Maritimo M61 Cruising Motoryacht: Review

Somewhere off the Gold Coast we cracked 32 knots running downhill with the common-rail 1150hp V8 Scania D16 engines purring in the standing-height engine room. Spinning 34in diameter by 50in five-blade Teignbridge propellers on 3in shafts through ZF 2.5:1 gearboxes, this was motoryachting in all its modern-day glory.

"It's big grunt. That’s what you get here. Huge torque. When you’re powering up the back of a big wave, the Scanias keep the boat running right up," said Greg Haines, sales and marketing man for Maritimo, as the Gold Coast high-rise flashed past during our offshore run.

With six of these new Maritimo M61 models now sold, mainly with the base 900hp D13 Volvo Penta pairing for 27-28 knots top speed, this is a luxury motoryacht that’s going places.

Based on the same hull as the M65, the M61 costs almost half-a million less for a more manageable owner/driver and berthing proposition that’s 64ft as opposed to 71ft overall.

The owners miss out on a full-beam en suite, the small fourth cabin with bunks becomes their bathroom, and the cockpit, saloon and flybridge are a bit smaller. There’s less fuel and water, too.

But the variations in layouts, the customisations and the different applications tell the story here. The M61 is a answering a lot of questions and all but the structural integrity is up for discussion.

At the
M61 World Launch we celebrated on the Gold Coast earlier this year, there was a real buzz among the owners sharing their ideas amid each exciting boat-building processes. No two M61s are the same, which says a lot about how much sway and say prospective buyers have today.

This demonstrator with the big Scania D16s was M61 #1, while M61 #3 was to be a local Queensland retirees' boat for coastal cruising, #4 was a fish-boat heading to Hamilton Island with more sleeping for the owner’s mates in a split bunk cabin, #5 was being configured as a kids’ resort with additional bunk beds (kudos to the great mum here), and #6 was a showboat destined for Sydney then Fort Lauderdale.

Maritimo M61 #2 that I also boarded at the Hope Harbour facility was just amazing. This boat was the creation of a dynamic Gold Coast couple moving up to a flybridge motoryacht from a Maritimo C60 Cabriolet. You could see the amazing thought in their special boat and layout.

These owners created a ‘beach club’ at the transom with a watersports centre for fishing, paddling and diving; there was a toilet in the lazarette so you didn’t have to traipse through the boat; special surround cockpit seating and outdoor galley seating to improve the entertaining potential and al fresco dining; a full-blown bar with stools for doing sundowners on the bridge; even a pop-up treadmill in the floor of the third cabin for keeping fit. I kid you not!

Meantime, docking control options help with the berthing, as do the Maritimo walkaround decks, before the trademark features kick in including enclosed flying bridge, full-beam stateroom, aft galley, shaft drive and long cruising range. The M61 will cover more than 500nm at 20 knots cruise. That reality adds another suite of options: destination choices. Where next?

PRICE AND EQUIPMENT
- High-$2 million with all the extras drive away
Our M61 #1 had a standard accommodation layout but engineering upgrades. The big ones ranged from the upgraded 1150hp Scania D16 engines ($145k) to the ZF Joystick Manoeuvring System, with upgraded hydraulic bow and stern thrusters.

As with a lot of M61s, there were twin 17kVA generators for redundancy in place of the standard single 21kVA number. A hydraulic lazarette lift option grants easy access into the big aft storage area, while a full Simrad Glass Bridge fitout with three 19in screens, and boosted fuel capacity, means this boat is unstoppable.

With an extra 1700lt of diesel under the stateroom bed for a total of 7300 litres, M61 #1 was a true long-range motoryacht. In fact, this boat was heading to New Zealand on its own ‘bum’ in late September 2016 for the Auckland boat show. That’s 1170nm as the Kiwi flies. You can get up to 3000nm in displacement mode with the D16 Scanias, sea trials show.

There wasn’t a tender, enthusiasts might include a gyro (though it’s an $180k option these days), you will probably want to extend your water supply from the 750-800lt as standard and, as touched on, there’s scope to do a lot of things with the accommodation and decks to suit.

As such, it’s difficult pricing these boats, as they are all unique, but you’re looking at around $2.75-$3 million by the time you drive your creation away. Rough calculations had our test boat running up to around $2.8 million. A base M61 with 900hp D13 Volvo Penta has a list price of $2.554m.

LAYOUT AND ACCOMMODATION
- Liveaboard luxury and more upgrades
Boat building is always about finding niches, offering value and being able to rework existing moulds and tooling to save costs. It’s also about creating a whole new recipe, a bit like Master Chef, from a set amount of ingredients. The M61 triumphs in this regard. It’s based on the M65 but it has a character all of its own.

