The Astondoa 43 from Alicante, as Spanish manufacturer eyes US market

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The Astondoa 43 from Alicante, as Spanish manufacturer eyes US market

Wednesday, 09 August 2006

Beautiful looks plus good performance

Astondoa – Superyacht builders of Alicante, Spain – are turning their attention to the North American market which is good news for us Brits as one knock-on effect will be a little more competition for our home-grown builders.

This yards latest addition to an already impressive stable is the 43 Open boasting a Hardtop, twin heads, huge tender garage, IPS and a whole host of really clever touches. The layout is fairly standard for this size, down below you’ll find an owners cabin forward with en-suite heads to port (incorporating a separate shower), a galley also to port opposite the generous saloon sofa and table. Spec and performance goes a long way to helping justify the price tag (a little under £300k), but what should really sell it to you is the builder, Astondoa Turn left as you descend the steps from the cockpit and open the door to the mid-ship cabin, again with en-suite heads and a shower. Interestingly, the designers have opted to exclude access to either heads directly from the saloon, to some this will be an issue but most will welcome the feeling of space that disproportionately replaces the absent door.

The level of spec and performance goes a long way to helping justify the price tag, just under under £300k, but what should really sell it to you is the builder, Astondoa and the quality of the finished product.

Huge transom tender bay

Unlike many UK builders, Astondoa started building the big stuff a long time ago, even today they mostly build super-yachts and it shows because when you see how they build boats 40 to 60 feet long, like us, you’ll chuckle and think they forgot they were building smaller ones than usual! Take a close look at any aspect of this boats build quality and you will be very impressed. When we looked around a 53 footer from the same yard a few years ago, the agent pointed out that the hydraulic pump for the steering, along with all ancillary equipment and parts, was actually the same as they fitted to boats 20+ feet longer; little surprise then that there exists a rumour that the guy who organises their warranty work got bored and left! Rumour or not, the owners we have spoken to are all delighted with their craft and cannot praise the builder enough.

While the styling of the boat is ‘easy on the eye with those nice big windows in the hull sides’, the performance should be really something too. The hull will no doubt behave well in UK waters, offering a comfortable dry ride similar if not better than its smaller sibling the Open 40; which we drove a couple of years ago in a Force 4/5 when it did two things for us: we forgot we were only on a 40 footer –we really did – and we forgot the weather was bad out there and later took our own 34 footer out which we immediately regretted…and promptly re-berthed. But of course there is also IPS; Astondoa have seriously embraced Volvo’s new breed of drives; so much so that very few of their boats in this size range are now built using any other drive system. A great hull and a great drive system should make this boat a very competitive option at this size; we can’t wait to take one for a spin.

Detailed plan of the interioi of the Astondoa 43

Ownership will no doubt be very satisfying, perhaps proof of this could be gleaned from the gentleman who took delivery of the first 43 Open HT (pictured offshore Alicante in June ‘06), that is if we could track him down. The deal was that he would return to the yard following a weekend long sea trial / shake down to then allow Astondoa to attend to any delivery issues and more importantly capture the craft on film for those all important publicity shots. Senor J Astondoa called the client on the Monday to enquire his e.t.a. only to be told that he was "extremely happy with the boat here in Ibiza" and that they could "have it back at the end of the season"; a fair endorsement.

WhatBoat? will complete a report and verdict on this boat until after the Barcelona Boat Show in November when, we are told, we will have full access to the boat and the Mediterranean sea (if only this job actually paid well, it would be perfect!). We think it will be a winner in many ways for many people, but it is a competitive market place and for this kind of money a boat of 40 or so feet should tick all the boxes. The full report will be available in December.

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