2021 Maritimo M55 review

The Maritimo M55 is a revolutionary model for the Gold Coast-based luxury motor yacht brand, introducing a new way of building boats that will influence future models.

That “M’ in its name means it belongs to Maritimo’s growing range of long-range flybridge cruisers, the difference with this one being that it boasts interior spaces that belie its relatively compact exterior form.

The Maritimo M55 sits just above the Maritimo M51, the smallest model in the M-Series flybridge model hierarchy that reaches all the way up to the flagship M70.

The Maritimo M55 stands out as the most successful pre-launch model that Maritimo has had in its entire 15-year history. Let’s find out why.

Before we go too far, Maritimo doesn’t really need to sell you an M55 at the moment. Even before its Sanctuary Cove reveal, the boat has racked up the orders as potential new owners fall for the appeal of the new model.

The forward order list is already stretching out to 2023, so form an orderly queue.

The Maritimo M55 is priced from $2,173,000 when equipped with the standard pair of 670hp Volvo Penta D11 engines turning the screws.

Maritimo is a bit coy about the pricing on the heavily optioned hull No.1, preferring to list it as “price on application”. That said, the price tag is believed to sit around the $2.4 million mark.

One of the bigger upgrades is replacing the default engines with larger, more powerful 800hp Volvo Penta D13s that give the Maritimo M55 a top speed just shy of 30 knots.

Default equipment includes a Cummins Onan 17.5kW (50Hz) genset; Idromar 130L/h watermaker; foredeck sunpad with adjustable backrest; flybridge balcony table; ottoman seats that double as coffee tables; stainless steel cockpit barbecue; two cockpit rod holders; galley island bench; sliding windows on the saloon and flybridge; Apollo audio system with speakers in the saloon, cockpit and flybridge; moodlighting; walnut timber finish and Bianco benchtops; twin helm seats; 50-inch TV in the saloon; forward queen-size stateroom with 43-inch TV, deck hatch, full-length lockers and guest bathroom access; master king-size stateroom with another 43-inch TV, day lounge, hanging lockers and master ensuite; fresh water washdown and hatch to the engine room in the upper cockpit space; cockpit shower with hot and cold water; and a lower “adventure deck” entertainment unit complete with fridge.

No gyro is fitted, but the Maritimo M55 is built to take something like a Seakeeper 9 stabuliser, future-proofing the hull for any future owner who feels they need the extra comfort.

Apart from the engines, the other upgrades over the standard boat include a full Garmin electronics suite featuring twin 22-inch touchscreens, AIS 800, radar and Grid 20 remote control; an anchor upgrade to a Muir Cheetah reversible anchor winch; teak flooring; complete Miele package including fridge, convection microwave oven, rangehood, three-burner induction stove and wine fridge; Fisher & Paykel dish drawer; icemaker under the internal staircase; flybridge clears; premium saloon and day lounge cushions; and a bathroom floor finished in Bianco.

There are six separate air-conditioning systems feeding into all three levels of living space.

The idea behind the Maritimo M55 was to create as much interior volume as possible from the given proportions.

Maritimo looked to its early flybridge cruisers for inspiration, creating an overlapped enclosed flybridge and aft adventure deck featuring soft edges that Maritimo describes as “wings”.

This has allowed Maritimo to design a flybridge that sits on a wider footprint than the saloon below. This is important because it allows Maritimo to push the internal staircase to the flybridge flush against the saloon wall, yielding more space in the saloon and more options for its layout.

But the big benefit is when you head upstairs, where the flybridge has the living space to rival a larger motor yacht.

Maritimo’s boats are built using solid fibreglass below the waterline, with cored sides and superstructure to reduce weight above the waterline.

However, hull No.1 for the Maritimo M55 is the first of a new generation of boats to use a lighter laminate and a different internal structure between the deck and hull mouldings compared with previous models.

Also, by making the flybridge wider and pushing the staircase flush against the saloon side, the staircase becomes a structural element supporting the flybridge.

The new way of building the M55 means Maritimo has reduced the amount of weight up high on the M55, lowering the centre of gravity and making the motor yacht more stable than a traditional build.

Adding to this are new wing tanks pushed to either side of the hull, both of which drain into a central tank laid along the keel. This design has introduced a new benefit for owners, as all three tanks can fill from one side of the boat.

Maritimo is still a strong advocate for traditional shaft drives, with the M55 featuring a slippery variable deadrise hull with a flat run aft and a shallow angle of attack for the shafts driving the props. Maritimo has constantly evolved its hull designs to imbue its boats with a high level of ocean-going stability, excellent ride comfort, and fast, efficient running when needed.

The Maritimo M55 carries more beam further aft than other flybridge models in the range, with lifting chines that run further aft.

The Maritimo M55’s engine room is large with plenty of working space around the optioned-up 800hp Volvo Penta D13 engines that drive our test boat. Everything is spaced and vital pieces of equipment such as the sea strainers are in easy sight. A service technician would just about pay you for the privilege of working in the space.

