Behind the scenes at Maritimo

Greater insight and new model scoops from our factory tour and media conference

The choice is yours. Beech, myrtle, teak or wenge. With a high-gloss or matt finish that takes up to 12 coats of varnish if you want the on-trend dark New-York look of the wenge woodwork. It's a cost option, adding $15,000 to the bottom line of your Maritimo M58, but at least 50 per cent of new owners are going for it. And why not?

Necessarily, founder Bill Barry-Cotter at Maritimo on the Gold Coast has softened his position on the traditional roll-them-out-the-door process of production boat building. Greater interior-design and bling, semi-custom high-end finishes and optional equipment like gyros are all the rage. The first five new M65s (base price $2.865 million) sold in 2014 each has a $200K-plus gyro.

On top of the lifted finish and greater kit, the new Maritimo models have lengthened running surfaces and extended shaft-driven hulls for more waterline length, greater efficiency and internal volume. While cruising range has always been their strength, Maritimo now chants the mantra of "more effective utilisation of space".

HANDBUILT BOATS

Yet there is still no disputing the labour intensity of building a Maritimo. As we tour the Coomera factory at the end of 2014 you soon gain an appreciation for the craftsmanship. There is almost a month in the timber finish on the popular Maritimo 58 alone, which was up to boat #18 during our visit.

Released mid-2012, the M58 was upgraded in 2014 with greater refinement, tweaks to the galley, a bigger master en suite, new dash design, engine-room liner and more. The very special M58 of Greg Haines from Maritimo marketing is a stellar example of the new breed. It has that sparkling wenge timber finish that has tipped more buyers into the smart new look.

The time taken in the timber fitout for the M58 is doubled for the new Maritimo M65, which had accounted for five sales in December 2014 before the first boat hit the water. We were there for the champagne launch following this factory tour just before Christmas. A more insightful Maritimo M65 launch story will follow this news article.

RACEBOAT HQ

As we move next door front the timber shed we discover the Maritimo raceboat HQ. It’s here that we get a close look of AUS 1, the Maritimo Super Boat that won the World Offshore Powerboat Championships in Key West in 2012… before they changed the rules.

That boat will now get fixed drives and a new tunnel to meet the new race rules and head to Florida for the 35th Annual Key West World Championships next November, we’re told.

By the time they finish the tweaks, the Super Boat will be race ready courtesy of the in-house dynamometer and pulling 4Gs in the turns.

That race-bred steering is an inherited feature of the Maritimo motoryachts built purely for pleasure. Less than two turns lock-to-lock means you can drive the big motoryachts like the new M65 right off the wheel.

BUILDING BLOCKS

Heading into the 2014 Christmas, Maritimo's lamination and fitout shops were even more frenetic. The M50 released and tested in May 2013 was up to order number 24 during our visit. We saw M50s in build heading to the US and another bound for a local client.

In an exclusive one-on-one interview with our boating websites later in the day, Bill Barry-Cotter said his target for the M50 was "to be the best seller of all time."

Greater investment in R&D and QC, with independent surveys during the build process, has certainly lifted Maritimo’s fortunes and end product. From moulding and timber fitout to local sea trials and shakedown cruises, it’s a "very tight process of quality control" these days.

With our dollar sinking, exports are on the rise and more American buyers are enjoying The Australian Experience. The new-boat handover and shakedown involves local sea trials, extended cruising with a skipper, and a stint of serious liveaboard boating before fine tuning, delivery tweaks and often extra fitout back in the yard prior to shipping.

NEW ENGINE OPTIONS

Marine engines are another big thing in 2014 and bound to be even bigger in 2015. Maritimo is now offering the Scania continuously-rated diesel engines on its new 65 footer.

The M65 #1 we ran aboard at the launch and #2 have 1015hp C18 Caterpillar engines, but #3 (Barry-Cotter’s own boat, he says) will have the big 900hp 16L V8 Scanias that we saw on the floor in waiting, while #4 will have 1200hp MANs.

The smallest boat built by Maritimo, the M32 was also on the floor during our visit. The baby Maritimo was about to get the first pair of twins in this model and D3 diesel Volvo Pentas at that.

But the entry-level sportscruiser was certainly overshadowed by the new 65 alongside (opening photo above shows the comparison). The 65's flying bridge boasts more floor space than the 32 in its entirety, and with bifold flybridge doors, the 65 has a veritable penthouse with extended deck living in the sky.

NEW M48 AND S48

Not one to rest on its laurels, Maritimo has a new M48 and S48 in build that are slated for release at the 2015 Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show. The boat will measure 50ft 9in (15.225m) overall.

While the aforesaid hot-selling M50 (from $1.445 million) was always intended as a replacement for the previous best-selling M48, of which 108 were sold, the new M48 will be introduced with a keen price-point to encourage further new-boat upgrades.

The M48 will be priced from $1.23 million with the 600hp Cummins, but the S48 Sedan variant without the flybridge and a clever new layout with bigger galley to port and "as much seating and galley as a flybridge boat" will have a base price of less than $1.2 million.

Maritimo is looking to boost its Sedan sales with this new boat, as the yard is currently building 90 per cent flybridge motoryachts.

Standard power for the 2015 M48 and S48 will be twin 600hp Cummins QC-8.3 engines.

With a 16ft 9in (5.03m) beam, the boat will slot comfortably in local and overseas marina pens. The layout is two cabin and two bathroom, with a full-beam stateroom with offset double bed, bifold flybridge doors, and cockpit options.

The transom options will range from the standard Euro design with lounge and sub-floor lazarette for tender storage to an island design with amenities centre, to a fishboat transom with just one marlin door.

The lines of the new M48 are in keeping with the previous sportier look of the M45.

"The cockpit will be bigger, the platform bigger, the saloon bigger and the forward cabin bigger than the old M48, with five per cent greater efficiency," Barry-Cotter told us.

NEW M61 COMING

Over lunch later in the day, we learn that a new M61 is on the drawing board with, says Barry-Cotter, three orders (one deposit taken) likely before the first one is even built.

The M61 might make a very late 2015 release, although in late December the crew were hoping for some breathing space and a 2016 launch.

Certainly, the M61 will champion that new Maritimo mantra — of greater efficiency and more effective use of space — that is propelling these luxury Australian-made motoryachts and sedans into the future.

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Behind the scenes at Maritimo

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