Ride
Our editors are a rare breed. They number among the very few elite on the entire planet who have had the opportunity to run all of the boats in this category offshore. The consensus from that experience? The 420 Outrage delivers best-in-class overall ride and handling, and gets particular mention for attaining plane with less bowrise and hence better visibility from the helm—than the others.
Trend leader
We look for trendsetters when selecting BOY. We don’t always discover one, and we didn’t find one this year. Boating is, after all, more an evolutionary sport than a revolutionary one. But our Tech Team, comprised of seven devoted professionals who tested and ran more than 80 boats in the last year and over 1,500 different boats in their combined careers, believed the the Boston Whaler 420 Outrage led the field with respect to delivering a boat that could be fished, cruised and dayboated with equal aplomb. Are there compromises in doing so? Sure. But we believe these were smaller and less clumsy aboard the Whaler than aboard the others in its class. Specifically:
- More amenable cabin than similar boats.
- Better execution of second row helm seating.
- Upper Station Lounge ( Unique feature)
- Applied Technology ( tablet controls integration; triangular trim tabs)
Safety
This is a 42 foot, multi-outboard powered center console that is unsinkable.
Summary of BOY Selection
Boats come in all shapes and sizes and have all types of disparate missions. One cannot compare a convertible sportfish to a ski boat. So all BOY selections are in context of other boats intended to fulfill the same mission. In a nutshell, Boating’s Boat of the Year is the boat that is better in its category than any other boat is in any other category.
