Horizon E56 XO: Review

There’s good chi or Feng shui about this E56 XO, the first ever sports yacht from the big Taiwanese yard, designed especially for the Australian way of boating. A sense of harmony pervades the extensive entertaining areas, the luxury three-cabin accommodation, and the way the boat and its 715hp Caterpillar C12 engines are at one with the sea.

OVERVIEW
- Designed for the Australian way of boating
When Gary Wahlstedt and Matt Yapp acquired the Horizon Motor Yachts Australia business in 2014 they did so as Horizon motoryacht owners first and foremost. The pair has extensive cruising and boat-owning experience with their families in tow. They talk the talk, walk the walk, the real-world boating experience, not just spiel off the brochure.

Matt, who grew up around boats on the Yorke Peninsula, had an E73 motor yacht when he met Queensland-based Gary in late-2012, who was buying his Horizon E88 motor yacht at the time. Like-minds hit it off and they bought the business together. In so doing, these enthusiasts understand both sides of the boating equation and offer a uniquely Australian take on Horizon luxury motor yachts and, now, sports yachts.

After more than a year in design, the first new E56 XO has been released for our market. This is the first sports yacht from the big Taiwanese yard, designed for the way we use our boats. From foredeck to aft deck, the entertaining spaces are the feature, with a seamless flow throughout.

At rest, there’s an aft galley ready to serve and a saloon and helm deck that offer first-class travel in climate-controlled comfort. Caterpillar C12s with vee drives provide serious cruising capability, before the luxury accommodation that sets Horizons apart envelopes you in this E56 XO.

Indeed, this not not your average factory-rolled production sports yacht, but the result of lot of experience and consideration. With five E56s from Queensland to WA, all with flying bridges, this E56 XO iteration offers something for today's pleasure boater seeking new horizons.

PRICE AND EQUIPMENT
- High-end fitout, heavy engineering and luxury all the way
At $2.6m, the Horizon E56 XO comes with an apparent price premium. But the lifted finish, the complete fit-out, the long equipment list, high-end inventory, and heavy engineering aren’t what you find rolling off production lines.

The mainly European appliance package ranges from the galley to laundry, the tropical-strength air-con is from Marine Air, while the electronics are Raymarine, with a Bose AV system. The boat has Caterpillar C12 power, electric bow and stern thrusters and a Yacht Controller remote for docking.

Single-handedly, our skipper manoeuvred the E56 XO and hooked up a mooring from the swim platform. Easy. Ergo, this is very much the owner-driver boat and, while interior décor is a personal choice, it was of the highest order and tastefully executed.

Fitted options include new roof lines with a targa top supporting the radar, satellite domes, new fishing and BBQ cockpit module, the high-low swim platform with room for a tender or jet ski, front bow table and seating incorporating a sun bed, and numerous finishing touches all this utility with luxury.

LAYOUT AND ACCOMMODATION
- Three cabins, aft-galley layout and lifestyle upgrades
From the hydraulic swim platform, you step up into the raised cockpit, then find the superb island amenities centre. Designed for al fresco entertaining, and as an activity hub, the transom module harbours a barbecue, sink, 30kg-per-day icemaker, live fish/bait tank, fishing rod lockers and tackle storage, and large cold chest all within easy reach of the cockpit dining area.

You could cook your three meals a day, rig the lines and fish off the swim platform for coral trout and red emperor, keep your mud crabs and lobsters alive, and do sundowners on this veritable floating boating backyard. With loose chairs you could seat six for lunch under the moulded awning, and there is even an outdoor TV for catching up on the cricket in summer. Aussie to a tee.

But other outdoor areas vie for your attention on this sports yacht. Walkaround side decks lead to a whole separate lifestyle centre in the bow, with recessed seating for six around a table. If not lunching then this is the place for champagne cruising and dolphin or whale watching. There is also a recessed sunpad for catching some rays while swinging on the hook. Naturally, the anchoring gear is heavy duty.

With the rear hopper window and sliding door open, the saloon solicits attention from these outdoor areas. The aft galley is a notable feature and its dimensions indicate that entertaining is a priority. The impressive Corian bench tops double as a breakfast bar — stools are provided — while the home-like appliances run the gamut from upright fridge and freezer to Smeg oven and cooktop, Fisher and Paykel dishwasher, to washer-dryer below decks.

With lots of glass around the saloon and helm deck, the forward dinette remains open and connected for formal meals. Loose ottomans boost dining for up to six, while the high-low table provides a lounge and impromptu bed option. A 50in TV rises from the entertainment centre and wet bar opposite. Wow!

The combination of light oak joinery, marble-like stone counters, light headliners and LED lighting creates the kind of contemporary, bright and European ambiance you hope for in a modern boat like this. The E56 XO was also beautifully dressed for our dalliance ahead of the Sydney boat show.

Along with high headroom, the lower helm offers decent driving views that are boosted by the array of cockpit cameras. Opening windows, hatches and a skylight add to your comfort. But as the rain set-in, the heated saloon acted as a comfortable cruising retreat, as indeed it would in summer with the reverse-cycle air-con running. All-weather boat.

On the lower deck, the three-cabin/two bathroom accommodation straddles the space between upmarket hotel and luxury yacht, with the kind of high-end finishes you don’t come across every day. The sizing is best described as American, with high headroom and shoulder room, generous sleeping for six, and boosted storage space.

The forward VIP cabin has the expected island queen berth as per the E56 flybridge, but the dark joinery and finishes add a special touch. Double doors to the nearby bathroom with full separate shower stall provide the guest ensuite option. Rather than bunks, the third (starboard) cabin has proper adult-sized single beds, dressed in satin and ready to rumple. Once again, opening portlights offer natural ventilation.

