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Motor yachts & powerboats

Today, there’s a BENETEAU powerboat or motor yacht for whatever you’re looking for – from casual cruising to long-distance adventuring, from fishing and diving to water skiing. They can be found on the open ocean, coastlines, harbors, lakes, and rivers. There’s a whole world to discover out there, and there’s no better way to discover it than at the helm of a BENETEAU powerboat, trawler or motor yacht.

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Our Flyer range was conceived to be the  day-boat  of your dreams. Equipped with our AirStep ®  Hull, these powerboats boast faster acceleration and more responsive maneuvering, as well as the ability to lift up and cut through waves –  perfect  for cruising, water skiing, and wakeboarding. The Flyer also features two different deck plans, our SUNdeck or our SPACEdeck, to maximize either your  sunbathing or entertaining needs!

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The Antares is a  true memory-maker . This range of powerboats wholly represents our passion for pure water-born freedom and is perfect for those looking for a smaller – but mighty – cruiser to enjoy the weekend and create lifelong memories with family and friends. Her enclosed pilothouse and cozy interior allow for early and late season excursions to extend the fun, and her flared hull and  outboard engines  give you the safety and performance BENETEAU is known for. So go to all those special, out-of-the-way places, like a favorite secluded cove or waterfront restaurant, because the  Antares  can take you there! 

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Gran Turismo

The Gran Turismo is in a class by herself, setting the trend for what an  express cruiser  could be. Each model is brimming with  technology and performance  so cruising at speed is one of the great joys she lives for. Her spacious and contemporary design provides a new definition to supremely livable interior and exterior space while her  sleek lines  and elegant profile are sure to turn heads.

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The Trawler range is smart without being difficult,  balanced without being bland . She has reinvented what a trawler can be and does not compromise on space, with more room and amenities aboard than you would find in a traditional trawler.  Designed for traveling long distances , she opts for a nimble yet stable hull that provides both comfort and solid, positive handling in all weather. If boats had souls (and she just might have one), hers would yearn for that destination just over the horizon, and if yours does too, the Swift Trawler is the  perfect match . The Grand Trawler 62 is the flagship of the range which  builds on the accumulated knowledge of Swift Trawler in combination with simple luxury.

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Former BENETEAU powerboats

Our history has been told many times in these last fifty years, but, to understand it, you need to grasp our company values, and return to its origins, since it is nothing but continuity and progression. - Annette ROUX

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A WIDE RANGE OF POWERBOATS AND LUXURY YACHTS

Planning your next trip or vacation? Do you love fishing, cruising safely with your family and friends? Discover our most popular powerboats. Outboard or inboard powered , there is a boat to suit your dreams at your local BENETEAU  boat dealers .

Innovations for leisure boating

With a wide range of motorboats suited to all boating practices, BENETEAU can satisfy every boater’s needs, including professionals. What is more, BENETEAU constantly seeks to reinvent itself by proposing innovations for safe, user-friendly boating for everyone:

  • Airstep® hulls were developed to provide comfort and safety at sea, and offer thrilling speed
  • Ship control centralizes all the boat’s electric controls on a single screen to make life easier for you
  • The new Volvo Inboard Performance System drive makes handling much easier and offers greater power

WIDE ranges of boats for all types of boaters

Antares outboard: beneteau's best classics.

The Antares is a true memory-maker. This range of powerboats wholly represents our passion for pure water-born freedom and is perfect for those looking for a smaller – but mighty – cruiser to enjoy the weekend and create lifelong memories with family and friends. Her enclosed pilothouse and cozy interior allow for early and late season excursions to extend the fun, and her flared hull and outboard engines give you the safety and performance BENETEAU is known for. So go to all those special, out-of-the-way places, like a favorite secluded cove or waterfront restaurant, because the Antares can take you there!  

The FLYER: for day trips

Our Flyer range was conceived to be the day-boat of your dreams. Equipped with our AirStep® Hull, these powerboats boast faster acceleration and more responsive maneuvering as well as the ability to lift up and cut through waves – perfect for cruising, water skiing, and wakeboarding. The Flyer also features two different deck plans, our SUNdeck or our SPACEdeck, to maximize either your sunbathing or entertaining needs!

The GRAN TURISMO: driving sensations

The Gran Turismo is in a class by herself, setting the trend for what an express cruiser could be. Each model is brimming with technology and performance so cruising at speed is one of the great joys she lives for. Her spacious and contemporary design provides a new definition to supremely livable interior and exterior space while her sleek lines and elegant profile are sure to turn heads.

The SWIFT TRAWLER: true passagemakers 

The Swift Trawler range is smart without being difficult, balanced without being bland. She has reinvented what a trawler can be and does not compromise on space, with more room and amenities aboard than you would find in a traditional trawler. Designed for traveling long distances, she opts for a nimble yet stable hull that provides both comfort and solid, positive handling in all weather. If boats had souls (and she just might have one), hers would yearn for that destination just over the horizon, and if yours does too, the Swift Trawler is the perfect match.

The Monte Carlo: luxury yachts

The Monte Carlo range of motor yachts embodies timeless elegance and no-compromise craftsmanship. She features only the finest materials and handcrafted finishes. She is powerful yet graceful, luxurious yet practical. Her spacious and bright interior is ideal for entertaining, and her expansive flybridge provides the perfect space for enjoying an evening cruise with sensational panoramic water views.

THE GRAND TRAWLER: ULTIMATE VOYAGING YACHT

Designed exclusively to let you travel non-stop and uninterrupted for days on end in pure luxury, the Grand Trawler 62 is the latest evolution in yachts. A yacht that lets you voyage in style for long periods, enjoying the peace and tranquillity that only ocean exploration can provide.

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The Power Catamaran Compilation

  • By Yachting Staff
  • Updated: December 21, 2018

Power Catamarans have been growing leaps and bounds in popularity, and, in lengths and widths. And for good reason. These cruise-centric yachts offer homelike livability for avid travelers, are fuel efficient and are fairly intuitive to run. Power cats are popular in the bareboat charter market too, for these very reasons.

Here, we take a look at 12 catamarans ranging from a cruising-couple-size 36-footer to a 78-footer for friends, family and some more friends. And there are myriad power options: outboards, diesel inboards, hybrid or even all-solar power.

