Horizon E84 Motor Yacht: Review

OVERVIEW
- Mission: To build the perfect motoryacht for any family or boating lifestyle
Horizon Motor Yachts Australia (HMYA) certainly stole the limelight with its latest Horizon E84, a stunning motoryacht with gorgeous lines that stood out from the white-boat pack at the 2015 Sydney International Boat Show. We admired the boat from various angles and just had to find out more.

Horizon says the E84 has been designed for both luxury and functionality with the interior volume of an E88 without the price tag. The HMYA team designed the E84 specifically for the Australia market, creating many upgrades and working closely with the Horizon factory in Taiwan to give rise to what it says is "the perfect vessel for any family or boating lifestyle."

To this end, we counted 10 fridges, freezers and icemakers; eight televisions; formal dining for 10; dedicated lounges in one open-plan forward saloon area for 20; and sleeping for up to 12. Marble, granite, leather and fine joinery feature in the E84, as does a lot of natural light not always seen in motoryachts. Then there is the engineering…

With impressive ship-like systems, twin generators, zero-speed stabilisers, chilled-water tropical air-conditioning, and a boosted fuel capacity with 10,200 litres, this E84 is going places. Autonomously. With mighty V12 Caterpillar C32ACERT 1600bhp engines we saw 25 knots. Back at 10 knots, we saw the horizon.

But the thing that this established Taiwanese yard doesn’t lose sight of is the need for manageability. With an aft docking station and a Yacht Controller remote, Horizon Motor Yacht showed how it’s done. Office and marketing manager, Erica Rae, crabbed the big boat out of its Sanctuary Cove berth as we squared the fenders away and headed for the Broadwater. The big easy.

PRICE AND EQUIPMENT
- A special Australian build with owner/importer input
This E84 has been equipped as a special Australian cruiser by the importers, also two passionate Horizon boaters, Gary Wahlsted with his E73, and business partner Matt Yapp with an E88. These owner/drivers of Horizon's motoryachts do it for work and pleasure, so they can see both sides of the equation — this E84 reflects their combined intimate motor-yachting knowledge.

Besides boosted range and autonomy (once you fit your choice of watermaker), this E84 had plenty of upgrades. They ranged from a 450kg hydraulic platform — so you can easily carry the tender/PWCs between anchorages — to a large stainless-steel barbecue for cooking the coral trout, from custom bridgedeck and cockpit bars to a full-width hydraulic transom door that creates a beach-club by the water.

There was a uniquely Australian Sky Lounge up top, offering fully enclosed climate-controlled cruising with penthouse-like views of the Pacific ahead. A dayhead was added by the local importers to create a fully serviced cruising station. Not need to go below.

The boosted fuel capacity with an extra 1700 litres creating 10,200 litres in total in turn creates a real expedition ‘ship’, where distant coral reefs on the chart are within striking range. Seaplane back out if you have a meeting.

Zero speed stabilisers add to your comfort t sea, while power upgrades ranged from three-phase to a 4G Wi-Fi router for virtual conference calls. An extensive Raymarine navigation equipment lets you dial-up your destination and travel virtually hands-free, while redundant engineering like twin gensets means you have back-up plans in case of a breakdown.

With hydraulic thrusters and a Yacht Controller, this big Horizon E84 is certainly an easy mooring proposition for a couple or the crewed lifestyle. If you get the gig, the crew cabin is exceptional, with twin single turning into a double for an impromptu couple.

The interior has full climate control from a chilled-water Marine Air system with, again, back-up pumps to a lot of natural ventilation. With all the amenities from Vintec wine coolers to an internal electric frosted saloon window, that creates an instant open-plan layout at the press of a button, you have both a luxury family boat and a serious corporate entertainer.

With all this gear, the E84 was a very special boat with signature ship-like engineering but, just as impressively, a very clean and timeless motoryacht line. The E84 was yours for $7.75m. Having said that, every Horizon in this class is a custom boat. So you’re looking at $7 to $8 million.

LAYOUT AND ACCOMMODATION
- A custom layout that maximises the boat’s functionality
You could compile a coffee-table book or app on this luxuriously appointed E84, with neutral and light high-gloss cherry wood joinery, marble and/or granite, beautiful lighting and exquisite attention to detail throughout. The inventory even includes a section devoted to the boat’s home appliances. It is that homely.

The four-stateroom accommodation plan forward, and an aft crew cabin, are standard on this E84. However, in light of the 6.10m or 20ft beam, the local HMYA team created something special with the living areas in between.

