The Gladiator 428 will be the smallest boat produced by Canados in the last 30 years, but surely one that will grab massive attention…
“Canados has been known for decades as a custom builder. When I look at the rest of the Italian yachting industry, and even more in our market segment, I don’t see any other shipyard having a 360-degree integration of the production, including full manufacturing capabilities of any sorts of interiors. It might sound incredible in today’s market, but we are still building our boats, from 76’ and up, just like mega-yachts, except that, where all the builders are cutting cost by subcontracting as much as they can, we carefully craft bespoke yachts entirely made by hand for very specific and demanding clients.
Thus, we intend to keep a very limited production for our larger boats as we feel much better having more demand than we can offer. As a result, every contract is dealt direct and we do not have a dealership network as our clients are willing to discuss every detail directly with the shipyard building their boat. We deal will a number of brokers around the world that drive us clients who can’t find what they are looking for with typical production builders.
Therefore, it was difficult to integrate a project such as the 428 Gladiator in the typical Canados structure as both the industrial and commercial philosophies of this model are different from the rest of the Canados range. The Gladiator line will be distributed by a global limited network of seven to eight dealers. This forced us to organize a whole different business unit fully dedicated to the Gladiator.” commented Michel Karsenti, Executive Chairman at Canados
A DEDICATED BUSINESS/PRODUCTION UNIT
The Canados Gladiator 428 production unit is headed by Gianluca Fanelli, a veteran production manager that have been with Canados for twelve years before becoming the Aston Parker production manager. Fanelli gladly returned to the Canados family last July to head the Gladiator 428 program. Fanelli is an extremely valuable asset as he knows the Canados custom building capacities better than anyone, but he is also extremely experienced in implementing industrial processes in series production.
The hull design has been engineered with safety and comfort in mind. The massive bow flair will guarantee an all-weather dry ride while the 21º deep V at the transom allows running the boat at any speeds even in strong swell.
Safety being one of our top priorities, Canados wanted a solid yacht, thus the entire hull, structure and deck are made of vacuum bagged quadri-axial E-Glass vinyl-ester infused resin with balsa and Airex coring to offer maximum strength and rigidity. The boat comes standard with GPS Chart plotter, automatic pilot, depth sounder, bow thruster and maneuvering joystick making it a true toy to handle.
As the vast majority of clients are running this kind of boats themselves, the standard equipment list also includes a “crystal cockpit” integrated dashboard. It is basically a one touch screen integrating controls of all the boat electrical equipment including sound system, bilge pumps, blowers, lights, engines parameters and navigation electronics.
The entire cockpit from the swimming platform all the way to the cabin door is step less, allowing to safely and easily move in the boat underway with no risk.
The center console configuration, protected by the standard carbon fiber hard-top is positioned in a way that allows installation of two face-to-face sofas. This configuration is a key element to social life as the owner operating his boat will be able to face his guests, friends or family while at the helm. Once anchored, the access to the foredeck is made via a central molded stairwell between the two “Café Racer” styled wind deflectors.
The exterior dinette and the large sun pad are protected by a bimini-top with two carbon fiber poles with tensioners. Under the sun-pad, large storage space allows to install two Seabobs.
The cabin is offered with a unique layout with unlimited choice of fabrics and wood veneer in the purest Canados spirit.
The first model of the Gladiator 428 will be assembled and completed in the weeks to come and immediately undergo intensive sea-trials before hull #2, 3, 4 and 5 are entering assembly line. The first boat of the series will be kept by the shipyard for technical tests and a 2017 Mediterranean road show that will include clients and media presentation in Capri, Porto-Cervo, Monaco, Cannes, Saint Tropez, Palma and Ibiza.
She will then be presented at the Cannes Yachting Festival 2017 while she should also be exhibited together with hull #5 at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show 2017 in her outboard version.
The Gladiator 428 is available with four engine packages:
- Twin Volvo Penta stern drives D6 – 400 hp
- Twin Cummins QSB6.7 – 550 hp with top systems surface drives
- Triple of Quad outboard engines
Depending on the power package, the Gladiator 428 is capable of speeds from 37 up to 55 + knots
SHORT SPECS – CANADOS 428 GLADIATOR
Length Overall: 13,04 m / 42’9”
Hull Length: 11,94 m / 39’2”
Max Beam: 4,19 m / 13’9”
Dead rise at transom: 21º