Fountaine Pajot MY44

fountain pajot my44

The Fountaine Pajot MY44 , a creation of Italian architect Pierangelo Andreani and French designer Daniel Andrieu, has a main deck that’s open from the aft-deck seating all the way forward to the starboard helm station. The sense of spaciousness is significant, for several reasons. First, four glass panels aft can all slide to port, creating an indoor-outdoor space with the aft deck and salon. In the salon, 32-inch-high windows extend for 12 feet down the sides of the yacht, with three sections per side, bringing in natural light along with the three forward panes that comprise the windshield. Finally, 6-foot-6-inch headroom provides vertical clearance, with a 21-foot-7-inch beam that adds interior roominess while keeping the yacht stable.

Read more: Fountaine Pajot MY44

Silent-Yachts 55

silent 55 yacht

The ideas about which solar panels, electric motors, inverters and the like to use — and more importantly, Michael Köhler says, how to configure them — became the basis for the brand Silent-Yachts. The company offers 55-, 64- and 79-foot catamarans that run on solar-electric propulsion. The Silent 55 premiered this fall, and the 64 is sold out for the next two years, Köhler says.

Read more: Silent 55

Horizon PC74

Horizon PC74

As founder and director of The Powercat Company, a Horizon Power Catamarans distributor, Stuart Hegerstrom had long believed that catamaran builders needed to design their yachts to more stylish standards.

“The boats were very boxy,” he says, based on his years of experience with cats in the charter market. He and his partner, Richard Ford, asked Horizon to produce models that had high-end finishes and looked good inside and out.

The Horizon team brought in mega-yacht designer JC Espinosa to work with its own craftsmen. The result aboard the Horizon PC74 is a catamaran with exterior styling, layout and functionality that should appeal to private and charter owners alike.

Read more: Horizon PC74

aquila 36

The Aquila 36 is a departure from her sisterships in that she is an outboard-powered, express-cruiser-style catamaran, but she also adheres to MarineMax’s philosophies.

With a single main living level from bow to stern and a beam of 14 feet 7 inches, the Aquila 36 is like a bowrider on steroids. She has seating that can handle 20 adults for outings and barbecues, and there are two staterooms below, one in each hull, for family weekending. The staterooms have nearly queen-size berths, en suite heads, stowage and 6-foot-6-inch headroom.

Read more: Aquila 36

Lagoon Seventy 8 Powercat

Lagoon Seventy 8

Lagoon is a division of Groupe Beneteau, the world’s largest builder of sailing yachts, and the Lagoon Seventy 8 Powercat is a developmental sistership of its Seventy 7 super sailing cat. The Seventy series yachts are built at Construction Navale Bordeaux in France, which had to add a new yard to construct these catamarans because they require separate stern molds for the power and sail versions.

Read more: Lagoon Seventy 8 Powercat

Horizon PC60

horizon pc60

To understand the Horizon PC60 power catamaran , you need to put aside preconceived notions about midsize yacht amenities. For example, main-deck master suites are the province of yachts over 100 feet length overall. Incorrect. This 60-footer has an elegant and spacious owner’s stateroom on the same level as the salon. If you want a 14-foot center console tender on a 60-foot yacht, you have to tow it. Wrong again. On the PC60, you hoist it onto the upper deck, no problem.

Read more: Horizon PC60

40 Open Sunreef Power

40 Open Sunreef Power

Sunreef is known for pushing the boundaries of catamaran design, incorporating four adjustable hydrofoils into a twin-hulled speedboat.

The Polish builder is one of several European builders (including Evo, Fjord, Wider and Wally) transforming the open ­day-boat category with creative designs. ­Beyond its hydrofoils, the 40 Open Sunreef Power ‘s cockpit has side “wings” along the aft gunwales that fold out at anchor, widening the beam from 17 feet to 22 feet 9 inches.

Read more: 40 Open Sunreef Power

Sunreef 50 Amber Limited Edition

50 Amber Limited Edition

Sunreef Yachts introduced its 50 Amber Limited Edition , with plans to launch just 10 hulls of the exclusive design.

The Sunreef 50 Amber Limited Edition will have a carbon fiber mast and boom, four layout options and numerous amber-colored elements, including the hull.

Read more: Sunreef 50 Amber Limited Edition

Lagoon 630 Motor Yacht

Lagoon 630 motoryacht

Fitted with the optional twin 300-horsepower Volvo Penta D4 diesels, the Lagoon 630 MY burns only 1.64 gph total at 6 knots, giving a theoretical range of 2,952 nautical miles with standard tankage of 793 gallons. Hull No. 1 had an optional 502-gallon tank, giving it transatlantic range.

Luxury, stability and economy are all hallmarks of Lagoon’s return to luxury motor yachts. If you can take a ride, it will be worth your time.

Read more: Lagoon 630 Motor Yacht

Fountaine Pajot MY 37

Fountaine Pajot MY 37

The Fountaine Pajot MY 37 easily accommodates the seafaring family with three- and four-stateroom options. In the three-cabin version, called ­Maestro, you’ll find an owner’s suite in the portside hull with a queen-size berth and en suite head. Two double-berth cabins and one more head are available for the kids. If your brood is bigger, the Quator setup features four double cabins with two heads.

The 37 is a traveler and can be powered with twin 150 hp or 220 hp Volvo Penta diesels. Top speed with the smaller engines is 17 knots, while it’s 20 knots with the bigger power plants. Interestingly, at 7 knots, the fuel consumption is the same, with either set of motors offering voyagers a 1 ,000-nm range.

Read more: Fountaine Pajot MY 37

Solarwave 64

Solarwave 64

Many yachts boast eco chops because they have a handful of solar panels that power the microwave or navigation lights. The Solarwave 64 , launched last summer, has the potential to run on sunshine alone. The vessel’s 42 solar panels generate 15 kW that are stored in batteries weighing about 1,300 pounds. They connect to electric motors.

Read more: Solarwave 64

Glider SS18

SS18, Glider Yachts

This British builder says it strives for design innovation and the Glider SS18 displays that DNA, the result of 8 years of research and development. She has a head-turning, catamaran hull form constructed from aluminum and composite materials. She is 60 feet LOA with a 17-foot beam, and has a relatively shallow 1-foot draft. Powered by quad Yamaha 300 hp outboards, she can reportedly reach 50 knots, and with her Stability Control System (SCS), should give a smooth ride while doing it.

