When it comes to luxury powerboats that offer everything you need for island hopping and day trips, the Cruiser Yachts 34GLS is a great choice. The new 34GLS is the smallest vessel in its range, but it comes packed with all the features you would expect to find on a boat from this leading premium boat building brand.
The 34 GLS launched at the US Powerboat Show in Annapolis, Maryland, receiving much industry acclaim, and it’s easy to see why it’s one of the top choices in its category. This boat is an entertainer’s dream, and it comes with a host of luxurious fittings that just ooze comfort and style.
You get plenty of storage throughout the vessel and a user-friendly dashboard with dual control screens and your shifter, joystick, throttles, and trim-tab controls within easy reach of the plush captain’s chair. There’s a wide walkway leading from the helm through to the stern, with seating on the bow and aft of the boat and a large swim platform in the stern.
Let’s unpack the offering in the 2022 Cruisers Yachts 34GLS in detail.
Contents
Design Overview
The new Cruisers Yachts 34GLS is the latest addition to the GLS family. You get all the same luxury and performance out of this smaller vessel that you get with its two larger siblings. It’s a smaller boat designed for day trips and cruising, but you get plenty of power and all the luxury you would expect from the Cruisers Yachts brand.
It’s no secret that the GLS stands for “Grand Luxury Sport,” and Cruisers Yachts delivers on this moniker, bringing you a powerful performance package with plenty of comfort and style, all in a boat that’s under 40-feet. This power yacht is the very definition of fun for the family, and it’s a great choice for a day trip or a short weekend trip to the islands.
Engines
When it comes to the engines, the 34GLS comes with twin 300-hp Mercury motors as standard equipment. These motors give the boat plenty of power and performance, and we think it’s one of the best standard offerings in the power cruiser market.
The standard Mercury motors are all you need to power the boat on any trip. However, if you’re looking for more power and grunt from your 34GLS, we recommend going with the Verado upgrade. You can configure your motor setup with the 350-Hp or 400-Hp twin engines. For those captains that want the most powerful setup possible, you can upgrade to the 450R Verado, the flagship performance engine from Mercury.
We feel that the 450R Verados are maybe a touch overkill for this boat. Still, if you’re into the fastest engines available and performance that’s on par with the fastest models in the water, then the Verado upgrades are a must-have addition to this cruiser yacht.
All engine options come with compatibility with the joystick piloting system. This system is ideal for handling the boat in a tight docking situation. The JPO joystick controls the bow thrusters, ensuring you get precision docking with no risk of damage to the hull. The joystick system links to cameras around the hull, giving you a clear view of your docking through the Simrad screen mounted into the dash.
If you’re planning on using this boat in the Great Lakes, Cruiser Yachts recommends setting up your 34GLS with the Volvo Penta or MerCruiser sterndrive options. These motors come with power outputs of up to 350-Hp. However, choosing the sterndrive setup means you miss out on the spacious utility room under the cockpit sole.
If you stick with the outboard configuration, the storage space under the cockpit sole is enough to fit a 5kW Kohler diesel generator. You also can install the optional inverter setup with batteries, allowing for up to 24-hours of continuous power. You can write the inverter into the electrical system or choose to operate it through batteries and solar panels.
The inverter and battery setup is so powerful it can run the air-conditioning system for up to 6-hours at full capacity. The 34GLS delivers fast cruising speeds that get the boat on its plane with ease. The shallow-draft capability is great, allowing you to get into the shallow areas around offshore sandbanks.
Hull
The 34GLS comes with a fiberglass hull for a lightweight and durable design that’s resilient to cracking at stress, even at cruising speeds. The Gelcoat finish on this boat is amazing, gleaming off the hull in the light. The hull features design and construction with reinforced glass stringers, rot-free foam, and several molded sections providing the 34GLS with monocoque strength levels.
The 34GLS also features hydraulic trim tabs as standard equipment, which is something we don’t see on many smaller power cruiser models. However, the twin outboards and clean hull design make it easy for the boat to get on its plane without adjusting the tabs. If you’re running the more powerful 450R Verado’s, we doubt you’ll ever need to use the tabs to get the hull out of the water.
However, the tabs are a nice addition if you find the boat feels loaded to one side. A simple flick of a switch drops the tabs, evening the deck for a refined ride without changing the vessel tracking in the water. The hull features design and construction from Ocean Five naval architects. This team has plenty of experience in performance hull design, and they bring those principles into the 34GLS, and it shows.
The 21-degree transom deadrise lets the boat cut elegantly through the chop, even in rougher ocean conditions with swells above the four to the six-foot range. You never have to worry about the hull throwing water over the bow, keeping your guests dry in the bow seating area.
