Boat test for the 2005 Jarrett Bay 32 with boat pictures, boat specifications, and boat test results. Includes pricing, videos, engine test reviews, and ratings for the 2005 Jarrett Bay 32.

A shift has taken place. Perhaps it's due to saturation of the big-convertible market, or maybe there's a growing need for midsize sportfishermen, but a lot of builders have taken to constructing mid-30-footers aimed at getting you to blue water and big fish. Take the Cabo 32, Albermarle 36, and Bertram 36, all production boats. Now a custom builder has entered this market with a semicustom vessel that offers the performance, fishability, and traditional styling of her custom siblings. Say hello to the Jarrett Bay 32.

A test at the Miami International Boat Show in February gave me a chance to see if this minibattlewagon truly possessed the family traits of her big sisters. Jarrett Bay's Peter DuBose fired up the standard twin 275-hp Mercury Verado outboards, and I had to check twice that they were running. My decibel meter displayed 65 dB-A with them in forward idle, which is the level of normal conversation. Gus Wade, a New Yorker who was interested in purchasing my test boat, came along for the ride and couldn't help but stare at the engines as they propelled the boat out of the slip as if she were gliding. Wade, who currently owns a gasoline-inboard-powered Tiara, was mesmerized by the silence. As a matter of fact, even while testing the 32 on Biscayne Bay at nearly 50 mph and without a hardtop or enclosure, I never saw my decibel meter display read above 86 dB-A, which I consider admirable with a 20-mph breeze blowing and no helm enclosure.

Her quiet nature was rivaled only by a raucous turn of speed. The 32 made a smooth and comfortable cruise of 33 mph at 4000 rpm across the bay's chop. The kicker? A miserly fuel burn of 20.6 gph. And you'll be grateful for that fuel economy, as the Verados are best run on 93-octane gasoline, which isn't getting cheaper. Without tabs, the 32 topped out at an average speed of 47.5 mph. When we played with her tabs and engine trim, she made the builder's predicted 50 mph. During my wheel time at the starboard-side station (a benchseat on centerline just abaft the helm seats two), she showed little bowrise coming out of the hole and had a maximum trim angle of six degrees at 3500 rpm, sans tabs. Her acceleration to WOT was, in a word, exhilarating. The 32's Mercury SmartCraft controls were smooth, as was her power-assisted steering and ability to turn within her own length at speed with almost no drop in rpm.

But it's not only horsepower that gives the 32 her performance and efficiency. It's also the Gary Davis hull design. In an interview after the test, Davis explained that it's a combination of ideas borrowed from her cold-molded siblings as well as some new ones specifically for the 32 that make her run so well. "It was not as simple as taking our 64 [footer] plans and making everything half size, although in principle, the boats appear to be exact copies of each other," says Davis. The 32 does have the same basic hull shape and Carolina flare as her cold-molded counterparts; however, her weight distribution and stringer placement is different to optimize the way the boat sits in the water and runs with outboards.

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