24
REVIEW
Maritimo M45 with Cummins 480hp and shaft drives
- Smallest Motoryacht a winner with shaftsLIKES
- Shaft-driven reliability, range and resale
- Cummins engine backing and parts back-up
- Spacious enclosed flybridge (bigger than M48) with internal staircase creates extra living room
- Aft galley and bi-fold doors merge indoor and outdoor living areas
- Improving fitout with more wow factor via designer Dave Stewart
- Local warranties and solid local dealer support/events
NOT SO MUCH
- Personally, we’d order an intermediate wire on the bow rail
- Could do with non-skid on bowsprit
- Skin fittings high on hull sides might leave streaks
- Amtico floor lifted in one area (second experience with this)
OVERVIEW
- Shaft-drive variant for the long-range boater
You can’t argue with the popularity of pod drives, with their performance when fitted to a relatively light and slippery hull, so long as it’s maintained that way, with the joystick docking device that holds sway with prospective boat buyers, and the ease of installation for boat builders.
After all, the marine industry has voted with its feet and Volvo sold its 10,000th IPS drive worldwide just four years after the pod’s inception in 2005. These realities lead Australian boatbuilding doyen Bill Barry-Cotter to offer Volvo Penta’s IPS pod drives as on his smallest boats in the Maritimo Motoryacht, Cabriolet, Convertible and Mustang ranges.
Yet Barry-Cotter still offers traditional shaft drives on at least some of these models. This is in keeping with the marketing thrust of his long-range motoryachts. For cruising buffs and seasoned boaters, the shaft drive still holds greater sway than pod drives.
Enter the M45, the baby of the Motoryacht range, but a boat that offers class-leading volume for the cruising enthusiast and keen family boater. We tested the initial M45 (http://www.boatpoint.com.au/reviews/2012/flybridge/maritimo/m45/maritimo-m45-motoryacht-31931) with twin IPS 600 pod drives in mid-2012, following the boat’s enthusiastic launch at the Sydney International Boat Show, and it proved an eye opener.
The pod-driven M45 ran very well during out tests. It proved eager and agile without the inevitable mountain of cruising gear, the tender or the davit if you choose to fit one, the provisions, bootleg and grub packed aboard for holiday time. As a quick getaway boat on big-city waterways, the pod-driven M45 gets our nod.
But all boats perform at their best for testers and would-be owners when just-launched light ships. Add all the aforesaid owner’s gear and some mid-summer growth to the hull, the pods or running gear, and your boat will slow-up. Which is why it remains this writer’s view that, for true long-range performance, shaft drives are the answer. Hardly ground-breaking news, mind you.
PRICE AND EQUIPMENT
- Hot sub-$1 million long-range motoryacht
The M45 was well-received at the 2012 Sydney International Boat Show as a special limited-edition package for under $1 million drive-away. For this deal you got pod or shaft drives -- bow and stern thrusters in the latter configuration instead of joystick -- standard flybridge and bathroom air conditioning, second helm seat, Muir chain counter, Strataglass aft clears on the bridge, saltwater foredeck washdown, teak decks and water gauge. Such things used to be options on the old 440 Offshore Convertible whose hull forms the foundation for this boat.
Barry-Cotter has now extending his special deal, initially only for the first six M45s. The bundle price of $960,000 -- with pod or shaft drives – also includes a soft furnishing package, twin Simrad 12in navigation screens including colour plotter, sounder and radar, plus autopilot and Bose stereo system. Our test boat also had a barbecue in its cockpit amenities.
In fact, our test boat had quite a lot of optional kit to take it up to $1,054,000. That price excludes the $70,000 SeaKeeper M800 gyro under the cockpit floor, but includes satellite television, rod racks and launcher and more. Due to the not insignificant size and 554kg weight of that gyro stabiliser, some additional mods were made to this first M45 shaft drive.