Read more: Glider SS18

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Heesen Reveals “Santosha” Details

Azimut Fly 62

Azimut Launches the Fly 62

Lazzara Starfire

For Sale: 2006 84′ Lazzara

Azimut Fly 62

For Sale: 2015 Beneteau Swift Trawler 50

Croatia

New Mediterranean Charter Options

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Your Local Broker, Internationally

Berthon UK (Lymington, Hampshire - UK) Sue Grant [email protected] 0044 (0)1590 679 222

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Berthon Scandinavia (Henån, Sweden) Magnus Kullberg [email protected] 0046 304 694 000

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Advanced Yachts

FPB Motor Yachts

The Berthon Sales Group works with Steve and Linda Dashew supporting the FPB fleet. FPB, which is short for ‘Functional Power Boat’ has been described as a paradigm shift for motor yachting.

FPBs offer exceptional sea keeping and vast range – the FPB series has been developed from the original 83 foot FPB WINDHORSE which Steve and Linda designed and built for their use after the sale of their iconic record breaking 80 foot ketch BEOWULF. They cruised her for over 60,000 nautical miles and used their experience aboard her to develop other FPB models.

FPBs offer range, the ability to surf, recovery from capsize and are ruggedly built to withstand punishment in high and low latitude as well as providing a comfortable and well ventilated platforms in the tropics. Their oversized stabilisers are effective at sea, housed in separated coffer dams for security and allow the yachts to dry out when needed. All have Great Rooms that offer 360 degree vision in a space that is used for relaxing, eating, food preparation and from which the yacht is controlled.

The FPB programme has now closed because Steve and Linda have retired and there will be no new FPBs built. The complete FPB fleet comprises 18 hulls – 11 x 64s, 2 x 70s, 3 x 78s, 1 x 83 and 1 x 97. We work with Dashew Offshore to offer the definitive brokerage service for these yachts. We also hold all the plans – lines and all technical drawings as well as the original design notes written by Steve and Linda. We are organising these into an archive for the future and to offer a resource to the owners of the FPB fleet members.

The future of FPB Motor Yachts – with MD Sue Grant & designer Steve Dashew

The FPB 64 fleet is well proven and is the perfect tool for a couple with guests to cruise far aboard. They provide a safe and reliable platform for their owners and guests with a range of over 5,000 nautical miles.

The most recent FPB design – the FPB 70. They were developed for family cruising with guests providing a bridge between the FPB 64 and the larger FPB 78, which has the potential to carry crew, to deliver an owner-driver yacht with flexible guest accommodation.

FPB 78 #1 was built for Steve and Linda Dashew and launched in June 2016. She was followed by 2 further FPB 78s. These yachts are easy to handle, with volume enough for dedicated crew quarters.

fpb-78-grey-wolf-ii-featured

FPB 78, GREY WOLF II

Class: FPB 78, Year: 2017 Location: Guernsey, UK Price: US$6,500,000

fpb-78-cochise-featured

FPB 78, COCHISE

Class: FPB 78, Year: 2016 Location: Lymington, Hampshire, UK Price: US$6,500,000

The first of the Functional Power Boats from Dashew Offshore, the only FPB 83 was built for Steve and Linda Dashew, to be operated easily by two people but with good accommodation for six.

fpb-83-wind-horse-featured

FPB 83, WIND HORSE

Class: FPB 83, Year: 2005 Location: Beaufort, NC, USA Price: US$3,300,000

The largest and fastest of the FPB fleet to launch the FPB 97 provides effortless transatlantic ability at over 12 knots.

Forever a concept yacht – the FPB 130 demonstrates how the qualities of the FPB brand can be successfully scaled in order to deliver a crewed yacht with enormous range, speed and extraordinary seakeeping.

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42 Yacht Power Catamaran

Speeding ahead of the competition, the boat of your dreams is waiting for you. The Aquila 42 Yacht Power Catamaran is equipped with features that will bring a smile to any boater's face—whether you plan on cruising near or far. The 42 Yacht is built to CE Certification Category A  and designed by world-renowned power catamaran design firm VPLP Design , so you can be assured that it is safe and seaworthy. Advanced electronics packages make this boat easy to operate, and are also sure to make your friends jealous. Engine options from Volvo Penta are both remarkably efficient and easy to maintain. For guests, the yacht features three alfresco entertainment areas serviced by a full galley and wetbar. And when all is said and done, there are various stateroom options to suit your boating lifestyle. 

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The Aquila 42 Yacht Power Catamaran is ahead of the competition and ready for your next on-the-water adventure! Whether you are a hardcore cruiser or enjoy a day on the water, the seaworthy, luxurious, and stylish vessel has something for everyone.

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Specifications

Specs Category Specs Dimensions
Length Overall 12.64 M / 41' 6"
Beam Overall 6.4 M / 21' 0"
Height Above Waterline with Hardtop 5.49 M / 18' 0"
Light Displacement 15,700 KG / 34,168 LB
Fully Loaded Displacement 19,000 KG / 41,895 LB
CE Certification A: 8, B:12, C:16, D:24
Sleeps 8+
Max Passengers 24
Cabins/Heads/Showers 2 / 3 / 4
Heads with Separate Showers 2 / 3
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How to improve power management on a yacht

  • August 21, 2024

Mike Morgan offers advice on how to improve power management on a yacht and preserve precious amps for those that like their home comforts

yacht a power boat

I confess, I’m not a marine electrician, and my understanding of boat electronics is at best rudimentary, but I’ve now been managing my boat’s power generation and consumption for three seasons and have developed an approach which seems to work well. Hopefully, you will find some of the following advice useful when it comes to managing your own yacht’s energy needs.

Every boat has its own particular balance of power generation and demand, so my system may not work perfectly for you, but it might help you start managing your precious amps a lot more effectively.

My wife Debbie and I sail up to nine months a year around the Med, predominantly lying at anchor. We avoid marinas and use our generator infrequently, to help save the planet and our budget.

I won’t address power needs whilst under sail here, as it’s not relevant to our cruising profile. Clearly, if you’re taking on an Atlantic crossing , then you’ll need to consider the power demands from your navigation equipment, lights and auto pilot.

We bought our pride and joy, Spirit, a Bavaria C57, brand new in 2021, and made several upgrades in an attempt to achieve the holy grail of self-sufficiency at anchor. We opted for 800 amp hours (Ah) hours provided by lithium batteries that weigh less than a single 150Ah lead acid battery.

Because lithium offers roughly twice the capacity of lead acid, that’s equivalent to 16 100Ah lead acid batteries with a combined weight of just over a third of a ton. Given Spirit’s generous beam, we’ve been able to accommodate four 420W solar panels, giving a potential maximum of 1,680W.

yacht a power boat

A few of the electrical galley appliances aboard Mike’s Bavaria C57 and the wattages that similar products might draw off your battery if you have an inverter

State of charge

The amount of electrical power you have available is all about batteries. Boat batteries are usually measured in amp hours (Ah) – the total number of amps devoured in one hour of use. So, a 120Ah battery will, theoretically, deliver 120A for one hour or 1A for 120 hours. But, of course, this is a little simplistic.

