boats he’s owned were built by some of the great names in wooden boatbuilding, Wheeler and Matthews among them. Even though these were followed by a 20-year flirtation with sailing, he returned to the powerboat fold with a 42-foot Uniflite, a 38-foot Blackfin, and then a 27-foot Boston Whaler.

If you look at this downsizing trend, you might think this energetic octogenarian was ready to pick up another rowboat and return to his roots. But not Smith. Given his and his wife’s penchant for cruising and fishing the Bahamas, Smith realized he needed to upsize again. In November 1998 he purchased his first Cabo, a 35-foot Convertible. He was impressed with the boat’s quality and dry ride but needed more room for guests. So when Doc Austin, president of HMY Yacht Sales in Dania, Florida, told him about the new 47 Cabo coming down the ways, Smith was first in line. And the rest, as they say, is history.

According to Cabo sales manager Greg Borque, the yard spent two years developing the 47. “We built a hull and deck with no interior and filled it with 55-gallon drums to create a life-size tank test. We pumped water between the drums, ran the boat, and found the optimum center of gravity and horsepower combination. We didn’t go any further until we had this nailed down.” Borque says Cabo then finished the job by designing an innovative interior with a watchful eye on weight. The hull bottom is solid FRP, but the hull sides and decks are of Corecell foam sandwiched between layers of FRP and bonded using vacuum bagging. The result is a strong 50-footer with a dry weight of just 42,000 pounds.

The 47 sports the usual fishing accoutrements but with several innovations. For example, the seven-foot-long in-sole fishboxes on either side of the cockpit have split hatches with gas-assisted struts so they’re easy to open when you’re boating smaller quarry like dolphin and kingfish. But if you need to stow a big one, you can easily remove the entire hatch. The 50-gallon livewell on the transom is waist high for easy access and lit for nighttime use. There’s thick inwale padding on all three sides and good nonskid decking. Forward and to port, the 47 has the typical bait-prep center with sink and freezer next to the centerline engine room door. Decidedly atypical is the electrical console to starboard. Here, just beneath a stowage box are all the switches you need to run the cockpit–fresh- and raw-water pumps, livewell pump, cockpit lights, and even macerator pumps for the fishboxes–all clearly labeled.

Overhead, the flying bridge extension provided some welcome cover during the rain squalls we had on test day, and the eight-step ladder made it easy for Smith to run up to the helm in about three seconds (I saw him do it). The helm is Palm Beach-inspired, with a centerline pod-style instrument panel and twin ladder-backed pedestal chairs. The single-lever electronic Glendinning controls look like conventional mechanical units yet provide smooth, positive shifting and have mechanical backups if the electronics go south. And even though they take a little getting used to during acceleration, since you need both hands to move them forward, you can overcome that by using the engine synchronizer function. Plus, when you’re facing aft and backing down on a fish, there is no better arrangement.

The helm is clean, too, with a large electronics console just forward of the dash that eliminates the need for an overhead electronics box. Also forward, a benchseat seats three, and two more can relax on a fore-and-aft-facing lounge for a total capacity of seven guests up top. While the aft helm position limits forward visibility from the seated position, you can see the bow pulpit and foredeck if you stand, and there’s no need to move to watch the action in the cockpit–just look down.

After the action is over, the saloon greets you with a teak and holly sole and L-shape lounge to port, diagonally across from an L-shape dining area for four. The galley is equipped with pull-out refrigerator and freezer drawers by Sub-Zero and a stowage locker beneath the galley so large it can easily handle a deflated dinghy and outboard. Cabo designed the boat so this locker can hold 600 pounds of gear and still run level, but if you don’t stow that much gear, the trim can be adjusted with ballast.

For Smith, two separate heads with showers was a priority, and he got it on the 47. The guest/day head forward and to port is like a master head on many other boats of this size, with a fully enclosed shower stall, plenty of mirrors, and 6’5″ headroom. Across to starboard is the guest cabin, which features upper and lower berths, and a surprise midcabin-type double berth. Smith calls this area the “romper room,” but you’ll just call it realistic accommodations for four adults. Fully forward, the master stateroom features a centerline double berth with good access all around, two hanging lockers, and private access to a second head with separate shower. The substantial separation between the staterooms, combined with a standard Splendide 2000 washer/dryer combo unit in the foyer and an optional 600-gpd Sea Recovery watermaker, provide Smith with both the accommodations and the equipment he needs for cruising the islands of the Bahamas for weeks on end.

As for performance, the 47 turned in one of the smoothest and driest rides I’ve experienced on a convertible. We bucked 20-knot winds in Fort Lauderdale’s inlet, and the boat never took so much as a sprinkle on the flying bridge isinglass. Power steering provided fingertip control of the stainless steel destroyer wheel, and given her top-end speed of 40 mph and best-cruise range of 530 NM, the 47 can make two round trips to the Bahamas before refueling.

After 70 years on the water, Smith says the new Cabo 47 is probably his last boat. But something tells me that depends on whether Cabo comes out with an even bigger one.

Boat Specification: 47 Cabo

LOA: 50’7″
Beam: 15’8″
Draft: 4’0″
Weight: 42,000 lbs.
Fuel capacity: 900 gal.
Water capacity: 100 gal.
Test engines: 2/800-hp MAN 2848LE 403 diesel inboards
Transmissions: ZF
Ratio: 2.0:1
Props: 28×45 4-blade Michigan Wheel Steering: Sea Star power hydraulic Controls: Glendinning electronic
Optional equipment on test boat: freezer plates in cockpit icebox; East Coast-style polished s/s bowrail; power steering