Fast and efficient
Palm Beach Motor Yachts has shipped the new GT60 for its world debut at the Miami Yacht Show 2020.
22 January 2020
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Palm Beach Motor Yachts has completed testing of hull #1 of their GT60, the new flagship of the company’s GT series. The model is due to arrive in the US in the coming weeks in preparation for its worldwide debut at the Miami International Yacht Show.
The ethos behind its development came from Palm beach CEO Mark Richard’s vision of delivering an industry-leading high-performance cruiser that would combine of both speed and fuel efficiency.
“The GT60 is an absolute dream result, that our team worked tirelessly on perfecting for the past 12 months. To have such a beautiful boat wrapped around a twin engine system, that out-performs similar sized competing products that use 3 engines, or twice the horsepower is a truly remarkable achievement.” said Richards.
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The GT60 heading to Miami is running twin Volvo IPS 1350s, with a total output of 2,000 HP. Initial testing at the company’s Malaysian plant saw an efficient 35 knot cruise speed at 70% load, using a combined fuel burn of 65 GPH between both engines, providing a range of well in excess of 400 nautical miles at this speed.
To achieve such a potent pairing of speed and fuel efficiency, the GT60 uses industry leading construction techniques and materials available in combination with the company’s hull design.
“The entire deck and superstructure is vacuum-infused carbon fibre to reduce weight, while our signature hull is made with a sandwich of e-glass and closed-cell corecell foam.
Everything is infused with vinylester resin – the highest grade of modified epoxy – to ensure both durability and longevity of all components.” commented Richards.
The material choices, and their placement in the GT60’s construction means that the boat has a naturally low centre of gravity to aid performance, while the warped semi-displacement hull design takes cues from racing yachts and naval destroyers to deliver a soft and stable ride at all speeds.
Palm Beach took the engineering several steps further, running carbon fibre jack shafts from the pods to the mid-mounted engines, ensuring the bulk weight of the blocks are centred and low. With this in consideration the factory sea trials saw the GT60 easily reaching speeds of 40+ knots.
The GT60 features an enormous single-piece curved glass windshield, large electric side and aft windows in the salon, and full-beam entertaining spaces in both the salon and cockpit. The layouts are practical and modern, while still retaining the true nautical feel of a cruising yacht.
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