Maritimo had the M55 tied up alongside the M51 at its 2021 Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show display, and despite the small difference in size, they were entirely different boats.

For a start, the Maritimo M55 is a lot more vertical than the M50. The saloon sides are angled the same, but the M55’s flybridge overhang – a return to the efficient design of the brand’s first three flybridge cruisers – makes it look much bulkier above the decks.

You step onto this boat via a huge swim deck that lowers into the water. The swim deck doubles as a launching platform for a tender of up to 2.8 metres in length that can stow below the adventure cockpit floor.

Maritimo has designed the adventure deck to make it stand out as a space to use while the boat is at anchor. With the swim deck raised, it creates a huge, open space aft suited to arranging deckchairs and unwinding.

The experience is made better via an aft-facing wet bar with a barbecue.

The upper cockpit space is accessed via a step on either side of the boat. Stainless steel gates, recessed into the sides when stowed so you don’t snag them with scuba or fishing gear when walking past, close off access to the adventure deck while underway.

The upper cockpit is a comfortable space fringed in lounges, with a teak fold-out table doubling in size when needed. This space, which is below the overhang of the flybridge cockpit, can fully enclose with clears that are now recessed into the hardtop moulding when stowed, meaning the boat looks a lot cleaner without the visual clutter.

Deep side decks with high rails give easy access to the bow, with the overhanging flybridge above giving some weather protection.

Up front, the dual-width sunbed is very basic, framed by the deck portholes that allow natural light to filter into the living spaces below. You could argue some rivals do this space better.

The anchor locker is fully enclosed so you don’t have to see any of its internal workings, although the anchor passes through the top of the bow rather than following the growing design trend of getting it to retract into the stem. It’s function over form; you can more easily tell where the anchor is while setting or retrieving it.

Step into the Maritimo M55’s saloon via the glass sliding door opening to the upper cockpit and it’s like stepping into a luxury apartment.

The Maritimo M55 sacrifices some of the visual grandeur of walking into the cockpit by the inclusion of the aft-facing internal staircase leading up to the flybridge level.

However, the overhanging flybridge has allowed Maritimo to remove the staircase offset that it would have needed if the flybridge had the same footprint as the saloon below it. The design tweak has given Maritimo an extra 300mm in width to work with – it doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a huge number when every centimetre counts.

Immediately to starboard is the galley, complete with an island bench framed with a pair of bar stools. A pantry sits beside the L-shaped benchtop complete with a three-burner induction stove, sink, and vast storage options, while a full-height fridge is built into the stairwell on the port side – another clever use of the space previously unavailable with the more svelte flybridge design.

Forward of the galley is a lounge space that would shame a high-end European hotel lobby. Comfy lounges frame both sides of the saloon, with a fold-out table to port that converts the space into a dinette. An ottoman that stashes away and doubles as a storage box, completes the look.

The dash area under the windscreen houses a pop-up 50-inch TV that is visible to the cockpit.

The light in this space comes from the large windows that slide open to provide a natural breeze crossflow, and windscreen framing the saloon. Maritimo’s tradition of including bespoke ambient lighting adds to the sense of luxury. Electronic sunshades filter the natural light when the sun is too bright.

Flybridge access is via an aft-facing timber staircase on the starboard side of the saloon. In 10 steps, you’re transferred from the living space below to the control room of the boat.

Atop the stairs is a fully enclosed flybridge space dominated by the forward helm.

For such a large boat, the helm is fairly compact and a little understated, but not in a bad way – sometimes simpler is better. The helm position is hard to starboard, with a compact console and just two very comfortable captain’s chairs for the skipper and crew.

To starboard of the helm is a large U-shaped lounge that ensures the skipper and first mate need never be alone while making passage. If the transit gets a little tedious, there’s a second lounge, complete with ottoman, aft of the helm station and opposite a small bar that backs onto the staircase from below.

The rear bulkhead of this boat is made up of glass panels, with one panel opening like a door, and the others folding in to completely open the enclosed flybridge to the upper cockpit.

This upstairs space is huge, sitting on almost the same footprint as the saloon below it. In fact, jump on a mid-60-foot flybridge cruiser and you’ll struggle to say if it has more space on offer.

The flybridge’s aft cockpit dubbed the “sky bridge” by Maritimo, but maybe “high bridge” would be a better description, as the flybridge hardtop extends all the way to the back of this space, giving it plenty of sun protection.

To one side of the cockpit is a sink, but Maritimo also offers this space as an optional enclosed head, meaning the skipper doesn’t have to descend two levels to take a toilet break.

Aft of that, though, framing almost the entire back of the flybridge, is a large L-shaped lounge with a central teak table that folds out.

The open space here is huge and geared towards entertaining. Once again, clears that tuck neatly into recesses when stowed can drop down to fully enclose this space to protect it from the elements when needed.

The Maritimo M55 is equipped with three staterooms accessed via a companionway staircase built into the middle of the forward section of the saloon.

