441 Meridian Sedan Bridge

Source: Mike Brown, Boatpoint Magazine

At the mere close of a hatch, the Meridian 441 Sedan Bridge can separate the young ‘uns from the oldies, the swingers from the lounge lizards, allowing one or the other to frolic upstairs in the expansive flybridge or down below in the equally accommodating saloon. Our WA writer Mike Brown reports

The High Life

The Meridian 441 Sedan Bridge emphasises in its name one of its key features – upstairs is where all the driving takes place. It took Australian builders long enough to work out that in our mostly benign climate not many people want to lose downstairs space to a wheel, so full marks to a US company for making their entire sedan range single-station.

As you would expect, the saloon space is effectively increased by the absence of the wheel, but it is also genuinely enlarged due to the typical trans-Pacific cockpit. Anybody used to Rivieras and Caribbeans around this size (an overall 14.38m hull length unquoted) will find the cockpit distinctly on the short side. But in the American style, outdoor space is lifted by the large flybridge.

Sedan yacht, a secondary description Meridian has for this boat, gives the clue: it is much more about cruising and entertaining than the more active marine pursuits and, well, plenty of people would find no problem with that. The 441 has more cruising ability and equipment included in its standard package than practically anything else in its size or price range. This is a boat that asks no extras of its buyer other than filling the tanks.

The fuel and water capacities are a realistic 1438lt and 568lt respectively, although the latter needs to be big as no watermaker is fitted. The sullage tank is reasonable too at 208lt: enough for more than a few days before heading out to sea or to a pump-out. There is the usual profusion on board of items to make things cold, but the significant one from the cruising point of view is the galley freezer – Meridian installed a monster.

As for the accommodation, it is luxurious for four, extremely relaxing for another two, and merely comfortable for two more. The most significant factor in giving eight people a feeling of wellbeing for extended periods is, as usual, space in which to do the feeling. Indoors and outdoors, there is a lot of that.

OUT AND ABOUT
The cockpit may be small by Australian standards, but it is by no means unusable. It is well linked to the interior by wide-opening glass doors, and is completely shaded by the combined flybridge-hardtop, which is a cantilever job, so there are no obstructions if you do decide swing a rod.

There is a settee across the transom, deck space for folding chairs, and abundant lockers, including a wet one. There is also a boot-style locker reached from the transom’s rear for mooring lines or those folding chairs.

The wide swim board aft of the transom is the natural tender carrying spot but once launched, it converts into the kids’ fishing spot or, of course, their diving board. They will want to sit there at night too, watching fish caught by the underwater lights.

The link from cockpit to flybridge is by a moulded stairway rather than the more usual ladder. The stairway is exactly what you would want between the two outdoor living spaces and a hatch at the top deters plummeting children.

The hardtop covers the full length of the flybridge and, because the windscreen does not continue the rake of the bridge moulding, there’s a lot of floor space. There are fully surrounding clears and the space is air-conditioned, so as well as being a great daytime area it lends itself to being the children’s evening social room.

With the hatch shut, two generations can happily live aboard with different music styles. Just remember to check what you have left in the fridge before handing over.

Probably more cooking will be done up here than in the galley, and there are good facilities for it. The barbecue, fridge, sink, lockers and benches are well distributed, removing the usual cramped sensation. And there is plenty of getting-around space, settees, seats, table and drinkholders for civilised lounging with all your friends.

Of course, you drive up from up top. The skipper’s seat is marvellously comfortable, and faces a very neat dash that tilts up for service and repair work. A pair of 12.4in Northstar monitors dominates, with Smartcraft and autopilot screens, analogue gauges and endless switches tidily disposed around them. The 441 has the premium navigation package from Northstar including radar as well as sounder and plotter. Their other function is to monitor the CCTV cameras in the engineroom and at the stern.

INTO THE GREAT INDOORS
Let’s say it once again, this is a very big 44-footer, and no part of the interior skimps on any of its functions. The saloon is kitted out with armchairs, entertainment consoles, large L-shaped settee, movable table, cupboards galore, and that is just in the dedicated lounging area. Ahead of it on a raised mezzanine deck is a galley to port with a dinette opposite. This is big enough to convert into a double bed by the usual table shuffling method and will be comfortable but. probably, kid’s stuff compared with the settee conversion.

