Hampton 700 Skylounge

This, apparently, has been music to the ears of footloose retirees who want to realise their lifelong motor-cruising dreams. Ex-yachties who are no longer smitten by flogging sails and tugging on strings are among them. Clearly, the common thread linking Hampton buyers is the desire to travel in great comfort for long distances, but without needing to own shares in an oil refinery.

As if to prove as much, the 700 Skylounge has a handy 11-knot cruising range of greater than 1100 nautical miles. Little wonder Hamptons have been to Cairns and Cooktown, circumnavigated Tasmania and, of course, all around the Whitsundays where you can lose yourself for 20 years and still not quite see it all.

Since 2008, Shanghai-based Hampton Yachts yard has grabbed a decent slice of our motor-cruising market. Local importer Leigh-Smith Cruiser Sales has delivered 13 Hamptons into the country in mainly pilothouse guise, including the more trawler-type Endurance range. Although Hamptons Yachts will build from 55 to a possible 90 feet in length, it’s the 65-75 footer market that’s been the niche. A stretched version of the popular 680 sister ship introduced in 2008, this new Hampton 700 Skylounge gains a foot in the cockpit, a foot in the saloon, and an enclosed flying bridge for yet more comfort when underway.

However, unlike Hamptons bound for the American market, our boat was 'Australianised,' explains Dean Leigh-Smith. The satin-cherry interior joinery, muted buff-coloured leather lounges, and neutral soft-furnishing palette is, well, less ostentatious than American boats and some earlier Hampton imports.

"The finish is something Riviera owners can relate to," Leigh-Smith says, adding that every boat is a semi-custom build and, with the upholstery fitted here, the choice really is the owners’. But in respect of the joinery, these are no fleeting projects. In fact, 80,000 man-hours went into the boat tested here and that’s excluding the local trim and trick ups.

Our 700 Skylounge also had the Option A layout that locates the galley forward behind the windscreen and includes a separate free-standing dining table with chairs behind. This makes sense for our market, as Australians like to entertain and cook on show. The alternate layout isn’t as open plan and tucks the galley away to the port side as per the standard 680 Pilothouse.

As you see it here, the 700 Skylounge is described as a three-cabin owners’ boat or four-cabin layout with crew. Not that you need crew, mind you, as the Wesmar 25hp hydraulic bow and stern thrusters are part of the package. But a delivery skipper might come in handy for those less-than-inspiring legs. For an extended family at holiday time, the separate aft twin-bunk cabin, err, bedroom will be coveted and it’s far from shabby.

Suffice to say, the Hampton 700 Skylounge has a long inventory replete with well-respected proprietary brand engineering items. There are essentially just three things missing as they come down to customer choice. They are electronics, watermaker and tender. The rest, right up to 725kg-capacity Brower tender crane and wine fridge, is included. An optional hydraulic swim platform would be a nice addition in our view.

Wading through the specifications we note some serious anchoring gear to keep you safe at night, namely, a hydraulic Muir winch, 100 metres of 13mm L-grade shortlink chain with an 80kg stainless-steel CQR on the end. Wesmar stabilisers are standard, increasing in size from nine square feet on the 680 Pilothouse to 12 square feet to compensate for the added weight of this Skylounge.

The twin 930hp Caterpillar C18 ACERT engines are perfect for long-range work as they’re low-revving, while 27.5 kW and 13.5 kW Onan generators, and a 5000W inverter take care of 240V power requirements. The alternators have been upgraded to 105A models and the AGM battery bank is similarly upsized, producing 800 amps at 24V (not 12V) for house duties. There are separate engine and generator start batteries, while all the lighting is LED so you can leave your boat ablaze.

Of course, the air-conditioning is tropical strength and of the superior Marine Air chilled-water variety so you can run it all day and night. Meantime, Aqualift air/water separators on the generators keep running noise to the barest of murmurs, even when seated on the cockpit rear lounge as you might with guests for a long lunch.

