Wide a-wake

 

WORDS + PHOTOS:
ANDREW RICHARDSON

This imported bowrider is roomier
than the average 18-footer.

Recently the Modern Boating team got the chance to put this new American-built Caravelle 196 bowrider through her paces. Our host was Caravelle dealer, Dereck Rodway and, with him, the soon to be owner, who, I might add, was eager for us to finish this test so he could take possession of his new pride and joy.
The new owner had spent plenty of time researching the perfect vessel to replace his existing sports boat and eventually identified the Caravelle 196 as the rig with all the ticks in the right boxes.
While the Caravelle 196 waterline keeps her in the 18-footer category, her wide beam and 'oversized' interior produce a craft with much more room than an average 18ft bowrider. But wait, there's more!
This boat also features a large swim platform and all the creature comforts, including a large drink stowage area under the wide aft bench seat.
Performance & handling
The team took the Caravelle out in a sloppy, building swell off Port Hacking and it didn't take long to establish that her hull could deliver a smooth ride across the rising chop. The boat's hull is designed to take waves with its forward sections, but she doesn't ride 'bow high', a consequence of the aft section and transom design.

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I've seen this style of hull used in a couple of other boats of late. Essentially, the leg trim pivots around a point forward of the end of the hull's waterline. Caravelle calls this its XPV hull design. The 'X' stands for extended running surface and 'P' for a pad (plank) section at the aft.
The effect is that trimming the leg doesn't lift the bow and the hull sections that extend behind the leg act like fixed trim tabs, so the bow stays down and chop is taken well forward, softening the ride. The only trade-offs are that it's a bit hard to get air under the hull at speed and it's not much fun using the leg trim controls, but she's faster out of the hole and does display good rough water handling.
During our trials the 220hp MerCruiser hit a top speed of 41 knots spinning an aluminium prop and got up to 30 knots in about eight seconds, which is good given the engine's size.
This $48,000 bowrider was set up with a wake tower. Although it's not a pure wake boat (with hardcore wakeboat features such as water ballast tanks) the Caravelle would still be a lot of fun to board behind, because she 'walls-up' a reasonably steep wake in the low 20s.

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