The water capacity of the two polyethylene was reduced from 400 litres to 300 litres, we’re told, and a high-capacity 210-250 litre (depending on conditions) watermaker was fitted in the engine room. The Stella watermaker, costing about $10,000 installed -- or you can DIY and save a grand or so -- is Australian-made using Davey pumps, American high-pressure pumps and imported membranes. It’s an easy unit to operate and maintain and we give it the thumbs up.
We also noticed extra gear such as a Karcher high-pressure washer (fitted in the lazarette beside the gyro), rod racks under the flybridge overhang and a rocket launcher at the aft end of the bridge, rod holders, satellite TV and a strap-in sunpad on the bow so you can toast the sunsets while swinging on the anchor at the Outer Reef.
A separate reef anchor and rope/chain rode with retrieval buoy were being added at the time of writing by SBM Maritimo, and a bunch of spares were already packed aboard in preparation for the big trip north. In short, what is a very complete M45 package was an even more serious cruise-ready adventure boat for just over a million. This represents real value for a long-range Maritimo motoryacht.
It is also our view that history will prove the time-honoured shaft drive is a sound investment in not just maintenance and reliability but also resale value. Ask yourself which would you choose between two preloved 5-10 year-old cruisers with similar engine hours and conditions, but with one sporting pod drives and the other shafts?
In any case, we welcome the option of shaft or pod drives in the M45 to cater for all boating bents. And it’s a credit to Barry-Cotter that he can accommodate that without the need for hull changes. The sub-million price and this boat’s handy size are added attractions for what’s proven a strong seller in Sydney to date.
LAYOUT OVERVIEW
- Living space belies her size
The M45 has an extraordinarily big footprint for its waterline length and truly impressive living spaces for a boat with walkaround decks and an internal staircase. The former detail endears it to family boaters and husband-and-wife crews, as going forward to tend mooring lines or to just hangout on the foredeck is a safe exercise.
At the same time, the internal staircase and three-sided enclosed, air-conditioned, flying bridge create an additional easily reached integrated living space. When passage making or cruising with the clan, you can close the saloon doors, turn on the air-con, and effectively create an upstairs/downstairs cruiser without the detachment of traditional flybridge helm stations with external ladders.
We’re told that women boaters welcome the sense of connection between flying bridge and saloon, the walkaround decks and cockpit on the M45. With the demographic being 55-70 year olds, the M45 has a lot to offer and is only marginally smaller than the previous best-selling M48. In other words, the M45 belies its size.
OUTDOOR LIVING
- Big cockpit and walkaround decks
The M45 has a much bigger (teak laid) cockpit kicking back under the flybridge overhang than what might be apparent when the boat is viewed from afar. In keeping with its lifestyle bent, the transom features an inbuilt island amenities centre flanked by transom gates rather than a solid continuous transom and some kind of fish setup. All the deck gear is heavy duty and the above-deck cleats are easily accessible.
Being a keen angler, our owner fitted additional rod storage. You can do what you desire with the flush-mounted rod holders, add outrigger poles, external live-bait tanks and so on. There may be an option in future with a solid transom with marlin door for the fishing market, but for now this is more of a crossover cruiser in keeping with Maritimo’s return-to-its-roots 2012 strategy.
The moulded amenities centre, the hub of the cockpit, features a moulded sink with hot/cold water, electric barbecue hotplate (usually optional), top-loading fridge/freezer, 240V GPO and storage space. There’s additional storage for fenders and lines in side lockers, plus in the lazarette, which you don’t get on the pod option.
The deep boarding platform adds to the waterfront real estate, there are requisite swim ladder and deck shower, while cruising buffs are likely to include some kind of euro awning to create extra shade over the cockpit. Steps lead forward to the well-designed side decks backed by rails and moulded tow rails leading to the foredeck and it’s optional sunpad.
?Back aft, with an aft galley and bifold doors, Maritimo has achieved its goal of merging the outdoors with the indoors and presenting an extended living space on one level. This increases the apparent size of the M45, while also making it a bigger and great entertainer.
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Compared with the M48, which is 90cm longer and 52cm wider, the M45 has a vast cockpit that is just 4 per cent smaller, a generous saloon that is 9 per cent smaller, but a lofty flying bridge that is a surprising 5 per cent bigger, we’re told. In other words, you hardly lose a thing to that top-selling M48.
