Boat test for the 2005 Jannace 430C including boat specifications, photo galleries, boat videos, boat layout diagrams, boat test numbers, boat test results, and boat speed graphs. Also includes pricing, engine test reviews, ratings, standard features, and gear for the 2005 Jannace 430C.

The convertible market is brutal—ask any of the established builders who compete in it. It's tough enough to succeed when you're a recognized name, but when you're an unknown with a new boat—well, just having a good boat isn't enough. You need a hook, something that'll get people to give you a look.

The folks at Heart Marine think they've got a hook—two actually. One is the designer of their new 43-footer's hull, Charlie Jannace. If that name rings a bell, it's because he did all the Blackfins from the 27 to the 46, the Northcoast 25 and 31, and the Shamrock 20, 22, and 39. Jannace has earned his chops, and just to make sure you don't forget he did the 43, Heart's named its boat the Jannace 430C.

The other hook is the boatyard: Cruise Line Yacht Builders of Taipei. Heart Marine knows Far East boatbuilding—it's been building and importing Symbol yachts from there since 1999. The principals know that if you pick the right Taiwanese yard, you get beautiful joinery and a nice price. You can see the joinery in these pictures—I saw it in person, and the cherry and burls are gorgeous. As for price, how about a base of $776,000 with lots of standard equipment, but no electronics?

But back to Jannace. He's a fan of generous deadrise, so the 43 has 201/2 degrees at the transom. He also likes lifting strakes—this boat has three per side, one full-length and the others nearly so. The result is a lot of lift forward but not so much aft, so you get a relatively bow-high attitude. You also get the kind of heeling in a hard turn you'd expect of a deep-V sportboat and the ability to pull a U-turn in about 30 yards at cruising speed. Thanks to vacuum bagging and coring right down to the keel, listed weight is about 30,000 pounds, which I obviously can't confirm. I can say she feels light and quite responsive to helm input and accelerates well with the only available engines, 700-hp Caterpillar C12s. I didn't scare up much of a sea on test day, but what I did find didn't faze the 43 and left her bridge dry.

Beyond price, performance, and pretty wood, Heart says it had two other priorities: the electrical system and the engine room. Both looked good to me. Wiring was all identified, color-coded, and bundled, and the engine room, accessed from the cockpit via a somewhat serpentine passageway, is remarkably uncluttered. The Cats are 360-degree accessible, there are no protrusions on the overhead, all strainers and separators are in the catwalk where they're easy to see, and crash pumps flank a centerline battery compartment. Two of the three fuel tanks flank the engines; they gravity-feed the third, under the cockpit sole, from which the engines and genset draw. None have sight gauges, although the reliable Hart pneumatic tank-sounding system is standard, as is Algae-X, even on the genset. Heart says future boats will have fuel-transfer pumps.

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