pmyp-050800-cabo32 ny.qxd page 118 6/21/05 2:19 pm...

118 Power & Motoryacht August 2005

PMY TESTED: CABO 32 EXPRESSM

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IIf there’s such a thing as an old hippie hideout, it’sSanta Cruz, California. A port town surfing the edge ofMonterey Bay, a few miles south of ‘Frisco, Santa Cruz

seems loaded with folks of a certain age—my age, actually—sporting hairstyles, clothes, and vocabularies that hark back,sometimes subtly, sometimes strikingly, to the Bad Old Days.Or at least that was my take as I descended upon the CoastSanta Cruz Hotel one recent Friday night, all jet-lagged andburnt out.

Saturday morning confirmed my impressions. Cabo Yachtsrep Greg Bourke and I were hoofin’ it down a dock in SantaCruz Harbor, with a brand-new Cabo 32 Express just hovinginto view when two extraordinary-looking guys materialized at

the pulpit. Each had a long white beard, Wayfarer sunglasses,and a baseball cap. Old album titles whizzed through my headaccompanied by the thrum of synthesized drum machines—Tres Hombres, Eliminator…Afterburner.

“Goin’ fishin’ with ZZ Top!” grinned local Cabo dealerTommy McGuire, jocularily joining the pair. As we all began

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A couple of rock-star lookalikes and a hot new Caboconvertible make for a memorable day of fishing.

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ART EDIT PROD

A12157ABLACK YELLOW MAGENTA CYAN

August 2005 Power & Motoryacht 119

Top speed: 41.1 mph! Above: We used

four-pound sinkers to fish. Above right: Are

these two ZZ Top guys the real deal or what?

By Capt. Bill Pike

By Capt. Bill Pike

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BLACK YELLOW MAGENTA CYAN

loading tackle, rods, coolers,ice, cold drinks, sandwiches,and guacamole fixins, Mc-Guire clarified the situa-tion—slightly. His white-bearded, Wayfareredfriends, he said, were localsJohn Banzick and Joe Mock,fishing buddies for 30-someyears, with a penchant forplaying the ZZ Top angle for giggles and grins. “They’re not theactual guys,” added McGuire with an impish expression.Banzick and Mock just smiled.

I’m a flexible fella, even when it comes to impromptu salmonfishing excursions. I told McGuire I was totally up for whateverhe had planned, but I also said I needed to squeeze in an off-shore wring-out of the 32 as well as a dockside walk-through. Hisresponse was forthright. He commanded that rigging, gua-camole mashing, and other preparations at the bait-prep stationbe halted momentarily to allow for the walk-through, whichbegan with the machinery spaces.

The flick of a switch rapidly raised the bridge deck, courtesyof a single-piston actuator from Navtec, energized by Match-Mate Plus hydraulic hoses from Aeroquip. I admired the actu-ator for a moment. Components and related parts were as beefyas they were exquisitely engineered. Then three general fea-tures caught my eye in rapid succession.

First was the finish—the entire engine room was fitted with aneasy-to-clean-and-maintain fiberglass liner that was so intricatelytooled it looked simple, at least at first glance.Not only were bulkheads and hull sides layeredwith its smooth, white, gel-coated surfaces, sowere engine bearers, the walkway between themains, the battery box (with three house bat-teries and two starters), and a multitude oflanding points for assorted pumps, motors, andother ancillaries.

Second was engineering—it was tops. Our32’s poly water tank was shaped to conform to

the underside of the molded steps leading down into the ER tosave space. Her robust bonding system included prop-shaftbrushes as well as a Diver’s Dream bonding plate mountedunder water at the transom. Her fiberglass fuel tank had a main-stream electric fuel gauge as well as a removable cap for dippinga plain ol’ (always accurate) measuring stick. Her electrical sys-tem was equipped with a special junction box to facilitate plug-

and-play tower installation. And her hull-to-deck joint, which was visible here and there,had been glassed all the way around (frominside) and secured with bolts and 3M 5200.

Third was equipage—tops again. Our 32had a 5-kW Westerbeke genset without asoundshield (Cabo thinks soundshieldshinder maintenance), a total of five high-dollar Optima batteries, a powerful 40-ampNewmar battery charger, and a set of cross-connected, proprietary, lip-seal-type, dripless

shaft logs that can be packed conventionally should a seal breakor malfunction.

I finished up by scouting interior and on-deck features asMcGuire slowly conned us out of the harbor. The layout belowwas simple and conventional, with a diagonal berth forward, anenclosed head (with no separate shower stall, unfortunately)and galley to port, settee/dinette and hanging locker to star-board, and an open area with a teak-and-holly sole in between.Superb craftsmanship was evident everywhere. Corian counter-tops were crisply fitted. Matching closures, hasps, and drawerpulls were made of sculpted stainless steel. There was rodstowage overhead, and the insides of cabinets and lockers hadbeen smoothed out with power grinders and then gelcoated.

There were numerous topside standouts, too. They includedproprietary stainless steel hatch pulls that looked like they’dbeen case-hardened; a complete bait-prep center in the cockpitto port with sink, rigging board, and tackle cabinet; an athwart-ship fishbox in the cockpit sole (removable for access to steeringhydraulics); and a 40-gallon livewell molded into the transom.

The 32’s interior is simple and functional; the settee con-

verts to a berth, and the galley has got all the goodies.