The fore and aft component of the settee pulls out into the saloon revealing a genuine innerspring double bed. Its only disadvantage is the impossibility of sleeping in longer than the people in the cabins. The occupants have the advantage of the largest room on board, and instant access to an early morning swim.

The galley is highly competent, with cooktop as well as microwave, acreage of bench space, and dishwasher and coffee maker as well as the usual components.

The whole interior is fitted out in white material and polished cherrywood – very attractive and set off in the saloon by a sculpted ceiling that incorporates air-conditioning vents.

The two cabins below are large, especially the mid or aft cabin which is full beam. The bed is at least queen sized and around it are TV-DVD player (every inhabited space has one of these) wardrobes, mirrors, dressing table and seats. Hidden away are the washer and drier and the ducted vacuum system. The en suite is to a similar scale. Natural light is a feature, with large windows and a ducted skylight.

The other cabin and bathroom are smaller but only in comparison. Compared with other boats, they are generous compartments.

ENGINEERING AND ELECTRICAL
The 441 is offered with either a Cummins Zeus drive system, or with the V-drive that was installed in the review boat. V-drive pushes the motors right aft, and is responsible for the curious feeling you get when lifting the large hatch in the saloon, similar to opening the boot on a rear-engine car – no engines where they should be. Instead, there is a vast storage space that, around its edges, also houses the Xantax battery control system.

This battery system organises things like automatic starting of the genset when battery levels drop below a preset voltage. It also eliminates heavy-duty master switches: just flick one of the small, single function switches and solenoids will make connections for the heaviest draw. It will connect up however many batteries are needed for a particular task and tell you if a battery is not pulling its weight.

The engine oil change system is another part of the boat’s clever electrical thinking. Press a button and the old oil is pumped out, press another and the new oil is pumped in. Not that there is any lack of space in the engineroom for doing jobs like this – there is plenty, including good headroom ? but no one ever complained that a job was too easy, and it makes for a clean engineroom.

Protected by a fire suppression system, the engineroom houses a pair of Cummins common rail injected 480hp QSBs with full electronic control. A Total Command system links them with bow and sternthrusters via computerised joystick control, for simple precision manoeuvring.

The other diesel-powered item in the engineroom is the 11.5kW Onan genset, one of whose major tasks is driving the triple-unit air-conditioning. This units live on the flybridge, meaning gravity assist for most of the air delivery.

POWERING UP
Our review day gave us an onshore wind that was blowing at 25-plus knots by the time we headed for home. The 441 could clearly have coped with a lot more before discomfort set in, and the hull was completely groan-free. I did not measure our roll period when we had the sea on the beam, but I would say the designer got the stability dead right – the sensations were all good.

We wound up to near 30kts and there was probably a little more there that we left in the box. This boat would cruise at 25kts in any sea that people typically find pleasure in being upon.

The Total Command system was the usual fun to play with, and the thrusters had enough power to make vigorous movements in the brisk wind. It will be interesting to compare it with a Zeus-equipped 441.

In short, the boat was great fun to play with and whoever buys it will be high on my list of people to get friendly with. Unfortunately, the very reasonable $989,000 asking price will be higher when this stock boat is sold, as it will be for all US imports no doubt.

HIGHS

• Attractive profile
• Airy upper deck layout
• Plenty of natural light admitted
• The Total Command system makes manoeuvring a breeze
• Excellent vision from pilothouse
• Spacious flybridge
• Gracious living

LOWS

• The dark timber used in the fitout made the sleeping accommodation a bit gloomy
• Cockpit on the small side

Boat Specifications:

MERIDIAN 441 SEDAN BRIDGE

Options fitted: None

Priced from: New imports subject to exchange rates

GENERAL

Material: GRP

Length overall: 14.38m

Beam: 4.34m

Draught: 0.94m

Weight: 14,167kg

CAPACITIES

Berths: 4+4

Fuel: 1635lt

Water: 568lt

Holding tank: 208lt

ENGINE

Make/model: 2 x Cummins QSB diesels

Type: Six-cylinder electronic

Rated HP/kW: 480/358 (each)

Displacement: 5.9lt