Galeon 405 HTS

The Galeon 405 HTS is 44' 2" of hardtop sport cruiser on a 12' 10" beam, and it shares that hull with the 425 HTS. Same length, same beam, same footprint on a slip application. The two boats separate above the waterline and on the engine mounts, so if you are cross-shopping them inside the Galeon range you are choosing a character rather than a size - and the 405 is the open one.

Everything about the deck plan is built to be used with the roof back. A sliding cockpit roof retracts to turn the cockpit into an open-air lounge. Opening sections in the side windows beside the helm bring air through while you are under way, which is a small piece of hardware that changes how a hardtop feels on a hot afternoon. The aft sofa converts - facing forward under way, turned to the water at anchor - and the bow carries large sun pads. A hydraulic swim platform handles the tender and the toys. This is not a coupe with a hatch in the roof; it is a boat designed around being opened up.

Below there are two cabins and two en-suite bathrooms. The full-beam cabin aft has sliding berths that configure as a double or as two singles. The bow cabin takes a full-size bed with upholstered side panels and a portside wardrobe, styled to a choice of interior palettes. The galley is compact and properly equipped, with modern appliances and worked-in storage. Fresh water is 119 gallons, fuel is 251 gallons, and the boat is rated for ten guests. Draft is 3' 3", or 3' 11" with running gear, unladen displacement is 22,708 lbs, and power is twin diesels rated to a maximum of 2 x 440 hp for a top speed of 28 knots.

Top speed is 28 knots. The number you will actually run at is one to establish at sea trial: take the boat to the rpm you would genuinely hold all day, hold it there, and write down the speed and the observed burn before you talk about range.

Power is twin diesels with a maximum rating of 2 x 440 hp. Read that as a ceiling rather than a fitted specification - a given boat can be built below it, and the rating that matters is the one on your build contract, not the one on a listing.

Draft is 3' 3", or 3' 11" with running gear - size a berth and a lift off the deeper figure, and get the number for your exact drive package in writing. Weight deserves the same caution: 22,708 lbs is an unladen number, with 251 gallons of fuel and 119 gallons of fresh water still to go aboard on top of it. Do that arithmetic before anyone books a travelift.

The rest of the performance story here is handling rather than speed. A low hardtop keeps the centre of gravity down, and the wide glass and opening helm windows mean the person driving is not sealed away from the boat. That is a thing you judge on the water, in the conditions you actually boat in, not on paper.

Two cabins, two en-suite bathrooms, four berths for the night and ten guests aboard for the day. That is the whole accommodation story, and it is a sensible one for a 44-footer that is going to be run by its owner.

The steps down open into a lobby and galley finished with soft LED lighting, recessed lights, curved woodwork and high-gloss lacquer. The galley itself is compact rather than generous, but it is fully equipped - modern appliances, real storage, a layout that lets one person cook without choreography. The bathroom is properly done, with premium fittings and a separate shower rather than a wet-room compromise.

The bow cabin has its own en-suite, a full-size bed, upholstered side panels and a portside wardrobe. The full-beam cabin aft runs the width of the hull, and its berths slide together into a double or apart into two singles. That flexibility is the reason a two-cabin boat can work for a couple one weekend and for four adults the next, and it costs nothing when it is designed in from the start rather than bolted on.

One thing to settle on the layout drawing before you start choosing fabrics: which of those two cabins is designated the owner's suite on your build. Confirm it rather than assume it, because it decides which bathroom and which wardrobe you are actually specifying.

Above, the main deck is bright and heavily glazed. Large side windows and the glass sliding roof do most of the work, the opening sections beside the helm handle ventilation under way, and the cockpit converts between dining, lounging and sunbathing depending on what the day turns into.

The most useful comparison for the 405 HTS is the one inside Galeon's own range, and it is unusually clean because the two boats are the same size. The 405 HTS and the 425 HTS are both 44' 2" long on a 12' 10" beam. Neither is the bigger boat. What separates them is what sits on top of the hull and what sits on the engine beds: the 405 opens up - sliding cockpit roof, opening helm windows, convertible aft sofa - and is rated to a maximum of 2 x 440 hp for 28 knots. The 425 encloses the main deck instead and is rated to a maximum of 2 x 480 hp for 30 knots. On draft, take both boats' deeper figures to your berth: the 405 is 3' 3", or 3' 11" with running gear, and the 425 is 3' 7". Neither is a deep boat for 44 feet, and the only number that settles a marginal home channel is the one for your own drive package.

Below the 405 in the hardtop line is the 410 HTC at 40' 11", and above it the 450 HTC at 45' 10". If you want the same open-air argument with a flybridge on top instead, the 420 FLY is 44' 11" - close enough in length that the choice really is about the upper deck rather than about size.

Against the wider market of 44-foot hardtop diesel cruisers, the 405's case is specific. Most boats in this class make you choose once, at the order desk, between weather protection and open-air feel. The 405 keeps the choice available every day: the roof slides back, the helm windows open, the aft sofa turns around. If you boat somewhere with a real summer, that is worth more than a spec-sheet advantage.

Two practical notes before you get to options. Fresh water is 119 gallons, which on a boat that sleeps four is the tank most likely to end a long weekend at anchor. And the hydraulic swim platform is what decides your tender, so measure the tender you already own against it rather than assuming it fits.

The 405 HTS fits the owner who wants a hardtop for the shoulder seasons and does not want to feel shut in for the rest of the year. The sliding cockpit roof, the opening windows either side of the helm and the convertible aft sofa are all there for the same reason - to let you decide, on the morning, how open the boat is going to be. If you would take the roof back nine days out of ten, this is the version of this hull to buy.

It fits couples who take guests rather than families who need bunks. Two cabins, two en-suite bathrooms and four berths, with a full-beam cabin aft whose sliding berths make a double or two singles and a bow cabin with a full-size bed. Nobody shares a bathroom. There is no third cabin, so if the boat has to sleep six, this is not the hull.

It fits an owner-operator. The hardtop keeps weight and windage low, the opening helm windows keep the driver connected to what the boat is doing, and the hydraulic swim platform makes recovering a tender or a set of toys a one-person job. Ten guests aboard for the day is a real number on a boat this size.

It is the wrong boat if your season runs through the cold months. Everything good about the 405 is about opening it up, and on the identical hull the 425 HTS encloses the main deck instead. Buying the open version and then wishing it were sealed is the expensive way to make this decision.