SALOON LIVING
- Single-level indoor/outdoor plan
The layout from the saloon doors back indoors remains the same for the M45 in shaft guise or the previously tested IPS pod drive. Traced by solid white counters, the aft galley caters for a party, with handy vertical pantry, pot and appliance drawers (Blum mechanisms), four-burner electric cooktop, combi microwave oven, and optional (must-have) dishwasher.
The upright fridge/freezer is opposite, to port and built into the high-gloss teak cabinetry filling the void under the aft ascending stairs. A couple of drawers add to the storage, while twin doors nearby reveal the tried-and-tested breaker-style BEP 12/240V control panel and generator start. Simple stuff.
Amtico flooring in this high-traffic area turns into carpet denoting the forward saloon living and lounging space. Should you need to lift an engine out of the M45, this Amtico flooring will need to be removed. But engine changes can still be effected through the soft floor patches (some possible movement of these might have been responsible for the Amtico flooring lifting in one small part).
Forward, an L-shaped lounge and small triangular teak ‘dining’ table, which was a tad tight to get around, are mounted on a raised floor section that improves headroom in the aft cabin below (but removes scope for drawers). Two couples can fit in here and good views extend seaward and to the television in the wetbar opposite.
A second L-shaped settee is to starboard alongside the wetbar that includes bottle storage, twin leather-topped serveries -- handy for cocktail hour or a buffet lunch -- and, yes, a 240V GPO for recharging your devices, plus that television under the flip-up lid. Our test boat appeared to have additional 240V GPOs in the saloon, galley and flying bridge, with the owner making sure he’s devices and comms are well charged en route north.
Storage drawers add to the wet-bar cabinet’s usefulness, while we found the optional washer-dryer under the adjoining lounge base near the companionway leading down to the accommodation.
ACCOMMODATION
- Sleeping for seven, two big cabins and two bathrooms
The two cabin/two bathroom layout is a vast improvement on the previous 440 with three smaller cabins. The stateroom with island berth (bigger than the old M48’s we’re told) is in the bow. Storage exists in hanging lockers and under-bed drawers, while twin opening portlights and the mandatory escape hatch with insect screen provide crossflow ventilation.
The en suite features a full shower, Vacuflush freshwater head, recessed sink with solid vanity top, Italian fittings, and OceanAir hatches throughout, each with insect/shade screens. Bravo. We have wanted those before so you can leave the bathroom hatches open at night in insect-prone areas.
Industrial designer David Stewart had a hand in lifting the nautical style in the cabins, with fold-down teak ‘shelves’ either side of the island bed handy for resting personal effects. Just don’t lean on them. Cedar lining would be nice in the hanging spaces, too, as is the TV on the wall of the stateroom. Our owner fitted satellite TV, whose price has come back down to earth in recent years.
There are layout options for the aft cabin, which could double as a stateroom if you can’t sleep due to water lapping on the chines tracing the bow. As standard, the cabin has three singles but the two transverse ones can be ordered as a double. Opening portlights, hanging space, and a small bedside table with drawer were noted.
Headroom exists at the cabin entrance and around the separate portside single bunk, which proved rather comfortable when tested alongside the opening hull portlights. But on the other two transverse singles (or optional double bed) you’re living and sleeping close to the floor. The upside is that the noise on the chines should be less than in the bow.
A door from the aft cabin and step lead into the second en suite/day head, which has another full shower stall. And with that you have a very complete cruiser for two couples, a family of four or more -- the convertible double bed in the flying bridge lets the M45 sleep seven at holiday time.
ENCLOSED BRIDGE
- Sprawling penthouse on a 45 footer
The enclosed flybridge -- glass on three sides with aft curtain -- is arguably the greatest achievement on this 45 footer. With the helm forward and an extended aft bridge deck, you get a huge amount of floor space, seats for cruising with a crowd, dinette, fridge, bottle locker, servery and sink. The owner added a Nespresso machine with pod dispenser.
