Maritimo M59: Review

The new M59 is an Australian-made motor yacht built for comfort at sea. You get a 500nm range at 20 knots from trusty Volvo Penta engines spinning shaft-drives and five-blade props, all the Maritimo attributes like walkaround decks and an enclosed flying bridge, but also boosted liveaboard accommodation in an especially wide-beam hull with three superlative cabins.

OVERVIEW
- Slotting into the fleet with a wider hull and improved layout
After staging the world premiere the M59 cruising motor yacht at the 2017 Miami International Boat Show in February, Maritimo was up to boat #6 by the time it trumpeted the local launch at the 2017 Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show (SCIBS) in May.

Slotting in between the M54 and the M62, the M59 has been a winner on the world stage. Two are in the US, one is heading to Canada, another is bound for Monaco and the European boat shows, while remaining brace are local boats including the M59 displayed at SCIBS.

This showboat is the one we got to test drive and, albeit on a short run, in testing conditions. Tied to Maritimo’s facility at Hope Harbour, the M59 looks like an especially seaworthy motor yacht that’s made for a life at sea. Despite a 15-20 knot southeasterly on the not-so-Gold Coast, we headed offshore into Maritimo territory.

Standing alongside the M59, you can’t help but notice the huge hull volume, the deep ship-like destroyer bow, and the towering freeboard.  The sheerline flows back to a surprisingly roomy cockpit ideal for outdoor pursuits. The walkaround decks, enclosed flybridge with internal stairs, aft galley and shaft drives are always parts of the Maritimo mix.

Step aboard and there’s something else again. We will go so far as to say this M59 has the best accommodation in the fleet per foot. There’s more room to move and the third cabin has single beds that convert into a double, rather than the bunks in the M62. In addition, the dash has been expanded to take three 19in-22in displays.

In fact, the new M59 offers the attributes of its bigger M62 in a hull that’s more than a metre shorter but, get this, actually 17cm wider. Running 800hp D13 Volvo Penta engines, pretty much all you miss on the M59 versus the M62 is some waterline length for which you save $170k in the sticker price.

PRICE AND EQUIPMENT
- A $2.5m boat with the 800hp D13 Volvos and upgrades
While the base engines are 725hp D11s, presumably for a modest 26 knots top speed, all six M59s to date have been fitted the same 800hp D13s. This $57k upgrade creates a 28-30 knot comfortable cruiser, with a 500nm-plus range at 17-20 knots.

In keeping with Maritimo’s flexible approach to boat building, as indeed one must at this level, all six M59s have been very different boats. The European iteration we also inspected had a French-red boot-line, a softer interior with rolled edges on the lounges, and Wenge joinery. Personally, I like the way the softer lounges contrast with the edgy joinery and I think we’re going to see more of that relaxed interior styling.

While bulkheads can’t be moved, Maritimo is necessary flexible with the fitout and things like aft bridge lounges, hopper window arrangements, various cockpit layouts, European or fishing transoms, and so on are available. The big opening lazarette can be fitted out in different ways, too.

The base price of the M59 is around $2.11m with the 725hp D11 Volvo Penta engines, 17.5 Onan generator, and a long standard inventory. The price as tested was about $2.5m — typical for the M59s we’re told — with the 800hp D13 Volvo Penta engines and options including three big Simrad 18.5in touchscreens ($56k), hydraulic thrusters, and so on.

DESIGN AND ACCOMMODATION
- Clever use of space and the best third cabin in the fleet
The M59 is a three-cabin/two-bathroom boat, but where it differs is in that third cabin. Floor space has increased, the twin single beds slide together to form the boat’s third double bed, and it’s just a first-rate cabin. The M62 has bunks in here.

The VIP cabin in the bow enjoys especially high headroom thanks to the deep hull with raised foredeck. There’s also a decent amount of floor and dressing space at the foot of the island bed. With the communal second bathroom doubling as an en suite, guests are made to feel special.

