Boat Review: Frauscher 1017GT.

A heavy hitter amongst the flyweight competition. That's the Frauscher 1017GT

A lot of boutique brands have appeared over the last 20 years or so, all promising expert craftsmanship and designers who can capture the very essence of what is the ultimate balance of luxury, performance and desirability, blah, blah, blah. Just go to a big European boat show and you´ll see what I mean. Judging by the designs, I think they owe a lot to Frauscher, who are far from a new designer brand.

Built in Austria, they have been around since 1927, have built both motor and sailboats in that time and possibly more importantly, Frauscher are very heavily involved in electric boats.

The 1017GT is a 10m twin gasoline outdrive powered dayboat or occasional overnighter, it is homologated for 8 people (this may have changed since writing). The new, updated version shown on the Frauscher webpage is slightly different to the one reviewed here.

The build quality can only be described as overly done, everything you touch, stand on or sit on seems to be heavy and over engineered, sometimes too much, one example is the seat bases for the aft bench, they are just so heavy.

Jump up and down on the foredeck, go on, I guarantee you nothing will happen, the bracing to support this area has been turned into an interior design feature, a bit like the arches on a bridge. A look in the engine room and cockpit floor storage locker confirms ones suspicions about the rest of the boat being built from depleted uranium.

It´s not all entirely great, the pilot and copilot seats do not seem to be up to the same build quality as the rest, I would probably assume this is not a part built in house and is sourced elsewhere, ditto with the windshield, it´s very thick black or grey plastic of some sort, but is not braced anywhere except where it joins the deck, which brings me onto the next point, although the boat is very good looking,  the Bauhaus design on the exterior needs a couple of touches, (looking at the photos of the Frauscher webpage, the updated model has addressed this).

The aforementioned windshield I feel needs a frame or grab handle, this might spoil the clean lines though. A better and more secure way of making the transition from the cockpit to the bow wouldn't go a miss either, there are a steps up of sorts on both port and starboard with strips of stainless steel but I feel capping them with teak to match the rest of the boat would make them less slippery and an extra step nearer to cockpit sole level would be nice, the feeling of the likelihood of slipping over is amplified when you make your way back from the bow to the cockpit, you have to lean over, support yourself on the pilot or copilot seat back and then step down.

The rest of the deck area though is fine, the cleats are the pop up type, the fenders have special fixings owing to the lack of any handrail, the fixings themselves are quite small so very thin cord or rope is used to hold the fenders in place.

I do have to give kudos and merit where due however, whoever chose to install the bilge pumps needs a pay rise. There is a fully automatic Rule automatic pump installed in the engine room, the other pumps are Whale diaphragm ones, if you read my post Bilge pumps, the unsung hero of your boat, you will see why these are so good, they are installed in an easy to service place and leave the bilge virtually dry, very good thinking.

The part that I most enjoy about this boat is the anchor, it looks like no other anchor ever seen before and more like something from Transformers or maybe Kylo Ren's helmet. The anchor winch is tucked nicely under a hatch so the foredeck is completely flat.

Engine room is very easy access, the large engine hatch and sunpad lift up on an electric ram, everything is nicely labeled and all neatly tucked away, perhaps too tucked away, some breakers are located inside large plastic electrical boxes and require a screwdriver to remove the cover to reset them, whilst not the end of the world it would be much easier if the breakers were visible and surface mounted. 

Some things I don´t like

Battery charger, its a quality Mastervolt unit, its been mounted in the cockpit under a seat right next to the battery switches with a double pole breaker right next to it, so that´s all fine, It´s been mounted horizontally, which to me seems odd as there is no cooling via convection and the fan seems to run all the time, not sure if its correctly fitted.

The main DC distribution panel (there is no AC electric save for the battery charger), some weird things here, although I did not test to see what would happen when the batteries were switched off, the panel indicated that the main breakers for the bilge pumps were on there, the permanent live ones, these should not be able to be switched off, I would doubt they have done it this way and it might just be a labelling issue. The same breakers have been used for the Mercruiser Mercathode anti corrosion system. I am not a fan of relying on people to not turn off all the breakers on the panel when they leave. It is actually a very simple fix, these breakers can be replaced for ones that cannot be turned off by accident and will be direct replacements in the DC electrical panel.

The fridge has a switch/breaker on the panel and you then have to turn on another switch at the helm for the fridge, seems a bit strange, one switch too many. The only think I can imagine is the light on the dash reminding people the fridge is on.

