With an uncommonly spacious cabin and near-perfect handling manners, the 320 Razor from Cobra Performance Boats is a plush sport boat.

Sport boats aren’t known for their spacious cabins. Caves in France and elsewhere have better reputations for roominess. Most sport boat cabins provide shelter from the sun, and that’s about it. No one complains about it because, frankly, sport boats are meant for running around waterways by day rather than bunking in at night.

But that doesn’t mean a sport boat can’t have a totally comfy cabin. Take the new 320 Razor from Cobra Performance Boats that we tested in Parker, Ariz. The cabin within this stunning stepped V-bottom was as or more loaded than any full-size offshore V-bottom we tested this year. And yet the boat didn’t seem ungainly—it didn’t have a gawky tall deck and it wasn’t uncommonly wide at the hips.

Better still, those belowdeck creature comforts did nothing to compromise the 320 Razor’s performance. With a pair of 625-horsepower MV-10 engines from Ilmor Marine, it ran just about 95 mph and handled like a sports car.

At a time when other builders are producing smaller boats, Cobra released its largest offering to date. The builder already had models from 23 to 29 feet in its popular Razor lineup. Company owner Jeff Bohn said the development of the new model was fueled by customer demand.

“Believe it or not, we had a lot of customers asking for something bigger than our 27. The deck of the 320 pretty much came from our modified 29 V-bottom. But the rest of this boat’s design was completely original. We decided to go with a windshield, though, rather than individual canopies.

“This is the second one we’ve built,” Bohn added. “The first one turned out OK, but there were some things we wanted to change. For example, I had a switch panel that the throttles were hitting, so I had to move it.”

INTERIOR

The cockpit of the 320 Razor was classic sport boat, meaning it had a sculpted four-person rear bench and twin bolsters with manual dropout-bottom cushions. A draining cooler was under the hinged bottom cushion for the bench. Large gunwale recesses with smaller cutouts and cupholders above them comprised the balance of the cockpit stowage. On the port side of the cockpit, the co-pilot’s station had the basics covered with a grab handle and a glove box with a billet lid.

Dana Marine’s new billet throttles and shifters have made a strong entrance into the West Coast custom market, and those Dana controls, as well as Dana bulb-style trim switches, were at the helm. In addition to the Livorsi Marine gauges with silver rims and red bezels, the helm was equipped with a Garmin GPSMAP 430 and white rocker switches. Unobtrusive LED fixtures were used to light the cockpit after dark.

But as previously noted, the interior highlight of the 320 Razor was its elegantly carpeted cabin that featured a 12-volt air-conditioning system in a locker that could also be used for a head compartment. In the galley, which was outfitted with a top-loading cooler and a stainless-steel sink, the cabinets were maple and the builder used Corian for the countertops.

Headroom above the horseshoe-shape lounge and V-berth was exceptional for that of a 32-footer with sleek deck lines.

Recessed LED fixtures and backlit valances provided belowdeck illumination. A deck hatch allowed ample natural light to enter the cabin, as did the cabin door when open. A DVD player connected to a Sylvania 19-inch flat-screen television completed the cabin amenity package.

“The cabin blows me away,” said our interior inspector. “You could actually stay overnight in it.”

WORKMANSHIP

The only glitches we were able to find in the construction of the 320 Razor were a few small gaps where the wraparound windshield met the deck. Otherwise, from the wiring behind the dash, to the stellar gelcoat and, pardon the expression, the razor-sharp tooling, the 32-footer’s build quality was spot-on.

Layup materials included vinylester resin and bidirectional fiberglass and mat. Balsa coring was used in the hullsides and bottom, and the stringers ran full length.

In typical West Coast custom fashion, Cobra went big with the billet hardware. Billet pieces included the swim platforms, venting for the cabin, grab handles and seat bases.

Twin hydraulic hinges from Dana raised the engine hatch. Access to the Ilmor engines was ample, and the red big-block mills with polished intakes were held in place by solid foot mounts and L-angles through-bolted to the stringers. For a smooth finish, the bilge had been sanded and coated with Duratec. As for the wiring and hoses, all were arranged in parallel runs and secured with stainless-steel cushion clamps.

PERFORMANCE

Had the 320 Razor been all about its cabin, we’d have been disappointed. But given what we know about Cobra, we never thought it would be and the 32-footer didn’t let us down.

For openers, it delivered real sport-boat speed. With the engines running 5,800 rpm, it reached 94.9 mph and didn’t take much time getting there. With its Mercury Racing 280S K-Planes down, the boat came on plane in 5.3 seconds—it took 6.8 seconds with the tabs up. With the tabs down, bowrise was minimal.

The 320 Razor’s speed of 81 mph in our 0-to-20-second drill was downright respectable, even impressive. The boat also showed spunk in midrange acceleration bursts, as it popped from 30 to 50 mph in 4.8 seconds, 40 to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds and 40 to 70 mph in 8.3 seconds.

Best of all were the 320 Razor’s handling manners. Not only did it swoop gracefully through turns in both directions at various speeds, it provided a soft ride worthy of a much bigger boat. In addition to feeling planted in slalom and circle turns, the boat never wavered or wandered when running in a straight line.

OVERALL

Cobra’s 320 Razor was, without question, one of the most impressive models we saw during our 2009 Performance Trials in Arizona. It delivered cruiser-style comforts in a decidedly sport-boat package. As anticipated, it was built to the exacting standards we expect from Cobra. At rest or play, the 320 Razor cuts a sharp path.

Click to enlarge.