What happens when you take a boatbuilding team with multiple lifetimes of experience, give them a blank slate, and tell them to design the most magnificent no-holds-barred fishboat on the face of the planet? That’s basically how Phenom Yachts got their start, when industry long-timer Tommy Hancock (of Sea Pro and Sportsman Boats fame) got together with a group boasting over 150 years of combined experience, and said: GO!
A couple of years ago we covered the Phenom 37 in our sister publication PropTalk (to check it out see Phenom 37, a New Phenomenon), and noted that just about the only things you’ll find on the finest luxury cars but won’t find on a Phenom are wheels and an inboard engine. Goodies like air-conditioned seats and complete touchscreen control, for example—plus a few no automobile can compete with, like a Seakeeper gyroscopic stabilizer—are all present and accounted for. And now they’ve upped the ante with the Phenom 43.
Naturally the larger footprint gives Phenom the flexibility to incorporate a much larger, more luxurious cabin, and the 43 has a saloon of sorts inside of the console, with a dinette centered around an actuated teak table that converts into a queen berth. It also has a galley with a sink, two-burner induction cooktop, microwave, and refrigerator, as well as a fully enclosed stand-up head with a separate stall shower. Our favorite console cabin feature, however, is the ability to opt for a slightly raised head sole which is essentially an integrated upright rodrack. After washing down your rigs at the end of a day offshore, you can stow them safely away in a fully organized fashion.
Phenom has also found a few ways to give your angling adventures some additional luxury. Tackle stows in customizable boxes which slide into dedicated compartments in the swing-up mezzanine backrest. Or swing up the mezzanine seat base instead, and you’ll discover a refrigerated cooler underneath. You say you’d rather revel in refreshments that have ice dripping down the sides? Fear not, dear luxury lover, the cooler also has a direct ice feed from the onboard ice maker. Some additional uber-luxury touches include Sileather upholstery (and yes the helm seats on this model do have both heat and air-conditioning); a massive bow lounger atop the cabin with fold-down arm rests and cup holders; Joystick piloting; thermal night vision; side entry doors on both sides; Lumitec lighting including underwater and interior RGB mood lighting; and an audiophile’s dream system with DSP JL audio amplifiers, five subwoofers, and 14 speakers.
Okay, okay, enough about the cushy stuff—let’s go fishing. In addition to gobs and gobs of deck space, key features include twin 27” Garmin 9227 MFDs pumping sonar waves through an Airmar PM275LHW 1-kw wide-beam transducer, electric teaser reels in the hard top, four electric reel outlets under the gunwales, fresh and raw water washdowns, and a pair of 86-gallon fishboxes ensconced in four-inch-thick insulation in the deck. It’s the livewells, however, that provide the best example of Phenom’s unbridled dedication to making the best better by any means necessary. They’re 40-gallon wells with viewing ports on the front, each fed by a main pump and a back-up pump on the sea chest, via top and bottom fills. They also have pressure sensors which are monitored by the EmpireBus digital systems, which calculates just how much water needs to be fed to each livewell at any given time to maintain 0.1 PSI. That ensures your baits never get sloshed and water never gets blasted out from around the lid. Added bonus: Phenom also provides a short standpipe so you can use the wells for shrimp, crabs, or lobster.
We can’t swear that the livewell system on the Phenom is the most advanced of any recreational fishing boat, but if there’s a better one, we sure haven’t seen it. And we can’t swear that this is the most luxurious 43’ center console on the water, but again, we draw a blank when trying to think of what might top it. What we can say for sure is that this boat is named appropriately. It is, in fact, phenomenal.
Phenom 43 Specifications
- LOA – 43’0”
- Beam – 12’10”
- Displacement – 19,200 lbs.
- Draft (min.) – 2’8”
- Transom Deadrise – 23 degrees
- Fuel Capacity – 700 gal.
- Water Capacity – 90 gal.
- Max. Power – 1800 hp
For more information see the Phenom website or contact FishTalk Supporter Legasea Marine in Yorktown, VA (757) 898-3000.