If you have lead acid batteries, you must never completely discharge them, unless you want to replace them regularly. Lead acid batteries should never be discharged below 50 per cent, so the practical Ah they really offer is half the theoretical Ah rating. In the above example, 60 hours at 1 amp would be the limit before you had to recharge the battery. Typically, the state of a battery’s charge is monitored by volts or a shunt battery monitor.

Knowing the state of charge of your batteries is critical to managing your power needs.

Article continues below…

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How to get your yacht home without power

Electrical systems and electronics have become such an essential part of our normal lives that it’s hard to imagine life…

yacht a power boat

Everything you need to know about yacht solar power

Keeping your batteries topped up without having to run the engine is a continuous challenge for cruising sailors, especially those…

I replaced our Bavaria’s standard 240Ah of domestic lead acid batteries with 800Ah of lithium batteries. The advantage of a lithium battery is its light weight. And, unlike a lead acid battery, it can be run down to a much lower charge. The downside is that lithium batteries have been known to explode.

To avoid this, they need to be paired with a battery management system, which is best left to a professional, who knows what they are doing, to install.

yacht a power boat

Oceanvolt lithium batteries aboard a Feeling 32

Charging sources

A standard ‘off the shelf’ mid-size production boat is likely to be fitted with a 60A battery charger which is used by the boat’s generator, if it has one, or when shore power is plugged in. The engine will also have an alternator which will typically produce between 35 and 60A of charge, depending on the size of the engine.

Assuming a 60A charge source, the batteries will receive 60A of charge in one hour. So, to put it very simplistically, if you have, as I do, 800Ah of lithium batteries and they are at 50 per cent, to charge them up to capacity would take 6.6 hours (400 amps divided by the charging source of 60 amps equals 6.6 hours).

Unfortunately, it’s not quite as simple as that. For example, there are various charging states – bulk, absorption and trickle (also known as maintenance or float) – and different types of batteries with different ratings, but I have kept it as simple as possible here for the purposes of explanation.

If you don’t have shore power (when at anchor, for instance), or don’t have a generator, the alternative is to run your engine for six hours under light load, which is not good for the engine and won’t win you many friends nearby who are trying to relax and enjoy a peaceful sundowner.

yacht a power boat

Mike’s customised electrical control panel

Battery charger

Increasing the size of your battery charger will speed up the process of charging from both a generator and shore power. I opted to fit a 120A charger and a 3kW inverter for my 240V appliances. There is always the option to beef up the engine alternator to feed a hungry family of batteries, but again, this means the boat engine needs to run for prolonged periods of time.

The 9kW Paguro 9000 generator I fitted produces a lot more power than we ever need. The generator powers both the 240V ‘ring main’ and the battery charger. However, the battery charging will be limited by the power rating of the charger, which in my case is 120A.

yacht a power boat

Four solar panels on Spirit’s stern arch produce a maximun 1,600W

Renewable energy

Renewable energy for boats is either wind, hydro or solar. I opted for solar on a custom-made stern arch. I fitted four 400W panels, which produce a theoretical maximum output of 1,600W at 12V or, in amp speak, 133A.

Like lithium batteries, the voltage and charge from solar panels needs to be managed, so each panel is equipped with an MPPT (maximum power point tracking) controller to ensure the batteries are getting the right amount of charge when the sun is shining. The next conundrum was to get all this in perfect balance based on the boat’s power consumption.

yacht a power boat

The stern arch was custom-built to support the solar panels

Background noise

I started by building a spreadsheet to calculate the various power ratings of my many onboard electrical appliances. However, this isn’t simple as you must calculate the power demand of each appliance, estimate how long you will run it for, and when you will run it.

You then need to map this over time to calculate a theoretical power demand and how much power you need to be generated. Estimating the power output from my solar panels alone became a headache: calculating the assumed number of ‘sunny’ daylight hours, the angle of the sun, solar panel efficiency, and when the next solar eclipse would be! So, like all people with limited brain capacity, I gave up.

I decided, instead, to take a more pragmatic approach. The first thing I did was to measure the ‘background noise’ of my boat; that is, the power being consumed whilst at anchor and not running any major appliances.

It turned out to be around 200A, which is very high; but then I do have three fridges, a deep freeze and more internal lighting than Blackpool Illuminations.

The time it takes to recharge my batteries once the sun has dragged itself up to the right angle differs dramatically based on which way the boat is lying. If my stern is exposed to the sunny side my batteries will fill to the brim in a few hours. However, if my bow is facing the sun, it takes a lot longer.

On an average day, we are at 100 per cent by midday or early afternoon, leaving a good four or five hours of surplus power generation for running more critical systems.

yacht a power boat

Air-con is a battery power ‘killer’

We have a lot of power consuming paraphernalia on board, for example the kettle, coffee maker, hair dryer, microwave oven, and so on, but I ignore these when it comes to power management as they are used randomly and are never on for long.

However, we do have several appliances that are critical to our power management, including a washing machine, water maker, ice maker and water heater. All of these have high demand and can run for long periods of time. I also have air-conditioning which can be run off the inverter, but I prefer to use fans and open hatches to keep the temperature tolerable when we are at anchor. Air-con is a battery power killer and is best left to when shore power is connected or the generator is running.

yacht a power boat

Our Bavaria came with a built-in utility room, so we decided to fit a full-sized washer-dryer, which has proven to be our favourite upgrade.

For this equipment I simply use a rota and allocate a specific day to run either water production, laundry, ice making or water heating. We do laundry once a week without using the drying function and relying instead on nature’s outside dryer, which does tend to lower the tone of an idyllic anchorage.

The water maker produces 60 litres an hour and I typically run it for around four hours, which will then keep us going for several days. I fit in ice-making and heating the water at other times.

Having guests on board who insist on having a shower every time they go for a dip off the swimming platform requires the water maker to be run most days. Inevitably under these circumstances I lose the battle of consumption versus generation and will need to resort to running the generator.

yacht a power boat

We chose a Schenker Smart 60-litre-per-hour, 12V water maker rated at 20A, which enables free freshwater production all day long thanks to Spirit’s cluster of four solar panels.

