THIS MONTH’S 10
1 PRESTIGE’S FIRST EVER POWER CAT
Prestige Yachts has revealed details of its first ever power catamaran. The French yard insists that the M48 isn’t just another multi-hull but a uniquely different power cat with a similar look and feel to its F-Line flybridge models.
For instance, the maximum beam of 19ft 8in (6m), while 5ft wider than a typical 50ft flybridge, is still 4ft narrower than a full fat power cat like the Leopard 46PC. It’s taller than most too, with a deep central deck that links the two hulls making it feel more like a monohull below decks. Combined with a sleek side profile and easy handling characteristics, it is hoped this will make it more appealing to current monohull owners as well as less daunting to first-time buyers.
These dimensions still allow for exceptionally generous indoor and outdoor spaces, which Prestige’s product marketing manager Rosie Le Gall says are comparable to those of a 60ft monohull. The flybridge, for example, measures 20m² with an optional hard top providing shade, while the aft cockpit is over 5m wide and features seats in all four corners for a more sociable vibe and a pair of tables that link up to make one big one for dining. A central hi-lo platform adds to the real estate, sliding up and down between the two fixed smaller platforms to launch and recover the tender as well as sitting flush with them to create an extended swimming/sunbathing area.
The side decks are another beneficiary of the multihull design, being twice the width of a typical monohull’s, with tall guardrails making them safer and easier for guests to move along and access the foredeck bow-lounge with its unusual aft-facing dinette.
A single sliding door gives access from the aft cockpit to the saloon, but a window next to it