The galley was shifted aft, with the saloon lounge area pushed forward behind the windscreen, and a formal dining area in between. The aft galley ensures that there is easy access to and from the cockpit, to facilitate that indoor-outdoor casual living that we Australians so enjoy. Internal and external staircases also bring the upper bridgedeck and skylounge into regular play.

The generous cockpit features a wet bar, extra refrigeration, relaxed dining table for eight, and there’s the huge high/low swim platform with stepladder. There’s both internal and external access to the crew quarters featuring the impressive twin-single cabin, bathroom, kitchenette, and watertight engine-room access.

With the upgraded full-width hydraulic transom door, the entire crew quarters and the bathrooms with hot showers open up to the swim platform like a beach club. You can imagine the crew fetching the water toys, dispatching them at the coral anchorage, and leaving the door up all day so you can shower after your dives. The stone counters and galley let you serve cocktails and a buffet lunch down here. This would be our hangout on the E84 in the GBR.

Full bulwarks lead forward to a beefed-up twin-anchoring setup for Aussie conditions and, of more interest to pleasure-seekers, a foredeck lounge from which to toast the sunset or breathe some fresh air while slow-speed displacement cruising. The walkaround decks are absolutely kid and dog friendly, with side provisioning gates, ship-like stainless-steel hardware, and there’s bow storage for fenders and lines.

Side pantograph-style doors and wide saloon doors usher you inside, where the aft galley serveries are topped in stone. Miele appliances are in abundance, along with refrigeration (including dedicated wine and beer fridges). Including icemakers you’re looking at 10 fridge units. There’s a garbage compactor, Insinkerator, twin pull-out pantry units, and loads of food-prep and servery space.

The galley return creates a breakfast bar with stools, before you reach the dedicated six-person formal dining setting in dark Wenge timber opposite a wetbar. A retractable glass window provides a privacy screen or division to the elevated forward lounge area, which is opposite an AV centre for on-water cinema, corporate presentations and monitoring the navigation data when underway.

With the self-contained skylounge offering all-weather helming up top, the forward area behind the windscreen is freed-up for one of the best seats in the ‘house’. With this forward area, the one big lounging zone seats two. Indeed, the E84 loves company and the more the merrier for those champagne cruises.

As for accommodation, you can lose yourself down below. Down the companionway, you arrive a foyer with handy dayhead/ensuite for the fourth cabin with twin single bunks, which come together to form an impromptu double. There’s huge floor space, cedar-lined hanging space, opening ports and an inviting ambience derived from the timber bedhead surrounds and textured bedding.

The third cabin has a similar layout with twin singles that again come together to create a double should you need it (spare linen can be carried in the crew quarters, where there’s a laundry). Just aft of that is the full-beam stateroom, so this third cabin in close proximity is a good spot for close family. The third and fourth cabins share the dayhead.

With a sink and coffee-making facilities at its entrance, the full-beam master stateroom is something to behold. The standard E84 appears to have twin bathrooms behind the bedhead. On this boat, the bathroom was alongside as part of the boat’s full-beam stateroom. A great solution to maximise cabin space elsewhere.

The owners’ king bed beckons, there’s a bureau and dresser, big wardrobe, double hanging locker, ottomans and inviting open en suite with huge split shower and separate WC with marble counters. An opening portlight, natural lighting and ventilation, air-con and AV add to the five star ‘presidential’ suite.

Guests have it pretty good, too, with the VIP stateroom forward with another stunning en suite with American-sized shower stall (perhaps a tad too much GRP for my liking) and stone counters. Building for the US market, Horizon makes sure its sizing fits and will change finishes to suit your liking.

The E84 flows and it’s got an absolutely liveable layout, but this boat is also at the point where its crew quarters become inviting enough for special guests.

With the huge hydraulic transom door and extended hydraulic swim platform, the beach club and watersports centre is open. It’s this feature that adds to the E84’s appeal. Here’s a motoryacht that goes from corporate to family, fine dining to casual fun. The Horizon Motor Yacht’s Australia crew got it right.

HULL AND ENGINEERING
- Shiplike systems, redundancy and built quality
This 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 our E84, which was built to DNV standards on the layup (with survey options). The engineering is another highpoint, with headroom around the V12 C32ACERT Cats that spin four-blade props in tunnels.

The engines have dual Racor filters, there are clear inspection windows on the strainers, underwater exhausts with bypass, and a ventilation system. They are linked to electronic controls and there is power steering and heavy-duty trim tabs. Thrusters, windlass, davit and ABT-Trac stabilisers add to the big-boat hydraulic systems.

