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Boat Review: Maverick 42

Maverick must have some very smart owners. They based the company at Los Sueños Resort in Costa Rica...
Maverick 42 2006

Maverick 42 2006

Maverick must have some very smart owners. They based the company at Los Sueños Resort in Costa Rica, one of the finest fishing spots in the Western Hemisphere. By building boats there, Maverick can take advantage of a less-costly work force; an abundant supply of fine, tropical hardwoods; and an ideal research and test site. Maverick then passes the savings on to its buyers, who get a superb fishing machine at a remarkable price. Yep, pretty smart, I’d say.

**Performance
**We tested a 42-foot Maverick convertible custom-built for an avid angler from Pompano Beach, Florida. The boat tops out at more than 30 knots and cruises at 75-percent power at a steady 26 knots. Powered by a pair of 460-hp Caterpillar C-7 diesels and with a 14-degree deadrise at the transom, the Maverick hops onto plane quickly and needs no tab adjustment. At cruise, you can expect a cruising range of 700 miles from the 450 gallons of fuel the Maverick carries – before figuring in the standard 10 percent fuel reserve. That shows just how well today’s cold-molding technology works: a 42-foot, mostly wood boat that tips the scales at a mere 22,000 pounds – substantially less than most other 42s.

**Cockpit
**As befits a design that spends all its time fishing in the tropics and very little time cruising, the cockpit of the Maverick tends to offer more work space than many comparably sized boats. That space has to come from somewhere, however, and in this case the salon will seem small by comparison.
You rarely find a boat built in Costa Rica that doesn’t feature lots of fine woodwork, and the Maverick is no exception. Burma-teak deck and covering boards showcase the entire cockpit, and teak trim and toe rails add contrast to the broken shearline, cabin top and flybridge coaming.

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Maverick delivers its boats ready to fish, and in this case that means a 500-pound-per-day ice chipper feeding into a 6-foot belowdecks fish box, an oversize belowdecks baitwell and a very cool installation hiding four tuna tubes in the gunwale (a necessity for Central American offshore fishing). Other standard features include Rupp triple-spreader outriggers, a Release Marine fighting chair with rocket launchers and tackle station on the back, and deep-freeze modules at the forward end of the cockpit.

**Flybridge
**Again bowing to the dedicated fisherman, Maverick gave the flybridge a paucity of guest seating. But the short overhang and larger cockpit give the helmsman a completely unobstructed view of the fighting chair and aft three-quarters of the pit. In fact, the relatively small flybridge affords awesomely unobstructed views for 360 degrees. While you can certainly dictate your own preferences for your electronics suite, the owner of this Maverick stipulated a Furuno 25-kW X-band radar and depth sounder that locks bottom to 5,000 feet, a Furuno GPS Navigator, a Simrad Autopilot, two VHF radios and a JBL stereo. Though Maverick offers it as an option, this owner decided to forgo the tuna tower.

**Interior
**Once again, you’ll find beautiful rare hardwoods in the interior. Set up like a day boat, the salon might seem Spartan to some. But for day fishing in places with nonstop action, the interior is more than sufficient. A 16,500-Btu air conditioner chills the stateroom with its two oversize twin berths and the full-sized head forward. However, the interior isn’t so spare that it does not include a galley – this one comes with a two-burner stove, refrigerator and sink.

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**Design and Construction
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Maverick cold-molds its boats with four layers of quarter-inch Laurel blanco, with each layer on the bias. (Laurel blanco is a strong, lightweight substitute for mahogany that grows from southern Mexico to the southern edge of the tropics in South America.) The wood then gets covered with protective layers of fiberglass and epoxy. Maverick builds the superstructure from Meranti marine plywood, a very high-quality plywood replacement for regular mahogany. In fact, Meranti, Okoume, Sapele and Sipo are all different species of mahogany commercially made into plywoods. They all enjoy a finer finish and strength than standard marine plywood made from fir. Probably the wood’s greatest asset is its color.
The hull and superstructure – completely encased in fiberglass – then get painstakingly hand-faired to perfection.

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Maverick boats come with fine, traditional lines, and the company spends every cent necessary to meet the stringent demands of world-class anglers who fish out of Los Sueños. And it doesn’t spend a penny more on fluff. Take a look at this boat and judge for yourself. We are sure she will handle any fishing task you ask of her.

Specifications
LOA 42’2″ BEAM 13’7″ DRAFT 3’0″ WEIGHT 22,000 pounds (fuel and water) FUEL 450 gallons WATER 50 gallons POWER T 460-hp Cat C-7s BASE PRICE $650,000 Maverick Yachts, SA Los Sueños Marina, Costa Rica 866-888-6426 www.spanishflysportfishing.com

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