I always delay this until my battery charge is showing 30 per cent or less in the morning. At that point I will run the generator for three to four hours, which is enough to get my batteries back up to around 70-80 per cent, and then let the solar panels take over.

When I run the generator, I take advantage of the surplus power it produces by running as many devices as possible: I make water, run the air-con and heat water. Never waste any of those precious amps! I find that I run the generator, on average, every eight to 10 days when we’re on our own and every four to five days when we have guests.

yacht a power boat

Batteries can be easily distributed around a yacht

Before increasing the capacity of your service battery bank you need to calculate your total power requirement by multiplying the amperage of all the equipment by the period of time it will be run over a charge cycle (usually 24hrs).

Tally up the amp hours and then double the result (to allow for not going below 50 per cent of your charge capacity). Then add another 20 per cent to ensure you will always have enough to spare.

If you already have separate engine start and service batteries but want to add further service batteries, they should all be of the same age, type and capacity (Ah rating) to the first. It’s best to create your service bank from a number of smaller batteries and then link them together to achieve the total voltage and capacity you require.

If you’re planning to install a large bank (500Ah or more), it is often better to use 6V cells for this as these allow a large deep-cycling bank to be created, while still having the ability to move them around easily or distribute them evenly over a greater area.

yacht a power boat

Create an improved service bank by connecting a number of smaller batteries

Stay in charge

Once you’ve decided on the battery type, make sure you have enough charging power to fully charge them between cycles. As a rough guide you will need to be able to bulk-charge the bank at a minimum of 10 per cent of its rated capacity (ie. 20A for a 200Ah battery).

However, 20 per cent is a better figure to aim for if you’re looking to fully recharge over one night in a marina. Modern AGM (absorbent glass mat) style batteries can usually take a greater charge than wet lead-acid type, although gel cells require a more particular regime if they are not to be damaged.

Chargers (both mains and alternator regulators) should be of the multi-stage type, with bulk, absorb and float stages. This allows the batteries to be rapidly charged until they reach around 90 per cent charge, then the charge voltage drops to attain the final part of the charge more slowly, keeping temperature (and hence internal resistance) down, and eliminating gassing.

yacht a power boat

A smart battery monitor will allow you see your state of charge and remaining capacity

Temperature noticeably affects a battery’s ability to give out and absorb charge. The colder a battery gets, the greater the power required to charge it fully. For this reason, always fit a charger or regulator with a temperature sensor that will automatically compensate for these differences.

Most power devices produce a trickle charge, and are used to keep the engine battery topped up. However, if you’re planning to install a powerful (5A+) wind or water generator, or a large solar array, then you’ll need to install some sort of voltage regulator to prevent overcharging. This can vary, from a small solid-state switch for small solar panels, to a large dump resistor that dissipates excess charge from a wind generator through heating up a wire-wound resistor.

Monitoring your batteries

The easiest way to ensure your batteries are kept in tip-top condition is to observe their state of charge every day you’re on board, using a modern ‘smart’ battery monitor. This will give you a real-time display of the current going in and out, the state of charge (SOC), and the remaining capacity available. They also often have alarms to warn you when the voltage is dropping dangerously low, or if too high a charge is being applied.

A rough idea of the SOC can be attained using a voltmeter, but this is not particularly accurate and can indicate a false condition when recently charged or under a heavy load. It’s far better to install a monitor that has a shunt, which measures current flow over time and can calculate the available charge capacity remaining much more precisely.

yacht a power boat

Hydrogenerators, like this Remoran Wave 3, will quickly recharge a yacht’s batteries underway

Optimising solar power

The efficiency of solar panels can be compromised by saltwater and long-term exposure to UV and high temperatures. Good regular maintenance will improve a solar panel’s performance.

Clean your solar panels early in the morning, while they are at their coolest, as cleaning them when they are warm or exposed to direct sunlight can cause internal thermal stresses.

Use distilled or deionized water to avoid the formation of mineral stains or deposits on the surface of the panels, and avoid using harsh chemicals or abrasive solvents that could scratch the photovoltaic cells. Let the panels air-dry or use soft cloths, and make sure no water residue is left. Check regularly for cracks, breaks or loose connections.

Hydrogenerators

Hydrogeneration has become a great deal more efficient in recent years. It’s a very simple concept: the yacht’s motion through the water turns an alternator on the transom-mounted hydrogenerator which generates electricity to recharge the boat’s batteries. Achieving 300Ah each day is a realistic expectation when cruising at 7-8 knots.

yacht a power boat

Oceanvolt’s High Power ServoProp 25 electric saildrive

Main prop regeneration

You can also use your main propeller to ‘regenerate’ electricity whilst under sail by using a parallel hybrid propulsion system where an electric motor is installed alongside the engine. Lynch Motors in Devon has supplied its systems to Vendée Globe boats for years, purely as a re-generator, and now produces a Red Snapper electric motor for cruising yachts.

The only problem with a regeneration system is that the pitch required for the propeller to drive the boat efficiently through the water may not always be the same as the pitch for optimum regeneration. Manufacturers have tackled this in different ways.

Oceanvolt has developed its ServoProp for saildrives, which electronically adjusts its pitch depending on speed and function. The latest incarnation allows total 360° blade mobility and faces forwards, increasing efficiency: at six knots, it produces an eye-watering 1kW of power.

Bruntons has another solution with the cleverly engineered Autoprop, which automatically pitches up to match the boat speed. Its Ecostar version of the prop can generate 200W at five knots and up to 1kW at 10 knots when connected to an electric motor.

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Sicily Yacht Tragedy: Captain of Mike Lynch’s Boat Under Investigation for Manslaughter

James cutfield, the captain of the bayesian superyacht, is currently under investigation in italy after seven people died when the ship sunk, including british tech mogul mike lynch and his daughter..

Next steps are being taken following the yacht sinking in Sicily .

The captain of the Bayesian superyacht James Cutfield is under investigation after seven of the 22 people aboard—including six passengers and the ship’s chef— died after a waterspout struck and sunk the ship, as confirmed by prosecutors during a press conference Aug. 24 .

The New Zealander’s lawyer Giovanni Rizzuti confirmed to NBC News that a multiple manslaughter investigation has been launched into his client, alongside an investigation for causing a shipwreck. Rizzuti also confirmed Cutfield will be questioned again by prosecutors in Sicily on Aug. 27.

E! News has reached out to Rizzuti for comment but has not yet heard back.

However, that does not mean he will face charges. As NBC News noted, being placed under investigation in Italy does not imply guilt and does not guarantee formal charges will follow. Instead, notices need to be sent to people under investigation before authorities can carry out autopsies.