Ditto owners in the full-beam stateroom, a Maritimo masterstroke with separate mezzanine level dressing space and virtual office desk. From this ‘landing’ you also access the private en suite. Down a few steps is the full-beam cabin with a 48in television facing the queen bed, lounges for kicking back, and deep opening hull windows.

Together, these three terrific cabins and the option of a sofa bed in the bridge let you sleep eight on your M59 at holiday time. Storage for all your gear is similarly abundant, from under-bed and sub-seat areas to large pullout drawers, hanging lockers and underfloor holds. Shower stalls and ventilation are other strong points down below.

Back in the saloon, an L-shaped lounge and sofa are served by a wetbar under the bridge stairs, with additional fridge/freezer drawers and a 40in TV that swivels. The aft galley had Miele appliances and Maritimo’s popular pullout pantry.

The open-plan saloon of the M59 is a little shorter than the M62, but you still get a decent dinette flipped to starboard ahead of the galley. With bi-fold aft doors, you can open this boat right up to serve the cockpit seating. It’s a seamless transition from indoors to outdoors, from the industrial-grade vinyl galley flooring to the teak decks, and forward again into the carpeted saloon.

For owners, the electrical switching in the portside locker near the saloon doors is simple BEP breaker stuff with a VSR battery system that anyone can figure out. You can check your tank levels here, plug in and charge your devices, UHF radios, phones, even stash some emergency safety gear.

Back outdoors, the transom lounge and dinette let you stage al fresco lunches — we’d add some casual chairs — while twin gates leading down to the swim platform and, should you prefer, optional hydraulic extension. Waterfront real estate gains from the boat’s wide beam, too.

The opening lazerette is similar to the company's M64 motor yacht, creating a large storage space ideal for a small tender (the main would be on the bow) and all the water toys you could muster. The barbecue and sink are built into the transom and operated from the swim platform, but there are options to play with here including icemakers and fishing stations.

Walkaround decks lead to a nice big flat foredeck with solid Muir anchoring gear. But it’s the flybridge aft deck that calls. This is your rooftop terrace with views. Assemble folding chairs, use the fridge in the bridge and do sundowners. Or stage casual meals when not kicking back on beanbags. Factory seating options including lounges if you want to create something permanent.

HULL AND ENGINEERING
- A simple engine room with servicing room
A full moulded liner in the standing-height engine room extends to the forward bulkhead of the owner’s stateroom. Bonded to the hull, it creates a lot of rigidity and a one-piece monocoque structure.

The lay-up is solid glass below the waterline with cored sides and superstructure for a 27,000kg base boat, just 2000kg less than the M62, and with the same 4400lt fuel capacity.

While the beam is 17cm wider and the waterline 118cm shorter, I couldn’t detect any undue pitching or porpoising during our brief offshore test, albeit in more chop than real swell. Down sea, a keel helps keep you on an even keel.

The slippery variable deadrise hull has a flat run aft and a shallow angle of attack for the five-blade 30in X 37in Teignbridge props running through 2:1 Twin Disc gearboxes.  Noise and vibrations levels are low from the enclosed bridge and it doesn’t sound truck-like at all.

Room around the six-cylinder 13lt Volvo engines, easy access to all the servicing items (including cable runs and air-con units inside the boat) and the generator, improved battery access, sight gauges on tanks, electric fuel shut-offs, clear sea strainers, and so on… it’s all user and operator friendly.

The boat comes standard with 24V Vetus bow and stern thrusters, but our test boat had hydraulic SidePower thrusters. Twin Disc, Volvo Joysticks for Inboard and ZF docking solutions are also available. With the cockpit controls, the M59 shouldn’t be a handful to dock.

ON THE WATER
- In "destroyer mode" and heading south
In the climate-controlled flybridge, twin high-backed chairs, an aft lounge around a dinette table, and a side seat alongside the helm let you seat a crowd. It’s not a flybridge that’s segregates, so I’d imagine families travelling here, with the kids on the pullout sofa bed during passages, while you drive with your feet on the dash and the autopilot on.

