Formula 21

 

A light swell was rolling in from the south ruffled by a few knots of nor'wester. This gave us the opportunity to try out the Formula 21's race bred heritage. The boat had no trouble pounding into the sea, nor did it give any problems running with the swells. Adrian was quick to point out that he'd recently used the boat in a competition off Bermagui and the Formula 19 handled the run out to the Shelf in quite adverse conditions with ease.

It's also a particularly dry boat. Even as the breeze and chop built on the way back inshore, hardly a drop came back into the cockpit. It's hard to believe that this is a design from the 1960s. It's testament to the talent of Don Aronow that, in these days of computer design, his boat can still feel contemporary.

Overall, we found the Formula 21 to be a strong boat that likes a bit of offshore work. It can equally wear the hat of a serious fishing vessel, or a safe family day boat. A lot of thought has gone into the fit-out of the boat, so that it's both safe and comfortable as well as being extremely well suited to its primary roll as a sturdy fishing vessel.

With an all-up towing weight of around 2400kg, the Formula 21 is no lightweight and you will need a fairly large vehicle to tow it. Starting prices for the 21 begin at around $56,000 for a basic package and rise to around $69,000 for the fully optioned boat you see here. Sure, it's not the cheapest boat on the market, but it's well built, well specified and can handle the weather and the sea with equal aplomb. For further information contact Adrian Clancy at Formula Power Boats Pty Ltd on (03) 9850 9280.

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Engine Room
The test boat was fitted with a 200hp Mercury OptiMax, which as you'd expect, provided more than enough grunt to get the 21 easily onto the plane and to effortlessly take it to 50mph. The OptiMax engines are extremely efficient and happy to be either idling along at 5 knots, or screaming at 5000 revs.

During this test we kept a keen eye on the temperature gauge and it didn't budge from normal, no matter what we were doing. The 21 is designed to take either single, or twin engine set-ups. Adrian recently built a commercial boat fitted with twin 115hp Johnsons, which he said provided a bit more low down grunt with about the same top-end as the single Merc.

Another option would be to go for twin 90hp engines for a bit more economy, or even twin four-strokes, which would be quieter, but probably not offer the same performance.

Story & Photos by Geoff Middleton

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