Authorities have not yet confirmed whether any of the other crew members will be put under investigation alongside Cutfield.

The news of the investigation comes after all six of the missing guests aboard the Bayesian were confirmed dead when the last body was found on Aug. 23 .

The seven victims have previously been confirmed—by news outlets or their places of employment—as British tech mogul Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah , Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy Bloomer and lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo . The body of the ship’s cook Recaldo Thomas was found shortly after the incident.

Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares was among the 15 people aboard the Bayesian who were rescued by a nearby vessel and then brought to shore by the Coast Guard after the boat capsized.  

The accident occurred on Aug. 19 when a violent storm struck suddenly off the coast of Sicily. Director of Sicily's Civil Protection Agency Salvatore Cocina previously shared that it was likely a waterborne tornado—known as a waterspout—that sunk the 180-foot vessel, noting that the yacht was "in the wrong place at the wrong time."

One of the 15 surviving passengers Charlotte Golunski , who survived alongside her partner James Emsley and her 12-month-old daughter Sophie , previously detailed the terrifying moment the ship was hit by the storm.

"For two seconds, I lost my daughter in the sea, then quickly hugged her amid the fury of the waves," she told Italian newspaper La Repubblica Aug. 20 , per the BBC . "It was all dark. In the water I couldn't keep my eyes open. I screamed for help but all I could hear around me was the screams of others."

(E! News and NBC News are part of NBCUniversal.)

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Hydrogen Power for Boats

  • By Randy Vance
  • August 26, 2024

Boat with a hydrogen outboard

Yamaha Marine stole the limelight at the 2024 Miami International Boat Show in February when it revealed a 450 hp hydrogen-powered V-8 outboard. It featured a Roush Performance fuel-delivery system in a 26-foot 26 XO Regulator Marine hull. The deck was off to reveal three 6-foot-long cylindrical-shaped hydrogen fuel tanks and a custom stringer grid, to nest them securely and protect them from deformation in operation. At that time, preliminary testing of the motor and vessel indicated a range of 50 to 75 miles based on the estimated 23 kilograms of hydrogen pressurized to 10,000 psi in high-pressure, plastic-lined composite-overwrapped fuel tanks. 

It brought up a big question: What does this portend for the future of recreational boating? Is this concept ready for prime time or just a pipe dream?

“It’s not optimized—yet,” says Grant Suzuki, chief technology engineer in charge of the marine innovation development division of Yamaha’s business unit. 

Matt Van Benschoten, Roush vice president of advanced engineering, agrees. “A gas tank in that vessel would hold about 107 gallons of fuel,” he explains. “Our goal, for this first H 2 fuel system, was to store approximately one-quarter of the gasoline energy content. The resulting fuel system achieves this goal.”

“The hydrogen initiative is an important pillar of three technologies on a pathway to carbon neutrality: hydrogen, electrification, and sustainable fuel,” ­Suzuki says. 

Yamaha is not alone in its ­research. The National Marine Manufacturers Association has an alternative-fuel initiative that encourages and empowers manufacturers to develop lower-­carbon fuels. Hydrogen is one of the NMMA’s favorites, but so are renewable fuels such as biobutanol, a distillate of organic materials.

Regulator boat install of hydrogen power

In the Beginning

In the 1980s, the California Air ­Resources Board began to demand lower emissions from fuel-thirsty two-stroke ­outboard engines that essentially drooled unburned fuel from their ­exhaust ports. By the late ’90s, Yamaha had perfected HPDI, regarded as the most reliable two-stroke direct-fuel- injection system. It used computer wizardry to directly inject atomized fuel into the combustion chambers only after the piston stroke closed the exhaust port. Old two-stroke engines charged the combustion chambers while they were still open—a practice that was particularly wasteful at slower speeds. HPDI stopped the waste of blowing wet fuel through the inefficient two-stroke induction system, reduced emissions enormously, and maintained the power and torque for which two-stroke tech was known. After that, in the early 2000s, Yamaha began research-and-development tasks using fuel cells and alternative fuels such as hydrogen. 

At the same time, ­automakers such as Toyota, BMW and GM had well-developed fuel-cell ­prototypes. So did Yamaha in its motorcycle division. 

Hydrogen fuel cells create electricity by initiating a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen in a process called electrolysis. This electricity powers an electric motor—sometimes several, as in the case of numerous commuter buses operating in California. Several fuel-cell cars are on the market today, such as the Toyota Marai, but only 60 or so hydrogen fuel stations exist to refuel them. The cost most recently reported, in late 2023, was $36 per kilogram. In a fuel-cell Marai, that amounted to 50 cents per mile in fuel costs: green, maybe, but prohibitively expensive and not widely marketable. The exhaust produced by a hydrogen fuel cell consists of water vapor and warm air. Emissions are nil.

“That early work on fuel cells led us to experiment on the viability of hydrogen as an internal-combustion-engine fuel,” Suzuki explains of Yamaha’s efforts.

And that’s how the 26-foot Regulator concept boat with a hydrogen-powered Yamaha V-8 came to be and was placed on exhibit at one of the world’s most important boat shows.

Fuel tanks for a hydrogen-powered boat

Hydrogen Pros and Cons

The potential advantage of hydrogen-fueled power lies in its use of conventional internal-combustion-engine technology, according to Yamaha. The twist is that the compressed hydrogen is delivered to the combustion chamber in a regulated manner, not atomized or vaporized gasoline forced in with the pressurized injection systems used in today’s engines.

Roush has decades of experience in this area, having developed many fuel-delivery systems for everything from aerospace applications to land-speed-­record vehicles. Roush’s systems replace conventional port or ­direct-injection systems and engine control modules, and often integrate supercharging ­technology.

Roush’s Van Benschoten ­explained the challenges of the ­fuel-delivery system. “Three Type 4 tanks hold about 7.5 kilograms of hydrogen [per tank] at 700 bar (10,000 psi),” he says. “Type 4 tanks are made with a plastic liner and composite overwrap. Tanks expand and shrink during each fuel-burn-refuel cycle, so it’s important to design a mounting system that does not overconstrain the tanks.”

Clearly the engine and fuel system are a heavy lift, but ­according to Joan Maxwell, ­Regulator’s president and CEO, her company is up to the task. 

“One of the challenges of this project was simply trying to place highly pressurized tanks in existing hulls,” she says. “For us at Regulator, it was a proof of concept.”

