OCKELBO B25 CABIN

Looking for something tough, fun and different? Meet Britain's first ever Ockelbo...

- Alex Smith

Aluminium seems to have been gaining traction in the UK of late and it's thoroughly deserved. It's tough, lightweight and highly effective when it comes to absorbing the mild impacts novice boating tends to involve. It's also corrosion-resistant, simple to fix and fully recyclable at end of life. And if you enjoy a rugged SUV aesthetic, you might even argue that its unaffected honesty puts stylistic appeal firmly in its wheelhouse too. Small wonder then that in recent years, we've seen established players like XO, Buster and Highfield joined by a range of new models from the likes of Arksen, Archipelago, Aquaspirit and Viggo.

With their famous appetite for effectiveness over glitz, it is of course the Nordic countries that have made most of the running in this sector - and with the arrival of the first Ockelbo on British shores, it seems they're at it again. Ockelbo comes from established Swedish aluminium sportsboat specialist, Anytec. In fact, it uses exactly the same combination of Swedish design and Latvian construction, but while Anytec boats tend to adopt a very slick, high-performance approach, this new 25ft flagship looks happy to trade a little bit of dynamism for some extra multipurpose, four-season versatility.

The management of the beam is a good example of that. At 8ft 4in, it's designed to provide the ideal balance between internal volume and easy trailering, so it's good to see that a pair of narrow raised side decks enables the internal space to enjoy the lion's share of that breadth.