Then you swing back aft, beyond the laundry, and find something special — the impressive full-beam stateroom with Italian-inspired chaise lounge, inbuilt joinery cabinets and hanging spaces. The centrally located ensuite is a feature. Hey, you could travel anywhere in the world and be sated by the level of luxury back here.

Upholstered panels, mirrors, and soft textured finishes add to the upmarket effect, while generator noise was barely audible, as the ocean calls out the hull windows. At which point, this E56 XO feels like a much bigger boat — therein an advantage with Horizon, a motor yacht and superyacht builder, offering a lot of big-boat attributes back down the line in this sports yacht.

HULL AND ENGINEERING
- Proven construction and big name engineering
The big Taiwanese yard has a great reputation. Horizon uses the SCRIMP construction method, which is a vacuum bagging system to help keep weight in check. The hull is a one-piece lamination, with foam-cored stringers, solid fibreglass below the waterline and Divinycell foam coring above, and a collision bulkhead.

Certainly, the mouldings were fair on this E56 XO, which was built to DNV standards on the layup. The engineering is another high point, with good access around the six-cylinder C12 engines with vee drives, even with the necessarily large (dry) exhaust returns for the underwater outlets. The split exhaust on the 17.5kW Onan and the 3Kw invertor also help keep noise in check.

The Cat engines have dual Racor filters, there are clear inspection windows on the strainers, good oil dipstick access, a 24V engine-room ventilation system and windscreen blower. Hynautic steering, Bennett trim tabs, SeaFire fire fighting… it's all mainstream equipment. The boat was built with provision for a Seakeeper gyro and, in fact, we have since learned the Seakeeper 9 will be installed for the new owners. Even greater comfort!

There were sight gauges on the fuel tanks carrying a tad over 3000lt in total, and 738lt of water when full. So you might add a water maker and a tender at the very least. But this boat was otherwise ready to cruise, having just done that on a 380nm delivery trip from the Gold Coast, ahead of our brief pre-2016 Sydney International Boat Show encounter.

ON THE WATER
- Evolution of the E56 with Caterpillar range and power
The E56 XO was developed from the Horizon E56 model, which has been a headline act since its 2013 launch. More than 20 of those flybridge motoryachts have been delivered worldwide, including five now cruising the Australian coast.

That E56 motoryacht with flying bridge was designed around Volvo Penta’s IPS950 system, which use the D11 engine to produce 725hp per side. Four of the five boats here have these pod drives. One has Caterpillar C12s with shafts and so does this new E56 XO…

Using vee drives to fit in the same IPS950 engine-room space, the C12s offer a top speed of 27-28 knots. They mightn’t be quite as fast as the IPS, but they have a business-like manner about the way they go about their duty and cruising noise wasn’t intrusive aboard this well-insulated boat.

While not a rocket ship, there were some nice cruising figures between 1825rpm and 16 knots, ideal if the weather is heavy, giving you a 280nm range using 156lt/hr, up to 19 knots cruising groove at 2050rpm for 180lt/hr and about 290-300nm. According to my maths, range is still 260nm at 24 knots and 2370rpm.

Handling from what we saw was reasonably sporty for a shaft drive and the E56 XO banked during our photo shoots with power and poise. With reduced gunnel height, the boat has a sleek look, concealing both a luxury entertainer and a serious ocean-going sports yacht.

VERDICT
- Luxury Sports Yacht with longevity
The E56 XO offers a custom-boat-like solution, a sports yacht layout, with the backing of an established luxury-boat badge. This is also a serious cruiser that teams owner-driver utility with cruising legs, big-boat engineering and longevity.

With 3000 litres of fuel and, we should add, plenty of freeboard and a nice nose-up line at displacement speeds, you can go places, fast or slow, in a big city or far away from the bright lights. The Whitsundays would just be ideal sitting in that sunken bow lounge.

The bow seating and the cockpit amenities centres are special, the aft galley is the hub, while the accommodation wouldn’t be out of pace in hotel in the South of France.

First class comforts, cruising amenities, entertaining attributes, and Caterpillar reliability. Some real world boating solutions from the Horizon Australia owners here.

LIKES
>> Australian design input creates a great Horizon sports yacht for local boating
>> Amazing transom amenities centre with barbecue, icemaker, live well and more
>> Stunning forward lounge area boosts your entertaining options
>>The aft galley is one of the biggest in the business
>> Beautiful finishes and styling in keeping with a top European hotel
>> Horizon’s is known globally for its top engineering and SCRIMP hull layup

NOT SO MUCH
>> The large aft galley is a dominant feature in the saloon perhaps at the expense of a lounge
>> Not the fastest Sports Yacht on the market, but one of the most solid
>> Some customer’s in this class want a tender garage

Specifications: Horizon E56 XO
Price as test: $2.60m with twin C12 Caterpillar and Australian spec and options as listed above including bow and stern thrusters, Yacht Controller, aft galley, barbecue module, sunbed, 500kg hydraulic platform, forward lounge, Raymarine nav package, cameras, underwater lights, soft furnishings and more…
Priced from: POA for bespoke-built boats
Length: 17.07m
Beam: 4.80m
Draft: 1.35m
Displacement: 23,000kg light
Fuel: 3028 litres
Water: 738 litres
Sleeping: 6+1
Engines: Twin 715hp C12 Caterpillar six-cylinder turbo charged
Generators: Onan 17.5Kw, 3Kw inverter

Supplied by:
Horizon Motor Yachts Australia
31 Masthead Way,
Sanctuary Cove, QLD, 4212
Freecall: 1300 885 056 (Aust Only)
Phone: (07) 5577 9009
Email: sales@hmya.com.au
See www.hmya.com.au