The 53zi meshes New England and Carolina boating philosophies to produce a fast and seaworthy adventure chaser, says Kevin Koenig
The morning after the 2021 Newport International Boat Show broke crisp and clear with the low humidity and blue-bird skies that are trademarks of September, the magic month, in the region. Weather like this is the reason the Astors, the Vanderbilts and the rest of the American monarchy migrated to Rhode Island all those years ago. Today, though, another kind of royalty is in town: Bob Johnstone, the 87-year-old founder of MJM Yachts and co-progenitor of J/Boats, a sailboat brand that has more than 14,000 vessels sailing the seven seas.
On this day, he sits placidly in the salon of a new 53zi as it bobs at the docks. His son, Peter, MJM’s CEO and our acting captain, is busy checking off boxes in preparation for our four-hour cruise north in the open ocean up to Boston. Checking off boxes is something that the younger Johnstone has done a lot of lately. He is in the process of moving MJM’s headquarters from Boston to a plant in Washington, North Carolina.
The 53zi, just like her outboard-powered sistership introduced in 2020 looks like a typical down-east style of boat at first glance – the inspiration for the MJM look was Billy Joel’s acclaimed Shelter Island 38. However, despite their hard-charging and pragmatic roots, most down-easters are effectively dayboats, popular among the Dark ’n’ Stormy and Sperry Topsider crowd. Not the MJMs.
loading...“MJMs can really run,” Bob Johnstone says. “You could put this boat on autopilot running down six- to eight-foot seas and read a book. And that’s due to the Carolina bow flair you see upfront, as well as her modified-V hull. [Designer] Doug Zurn takes the transom’s deadrise a third of the way up the boat, and then it transitions to a sharper angle forward.” The result is a boat that both splits open waves and rides atop them.
“All the MJMs I’ve done have easily driven hulls that are intended to perform in adverse conditions and be enjoyed by the clients through thick and thin,” Zurn says, without revealing the secret sauce. “They’re performance oriented with hulls that get them on plane more quickly. And their running attitude is such that they ply the water more easily than many other hull designs.” In the past he’s attributed much of this to the center of gravity.
Other than the hull, one of the key components of the MJM’s forward-thinking design is its construction, and specifically the weight savings. When Bob Johnstone began building these boats more than 20 years ago, he wanted something light enough for his wife, Mary, to handle easily at the dock, pushing off pilings and the like. But he also needed a boat that was big enough to live aboard. The key to marrying these qualities was epoxy construction and foam coring. As a result, the 53zi displaces less than 34,000 pounds at half load.
“The light weight allows us to have a narrower water plane than a heavier boat this size, which won’t plane until about 20 knots,” Peter Johnstone says. “Our boat planes around 12 knots, and that helps us be efficient. And on an MJM you can dial in the speed for comfort at 12 knots or at 35 knots; it doesn’t matter. The whole boat lifts up and gets on plane. You don’t need to do the heavy boat thing where you need to get out of the hole.”
After running the boat up the coast, I’d be hard-pressed to disagree with him. The MJM, expertly powered with triple 480hp Volvo Penta IPS650s, is nothing short of a pleasure to drive. She feels exceedingly safe in the rolling swells and her acceleration and nimbleness have a smile plastered across my face as I wheel her easily through S-turns, leaving crisp, white script atop the steel-gray North Atlantic. Those unfamiliar with this boat might expect her to drive like a leisure-minded express cruiser, but she handles more like a sportfish, able to outrun or otherwise blast through any foul weather she may encounter.
The model also comes in an outboard version that is popular in Florida and the Bahamas. They’re essentially identical boats but the extra space on the outboard version goes to a large lazarette/stowage area.
However, for north-east cruising, Johnstone says the newer inboard model reigns supreme (so popular are they in the pandemic-fueled boating boom that none were available to photograph – our test boat went straight from show to customer). She drives like a large yet sporty luxury sedan. The acceleration is so smooth and the ride so clean that even as we keep a brisk 35-knot cruise all the way up to Beantown, it seems as if we are doing about 20.
At the wheel, the atmosphere feels strangely like that of an open boat, despite the full enclosure – in a good way. The stanchions are minimized to offer close to 360-degree sightlines, with windows everywhere you look. And MJM took care to optimize airflow inside. For example, hatches in the forward ceiling of the salon pop open, allowing airflow into the space even during foul weather. A small doggie door in the isinglass aft sucks the air out, creating an endless loop of fresh oxygen.
Down below, this 53 only has one stateroom in the forepeak. It’s a layout that may seem unorthodox, but it has proven quite popular and is in keeping with the lightweight philosophy. It could be a nimble support boat to a mothership – with or without sails, but it seems to me to be a perfect fit for intrepid couples seeking an adventure.
“Our customers aren’t people who want to buy a boat to show it off at the dock,” Peter Johnstone says. “These are people who are exploring the coast, the islands and the world.”
And there’s something truly magical about that.