Some of us love center console boats, others gravitate towards walkaround boats, and yet others find a bowrider to be more to their taste. What if you love them all? Have fun maintaining your fleet. Or, check out the Solara S-310 CW. It’s all of the above, and then some.
Solara S-310 CW Design
The “CW” in the Solara’s model name stands for Center Walkaround, which is quite fitting for this unusual design. The boat features a centered helm station like a center console, but on the port side the helm stretches all the way to the gunwale and incorporates an aft console cabin entry. To starboard there’s a sidedeck, similar to a walkaround’s arrangement. And Solara could easily have added a “B” for bowrider into the model name mix, because when you walk forward of the console you enter a bow cockpit chock-full of comfy seating. There’s a pair of loungers with swing-down arm rests on the front of the console and center-facing lounger seats to either side. There’s also a removable double-pedestal dinette table, cupholders, and stereo speakers. Solara even molds in steps to the port side side-deck running alongside the cabin and adds a grab rail, so if you need to pull up to a dock along that side you can still go fore and aft easily for line-handling chores.
Aft of the helm the boat is designed more or less like you’d find in a Cutwater (one of the other lines built by Solara’s parent company, Fluid Motion) and is kept open and uncluttered for fishing. Also par for the course for Fluid Motion, however, there’s plenty of additional seating that can be deployed when cruising or entertaining is the mission. In fact, fold-out seats are integrated into the transom and gunwale and can accommodate up to six people with a comfy spot to kick back and relax.
While the combined center console/walkaround/bowrider design is quite unusual it isn’t exactly 100-percent unique. The Boston Whaler 350 and 380 Realm have a similar extended console cabin, though it reaches across the starboard side as opposed to port. Solara, however, is the first builder we’ve seen utilizing the concept on a boat of this size.
Solara S-310 CW Cruising Features
The copious seating both fore and aft is obviously of huge importance for cruisers, but the real bonus delivered by the S-310 CW’s design is found in the cabin. Center console cabins are usually cramped, and on a boat of this size, amount to little more than a head compartment and perhaps a small berth. But by stretching the console all the way to the gunwale Solara has a lot more space to work with. In fact, the cabin has a surprisingly large forward berth and settee, a fully enclosed head compartment to starboard, and a mini-galley just inside the entry to port.
Along with the extra space, the S-310 CW delivers oodles of cruising comforts belowdecks. The boat has a hot water heater for showering, air conditioning with reverse-cycle heat, an LCD flatscreen TV, and even a wine cooler. LiFePO4 lithium batteries and a 3,000-watt inverter provide plenty of juice when off the dock. And, unlike most builders that force you to pick and choose perks (and watch the price tag rise accordingly) Solara includes all of these goodies as standard features. In fact, that’s one of Solara’s themes: they rig their boats with a comprehensive swath of features, as opposed to offering a stripped-down base model and adding lots of optional features. Look at the options list for this boat and you’ll see that there are only nine potential add-ons, which are rather use-specific in nature.
Solara S-310 CW Fishing Features
Hardcore anglers may take pause at anyone messing about with the center console design, and it’s true that this model doesn’t offer the same 360-degree fishability. That said, once you move aft of the helm station you’ll see that Solara did an excellent job of designing a fishing-friendly cockpit. Most important is that once you fold away those seats there’s plenty of elbow room for casting. The starboard corner of the transom incorporates a livewell, six flush-mount rodholders grace the boat’s gunwales, there’s an integrated cockpit fishbox, a raw water washdown, and a transom freshwater shower.
Depending on how and where you fish, this is where some of those options may come into play. Outriggers, for example, or the downrigger plugs and pads. Trollers and moochers will love that an aft helm station can also be added in the cockpit.
Solara S-310 CW Performance and Handling
The S-310 CW comes rigged with a pair of Yamaha F250 outboards. Performance and handling get a boost from Fluid Motion’s twin-stepped hull design with laminar flow interrupters and self-leveling trim tabs. According to Solara, the combination results in a cruising speed in the low- to mid-30s at 4500 rpm, and a wide-open throttle top-end speed bumping up against the 50-mph mark.
A standard bow thruster makes slow-speed maneuvering a piece of cake. You want it to be even cakier? Another of the options you might want to go for is a joystick control system.
Solara S-310 CW Specifications
- Length Overall: 30’10”
- Beam: 10’0”
- Weight: 10,500 lbs.
- Draft: 2’1”
- Max HP: 500
- Fuel Capacity: 200 gallons
- Water Capacity: 41 gallons
Choosing the ideal type of boat for you and your family is a tough call, especially when the family includes fishers, cruisers, and loungers in equal amount. At least, it used to be a tough call. With the Solara S-310 CW there’s a good chance you can satisfy everyone’s wants and needs — without having to buy an entire fleet.
See Solara S-310 CW boats for sale on Boat Trader.