Axopar 38 Cross Top (2027-)

Overview

Axopar says the new 38 was built for excellent stability and positive control at high speeds. The builder’s tagline for the boat is “Performance without intimidation.”

BoatTEST sea trialed the Axopar 38 Cross Top at its world premiere at the Cannes Boat Show. Captain Boomies was at the helm, with Jeff Hammond, co-founder of BoatTEST, aboard, along with Jan-Erik of Axopar.

Test Conditions

Load: six people aboard and 60% fuel

Location: Bay of Cannes, in chop

Jan-Erik on the test waters: “The Bay of Cannes can be very confusing with all the yachts out there creating massive wakes, and also this bay is notorious for having cross waves, so you will have waves coming from two directions at the same time. So this is a really perfect testing ground for what a boat can do.”

Performance Numbers

2,000 RPM: 10.3 knots, burning 5.5 gallons per hour (called aboard as “one mile per gallon”)

Approximately 3,000 RPM: 13 to 14 knots

3,200 RPM: solidly on plane at 22 knots, burning 10 to 11 gallons per hour (called aboard as “good economy. One mile to the gallon”)

Top speed, Captain Boomies at the helm: 54 mph (40 gallons per hour was called during the run)

Top speed, Jan-Erik at the helm: 57 at 6,000 RPM

Getting on Plane

The boat came up through 13 to 14 knots at about 3,000 RPM. The observations called out aboard: “She’s got a little lift, but not much. I don’t see the bow rising. Seems to be pretty much level.” On reaching plane: “It just happened so smoothly.”

Fuel Economy Across the Speed Range

When asked where best cruise is, Jan-Erik answered: “We don’t have a sweet spot anymore. We’ve actually been able to elongate the fuel consumption during a very wide range of speeds.”

Top Speed Run: Captain Boomies

Captain Boomies called the speeds as she opened the throttle: 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53 and 54 mph. Her top recorded speed was 54 mph.

Sharp Turn and Wake Crossing

The boat was put into a sharp, lock-to-lock turn and then run back across its own wake. Jan-Erik on wake crossings: “You will be struggling to hear the chine hitting the wake. That is also one of the features we built in on the 38, so it really runs silently, even if you’re hitting the wake on the worst angle possible.”

Top Speed Run: Jan-Erik at the Helm

Jeff Hammond handed the helm to Jan-Erik “because I really want somebody else to verify that tweaking and the changes that they’ve made on this boat are going to make it faster.” Jan-Erik reached 6,000 RPM and 57. On the run, he said: “We start to be on the edge.”

Jan-Erik on the boat’s design priorities: “So the top speed is a result of a greatly improved hull, but the real key difference is what you experience while we’re doing a cruising speed, and how much you, as a passenger, are capable of enjoying while I’m having fun behind the wheel.”

Trim Tabs

Jan-Erik checked that the trim tabs were not deployed during the run and said: “Usually we don’t need to use any trim tabs.”

Ride and Tracking

Observations from aboard at speed: “I can tell that there’s a simplicity here. She’s tracking right now in a way that I would never expect.”

On the ride: “For me, that was an absolute thrill ride. I can’t get enough of it. It does feel surprisingly comfortable, though. So the thrill part isn’t like, ‘Oh, no, we’re getting on a rollercoaster.’ It’s, ‘Oh, wow, this boat’s doing it.’”

Hull Development

Jan-Erik on what makes the hull work: “With an Axopar, it’s going to be like 15 trade secrets minimum that makes the boat work like they do, and this is also one of the things that so many of the competitors are missing. They try to copy what we do, but they never understand why we do it.”

On the boat’s lineage: “The Axopar 38 is the third generation of the 37. So we’ve done this now in 10 years, and in these 10 years, we’ve been able to create an evolution of hulls that work in the way they do.”

Glazing

An observation from aboard about the boat’s glass: “I’ll tell you the first thing I’m noticing is that I don’t even need my sunglasses. When we first looked at the side of this boat, I thought there was a shade screen on it.”