New for 2017, Cigarette’s 42’ GTO Huntress reportedly is lighter and faster than the original model.

Always searching for the bright shiny object, members of the media—this one included—focused their attention on the new-for-2017 Cigarette Racing Team 42’ Huntress GTO after ogling the spectacular Cigarette/Mercedes-AMG 50’ Marauder celebrating not only the 10-year collaboration between the two companies, but the 50th anniversary of AMG. But while the 50-foot one-of-a-kind creation certainly deserved the limelight at the Cigarette docks this morning, the new 42-foot walk-around center console powered by four Mercury Racing Verado 400R outboard engines is far more relevant as consumer product.

Cigarette Racing Team company owner and chief executive officer Skip Braver said his goal was to build on the popularity of the 42’ Huntress hull platform with a deck more in-line with a sporty day boat. So where the original Huntress has a voluminous cabin in the console decked out for overnighting with cockpit entry at the helm station—the walkway to the bow lounge area is to starboard—the GTO version has a full walk-around on both sides of the console with cabin access in its portside. The GTO’s cabin, though nicely equipped with amenities such as a power-raised-and-lowered table that can be converted to a berth, is designed for day use.

“The layout is for someone who doesn’t necessarily need or want a full cabin,” Braver said. “But it still has six feet four inches of a headroom, plenty of new cabinetry, U-shape seating and more. There’s a three-person lounge up front—that’s a new design that really opened up the deck.”

For a closer look at the 42’ Huntress GTO check out the slideshow above.

More important, at least to performance-minded buyers, the 42’ Huntress GTO is 30 to 40 percent lighter than the original, according to Braver, who said his team at the Opa-locka, Fla., facility accomplished the weight reduction through “advance construction techniques.”

“It is a breakthrough,” he said. “We used these techniques to build a boat that is lighter and faster, but still has the Cigarette ride and built with the Cigarette difference.

Braver said he expects a 42’ Huntress GTO with quad Verado 400R outboards to run “four to five miles per hour faster” than the standard 42’ Huntress with the same power, which would put the boat in the 81- to 83-mph range. (According to an early report out of Miami today, the 42-footer did “even better than that” in testing this week.)

Better still, Braver said he expects to be able to the GTO model at a significantly lower price, maybe even in the low $700,000 range, than the original version, which prices out close to $800,000.

“We’re also going to offer the 42’ Huntress GTO in a ‘luxury version’ for those who want it,” Braver said. “So if you want air-conditioning, a generator, a power windlass and so on you can get it equipped that way.”

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