Interior, Seating, and Deck
We start our review of the interior of the 34GLS with a tour around the cockpit. You get L-shaped couches in the bow cockpit facing each other, making for easy conversation for your guests. The seat behind the helm offers you a swing configuration to meet the bow or stern, all with a simple lift. You get stainless steel cupholders to the side of the seat and a grab handle in the bow-facing configuration.
The deck in the cockpit is spacious, thanks to the 11’8″ bean extending through the vessel’s stern. As a result, you get a spacious 30″ walkthrough into the stern. All the cockpit, bow, and stern flooring feature SeaDek for a safe, nonslip surface. Under the helm seat, you’ll find a refrigerated drawer for storing your beverages.
The cockpit seating area also features two removable tables with a glossy wooden finish and four built-in cup holders. We find the built-in electric grill and the sink station on the port side of the seating area, with removable lids. The bottom of the console comes with a fridge and trash receptacle and room for stowing the grill and sink lids.
The boat’s aft comes with more plush seating, featuring cool-touch leather vinyl that won’t get hot under the stern. You can convert the portside couch to a sun pad or an aft-facing sofa with rear seating available in three positions.
The standard hardtop roof on the 34GLS comes with a removable sunroof featuring manual operation. There’s nothing to break down when assembling or dissembling the roof – it just slides into position. You also have options for a SureShade extender platform for the roof, allowing you the full cover of the vessel’s aft, right over the swim platform in the transom.
The 54″ aft-facing seats behind the swim platform give your guests plenty of space to enjoy the scenery. The 28″ transom platform comes with a cutout operated by gas-powered hinges, allowing you to move the motors into the fully extended position out of the water.
The helm console feature soft-touch matting to the side, and the compass comes mounted right in the centerline of the dashboard controls. You get a 9″ Simrad display as standard, with the option to add a second Simrad 9″ screen. Your electrical switches are to the sides of the steering wheel, and the steering wheel comes with plush padding, chrome finishes, and telescopic tilting action.
You get a Rockford Fosgate stereo system included with your purchase, and all controls for the system are mounted to the left of the steering wheel for easy access. On the starboard side of the steering wheel, you’ll find the docking joystick, the throttle, and the trim tabs. You also get a stainless steel cup holder and a footrest under the steering wheel for added driver comfort.
You get plenty of storage in the sidewalls of the cockpit and a wraparound windshield with a removable partition for easy access to the bow. The bow lounge comes with a stainless steel grab rail mounted to the 33″ bulwark, ensuring no one falls overboard.
You get a U-shaped couch with premium materials and under-seat storage, including a cooler mounted in the main seat storage compartment. You get plenty of stainless steel cupholders throughout the lounge. There’s also the option of upgrading the Rockford Fosgate stereo to include four additional speakers and a subwoofer.
We find the sliding door leading to the solid wood floating stairs, moving down below. Behind the stairwell, we see a mid-berth measuring 72″ x 37″, with 30″ of headroom. Moving forward, we find the dinette area with a pedestal table featuring the same wooden finish as the tables upstairs.
You get two bench couches on either side of the table, with a 28″ TV and speakers mounted flush into the bulkhead for those days when the weather turns bad or when you want to watch some TV before falling asleep.
Remove the table and place the additional padded panel between the benches for extra sleeping space for the kids or guests. The rear panel of the couch lifts back, giving you access to the breaker board for the boat’s electronics.
There’s no gally underdeck, but you get a starboard side window and enough space to mount a microwave for warming meals. There’s a fridge just next to the starboard side steps. The starboard side head has a tinted window bringing light into the room while maintaining privacy for the user.
You get a toilet, mini-shower, washbasin, and under-sink storage. There’s plenty of room below, and you get luxurious fittings throughout, with all the accommodation you need to spend a weekend away. Overall, it has all the premium fittings and finishes you would expect from the Cruisers Yachts brand, and your guests will feel like they’re staying in a floating luxury boutique hotel.
Pricing
The 2022 Cruisers Yachts 34GLS comes with a base price tag of $505,840. It’s an affordable entry point when you consider this vessel’s premium finishes and luxurious fittings. If you’re looking for an entertainer’s day boat with the capacity to turn into a weekender, then this model is a great choice.
You can expect a price tag closer to the $600,000 mark if you want to upgrade the motors to the 450R Verado’s and add all the premium luxury fittings to the interior. However, even when fully loaded, this vessel comes with a great price tag compared to other models in its range and competitor boats with similar lengths and finishes.
2022 Cruisers Yachts 34GLS – The Verdict
Overall, the 34GLS from Cruiser Yachts is an entertainer’s dream. If you’re looking for a fun day boat or weekender with plenty of power and loads of luxury, you can’t go wrong with the 34GLS. The base model is fantastic, but adding the 450R Verado’s and luxurious accessories turn this boat into something special.
Considering most other models are nearly double the cost of this vessel for a similar package,. We think the standard offering for the 34GLS is at a very competitive price point in the market, presenting excellent value for anyone interested in a power cruiser.
