405 CONQUEST

[jimh]

I have always been in love with the newer Boston Whaler CONQUEST models, particularly the 345 CONQUEST that I first saw back in 2007. It was Boston Whaler's first really big express cruiser design, and I thought it was beautiful. Even at its then price of about $400,000, it sold very well.

The top-of-line CONQUEST is now the 405 model. There is a used 2024 model year 405 CONQUEST listed for sale at $1.2-million. For propulsion it has four 400-HP VERADO engines. With a dry hull weight of 22,400-lbs, you won't be trailering this boat to a distant rendezvous, but you can travel at 58-MPH on the water with that 1,600-HP. At wide-open throttle those four engines will be consuming a total of 134-gallons of fuel every hour. At marina fuel dock prices of $5.50 (or more), one hour of fun at top speed is going to cost $740.

As for integrated design to use Mercury engines, look at Figure 1 below. I don't think that the close clearance of the tilted-up engines to the aft cockpit bulkhead was just a fortunate coincidence.

Fig. 1. The 405 CONQUEST transom has just enough room for the VERADO 400 engines to be tilted up to maximum.

transomDesign402CONQUEST.jpg (90.38 KiB) Viewed 674 times

The 405 is nice, but I still like the original c.2007 345 CONQUEST, as its style and design was just superb. I thought the helm being located on-centerline was a great feature. I see a used 2009 345 CONQUEST is about $290,000. Still too much for me.

Fig. 2. A 2009 345 CONQUEST, now available for $289,000 on the West Coast.

2009_345Conquest.jpg (124.87 KiB) Viewed 673 times

[Mambo Minnow]

Jim, I appreciate your affection for the Conquest 345. It is nice to see Whaler have a viable cabin model line after the Revenge series. Earlier attempts like the Whaler 31L and Defiance 34 were nowhere near as commercially successful.

[jimh]

Some what tangental to the discussion of the 405 CONQUEST, I happened to find a nice presentation on youTube from a fellow who is a tow-boat captain and often documents his many encounters with disabled boats. In a particular presentation this fellow was hired to tow a disable 405 CONQUEST. The boat was reported to have been struck by lightning, and parts of its electrical system were not working. See

Lightning-Damaged Boston Whaler to MarineMax Sarasota | Tow 41ft Boston Whaler
https://youtu.be/7FiUqWmWpCM?t=1

The towing captain was rather careful with this job, understanding that the value of the 405 CONQUEST was about $1,500,000.

Fig. 1. A lightning-damaged 405 CONQUEST under tow.

405CONQUESTunderTow.jpg (24.61 KiB) Viewed 551 times

This 405 CONQUEST was rigged with triple V12 600-HP VERADO-series engines, which have an MSRP of about $77,000; the white paint job is an extra $3,000 per engine, so the boat has about a quarter-million dollars in propulsion engines.

Considering the extensive amount of electrical circuitry on that boat, I can only image what the cost of repairing a lightning strike is going to be.

ASIDE
This fellow's youTube channel has many interesting towing service jobs documented.

[Jefecinco]

We recently saw a fifty foot motor yacht being towed by a boy using an older tiller steered Boston Whaler 13 footer. I admit to being surprised.

Electronic wiring repairs can be quite expensive. A neighbor suffered a lightning strike in his backyard. All of his home electronics and appliances had to be replaced. His new car was towed to a dealer for repairs but was eventually totaled by his insurance company. A squirrel once nested under the hood of our pickup. All the wiring from the firewall forward was replaced. The dealer was able to source the complete wiring harnesses from Nissan but the repair cost exceeded $3,000. Thank goodness for great insurance.

We now have a whole home surge protector installed at the utilities meter. During Hurricane Sally our next door neighbor's pine trees were struck by lightning but we had no damage. The trees were killed and had to be removed.

[jimh]

ASIDE to Jefefinco;

A squirrel once nested under the hood of our pickup.

Last Fall (2024) we were still up north at the cabin in late October, and the nights were starting to get quite cold. My SUV (parked outdoors) had not been driven in a few days, and in preparation for the long drive home, I opened the hood to check the oil level and other fluids. I discovered that an animal had made a quite elaborate nest on top of the engine and between the firewall and the engine. For extra comfort the animal had ripped away some of the sound-deadening insulation from the underside of the hood. The winter nest was still in the construction stage, so there was no damage to any wiring or hoses. It took me about an hour to clean out all debris from under the hood. Later I was able to glue the hood insulation back into place.