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Left: Our liner-lined engine room. Check out the crisp aura of better

switches, above Cabo’s logo. Below: The mother of all electrical panels.




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Once we were beyond the jet-ties, McGuire cranked up thestereo and in seconds put thepedal to the metal—the 32 waszooming across the four- to six-foot seas like an F18 Hornet. Ban-zick, Mock, Bourke, and I hungon. Beards blew. Cockpit speak-ers fibrillated. And one beaten-up, cherished hat whooshed aft,a victim of the wiles of the wind.In just a bit we were fishing in 200 feet of water.

And we fished. And fished. And fished. Until finally, afterroughly four hours of trying our darndest with both live bait andartificials, on the surface and deep down, we had to “give ‘er upfer daid,” as Mock so colorfully put it.

I’d formed a high opinion of our 32’s fishability in the pro-cess, however—the boat tracks nicely at trolling speeds, accom-modates an arsenal of fishing rods, and offers an elbowroomycockpit with comfortably placed inwale pads and a console-styleicebox big enough to keep a crowd from getting thirsty.

I drove the boat back to Santa Cruz, garnering test data enroute. And lemme tell ya: There’s nothin’ like blasting acrossthe Pacific at the helm of a fast boat, with a good day in your

wake, the strains of “SharpDressed Man” blarin’ (for gigglesand grins), and a couple of ZZTop look-alikes aboard groovin’and grinnin’.

And although the turningradius of our 32 was broad, likelydue to relatively small rudders,and the inboard heel in hardover

turns significant, likely due to top-heaviness from our optionalC-Fab tower, the average top speed of 41.1 mph was flat-outexhilarating. And docking our Cabo 32 Express sealed the deal:Her hefty, low-profile maneuverability and wind-resistant heftmade me a total fan.

One thing still bugs me, though. Certainly Banzick and Mockwere skilled fishermen, and their story about just being localboys with a penchant for rock-star imitation seemed plausibleenough, but I wonder: Is ZZ Top still a Texas band? Or havethose guys maybe moved to Californy?

Cabo Yachts� (760) 246-8917. www.caboyachts.com.

600 7.6 (6.6) 1.2 6.33 (5.51) 1,995 1,735 74 0.51000 10.5 (9.1) 5.0 2.09 (1.82) 658 572 79 1.51500 14.4 (12.5) 15.6 0.92 (0.80) 290 252 86 6.52000 26.3 (22.9) 24.6 1.07 (0.93) 337 293 89 6.52500 37.1 (32.2) 34.8 1.06 (0.93) 335 292 92 5.52800 41.4 (36.0) 48.6 0.85 (0.74) 268 233 93 4.5

Conditions: temperature: 75º; humidity: 72%; wind:18-20 mph; seas: 4'-6'; load: 300 gal. fuel, 50 gal.water, 5 persons, 700 lbs. gear. Speeds are two-way averages measured w/ Stalker radar gun. GPH takenvia Caterpillar engine monitoring system. Range: 90% of advertised fuel capacity. Decibels measured on Ascale. 65 dB is the level of normal conversation. All measurements taken with trim tabs fully retracted.

pmy tested: Cabo 32 ExpressBase price: $347,000 with 2/455-hp Caterpillar C7diesel inboards Optional power: noneStandard equipment: Lewmar windlass; Euro Keracooktop; Caterpillar instruments; Carling Technologiesrubber-booted helm switches; Corian countertops;Panasonic microwave; Nova Kool under-counterrefrigerator and freezer; ITT Jabsco UltraMax water pump;Tankwatch; Diver’s Dream bonding plate; 40-ampNewmar battery charger; 5/batteries; Reverso oil-changer;Fireboy Xintex auto. fire-extinguishing system; 5-kWWesterbeke genset; proprietary, lip-seal-type, driplessshaft logs; Navtec hydraulic engine-hatch actuator w/MatchMate Plus Aeroquip hoses; Bennett trim tabs; bait-prep center w/ sink, rigging board, tackle stowage, and40-gal. livewell

SPECIFICATIONSLength overall: 35'0"Beam: 13'3"Draft: 2'8"Weight (dry): 19,100 lbs. Fuel capacity: 350 gal.Water capacity: 50 gal.Test engines: 2/455-hp Caterpillar C7 diesel inboardsTransmissions/ratio: ZF280-1A/1.48:1 Props: 22x24 nibral 4-bladeSteering: Hynautic hydraulic w/ power-assistControls: Caterpillar multistation electronic w/ backupcontrolOptional equipment on test boat: C-Fab tower w/upper steering station; teak-and-holly sole; West Coast-style aluminum bowrails Price as tested: $419,000

RPM MPH GPH MPG SM NM DECIBELS TRIM(KNOTS) (NMPG) RANGE RANGE (DEGREES)

For additional photos, visit our Web site at powerandmotoryacht.com/webfeatures.�

The author and Joe Mock bait up.

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* Acceleration based on average of 4 reciprocal runs using Stalker ATS radar gun and OceanPC laptop.

Time (seconds)

The fact that there are no significant flat spots or other anomalies in theacceleration curve shown here is indicative of a well-balanced boat. Sheachieves plane somewhere between 8-10 seconds and top speed in 28seconds. Computerized averaging diminishes the latter figure slightly.



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