Regulator enlisted its top ­engineers to reform the 26 XO’s stringer grid to accept the tanks and protect them from deformation during use and abuse, then fit that into a boat. The design had to accommodate high-pressure fuel lines to transfer hydrogen to the fuel-delivery system at a rate to let the engine develop optimal horsepower, as well as accommodate the tanks’ expansion and contraction during burn and refuel cycles.

From 700 bar in the tanks, the hydrogen pressure must be stepped down through a series of regulators to 100 bar, or about 1,500 psi, which is the pressure at which the fuel injectors deliver the H 2 into the combustion chambers. 

Engineering challenges of fuel delivery include managing the ­ratio of oxygen to hydrogen being delivered into the ­combustion chamber and controlling ignition timing appropriately to account for the shorter burn duration of hydrogen-air ­versus gasoline-air vapor. The process, naturally, requires custom ­computerized engine controls. 

“Another challenge is the ­potential embrittlement of steel alloys, which, when not selected appropriately for a ­hydrogen-rich environment, can experience a reduction in the ductility due to absorbed hydrogen,” Van ­Benschoten says.

Hydrogen will diffuse into metals, and even after the fuel has left the system, it remains in the metal, and over time, that can cause it to fracture prematurely. 

“We have to design around that, particularly in the fuel-delivery system,” he says. “It also impacts the cylinders and heads and pistons, but the most vulnerable parts are the injectors and fuel rails and lines. You’ll see a lot of stainless steel in those parts.”

Hydrogen regulators for outboard

Combustible Confusion

You can’t discuss hydrogen as a fuel without thinking of the hydrogen-filled Hindenburg , which burst into flames when the German lighter-than-air passenger-carrying airship ignited while attempting to touch down in Lakehurst, New Jersey, in 1937. The disaster killed 36 people and injured more than 50 others. ­Anecdotally, recent studies have offered convincing evidence that it was the highly flammable doping compound painted on the fabric of the dirigible that was ignited by a spark, not the hydrogen inside. Still, many understandably worry that hydrogen fuel is dangerous because it’s extreme volatility—or so the thought goes. However, gasoline fumes are comparably volatile and are heavier than air, so if a gas tank ruptures and the fuel escapes initial ignition, the fuel is still present, dripping into a boat or floating on the water, at continued risk of ignition. Hydrogen will be evacuated from a compromised fuel tank almost immediately, provided that there is a way for it to get out of the boat, thus minimizing the time in which combustion can occur.

Van Benschoten explained ­Yamaha’s safety enhancements for handling hydrogen on board: “We have ‘sniffers’ in the bilge to detect hydrogen leaks, and if there is one, the tank valves are automatically closed, isolating the tanks, and the fuel lines are purged and piped above the top of the vessel, where it continues to rise and dissipate in the air. The process takes about 15 seconds. We also have vents in the bilge, but their pickups are on the highest points in the bilge—not the lowest, as they would be with gasoline, since ­hydrogen is lighter than air.”

So, place your bets: Which is safest? Gasoline? Hydrogen? Let’s not even talk about the potential hazards of lithium batteries. 

Regulator boat with hydrogen outboard

Where to Source Hydrogen

Hydrogen is an element, the first and simplest one on the periodic table, with only one proton and one orbiting electron. It takes two hydrogen molecules bound together to make the hydrogen gas that burns—H 2 is its chemical designation. Hydrogen makes up 75 percent of everything—me, you, the stars, the sun—and ranks as the most abundant element in the universe. To extract hydrogen gas, it must be separated from water (H 2 0), natural gas or other fossil ­fuels such as coal. The processes, and the carbon footprints of each, are identified by color. Green hydrogen is separated from water using renewable (solar or wind) electricity to power the electrolysis process and costs the most to produce. It is scarce. Blue H 2 is produced from fossil-fuel-powered electrolysis, but carbon dioxide is captured and repurposed or stored. Gray hydrogen is the most plentiful and is separated from natural gas. Brown or black hydrogen is the easiest, cheapest and dirtiest to make, from coal in a gasification process. The cost to produce hydrogen ranges from $1 per kilogram to $6 per kilogram. Unfortunately, due to distribution costs and poorly developed infrastructure, the price at the pump is an astronomical $36 or more per kilogram. Moreover, all existing and potentially known sources of hydrogen fall short of the current and projected future needs for world transportation. 

Yamaha outboard with hydrogen fuel

Getting Hydrogen in the Tank

Regardless of where hydrogen is sourced, it faces its next big and costly challenge: getting it to ­users. It can be transported by pipeline, and often is for large ­users such as gasoline refineries. 

It can be transported as compressed gas, but that’s far more costly for the amount of fuel carried in a tanker truck as compared with gasoline or diesel. It can be transported liquefied more easily, but its propensity for shrinkage is high, and the energy required to compress it, plus complications and liabilities at the point of ­delivery, adds to that cost. 

Transporting H 2 is an energy-burning process too. The gasoline refining industry limits hydrogen­transport costs frequently by ­locating near hydrogen-producing plants. That eliminates transportation as one of the big energy ­consumers for them. At some point, hydrogen-production plants could be scalable to locate at or near fuel service stations. But at present, door-to-door hydrogen delivery is not on the horizon, and at this writing, there are fewer than 100 hydrogen fuel stations in North America. Most are in California. Broad distribution of it is not practical. Yet.

Read Next: Decarbonization of Boating

Outboard revised to handle hydrogen

If Not Now, When?

So, if Yamaha perfects its hydrogen engine in, say, two years, would we see them on the ­water in growing numbers? ­Probably not. Look back to the early 2000s, when carmakers such as Toyota, Honda, BMW and GM, as well as motorcycle-makers such as Yamaha, had extensive experience developing fuel cells, but the Western world began to push electric propulsion because transportation of carbon-neutral fuel—mainly hydrogen—was a long way from addressing the ubiquitous distribution system enjoyed by gasoline or even the electric power grid. Now, however, as that demand for electricity increases, the need for an alternative green fuel increases, which ultimately might generate a ­deeper dive into hydrogen power.

Should Boaters Care?

If Roush’s estimates are correct, 23 kg of hydrogen can provide energy comparable to 26 gallons of gasoline. At the current street price of $36 per kilogram, a 23-kilogram hydrogen fill-up would cost $828 (at $36 per kilogram) and propel the boat about 50 miles, while a 107-gallon gas fill-up would be $642 at the waterfront and get the boat about 180 miles. And, even when highly compressed, hydrogen takes up almost four times the space of gasoline for the equivalent amount of energy.

