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I was just as impressed by our test boat's interior, especially her size. One undeniable virtue of up-against-the-transom, stern-drive powerplants is the extra interior space they typically add. The 360's layout is conventional, meaning there's a midcabin, master stateroom forward, and galley/saloon/head area in between, all with Formica paneling on cabinets and bulkheads that blends splendidly with the solid-cherry trim. The stern-drive configuration stretches this standardized arrangement in all sorts of ways.
The midcabin's immense. Not only does it offer a giant U-shape lounge that easily converts to a double berth via a hi-lo table, it boasts headroom of approximately five feet and close proximity to the large, separate, shower stall-equipped head. Moreover, there's a hanging locker on the port side, unrestricted access to the rest of the boat for a bright, open ambiance, and a changing area forward that a 5'11" guy like me can actually stand in.
The bulkheaded master is also immense. It has a stand-up
changing area, a voluminous hanging locker on the port side, a couple of opening ports, and a small hatch forward, just over the head of the offset double berth, for access to the chain/rode locker. Toss in a screened, opening hatch overhead, a matched set of reading lights, and a pair of coaxial stereo speakers, and we're talking an eminently comfortable nighttime or naptime sanctuary.
But here's the kicker. The saloon/galley's big enough and sophisticated enough to offer entertainment options that go wa-a-a-a-y-y-y-y-y-y beyond the ordinary. For starters, there's the 15-inch Sharp flat-panel TV with DVD hookup—a little small perhaps, but still viewable from everywhere that's comfortable. Then there's the stereo system. The 360's got a deluxe AM/FM stereo/CD whopper from Sony with a six-CD changer, a hulking 920-watt amplifier, six big coaxial speakers strategically located both below decks and above an exceptionally woofy subwoofer, and a couple of RM-XM10 remotes to keep tabs on the tunes no matter where you are. We cranked the system up briefly dockside to see what it'd do, and I swear, you could hear "Stars Fell on Alabama" all the way to Birmingham.
I finished up the test with a tour of the 360's machinery spaces, which reside beneath a cockpit hatch that raises on electric actuators. Features I liked were the well-ordered layout of the place, the easy access to the soundboxed Kohler genset on the port side, and from what I could see of the hull-to-deck joint at the transom, oodles of 3M 5200 showing above the joint evidenced a thorough, solid job. A feature I didn't like was battery access impeded by wire runs on the starboard side, just abaft the six-gallon Atwood waterheater.
My overall opinion of the boat? Rinker's Fiesta Vee 360 is a sleek, stylish, goin' machine, with lots of kickback room onboard and a list of entertainment standards that goes well beyond the ordinary.
Sound like fun? You betcha—just remember to button down that radar arch.
Rinker Boats
(574) 457-5731
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This article originally appeared in the May 2005
issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
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