There is no downstairs lounge, with space utilised to provide a pair of side-by-side beds to starboard, and a day head, including shower, to port.

Forward is the VIP stateroom containing an offset queen-size bed with a flat floor – an important feature – and plenty of storage, including hanging robes. This stateroom has a separate entry door to the full standing height day head that gives it a sense of being an ensuite.

The twin single room is large enough to not feel cramped, and includes good cupboard space. The bed up against the hull narrows as it runs forward towards the bow, giving it the appearance of a comfy mummy’s sarcophagus rather than a bed.

The private master suite, located aft and down a couple of steps, runs the full beam of the hull. To starboard is a day bed, while to port are low cupboards that also serve as a make-up station or desk.

Also on the port side is a dedicated ensuite with shower, sink and head.

Fuel tanks half full, and a belly full of water means we’re sitting low in the water for our test run outside the Gold Coast Seaway.

The helm station feels surprisingly compact for this size boat, but that’s more than acceptable to me when the helm is more about the business of skippering than the pleasure.

The captain’s chair behind the low-set wheel is extremely comfortable. They slide back and have big footrests that fold up out of the way so you can easily stand at the helm if needed.

The console is also very low-set, making it easy to see down past the bow of the Maritimo M55. Visibility all around is good, helped by deep windows running around almost the entire flybridge. The only difficulty will be while reversing; you’re not going to be able to see anything behind the boat. That’s where a remote helm control will definitely come in handy.

Having just two 22-inch touchscreens in front of you is enough, with one set up to show navigation and the other engine performance. You can even flick between onboard cameras to, say, view the engine room or the cockpit from the helm.

The throttle controls for the 800hp Volvo Penta D13s are also set low, but fall comfortably to hand. You don’t need too much pressure to call for more performance out of the big turbo-diesels, the engines responding heartily to even small inputs.

Performance

*Both engines.
Maximum cruising range on 10% fuel reserve for 4550L tank: 471nm @2000rpm

The low-set wheel borrows from Maritimo’s racing experience, using something Maritimo chief designer Bill Barry-Cotter calls “elbow-to-elbow” turning. The idea behind it is that to get full lock on the steering, the skipper need only turn the wheel as far as they can without taking their hands from it. You can’t quite do that in a 17-metre cruiser, but the M55’s wheel only takes 2.5 turns lock-to-lock.

That means the steering in the M55 is very direct and responsive, carving out turns easily and with little effort.

With the engines thrumming away at 1900rpm and more than 20 knots of ground speed showing on the Garmin multifunction screen, the flybridge is a serene and calm space. Noise is surprisingly well suppressed; there’s next to nothing from the engines, a bit from the breeze, and the “swish” as our test boat cuts through the water with minimal effort.

Noise is superbly well suppressed.

Conditions outside the seaway were rather lumpy, with a decent-size south-easterly swell doing its best to unsettle the Maritimo M55.

It’s amazing that something as simple as giving the flybridge a bit more space has resulted in a boat that’s a huge step forward for Maritimo.

Yes, downstairs it’s a typical Aussie-made long-range cruiser that’s comfortable and practical, with a few new features that add to the already long list of innovations that continually make the Maritimo ownership experience better than before.

But it’s that genuinely staggering amount of upstairs space that makes this a flybridge cruiser with even less compromise than before.

People do buy boats based on length rather than budget. If they’re also interested in real estate, the Maritimo M55 is difficult to walk past. The fact this is Maritimo’s most successful launch model in the company’s 15-year history would support that.

Priced from: $2,167,000 including Cummins Onan 17.5kW (50Hz) genset; Idromar 130L/h watermaker; foredeck sunpad with adjustable backrest; flybridge balcony table; ottoman seats that double as coffee tables; stainless steel cockpit barbecue; two cockpit rod holders; galley island bench; sliding windows on the saloon and flybridge; Apollo audio system with speakers in the saloon, cockpit and flybridge; moodlighting; walnut timber finish and Bianco benchtops; twin helm seats; 50-inch TV in the saloon; forward queen-size stateroom with 43-inch TV, deck hatch, full-length lockers and guest bathroom access; master king-size stateroom with another 43-inch TV, day lounge, hanging lockers and master ensuite; fresh water washdown and hatch to the engine room in the upper cockpit space; cockpit shower with hot and cold water; lower “adventure deck” entertainment unit complete with fridge

Price as tested: POA (believed to be around $2.4 million) including upgrade to 800hp Volvo Penta D13s, Garmin electronics suite featuring twin 22-inch touchscreens, AIS 800, radar and Grid 20 remote control; an anchor upgrade to a Muir Cheetah reversible anchor winch; teak flooring; complete Miele package including fridge, convection microwave oven, rangehood, three-burner induction stove and wine fridge; Fisher & Paykel dish drawer; icemaker under the internal staircase; flybridge clears; premium saloon and day lounge cushions; bathroom floor finished in Bianco

Supplied by: Maritimo