Here’s something you probably haven’t seen before: A new cruising boat with marble decks.
The brand-new Invictus GT320 Versilys is a world-wide first, at least to my knowledge, using super-thin grey Versilys marble slabs on the decks, the swim platform, the dinette in the cockpit and even in the head. The company says that the marble only adds 154 pounds to the 11,200 pounds of the standard Invictus 320, which was introduced in 2016. The boat uses carbon parts, in the hardtop and for the support poles for the aft awning, to reduce weight.
Christian Grande, who has collaborated with the Italian builder for all its yachts, worked with Henraux, a marble expert with quarries in Tuscany, for the new look. They ran intensive tests for cutting and then installing the Versilys marble on the Invictus 320 hull. Then Grande used Titanium-colored cushions and Attack Gray color for the hull to complement the tone of the marble.
For the traditionalists among us who have long been fond of teak for decks, swim platforms and accents throughout the boat, marble represents quite a change. You certainly don’t have to worry about sanding and varnishing with marble; it’s highly durable, even if it is a bit slippery when it’s wet.
The Invictus GT320 Versilys is powered by the same twin 350-hp Volvo engines that are used in the non-marble version (pictured above). We don’t have complete specs, but the boat is 32’ 6” long with a beam of 9’ 9”.
For his part, Grande is happy with the result. He said, “As for the Renaissance artists who animated the marble of their sculptures with throbbing muscles and veins, once again intention shapes reality through technique. The infinite complexity of a process translates into an immediate, authentic true form; the original, in a single instant, becomes a classic.”
