You say you demand a boat that shields your friends and family from the seas and the weather with military-like might? One that offers complete comfort and tremendous versatility? Check out the Targa 32. This craft is designed with such seagoing solemnity that it’ll make the coxswain on a USCG Motor Life Boat jealous, and interior accommodations that will make him or her even utterly envious.
The Targa 32 is available in several different flavors, some more traditional and others more modern. It can be had with single or twin sterndrive powerplants or can be outfitted with outboards. It can sport a three-seat flybridge atop the cabin or can be ordered in coupe form. And there are different berth arrangements for the lower cabin to fit your personal preference. In all of the above forms, however, the basic layout features a fully enclosed helmdeck cabin with a settee/dinette aft of the lower helm and not one but two private lower cabins.
Yes, you read that right: two private cabins. Unlike most boats this size, the Targa doesn’t carve out a mid-cabin berth that’s more or less attached to the forward stateroom. Instead, the bow stateroom (which can have either a U-shaped or pedestal island style berth) is completely separated from the other cabin spaces, accessed via the companionway stairs next to the helm. But if you walk aft in the main cabin, you’ll find a second set of stairs, this one leading down to a lower mid-cabin which has a double berth to port and a single berth to starboard. Back here is also where you’ll find a fully enclosed head compartment with a shower.
The main cabin holds a few surprises of its own, starting with the galley. It has a unique location up forward, to port of the helm and the forward stateroom entry. Swing up the cover behind that forward-raked windshield and you’ll find a sink and two-burner cook-top. Below that there’s a convection oven/microwave, and integrated into the helm seat base there’s a refrigerator. It’s a really nifty use of space where you might normally find a blank bulkhead, a nominally useful glove box, or stowage compartment on other boats, and it opens up a lot of room around the dinette where you’d usually find a galley. Added bonus for foodies: you can have an additional chilled space in an in-deck box in the sidedeck, which can be either a refrigerator or a freezer.
More about the sidedeck: it rings the cabin 360 degrees with plenty of walkaround space all the way around. That will make it easy to move fore and aft from the bow to the cockpit and work the lines at an unfamiliar slip or dock, which you’ll pull up to with ease thanks to the standard bow thruster.
Considering the amount of cabin space this boat delivers, the size of the wide-open aft cockpit is a big surprise. There’s plenty of space to set out a couple of deck chairs complementing the seats/stowage compartments on either side or maybe take a cast or two with your fishing rod. Opt for a sterndrive version of the boat and the aft center opening gate leads to an oversized swim platform, or when rigged with outboards, smaller platforms to either side of the powerplants.
Another variable that changes with power choice is performance, and you might be surprised at just how spiffy the Targa 32 is without loading on gobs of horsepower. Take a gander at the figures for a pair of Volvo Penta D4 320-hp diesel sterndrives, for example. These could be optioned up to 440-hp D6s or swapped out for a pair of 350- or 400-hp outboards, so there’s plenty of room to grow. But with the total 640 horses churning belowdecks you’ll be cruising at over 30 knots and see a top-end pushing close to 40 knots. Better yet, efficiency sits right around 1.4 nmpg at cruise, never drops below 1.0 nmpg, and if you cruise at the most efficient speeds of 25 to 28 knots, you’ll enjoy 1.5 nmpg.
Targa boats hail from Finland, and they’ve been building powerboats since 1976. They’ve got the heritage and the history to know what works out on the water. And if you know, too, you’ll probably want to take a Targa 32 for a sea trial. Just don’t be too surprised if the Coasties swing by—not to do a safety check, but because the coxswain just can’t resist getting a closer look.
By Lenny Rudow
Targa 32 Specifications:
LOA: 35’4”
Beam: 11’1”
Draft (max.): 3’6”
Displacement (approx.): 13,889 lbs.
Fuel Capacity: 211 gal.
Water Capacity: 40 gal.
Max HP: 880
Local Dealer: East Coast Yacht Sales in Annapolis, MD - (410) 287-9150