The standard convertible double bed is made in minutes from the L-shaped lounge. At the very least, it will be coveted by kids during ocean passages, if not the skipper when anchored on those less than ideal nights when you want to be near the helm.
Stowage space for safety gear exists here and there, with carpet underfoot and good headroom above. Standard ducted air conditioning and a Webasto electric sunroof, with shade and insect screens, lead to climate control, while LEDs throughout let you light up the boat without worrying about house-battery drain at night. A padeye on the hardtop let’s you clean it with a harness fitted.
Twin helm chairs are standard, where there used to be one. The main helm chair is offset slightly from the wheel, but the set-up with Cummins/MerCruiser DTS throttles/shifts, bow and stern thrusters and owner-added Yacht Controller on a lanyard gives great command.
Vision forward of the ocean road is unhindered, but you’ll need to leave the helm with the remote controller, linked to engines and thrusters, to see over the cockpit when docking. Aft docking throttles on the bridge and/or cockpit are an option.
Leather trim and a reworked dash pod lift the standard of the M45, with nav. gear including twin Garmin 7012s, GHC 10 Pilot, and VHF. There was a central Smartcraft engine monitor for the twin Cummins QSB5.9, thrusters and yacht controller, SeaKeeper panel, Lenco trim tabs, chain counter and a triple wipers just in case.
With high headroom and class-leading space, the flying bridge really does rate as another room rather than just a helm. Although the engines are under the saloon floor, leading to higher cruising noise levels than the pod-driven version with aft-mounted engines, there’s room for the whole family to cruise as one in the bridge away from the noise.
HULL AND ENGINEERING
- Shaft drive for coastal cruising
Barry-Cotter says he is the only boat builder to offer the same model with pod or shaft drives. The price remains the same with either 435hp IPS 600s or Cummins 480hp QSB5.9s, with joystick on the former, and bow and stern thrusters on the latter. As touched on, seasoned cruisers will take the grunty shaft set-up any day.
Whereas the IPS 600s are mounted in what would otherwise be the boat’s lazarette, thereby stealing storage space, the QSB5.9 diesel inboards are under the saloon floor. With an aft watertight bulkhead in the engine room and separate access hatch and ladder near the saloon companionway, access is pretty good.
Naval architect Garry Lidgard said they shifted some of the engineering items, mounted the engines further aft relative to other Maritimos to create greater accommodation (the aft cabin), and increased the deadrise and shaft angles slightly. But the ultimate aim of retaining the same trim and COG as the IPS boat was achieved.
?Once inside the engine room, I easily accessed all sides of the compact 5.8L blocks, the sizeable aft 11kW generator, the strainers, fuel filters and coolant bottles, the watermaker on the forward bulkhead, and the wing fuel tanks. The boat had an ultrasonic antifoul system fitted, too.
The internal engine vents are a nice touch, but the skin fittings high on the hull sides -- thus reducing costs since seacocks aren’t required -- could lead to extra hull cleaning in future. Hull construction is solid GRP for the running surface, with cored deck structures. Displacement is around 16,000kg in both engine variants, we’re told.
ON THE WATER
- Latitude and longitude in the cruising groove
We had some residual seas for our test and they were the kind of abating conditions off the back of a low-pressure system that one might ride north for their passage. In all directions, from a standing start and in the cruising groove, the M45 proved agile, dry and willing, while riding in a somewhat more defiant manner than the flying pod version.
With the waste water and 300 litre (reduced from 400 litre) water tanks fitted in the lazarette, along with the heavy gyro and more kit, this M45 probably ran a little deeper, with the submerged aft chines dampening the rolling moment and giving a nicer motion through the water than the light M45 pod boat. The photos seem to show this, too.
According to Maritimo’s supplied official sea trial data for the M45 with twin 435hp IPS600s or shaft-driven 480hp Cummins, top speed is 29.7 knots and 29.5 knots respectively at 3400rpm-plus wide-open throttle. Nothing in it.