A weighty tome or, rather, PDF, the owner’s manual lists: Victron inverter/charger, Glendenning cablemaster, Racor fuel filters, Aquatech three-inch shafts spinning five-blade props, Headhunter and Rule pumps, Tecma toilets with Sealand waste system, Sea Star steering (with backup pump) and Seafire system. Which is to say nothing of the eight Samsung televisions wherever you look, the Yamaha 5:1 surround-sound system, the Liebherr fridges, and the full-monty Miele galley package.

All of this and more create what can only be described as a very complete and considered cruising conveyance. There’s something special to say about every room, whether it’s the granite galley floor and counters, the Hunter Douglas blinds, the fact the portside forward door opens to the bulwark one way and the starboard one the other to facilitate easy fore or aft access…  such is the considered thinking.

Which brings us to the price: $3.35 million. That will buy a five-bedroom house on Hamilton Island right now, but the view’s fixed and lawns will need mowing. Second hand, BoatPoint and boatsales had a few pre-loved Hamptons listed at the time of writing but they weren’t Skylounge models and shiny and new.

The cockpit is very liveable -- perhaps enhanced by the addition of Breezeway covers -- and features an inbuilt aft lounge and extensive Corian lunch table with integrated ice bucket. Eight can be seated when you include loose teak chairs, which are easily stowed in the aforesaid utility space.

There’s an external wet bar with sink and icemaker, drop-down television for watching the cricket, vacuum-bagged teak decks, but the stainless-steel deck gear vies for attention. A 75mm elliptical bow rail ranges almost the length of the boat, tracing the safe walk-around side decks with bulwarks.

There are internal engine vents well clear of the sea, aft transom gates for side boarding, and side doors with pantograph-type hinges leading into the forward saloon. Then comes the whale-spotting lounge on the foredeck. Captain Ahab’s perch when he’s not back at the aft wing stations in the cockpit corners with engine and thruster controls in hand.

An internal staircase sweeps up to the Skylounge where the views are something else again. Full marks for the kid-proof hatch over the stairs. Dispatch the tender with the davit and you gain a massive skylounge deck where you could stage a party and wheel out the barbecue. An external wet bar is provided with such things in mind.

Back inside, the skylounge is akin to a penthouse with a second dedicated dinette and L-shaped lounge -- we’d order a converting model to create a double bed up here -- opposite a separate enclosed head for that mid-passage tinkle. Alongside is a fridge in a storage cabinet in which you could pack the kettle, cappuccino machine and sandwich press. So we’d order our skylounge with a 240V outlet nearby. A drop-down television is fitted, of course.

Lots of hatches and opening side windows provide ventilation if you don’t want air-con, the wipers with intermediate setting proved useful on our wet test day, while twin Pompanette helm chairs afforded good support. There are red night lights but the overhead ship’s lighting plan and bow, stern and engine-room camera displays are perhaps a bit close to eye level.

The full-width dash has been designed to take three 15in screens and the CAT engine-monitoring panels, Wesmar fin-position screens, combo fuel/water gauges, and loads more. Electronic shifts add to the refinement, while the 24V/240V panel uses the good old-fashioned breakers rather than CAN-Bus switching. It’s perhaps a tad dated.

Back in the saloon is one of the biggest lounges I’ve seen on a boat akin to what you would find in, well, a lounge room. You can seat an extended family of 12 before the television and twin tub chairs opposite. There's a granite drinks servery with dedicated wine or, rather, champagne fridge. The bulk of your grog and victuals can be stored in the aft utility room and crew cabin. Besides external access from the watertight transom door there’s an internal descending stairwell off the saloon to assist restocking.

A bookcase and step marks the demarcation between the saloon and the forward dedicated dining area with freestanding table and chairs for six. The Miele-laden galley is nestled before the windscreen. The location makes sense given our nation’s preoccupation with food and its preparation. You wouldn’t put the kitchen out the back of a waterfront house, right?

