First impressions count. And having been introduced to De Antonio Yachts through its D23 weekender at the 2017 Southampton Boat Show, my first impressions could hardly have been better. Although at the time, it represented the entry point to the fleet, its originality was immediately endearing. It used shapely gunwale-top fenders that doubled as side seats for the central dinette. It used a fulsome beam forward design for uprated sleeping space, and it positioned a sunbed above the outboard engines for extra day space aft. It struck me as a brilliant (and brilliantly unusual) way to configure a compact boat, so it’s great to see that at the 2022 Cannes Boat Show, De Antonio’s latest model continues to ooze originality.
A BETTER DECK LAYOUT
The first and most obvious feature of note involves the carefully considered interplay between propulsion and deck layout. Like a lot of modern boaters, De Antonio values outboard engines for their cleanliness, simplicity, performance and ease of maintenance. But it also wants to circumvent their