Fast cruise with the smaller IPS600s at 3200rpm is 24.25 knots for 128.22 litres/hour or 5.29 litres/nautical mile and a safe 309 nautical mile range. At 3200rpm, the Cummins QSB5.9s with shafts give 25.8 knots fast cruise for 156.9 litres/hour and 6.08 litres/nautical mile and a safe range of 266 nautical miles. Carrying the same 1000 litres of fuel and full-water load, the IPS wins out for fast cruising at 3200rpm by more than 15 per cent.
But pull on the reins and you’ll get a different story in the ideal long-range cruising groove. At 3000rpm, the IPS returns 21.30 knots for 112.28 litres/hour, 5.27 litres/nautical mile, and 307 nautical mile range. The Cummins with shafts returns a sprightlier 23.95 knots for 126.85 litres/hour, equating to 5.30 litres/nautical mile, and a range of 306 nautical miles.
In other words, the 480hp Cummins shaft drive set-up is faster for the same range. Given the realities of motoryacht ownership, all the gear you’re going to pack aboard, and some slime or shell on the underwater appendages, the shaft result has more in-built margin and scope for good performance in the long run.
We’d run the boat at 3000rpm and be more than happy reeling in the sea miles in the enclosed flying bridge on the M45 with Cummins and shafts. Add the effects of the SeaKeeper gyro and the boat sits like a pier when you wet a line.
VERDICT
- Better in the long run
On paper, at 14.80 metres (48ft 6in) in length overall, this is a big 45 in typical Barry-Cotter fashion. The hull has a good amount of freeboard for offshore boating at displacement speeds, should you need to really cover the miles in remote areas, and it seems nice and stable despite wearing a big bridge.
In respect of pod versus shaft, experienced boatowners just don’t need a joystick docking device to park their boats but instead have shaft-driven values ingrained in their boating driving habits.
Maritimo dealer Steve Batton, from his eponymous waterfront business at The Spit in Sydney, says he has been tipping more and more new owners into shaft-driven Maritimos for the very reason that their proven reliability means less hassles for the owner and for him in the long run.
The owner of this first shaft-driven M45 boat, pictured hereabouts, was a keen angler stepping out of a big Boston Whaler with twin outboards. He didn’t think he’d use his M45 as much as he has done. With bow and stern thrusters, his new boat is anything but a handful to command. A joystick is otiose.
Meantime, in keeping with the Maritimo’s charter, the owner was poised to embark on a long-held dream to cruise to Hamilton Island and then onto Lizard Island just days after our test. He took a month off work, will wing it in for fishing and cruising expeditions thereafter.
In the long haul, in the fullness of time, history will be prove that the Cummins 480hp QSB5.9s and shaft drives represent the best and most enduring engine combination for the M45.
Specifications:
Price as tested: $1,054,000 (excluding $70,000 SeaKeeper M800 gyro) with satellite television, rod racks and launcher, twin 12in Garmin screens, autopilot, Bose, saloon television, Blueray player, teak on swim platform, cockpit fridge, dishwasher, washer/dryer, flybridge table and more.
Priced from: Special boat-show bundle of $960,000 (see text above) was still being offered at the time of publishing, with either IPS 600s pod drives or Cummins QSB5.9s and shafts.
LOA: 14.80m
Beam: 4.68m
Draft: 1.20m (max)
Weight: Around 16,000kg dry with twin Cummins QSB5.9s engines
Sleeping: 5+2
Fuel capacity: 1800 litres
Water capacity: 300 litres (plus 200 litre/hour watermaker)
Holding tank: 150 litres
Engines: Twin Cummins QSB5.9s common-rail diesel inboard engines with shaft drives
Supplied by:
Maritimo Offshore,
15 Waterway Drive,
Coomera, Qld, 4209
Phone: (07) 5588 6001
Website: www.maritimo.com.au
Tested through:
SBM Maritimo Sydney - The Spit NSW
Suite 1, 81 Parriwi Rd, The Spit
Mosman, NSW, 2088
Phone: (02) 9968 1222
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Written byDavid Lockwood
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Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
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