For the past year Cobalt Boats has been engaged in open and prolonged discussion with design professionals at work far afield from boat-building. In conversations with designers in industries ranging from jewelry to aerospace, we’re exploring large, abstract, and ultimate questions about style and usefulness in product design. And so, for the moment, the new 252 will serve as an ideal example of the thinking which, more and more, lies behind every new Cobalt.

In fact, the 252 has already become representative of Cobalt’s renewed emphasis on luxury, albeit a hard-headed luxury in which convenience and practicality are just as important as comfort and stunning good looks. From the crisp, intuitive feel of the helm to the deep-down relaxation of the small island that is the 252’s sunpad, here’s a boat calculated to appeal at every turn to the senses, and to one’s best sense of utility and value.

The standard accoutrements of the cockpit speak to those twin principles. The walkthru doors at the bow accommodate easy traffic flow back and forth as does the side walk-thru astern, even with a capacity crowd of 15 friends and family members on board. High-back chairs forward put captain and navigator in solid, reassuring position for command and control, as aft the L-lounge seating is welcoming and firm, supportive and then some throughout a long day on rough water. An adjustable backrest adds an extra measure of well-being to time spent on the sunpad. Two massive ice chests huddle out of sight, molded into the cockpit, ready to fill the drink holders, which are everywhere on the 252, ten in the cockpit alone, with four more waiting in the bow. The head compartment with porti-potti is large and accommodating, in keeping with the 252’s insistence on maximized use of space, from an easily accessed ski locker underfoot to handy stash compartments thoughtfully placed here and there stem to stern.

For years Cobalt design has led the way in imaginative marine design, in engineering that has become often imitated, seldom equaled standards for the industry. A case in point, the Cobalt extended running surface: as the name implies, more of the Cobalt hull maintains contact with the water at cruising speeds, resulting in quicker planning, firm and true turns, minimized bow rise, and more lift at the stern. New owners of the 252 will soon be talking about their boats’ remarkable stability in all kinds of water, a level of control and nimble responsiveness that the extended running surface makes possible, most especially at critical moments in the boat’s performance.

While such revolutionary breakthroughs do not occur every model year, Cobalt remains in headlong pursuit of incremental refinements in overall design, such refinements as show themselves in the details of the 252’s construction. In the graphics molded into the fiberglass, for starters; classic three-color graphics, glorious and unfading, brilliant today and brilliant tomorrow, yet another standard Cobalt way of doing things. Refinements such as the jewelish clarity of the instrumentation – fuel, oil, speedometer, tachometer, temperature, trim, and voltage all standard with a global positioning system and remote plotter optional – instrumentation whose design borrows from lessons learned in automotive and aeronautic settings. Little touches such as a wakeboard rack with a swivel dismount or a ten-gallon transom shower or bright lighting at the swim platform.

It’s fair to say that the 252’s design leaves nothing to chance. Not the placement of the trash receptable. Not the positioning of the cylinder assist on the engine hatch. Not the fit of the filler cushion for the bow lounge nor the careful integrity of the foot treads, their stainless steel and rubber incorporated for greatest strength, best safety. And certainly not in the entertainment system, where 252 owners can amplify the standard equipment – AM/FM radio and CD player with six speakers, an iPod®/MP3 port, and stereo remote at the dash – with a long options list of audiophiliac stuff including XM radio controlled from the transom remote and playing perfectly from premium tower speakers.

And standing squarely behind all the proven technology, all the innovation, all the exploratory luxury of the 252 are the multiyear warranties that Cobalt standards of manufacture make possible. Because most particularly in the less glamorous elements of its construction, the 252 takes care of business, especially with some well-chosen options in play: automatic halon fire extinguishers, a saltwater package complementing an overall anti-corrosion system, a closed cooling system, a captain’s call exhaust and cruise control with Wakeboard Pro alongside and trim tabs and a stainless steel prop exchange. And on. And on.

The 252 then. A work in progress really, as Cobalt continues its exploration of the next big idea, the next little change for the better. And every imaginable combination of the two.

For more information please Contact Cobalt Boats Australia on 02 9524 7472
 
Regrads,
 
Neil Solomons
JD's Boatshed Pty Ltd
27-29 Captain Cook Drive
Caringbah NSW 2229
P: +61 2 9525 3166
F: +61 2 9524 3801
M: 0418 700 656
E: neil.solomons@jdsboatshed.com.au
W: http://www.jdsboatshed.com.au/

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