Sure you lose some space in the flybridge, saloon, cockpit and the full-beam owner’s bathroom. But you get the same three very comfortable cabins, only the fourth bunk cabin on the M65 becomes the owner’s en suite,. This boat hasn't the full-beam en suite that some owner’s love.

At the transom, there are central submersible swim stairs, standard Euro transom with optional barbecue, top-loading fridge/freezer and sink, plus a companionway down to the lazarette, all of which are accessible from the swim platform. The lazarette fit-out options include toilets, storage, even crew quarters. There are also options for fishing transoms and different cockpit lounge seating.

As tested, the cockpit with standardd in-built transom lounge, timber table and aftermarket folding deck chairs was set to entertain a family and friends. The extended flybridge overhang makes it easy to boost your shade via a Euro cockpit awning and you could even add flyscreen options for the tropics.

Deep walkaround decks with bulwarks lead to the flat foredeck for impromptu drinks, especially when the tender is launched if its here rather than on the hydraulic extended platform option. The Muir anchoring arrangement is heavy duty and there’s a good sense of onboard safety, too.

With the saloon doors open, the cockpit dissolves inside. The aft galley is where most of the customisations occur. Owners tend to upgrade the standard Miele package with extra ovens, steam ovens, wine fridges, plate-warmer drawers, induction cooktops, custom wet bars, icemakers and, back out the back, barbecues. AV systems are in the mix — our test boat had a Bose Lifestyle 535 home entertainment system.

Opposite the signature aft galley, and a very decent island servery that doesn’t impede your thoroughfare, is the wet bar and staircase to the enclosed flybridge. Forward is a step leading up to the lounging area, with an upmarket dining setting, room to add bar stools, and lounges that are long enough to sleep in.

Optional opening windows add to the liveability and natural ventilation, while the Dave Stewart interior design package lifts the high-gloss teak interior. Dark Wenge is a popular joinery option. Space, light, functionality and upmarket finishes all combine in a most agreeable way here.

It’s a seamless experience on the enclosed flying bridge, too, where the penthouse has seating for a half dozen, fridge, sink, TV options, and a dinette. The joinery and finishes make it feel like a room rather than a helm.

As touched on, the aft bridge deck on M61 #2 featured a bar and some great rail-mounted seating to maximise the views. If you like a good cocktail, you need to consider these options, too.

With sofa bed options in the flying bridge and saloon, you can sleep up to 10 aboard the M61 during holidays. But some owners have gone further and created four-bunk cabins to boost accommodation below decks.

The standard layout has a island queen bed in the bow with en suite that doubles as the dayhead. The portside VIP cabin amidships has single beds that create a double and there’s a private en suite. Then you find it, back down a companionway to starboard, the full beam stateroom with king bed on the centreline.

You have to step-back up to the en suite, but there’s no denying the luxury and liveability of this full-beam owner’s den. A sofa and dresser with optional ottomans were included, creating a destination in this cabin. Quasi offices, powder areas, media spaces are all possible. I think we all need an owner’s cabin like this in our busy lives.

Natural ventilation, views and light are highlights of the big-hearted M61, as is storage space, which has been boosted by a new access door to the sub-floor areas. One customer is adding a wine cellar accessed from his stateroom. Such are the possibilities!

HULL AND ENGINEERING
- Proven systems and beefed up  hull and running gear
There’s a full moulded liner in the standing-height engine room that extends to the forward bulkhead of the owner’s stateroom. Bonded to the hull, it creates a lot of rigidity and a one-piece like structure.

The lay-up is solid glass below the waterline with cored sides and superstructure for a 38,860kg base boat, just 4385kg less than the M65. As the mould was dammed to create this M61, you get the same 5.71m beam, forward sections, bow entry and so on. Only the M61 measures 64ft overall versus 71ft. So there’s a bit in it.

In the calm test conditions, I couldn’t discern any increase in pitching from less waterline length and there appears plenty of buoyancy and lift to carry the Scania D16 engines.

The slippery variable deadrise hull, with a flat run aft and a shallow angle of attack for the five-blade props and their efficiency, is proven by Maritimo. The engineering is heavy-duty with the 3in shafts and noise levels were low.

Room around the V8 engines, easy access to all the servicing items and generators, improved battery access, sight gauges on tanks, clear sea strainers, and so on, all make pre-departure checks simple. The electrical switching is tried-and-tested, existing owners know it, and it works. So away we go.

