The gorgeous Palm Beach GT60, which just made its worldwide debut at the Miami show, is simply a treat. With its flowing low profile, long sheer line and elegant tumblehome, the new GT60 is certainly a treat to look it; it definitely qualifies as marine eye candy. And then it’s also a treat underway, with its high-tech, lightweight, warped hull, powered by twin 1,000-hp Volvo IPS1350 pod drives, producing a top speed of 43 knots and a comfortable cruising speed of 37 knots.
As I walked through the boat at the show, Mark Richards, the Palm Beach founder and CEO, told me to take a seat at the helm. Another treat. The helm on the GT60 is centered, and you can walk around on either side. The helm itself is black and curved, elegant and modern, and it’s made of carbon fiber.
The view is outstanding, looking out through a single-piece curved windshield or through large side and rear windows, which you can raise and lower by pushing a button. There’s a sunroof over the helm to let in more light, and you can open it too.
The salon has an L-shaped settee on the port side, with a teak table, and a three-person settee opposite. The helm has two matching seats; another seat is on the port side.
The galley is down, and has lots of light from the windshield above; it’s like being in an atrium. The master stateroom is amidships on the starboard side, with a vanity/desk and an en suite head and shower. The VIP cabin is forward, also with an en suite head and shower.
The GT60’s performance is a result of Richards’ input from his sailboat racing experience. One of the best sailors in the world, he’s won the grueling Sydney-Hobart race a record nine times (and will attempt a tenth this year). The GT60 has a low center of gravity and the hull is balanced; the engines are amidships and have carbon-fiber jackshafts running to the pods. The full-beam baffled fuel tank is also centrally mounted. Vacuum-infused carbon fiber is used in the deck and superstructure to keep the weight down, while providing extra strength.
The new Palm Beach is certainly fuel efficient. It has a range of 430 nm at 30 knots, which is certainly much faster than most people cruise in a 60-foot boat.
To make cruising life easy, a 10-feet-long RIB in the garage can be launched by pushing a button on a remote that raises the transom. The RIB, with its outboard in place, then slides out on custom launch rails. As he demonstrated this to me, Richards laughed. “This boat does a lot of things well,” he said.
Specs.: LOA: 64’0”; Beam: 17’2”; Draft: 3’9”; Disp.: 47,400 lbs.; Fuel: 845 gals.; Water: 264 gals.; Power: 2×1,000-hp Volvo IPS1350 pod drives.
http://palmbeachmotoryachts.com
