Stretching an eye-popping 32 feet and nine inches long with a beam of 12 feet, six inches, the new Zodiac X10CC is the biggest boat Zodiac has ever built. It’s also the most luxurious and vivacious, with seating for over a dozen people, a full galley, and even a cabin. You say you want a mega-RIB that can handle everything from race committee duty to relaxing cruises down the Bay and beyond? X marks the spot.
The layout of this boat maximizes comfy seating on topstitched upholstery but also incorporates a few smart touches to expand on the available space and its uses. Take the cockpit, for example. It features a pair of facing settees with a dinette in between, but it also converts into a double-wide sunpad. Same goes for the bow, which is ringed by U-shaped seating with a removable table in the center that drops to convert into a sunpad. A trio of seats lines the leaning post, and forward of the console a huge lounger extends out on the cabin top. As far as seating capacity goes, this is one rapturous RIB.
Stock equipment on the X10CC that would often be considered optional extras on many other boats includes a windlass; a wiper on the console windshield; and the full bow sundeck with backrests for forward-facing seating, the table, and filler cushion. Some additional luxury comes via a freshwater system with sink and pull-out shower, a galley unit integrated into the back of the leaning post that can be equipped with a grill and refrigerator, and a fully enclosed head compartment inside the console cabin (aft of a surprisingly large U-shaped V-berth). Note that the console cabin also has opening ports on either side to let in a cross-breeze, and the front incorporates a large window plus a clear overhead hatch to let in natural light. While we’d expect most of the time aboard to be spent abovedecks, long weekend trips on the X10CC are a definite possibility.
The tube ringing the fiberglass hullsides is the more durable NEO carbon Hypalon variety, available in either grey or white. It’s a D-shaped tube on the exterior only, so interior space isn’t lost to the collar, and is attached to full-size fiberglass gunwales. In fact, standing on the deck of the boat, we found it nearly identical to being on a regular fiberglass V-hull; you could forget you’re even on a RIB until you looked around the outside and saw the huge collar ringing the boat.
The hull itself is a twin-stepped design that provides the exhilarating performance many RIB fans expect—and then some. With a pair of 400-hp Mercury outboards on the transom Zodiac says you’ll be able to run to a top-end of 60 knots with seven people aboard. That’s plenty of juice for most of us, but if you want even more, opt up to a pair of max-power Mercury 450s—you’ll soon be blazing across the Bay at speeds that would generate flashing blue lights in the rearview on 695.
There’s another aspect of the X10CC that will surprise and delight many Chesapeake dwellers: you can even use the boat as a reasonably well-equipped angling platform. Gunwale rodholders (which do double-duty as bases for sunshade supports) and hard top rocket launchers are included on the base boat. A livewell package is available, and if you opt for the ski mast arch, you’ll get four more rocket launchers.
When we checked out the X10CC at the Miami International Boat Show, one other aspect of this model made itself known: unlike some RIBs, even some big ones, it really has the feel and aura of a full-blown boat. Thanks to thigh-high fiberglass gunwales you feel as if you’re safely contained inside. The seating and furniture are robust, grab rails and structures like the T-top supports are immobile, and it just feels substantial and solid as compared to some lesser RIBs, which might better be described as somewhat flexible. That feeling only adds to the comfort level aboard and it will be much appreciated, whether you’re volunteering for the yacht club or heading for a weekend at a distant port.
Zodiac X10CC Specifications:
LOA: 32’9”
Beam: 12’6”
Draft (Max): 2’6”
Displacement (approx.): 7716 lbs.
Fuel Capacity: 200 gal.
Max Person Capacity: 20
Max HP: 900
Local Dealer: Fawcett Boat Supplies in Annapolis, MD - (410) 267-8681
Learn more: zodiac-nautic.com/us