With no millions on the forward windscreen, vision is excellent. There is a new wiper system that falls to hand, while the triple 19in MFD nav screens created a high degree of situation awareness as we put to sea in a 15-20 knot southeasterly that had been blowing for two days.  

Race-boat driver and long-time Maritimo go-to deliveryman Ross Willaton had the M59 in “destroyer mode” as we exited the Seaway. Tabs down and throttle back, the wide hull proved a slippery customer by maintaining low planing speeds of 16-17 knots head on into a slate-grey choppy ocean. We went for postcard handout photos to illustrate this test instead.

Interestingly, the low-speed cruise of 16.45 knots at 1700rpm gives the greatest range of 560nm using 140lt/hr or 8.5lt/nm, leaving 90 per cent of the fuel supply in reserve. But the boat still felt equally surefooted at the usual 19-20 knots at 1900rpm, while using 180lt/hr or 9.11lt/nm for a 522nm range.

Heading for home, we sat on 26 knots before hitting 30 knots back in the Broadwater. The official top speed is more like 28 knots with a realistic load and in typical user mode with tender and gear.

So while it’s not the fastest boat around, it’s got long cruising legs of 500nm+ in the comfortable 17-20 knots range, where most people drive their boats and you can still move about with safety at sea.

Displacement cruising at 8.5 knots returns a range of 1630nm, while 9.7 knots gives 1125nm. With the high freeboard and flared bow, the boat runs in long-range model with plenty of lift and spray deflection, in effect making semi-displacement boats seem, well, old hat. All the while, the power-assisted steering is effortless, direct and sporty, while noise levels are low.

Although we were lashed by spray, the M59 proved to be a comfortable ocean-going motor yacht in the 15-20 knots of SE slop with the wipers going and the air-con running, the radar scanning and our eyes peeled between the curtains of spray. In the enclosed flying bridge, you felt cocooned.

VERDICT
- The latest and greatest in the Maritimo fleet
There are some powerful boats in the Maritimo fleet, but we’d venture none is quite as well rounded as the new M59. The accommodation is a highlight, with all three cabins being liveable thanks to the gains from the wide-beam hull. The interior flows with the companionway down the centreline, too.

While the added waterline length of the M62 (previously the M58) and perhaps the narrower beam will be an advantage at sea and into it, the new M59 is the best little ship in the fleet. It’s ideal for families seeking a floating holiday home that they can take to Hamilton Island, the Hawkesbury, Hobart, if not those overseas markets where Maritimo is being noticed these days.

LIKES
>> High volume interior with three big cabins
>> Excellent access and ergonomics throughout
>> Quiet and agreeable motion at sea
>> Sporty off-the-wheel steering
>> Big dash for today’s electronics
>> Simple engineering and electronics

NOT SO MUCH
>> Time to introduce USBs on the GPOs
>> Prefer softer rolled-edge upholstery
>> A wide boat for some berths

Specifications: Maritimo M59
Price as tested: About $2.50m as tested with upgraded 800hp Volvo Penta D13 engines, Simrad Glass Screen, hydraulic SidePower thrusters, AV systems and lots more.
Priced From: $2.1m with 725hp Volvo Penta D11 engines
LOA Overall: 17.98m
Length ISO: 17.68m
Beam: 5.46m
Draft: 1.225m (max)
Weight: Around 27,000 dry with standard Volvo D11-725mhp engines
Sleeping: 6+2
Fuel capacity: 4400 litres
Water capacity: 700 litres
Holding tank: 300 litres
Engines: Twin 800hp Volvo Penta D13 common-rail diesel inboard six-cylinder engines, 2:1 Twin Disc gearbox spinning shaft drives and five-blade Teignbridge 30inx37in props

Supplied by:
Maritimo Offshore,
15 Waterway Drive,
Coomera, Qld, 4209
Phone: (07) 5588 6000
Website: Maritimo.