Deep Impact 330 LS

Deep Impact Boats unveiled its newest, the 330 LS (33-foot) powerboat during the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. Breaking from past Deep Impact designs, the boat has a large portside console that allows passage from bow to stern on the starboard side. The larger helm provides three-across seating for the driver and two passengers in supportive race-style bolsters. Additionally, the dash has more than enough space for the latest extra-large screens in navigation electronics.

Inside the console is a spacious head compartment with 6 feet of headroom and enough space for a shower and vanity. You won’t find that in a typical center console. The T-top is available in two designs, a full-size arch with a fiberglass top or a smaller Euro-top that covers the driver and passenger.

Following the Deep Impact pedigree, the boat rides on a stepped hull with a 23-degree deadrise at the transom. The design recently showed its mettle establishing a short-lived New York to Bermuda record. The 330 LS is available with triple outboards but was designed around twins with a preferred top speed of around 60 to 65 mph. Twin engines provide better range and help keep prices down.

Luxurious accommodations include wraparound seating in the bow with an integrated tilting backrest. In the stern, another L-shaped lounge provides more seating for passengers. Deep Impact took advantage of the boat’s 10-foot beam providing seating wherever possible.

Deep Impact has marketed its boats to a broader audience participating in poker runs all over the country, including the Desert Storm event in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Over the next year, Deep Impact plans to unveil two more new models, including the 420 (42-foot), whose sheer size will allow for amenities typically only found in larger yachts.

_**Scroll through the gallery to see more of the 330 LS.**_

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Deep Impact 330 LS

Deep Impact 330 LS

Deep Impact 330 LS

Deep Impact 330 LS

Deep Impact 330 LS

The post Deep Impact 330 LS appeared first on Boating Mag.

This boat is built to race in rough seas — not to a finish line, but to fish such as live-in-the-fast-lane king mackerel. In addition to creating a cushion of air, the multistep hull offers variable planing surfaces for greater lift.

Launching off the face of rollers, it lands smoothly, thanks to a deep-V that carries aft with 24 degrees of deadrise at the transom and Mercury racing tabs. No thuds. No shudders. Deep Impact hull bottoms are reinforced with resin-infused coring, and the sides are cored with Mantex and Divinycell. The hull also gets several layers of Kevlar. Three-across racing seats at the helm (with the driver in the center) keep crew in place. Tackle storage and rocket-launcher rod holders are integrated into the seat-back pod. Two additional bucket seats are integrated into the forward console door. Inside the console is a marine privy with seven feet of headroom.

A trio of 300 hp Mercury Verado outboards propelled the 390C to a top speed of nearly 66 mph. Not bad for a boat/engine package weighing about 12,000 pounds, plus a five-man crew, 100 gallons of gas and hardtop.

Each Deep Impact is customized to the buyer’s desires with impeccable fit and finish. The undersides of all hatches are finished in glossy gelcoat.

Our tester was rigged with two Garmin 7214 displays flush-mounted into twin alcoves at the helm, a full array of Mercury SmartCraft gauges in the center carbon-fiber panel, and Zero Effort throttle controls starboard of the wheel.

The 390C Open has a raised casting deck in the bow and is equipped with twin 55-gallon livewells in the full transom. The lazarette can also be plumbed, if the buyer wishes, for live bait — a hot commodity on the kingfish tournament circuit. There are also numerous drink holders for the crew’s other hot commodity — cans of Monster. With the energy this crew puts into competing, it’s going to need it by the case.

Comparable model: Nor-Tech 390 Sport Open

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There’s no more versatile layout than a center console. The wide-open spaces that anglers so cherish provide a tabula rasa with which to define the boat’s mission. Aboard the 36 Open, I found dance-floor-size socializing areas and race-boat-inspired details. Transom seating is no mere bench, instead consisting of three bolsters that wrap and tuck occupants so they feel comfortable and secure at the highest speeds. Three can share space at the helm as well, and again, instead of a fishing-style leaning post, there’s a triple-wide drop-bolster. This allows a firm stance for those who choose to stand and secure seating for those who’d rather ride on their bums. We didn’t have heavy seas during our test, but the 36 Open’s steep deadrise and svelte length-to-beam ratio, plus its sheer size, assure a ride that doesn’t require using deep knee bends as shock absorption. Forward, my tester was fitted with a pair of beam-facing benches, easily seating four each. three more can sit on the seat in front of the console. All of this seating is upholstered in multitone panels of triple-stitched, heavily padded, leather-like vinyl.

To keep the party going, there’s a sink, cooler and grill in the back of the helm seat, along with a warren of stowage cubbies. Opening the lid that conceals this virtual cockpit galley, I was pleased to find luxury touches such as a through-bolted hatch finished on both sides and a faux granite work surface.

Of course, where there’s a party, there’s a need for a head, and the 36 Open accommodates, stashing the china commode inside a micro cuddy at the bow. Headroom is scant here, at 4 feet, but this compartment is fiberglasslined for easy maintenance and contains a small vanity. And because the cuddy creates a deck over the bow, I felt sheltered while in the forward cockpit, a sensation many nonangling boaters will especially appreciate, compared with a pure-fishing center console’s more-exposed spaces.

Storage is plentiful, with a large space inside the fronthinged console getting my bid for quick access to a big bag of safety gear. Naturally, the seat bases all have stowage, and it wouldn’t be a center console without a bevy of hatches in the cockpit sole, now would it? insulated, they can be used as fish boxes — however, they’ll stash boat hooks, beach chairs, folding bikes or whatever just as readily.

A feature I really liked was the platform that runs across the beam between the motors and the cockpit. This in concert with the boarding doors — you choose one door, or one each at port and starboard — is as useful for hosting dockside cocktails as it is for a gang of kids jumping in or out of the water. Of course, the merits of this walkway for removing the cowlings and servicing the engines are invaluable.

Not that the 36 Open lacks for serviceability — or quality rigging. Opening the console stowage, I admired the backside of the electrical panels, all strung with tinned-copper wire and sealed terminals and arranged in neat runs with right-angle turns. Tracing a circuit or adding an accessory is a piece of cake. Through-hull fittings for the head and washdown were installed within easy reach and fitted with double-clamped hoses. Designed by the racing legends at mystic powerboats, the “ready for anything” method with which the 36 Open is built will be appreciated most by those who perform their own service.

With so pedigreed a build, you’d expect a nice ride. You’d be right. I hammered the throttles, expecting the bow to point skyward. Instead, I was rewarded with the gratifying sensation of practically levitating onto plane before rising at once and, as a whole, rocketing off with luge-like acceleration. I cut the wheel and was pleased to find the boat didn’t balk. It remains balanced and stable, delivering a feeling of confidence during maneuvers that I’m not used to getting from boats with two steps in the bottom. Deep Impact attributes this in part to the more forward position of its steps; in fact, at cruising speeds, the forward step isn’t even in the water. And it’s wider than most boats of similar length with two steps, typically pure performance boats that lack the sociability a center console layout affords.

Other quality center consoles, such as Boston Whaler’s 15,000-pound 370 Outrage ($392,623, powered like my test boat), offer similar comforts, plus loads more standard features. But these are beamier and heavier and so can’t deliver top speeds that break 70 mph. That may make Deep Impact’s 36 Open a class of one.

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