ON THE WATER
- Fast, economical and quiet... and heading to Auckland by water
There wasn’t any labouring to get up and running, and the big boat seemed to travel nice and flat through the rev range, even carrying loads of fuel. Maritimo’s race-boat heritage exists in the heavy-duty, hydraulic, power steering system that delivers snappy off-the-wheel handling.

With plenty of sister ships making extended coastal voyages in our testing waters, we have no hesitation backing this new addition to the long-range motoryacht fleet, its engineering and solid hand-laid glass hull. As touched on, this boat is going to Auckland by water. Not bad for a 61!

Offshore, we had benign weather, whales and a one-metre sea that was barely discernible. I didn’t notice much engine noise in the flybridge. These common-rail V8 D16s are noticeably quieter to my ear than the smaller 900hp V8 Scanias.

The M61 wound out beautifully and we had some fun with Ross “Rosco” Willaton at the helm and his efforts to crack 32 knots. The best we saw on the day was 32.7 knots and a sniff at 32 knots offshore. Factory figures state 31.7 knots top speed at 2300rpm.

Range figures are impressive, with 90 per cent of the standard 5600lt tank giving 518nm at 20.3 knot cruise at just 1700rpm. That’s doing it easy for an average of 9.73lt/nm.

(Incidentally, the best cruise with the 900hp Volvo Penta D13s is 547nm at 17.55 knots at these same 1700rpm for 9.20lt/nm. So the Scania engines are efficiency given their 31.7 knots versus 27.7 knots top speed!)

Low speed cruise of 15 knots at 1500rpm on the Scanias gives 469nm range for 10.73l/nm; fast cruise of 24.15 knots at 1900rpm returns 476nm for 10.58l/nm; and 28 knots at 2100rpm gives 419nm for 12.02l/nm.

Displacement cruising range is 1370nm at 9.8 knots hull speed out to 3000nm at 8 knots if that matters. Fast or slow, these are very frugal engines. It is also worth noting that the boat has plenty of freeboard at displacement speed. If fuel spikes, just go slow.

Fast or slow, the lines are actually very sweet on the M6, which looks nuggetty and powerful not stumpy or cut down. And with the freeboard up front, it's not a wet boat, either.

VERDICT
- Baby grand answers the call
So there are more options than ever with this M61, from the moment you start working with the factory to after refuelling and checking the weather maps. But for the owners we spoke with, it is all about creating your own special boat that suits your special needs. There aren't a lot of questions left unanswered about performance or engineering. It's more about home-like comforts.

Maritimo dealer principal Ormonde Britton has sold most of the M61s to date and he’s very happy with the boat’s sizing.

"We’ve been looking to find a replacement for the inaugural M60 Cruising Motoryacht that launched the company in 2004. This is the one we’ve finally been able to build and make as a replacement," Britton says.

While the M65 is the magnum opus of the range, the new M61 is a baby grand. You can do a lot with this boat to suit your style. Maritimo works closely with user groups and is even fitting a Steinway piano into the flybridge of a boat on order.

"If you don't like this M61 there’s something wrong with you," said professional race-boat throttleman, Ross "Rosco" Willaton, a long-time Maritimo employee, as we carved a path off the Gold Coast and returned back through the SeaWay at 32 knots with the Scania V8s on song.

LIKES
>> Cruising performance and 500nm+ range at 20 knots
>> 1150hp V8 Scania D16s are smooth engines with real grunt
>> Maritimo’s flexible approach to boatbuilding and customer wants
>> Extent of the accommodation
>> Liveability, serviceability, space, storage, tankage — all the things that matter when you are spending time aboard.

NOT SO MUCH
>> Maybe this boat will cannibalise sales of the M65
>> Not the widest companionway back into the aft cabin
>> Midships cabin looked a bit spartan, bling it up

Specifications: Maritimo M61
Price as tested: About $2.85m as tested with upgraded 1150hp V8 Scania D16 engines, twin generators, Simrad Glass Screen, ZF Joystick Manoeuvring System, upgraded hydraulic bow and stern thrusters, extra fuel, Bose and more.
Priced From: $2.554m with 900hp Volvo Penta D13 engines
LOA and Overall Length ISO: 19.48m
Beam: 5.71m
Draft: 1.50m (max)
Weight: Around 38,860kg dry with standard Volvo D13-900mhp engines
Sleeping: 6+2+2
Fuel capacity: 5700 litres
Water capacity: 800 litres
Holding tank: 300 litres
Engines: Twin Caterpillar 1150hp Scania D16 common-rail diesel inboard V8 engines with shaft drives spinning five-blade props

Supplied by:
Maritimo Offshore,
15 Waterway Drive,
Coomera, Qld, 4209
Phone: (07) 5588 6000
Website: http://www.maritimo.com.au.