Emergency parallel start, this useful and possibly critical function has been way over complicated from the looks of it. First of all, unless you have arms like an orangutan there´s no way to reach the engine ignition keys and activate the buttons for paralleling the batteries.

You first switch on the breakers for port and starboard emergency start, then there are two rocker switches at the top of the distribution panel inside the boat, the function takes advantage of the battery charge relays and closes them to join the batteries, as far as I can tell the switch must be pressed in order for the relay to remain closed. This is a very long winded way to go about paralleling batteries for emergency start, Frauscher use a simple on/off battery switch made by Blue Seas, it switches both engine batteries on at the same time but keeps the two banks independent of each other, this same battery switch is available with a manual paralleling position and would be far simpler, with the option of paralleling house batteries if needed from the dashboard.

The cockpit cover, it goes over the windshield and then stops short of the sunpad, so if you leave the cushions set up they are not covered at all. It´s an easy enough thing to fix, or you can remove the cushions and store them inside, they are held in place with Velcro. On the subject of covers, I would get a whole boat cover made for winter storage to protect all that teak from the elements and dirt.

The interior is very spartan, in keeping with the minimalist theme. It is practical though, easy to keep clean, the head is a very usable size with a good vanity unit and sink.

There is a lot of interior storage, below all the cushions there are lockers with as you would imagine equally heavy lids, two slatted blind style cupboards port and starboard as well as access to the bow thruster motor under the v berth. To the starboard side of the companionway there are cupboard, the fridge and electrical panel.

The cabin sole had a synthetic teak fitted, it does not quite seem in keeping with the rest of the interior. One thing I did notice, over time the interior develops quite a lot of humidity, if the boat is not aired well, mold develops in the corners, however there are drain holes in the cabin sole, light is provided by a single opening deck hatch and a porthole in the head, facing into the cockpit.

Some things I really like

Cabin entry is via roller shutter door that drops into a single stair down from the deck, it works very well and is far more practical than a sliding door for this style of boat, headroom is limited but it´s not a criticism aimed at this boat, it is a fact common to much larger boats with sleek designs.

Excellent lazarette/deck hatch access, the in deck hatch and storage underneath is brilliant, nicely finished and allows access to the thru hulls for the head.

Mercruiser diagnostic port located inside the cabin, a small but very useful touch, shows some thought to the technicians who have to maintain things afterwards.

The storage box in the engine room, very useful auxiliary storage that can be removed, slightly on the heavy side as thick fibreglass construction but well worth having.

Sunshade storage, similar to Chris Craft boats, when the shade is folded, it stows neatly under the engine hatch so as to keep the deck completely clear.

So, how does it go?

In short, very well, the hull design with its steps stops the bow from rising much under hard acceleration to get onto plane, the hull does not seem to slam much either. Turns are a strange thing because if you are used to “V” shaped hulls that lean into turns, this hull doesn't, well maybe a bit but it seems to want to stay flat, takes some getting used to and try as I might I could not get the props to cavitate, not that I really expected them to, the Bravo 3 drives worked very well. There is not much spray, if any that I noted, the very sharp angle of the bow cut through the water nicely.

There are no trim tabs fitted to this boat and I certainly did not notice their absence. Although I seem to have criticized the heaviness of this boat, when steaming along, it really pays off, nothing creaks, groans or complains, there is no slamming and clipping waves seems to do little to upset the Austrian heavyweight. 

I cannot remember flat out speed, I want to say about the mid to high thirties, it does it very well without fuss or excessive noise, that´s something worth noting, the engine noise is well damped. I also find it difficult to gauge planing speeds with these stepped hulls as there isn't the usual “over the hump” drop of the bow to mark it, I do get the feeling it planed at quite low speeds, this should be good for fuel economy. Overall it is a very relaxing and easy boat to handle, both in the port and in open water, you often seem to be going faster than you think.

The above video shows the updated version of the 1017GT, a lot of the things I disliked about the first generation of this boat appear to have been resolved. I have not tested nor been on board the new model. This review is based on the first generation.

Summary

The build quality is excellent, way over and above much of the competition, so much so I think I have been in worse constructed bank vaults.

Helm ergonomics a bit cramped and moving from the cockpit to the bow is a bit harder than a less "designed" boat.

• Interior is a bit drab.

• Some confusing choices on electrical distribution.

• Great storage.

• Very relaxing to drive.

• Very classy looking.

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