The forward accommodation plan features a VIP with island double berth in the bow that shares an equally accommodating bathroom with the second cabin with side-by-side beds. Needless to say, the finish is impressive, with cedar-lined hanging lockers, opening jumbo portlights, trick bathroom vanity with Corian counter. Grohe mixers, and a man-sized shower.

Then you arrive. The full-beam stateroom features genuine king-sized bed, his and her hanging lockers, walk-in robe, vanity with swing-out stool and en suite with jumbo shower and wall spa for a top-to-toe wash. With watermaker fitted, you don’t need to worry. Italian reading lights and catches add to the upmarket décor elsewhere, as does the bedding courtesy of locals Identity Marine Interiors. Opening and enlarged portlights are another nice addition.

But let’s not forget that private aft crew cabin! The self-contained accommodation and machinery space features Pirelli rubber flooring, a cabin with two 2.2-metre long bunks, fridge and freezer, microwave oven, laundry with separate 8kg washer and dryer, trash compactor, separate AV system, stainless-steel work bench, and a very handy split toilet and shower.

With aft door access right off the swim platform, it’s a great place to shower après dive while peeling off your wetsuit. A second watertight door leads forward from the machinery space and into the engine room…

The hull and deck are through-bolted every 15cm, sealed with 3M 5200, and glassed over with three layers of fibreglass. Divinycell foam is used in the composite structure above the waterline to reduce weight. Interior structural components are properly bonded to the hull, says Hampton, and the overall impression is one of strength and weight in a monocoque structure. Prop tunnels help with the transition from displacement to planing speed.

The Hampton hull isn’t especially wide, with a beam of 5.51m for its 18.95m of waterline length. Compare the Grand Banks 65 Aleutian with a beam of 6.05m for its waterline length of 18.42m, for example. Yet the 200mm-wide chines and big 12 square feet Wesmar hull stabilisers do their job and there’s a half keel to assist tracking. In any case, a boat like this isn’t something you throw around off the wheel. It’s more your point and passagemaker cruiser with the autopilot doing the hard work between waypoints. Apply the power and the boat spears through the water with purpose.

Meantime, the engineering is impressive, with inbuilt redundancy from that spare generator to back up Racor fuel filters, water pumps, twin PTOs for the hydraulics, spare steering pump and so on. There’s an eight-fan Delta T engine-room ventilation system (four in and four extractors), big sea strainers with inspection bowls, Reverso oil-change system and emergency engine-driven bilge pump.

The fuel is carried in GRP wing tanks with sight gauges that feed into a day tank from which the generators draw diesel, while the exhaust jackets are the stuff of superyachts and cool blue LED lighting runs under the engines, which sit atop shiny stainless-steel mounts, to show leaks. Hopefully, none. Should the absolute worst thing eventuate you can crane an engine out through the soft patches in the floor, we’re told.

Of course, you are far more likely to cruise at hull speed in your big Hampton 700. With those big Wesmar stabilisers operational, cocooned in the skylounge come penthouse, life is for living… aboard! Carrying 7600 litres of fuel after a fill, the Hampton 700 passagemaker has a range of more than 1100 nautical miles at 11 knots, the engines ticking away at 1200rpm and using 74 litres per hour in total. This is pretty much the speed we whiled-away our time aboard and the best part of a Gold Coast afternoon.

The other speed of note was 17.65 knots at 1600rpm for 190 litres per hour and a fast cruising range of 530 nautical miles. At 9 knots range jumps to 1400nm-plus and at 7.90 knots, which any sailor would be happy with, your range is 2400nm according to the official data.

Such thoughts crossed our mind as we cruised mid-winter, feet on the dash, reverse-cycle air-con keeping us toasty going nowhere in particular. But it was back at 11 knots that this boat had us transfixed, one eye on the horizon, the other on the radar, imagining all the possibilities, like Hampton owners.

That the rain was falling didn’t matter a crop. The intermittent wipers took care of that and, in the skylounge, we were snug. In any case, this isn’t a conveyance for fair-weather boating. It is, as we said, a true home away from home. Take the good with the bad. You even get an internal central vacuum system and outdoor gurney, plus that aft tool shed.