There were sight gauges on the fuel tanks, an oil-change system, a 27.5kW and 22.5kW generator, the chilled-water air con, three-phase power upgrade, inverters for the fridges, AV and GPOs, and the boat was plumbed for a watermaker. It otherwise carries 1600 litres of potable water.

The engine room has a Delta T ventilation system with moisture eliminators, colour-coded plumbing and wiring, while the boat is built with integral water and black water tanks. There is access to everything and everywhere via hatches. An engine-driven bilge pump might be worthwhile insurance if you plan on expedition boating. We were…

Last but not least, the E84 has very low noise levels when running thanks to the underwater exhausts and great engineering. When running generators on the hook as we did and you will on a boat like this just about 24/7, you hear barely a murmur. The laughter over dinner will be so much louder.

ON THE WATER
- Powerful V12 Cats give a 22-knot top speed
The E84 has an impressive stated top speed of 22 knots, but we saw 25 knots running downhill on the day with one-quarter fuel, three-quarters water, and just a few of us aboard. Fully loaded, this is an 81-tonne boat! But that’s not an issue for the combined 24 cylinders and 64 litres of Cat engine displacement.

After being wowed by the power and the sheer ease with which this ship transforms into a planing craft, we came back to expedition and champagne-cruising speeds. It was here that vibration levels, noise and the motion was intoxicating if not soporific. The journey will be almost as welcome as the destination.

Your transoceanic range at about 10 knots is more than 1030 nautical miles. The high ship-like bow appears to have plenty of lift and there’s maximum freeboard at displacement speeds. It’s a real little ship with the stabilisers keeping you on an even keel.

The sky lounge helm adds to the sense of entitlement and realisation of your cruising dreams. There are 360-degree views from the twin Stidd chairs, television and luxury L-shaped leather settee that forms a drop-down bed.

Outdoors, on the bridgedeck, is a cocktail bar, bar seating and barbecue that together create a wonderful outdoor entertaining deck when the hook goes down. Cocktail hour indeed.

Eventually, we had to put this big girl back in its Sanctuary Cove berth. Again, Erica made it look easy. Because it is so easy, even gentle to dock, the E84 will be used often and, from the right marina berth, shorthanded without drama. It's at the cusp of owner/driver sizing and will probably only need a skipper for the long passages and big trips.

VERDICT
- The ideal Great Barrier Reef explorer
You can do the Brisbane to Noumea, a mere 800 miler, in this E84. But with the Great Barrier Reef just up the road, why would you bother? And with crew quarters, and a likely helping hand or two, you don’t have to worry about much with this long-standing Taiwanese boat builder. No, all you need to concern yourself with is your destination. Where will it be? And maybe customs.

Meantime, we will finish with one last important note. The E84 is very well-proportioned and the timeless superstructure will ensure this boat’s enduring appeal. The cockpit doesn’t look cut and shut and the boat cuts a very fine line as it saunters past, gallops like a Trojan at 20-plus knots, or just sits there barely moving at the marina.

LIKES
>> Australian design input creates the ultimate long-range luxury motoryacht
>> Intoxicating power and performance from twin V12 Cat C32A 1660hp engines
>> Easy berthing with hydraulic thrusters and the Yacht Controller remote
>> Transoceanic cruising range from boosted fuel supply
>> Amazing opening transom with ‘beach club’ and several custom bars
>> Stunning forward lounge area and sky lounge helm above
>> Horizon’s is known globally for its top engineering and SCRIMP hull layup
>> The E84 has a well-proportioned and timeless hull line that won’t date

NOT SO MUCH
>> A personal thing but there’s a fair bit of GRP in the bathrooms
>> Views from the lounge area are quite introspective rather than out through external glass
>> Not sure how that dark flooring will wear in the long run

Specifications: Horizon E84
Price as test: $7.75m with twin V12 Caterpillar C32ACERT and Australian spec and options as listed above including ABT-Trac stabilisers, stern thrusters, Yacht Controller, aft galley, forward lounge area, 450kg hydraulic platform, custom aft deck and bar, full-width hydraulic transom door and ‘beach club’, three-phase shorepower, 4G WiFi, Raymarine nav package, cameras, underwater lights, extra 1700lt fuel, dayhead in Skylounge, sliding single beds to doubles, wine fridge, underwater lights and more…
Priced from: POA
LOA: 25.91m
LWL: 21.99m
Beam: 6.10m
Draft: 1.75m
Height: 8.86m
Displacement: 65,000kg light, 81,000kg loaded
Fuel: 10,200 litres
Water: 1600 litres
Sleeping: 10+2
Engines: 1600hp V12 Caterpillar C32 ACERT
Generators: Onan 27.5Kw and 22.5Kw