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Review by Richard Hazelton
We first saw the X-482 at the Lake Union Boats Afloat Show last September. Even surrounded by other yachts, this boat, drawn by Niels Jeppesen of X-Yachts of Denmark, looked sleek and powerful. We had to set up a sail test to see if she was as impressive under sail as she was at the dock. The day's sailing crew of Dan Krier of Marine Servicenter, Michael Collins of 48° North, and myself, took the boat from Lake Union into Lake Washington for a little more sailing room on one of those breathtakingly sunny, cold Seattle fall days. On the way we needed to open a couple of bridges which gave us a good chance to play around with the bow thruster while we waited. Located inside the hull, the unit descends into position with a touch of a button located in the cockpit. You then use a joystick and just push it right or left, depending on which way you want to swing the bow. It was very effective and swung the boat easily with just short bursts of power. Before motoring on, we raised the unit back into the hull. There is a subtle alarm sound that goes off all the time the bow thruster is down to prevent you from motoring with it down which could cause damage to the unit. Once into the Lake it was time to hoist sails. The main is on a Leisure Furl system which rolls the main into the boom. I like this system as it allows you to keep the roach of the sail, adding to the sail area, and you can have battens. Once again this was accomplished at the touch of a button using one of the electric Harken 44 self-tailing winches flanking the companionway. We then unrolled the jib, turned off the motor and headed across the Lake. Unfortunately, instead of strong, steady fall winds, we had shifty light winds. Not as much fun but a good test for the boat in typical Northwest summer sailing conditions. The boat moved very well in the light winds and accelerated quickly in the puffs. The boat's speed versus true wind speed was impressive. Of course the water conditions were calm but the hull glided effortlessly. It was quite responsive to the oversized wheel and felt like a much smaller boat to handle. On Deck: One thing you notice immediately is how uncluttered the topsides are. All halyard and control lines are lead aft through recessed channels to banks of rope clutches in the cockpit. The result is a cabintop that's not covered with lines and gives the spacious side decks an even more generous look. Getting around anywhere on deck is a breeze. Another aspect of the clean look topside is the recessed dodger or "sprayhood" as they call it. When up it looks like any other dodger. But it can be completely stowed away into a deck molding forward of the main sliding hatch. It's a simple operation but the results are surprising. Visibility is good with the dodger up, but with it down it seems like you're on a flush deck racer. A very nice feature that I'm sure we'll see on other yachts in the future. All the winches are Harken; 64.2ST primaries and 56.2 secondaries. Cars and tracks are Frederiksen and stoppers are by Antel of Italy. There are roller fairleads behind the control line stoppers so you can cross lead lines to other winches if you wish. Up forward is an anchor locker with a sail locker right behind it for easy stowage and accessibility. Down below: The nice thing about a 48-foot boat is you've got room for options. X-Yachts gives you four interiors to choose from on the X-482 (see next page for layouts). We were on the three cabin "modern" version with two double berths aft and a double forward. The basic difference between this version and a "classic" layout is the main saloon. Where the classic version has the traditional U-shaped galley with an L-shaped settee just forward, across from a bench seat with walkway in the middle, the modern version has the galley run down the port side across from a U-shaped settee with a removable bench seat across the table. This is an amiable layout with the bench seat providing a nice handhold when moving about. The contoured interior is teak with 18 opening ports providing good natural light and ventilation. Construction: The construction of the X-482 is all centered around a massive TBS galvanized girder frame. All the loads from the keel and the rig go to this frame. Hull laminations are secured to the frame with GRP longitudinals. This subframe is designed so that all tanks (two fuel and three water on our test boat) can be located below the floorboards, between the webs of the frame. Emphasis is on concentrating all the heavy stuff on the boat; tanks, batteries, engine, etc. as low and toward the middle of the boat as possible. We mentioned before how quiet the boat was. One reason is the honeycomb cored floorboards. They are light but stiff and add greatly to sound dampening of the yacht. Summary: The X-482 is a very comfortable boat, but comfort coupled with a definite and true eye to high performance. This combination with quality doesn't come cheap; starting at about $500,000, with another $150,000 thrown in for "extras". But it sure is a lot of boat. No boat is perfect and every review we try to point out things that aren't to our own particular liking. This does two things; it points out something that we think might be a problem for someone sailing a particular boat, and it also helps to give a little credibility to the review when we can point out a few warts here and there. But I'd be hard pressed to find something I didn't like about the X-482 that was worth mentioning. I wish we could have sailed it in heavier air but it moved impressively in light air. Everything on deck was convenient and made for easy short handed sailing. Down below was not overly posh but, using a phrase that I think sums up the entire boat, had a tasteful, functional elegance. For a more details and pictures, visit the X-Yachts website at: X-Yachts.com, then click on yachts/cruising. ... on to page two specifications and layouts |