December 23, 2025

I hope my Editor’s Message last week, (December 16 Edition) was interesting for you and that it stimulated some thinking and useful ideas. I ended that column with the thought that boat ownership is a luxury and that our owners expect a “luxury” experience. I closed with the assertion that the most important question is how do we best understand how our buyers define luxury in their world. It can be very different from one boat owner to the next. Plush seating and real wood trim sounds luxurious and yet, for a serious salt-water fisherman, those qualities would be inappropriate to the mission of a big fish-raiser.

For that owner, rugged, go-anywhere-fast looks and serious fishing features are the trappings of luxury. If your marina carters to those boat owners, you may want the décor to look like a location from Hemmingway’s Old Man and The Sea. There is absolutely an aesthetic to capture the spirit of a salt-water adventurer.

To some, the life of sun and salt and rough seas is a badge of honour and an experience to aspire to. I was just reading the press release for the new Aquila 45 Sport. They wrote that the 45 Sport marks the beginning of a completely reimagined sport boat series featuring bold new styling, advanced double-stepped hull technology, and a forward-thinking approach to connectivity and onboard entertainment.

Using the Aquila as an example, this bridges the idea of hardware or physical features like the double-stepped hull or the twin Mercury V12 / 600 horsepower engines as luxurious features, to the idea of how that luxury makes a person “feel”.

I noted in the previous column, that one online dictionary defined “luxury” as a condition of abundance, or great ease and comfort. While the Aquila is loaded with amazing features and also breath-taking performance, is that what conveys the feeling of luxury?

The styling, features and performance would be very impressive on the Aquila 45 Sport and I am reminded of another aspect. This 45-footer can top 50-mph according to the press release and that would be amazing but there is something else. Mercury has devoted a great deal of research, time and testing to refine the noise, vibration and harshness from the big V12 engines.

In Florida last summer at the introduction of Mercury’s new 425-horsepower V10 Verados, they had a demonstration rigged up to show how the V10 was smoother and quieter at various speeds than a competitor’s engine. I would not be surprised to see a demonstration rig like this at the Toronto International Boat Show this winter. Smooth and refined operation would certainly be an aspect of luxury for many people.

Let’s plan to continue our thoughts about luxury as we head into the summer of 2026.

Andy Adams – Editor