As with electric propulsion, hydrogen is not the formula for every challenge. And H 2 is far from viable today. But, as Yamaha, Roush and Regulator see it, it’s one potential heading in the passage to a carbon-neutral world. 

  • More: August/September 2024 , Boats , Engines , NextMarine , outboards , Yamaha

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Questions for Investigators Trying to Unravel Mystery of Luxury Yacht’s Sinking

The investigators searching for answers about the shipwreck, leaving seven dead, face questions about extreme weather and possible human error or problems with the yacht itself.

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Two small boats with outboard motors make their way across the water.

By Alan Yuhas

More than 180 feet long, with a mast towering about 240 feet and a keel that could be lowered for greater stability, the Bayesian luxury yacht did not, in the eyes of its maker, have the vulnerabilities of a ship that would easily sink.

“It drives me insane,” Giovanni Costantino, the chief executive of the Italian Sea Group, which in 2022 bought the company that made the ship, said after its wreck last week. “Following all the proper procedures, that boat is unsinkable.”

But the $40 million sailing yacht sank within minutes and with fatal results: seven dead, including the British technology billionaire Michael Lynch, his teenage daughter, four of Mr. Lynch’s friends and a member of the crew. Fifteen people, including the captain, escaped on a lifeboat.

Mr. Lynch had invited family, friends and part of his legal team on a cruise in the Mediterranean to celebrate his acquittal in June of fraud charges tied to the sale of his company to the tech giant Hewlett-Packard.

The Italian authorities have opened a manslaughter investigation, searching for answers from the survivors, the manufacturer and the wreck itself. They face a range of questions and possible factors.

An ‘earthquake’ in the sky?

When the Bayesian sank around 4 a.m. on Aug. 19, the waters in its area, about half a mile off the Sicilian port of Porticello, were transformed by an extremely sudden and violent storm, according to fishermen, a captain in the area and meteorologists.

But what kind of storm is still a mystery, compounded by the fact that a sailing schooner anchored nearby did not have its own disaster. Also unclear is whether the crew was aware that the Italian authorities had issued general warnings about bad weather the night before.

Karsten Börner, the captain of the nearby passenger ship, said he’d had to steady his ship during “really violent” winds . During the storm, he said, the Bayesian seemed to disappear behind his ship.

Severe lightning and strong gusts were registered by the Italian Air Force’s Center for Aerospace Meteorology and Climatology, according to Attilio Di Diodato, its director. “It was very intense and brief in duration,” he said.

The yacht, he said, had most likely been hit by a fierce downburst — a blast of powerful wind surging down during a thunderstorm. His agency put out rough-sea warnings the previous evening, alerting sailors about possible storms.

Locals have said the winds “felt like an earthquake.” A fisherman in Porticello said that he had seen a flare go off in the early-morning hours. His brother ventured to the site once the weather had calmed about 20 minutes later, he said, finding only floating cushions.

The Italian authorities have so far declined to say whether investigators had seen any structural damage to the hull or other parts of the ship.

Open hatches or doors?

The boat executive, Mr. Costantino, has argued that the Bayesian was an extremely safe vessel that could list even to 75 degrees without capsizing. His company, the Italian Sea Group, in 2022 bought the yacht’s manufacturer, Perini Navi, which launched the ship in 2008.

Mr. Costantino said that if some of the hatches on the side and in the stern, or some of the deck doors, had been open, the boat could have taken on water and sunk. Standard procedure in such storms, he said, would be to switch on the engine, lift the anchor and turn the boat into the wind, lowering the keel for extra stability, closing doors and gathering the guests in the main hall inside the deck.

At a news conference on Saturday, almost a week after the sinking, investigators said the yacht had sunk at an angle , with its stern — where the heavy engine was — having gone down first. The wreck was found lying on its right side at the bottom of a bay, about 165 feet deep.

yacht a power boat

12 guests occupied the yacht’s six cabins. There were also 10 crew members.

Open hatches, doors and cabin windows could have let in water during a storm, according to the manufacturer.

yacht a power boat

Open hatches, doors and

cabin windows could

have let in water

during a storm,

according to the

manufacturer.

Source: Superyacht Times, YachtCharterFleet, MarineTraffic

By Veronica Penney

Water pouring into open hatches or doors could have contributed to the sinking, experts say, but that on its own may not account for the speed at which such a large boat vanished underwater.

Asked about the hatches at the news conference, the authorities declined to comment on whether they had been found open at the wreck.

The authorities have also not specified whether the boat had been anchored, whether it was under power at the time or whether its sails had been unfurled.

A retracted keel?

The Bayesian had a keel — the fin-like structure beneath a boat that can help stabilize it — that could be retracted or extended, according to its manufacturer. On some yachts, keels can be raised to let the large vessel dock in shallower water, and extended downward to help keep a boat level.

But like the hatches, the status of the keel alone may not explain why a large ship sank with such precipitous speed. Investigators have not disclosed what divers may have seen at the wreck, aside from saying divers had faced obstacles like furnishings and electrical wiring in tight quarters. Officials want to raise the wreck to better examine it, a process that may take weeks.

Human error?

Ambrogio Cartosio, the prosecutor in charge of the case, said at the news conference that it was “plausible” crimes had been committed, but that investigators had not zeroed in on any potential suspects.

“There could be responsibilities of the captain only,” he said. “There could be responsibilities of the whole crew. There could be responsibilities of the boat makers. Or there could be responsibilities of those who were in charge of surveilling the boat.”

It remains unclear what kind of emergency training or preparation took place before the disaster, or what kind of coordination there was during it. So far, none of the surviving crew members have made a public statement about what happened the night the ship sank.

Prosecutors said they want to ask more questions of the captain and crew, who have been in a Sicilian hotel with other survivors. They said that neither alcohol nor drug tests had been performed on crew members, and that they have been allowed to leave Italy.

Prosecutors also said they were also investigating why the captain, an experienced sailor, left the sinking boat while some passengers were still on board.

Besides possible manslaughter charges, the authorities are investigating the possibility of a negligently caused shipwreck.

The bodies of five passengers were found in one cabin, on the left side of the yacht, the authorities said. The five were most likely trying to flee to the higher side of the boat and were probably sleeping when the boat started to sink, they said.

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York man shoots high-powered pellet gun at neighbor, boats, police say.

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yacht a power boat

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The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox.

A York man is facing a felony charge after he was accused of shooting high-velocity pellets at one of his neighbors and nearby boats, according to police in the Maine town.

David Ricker, 67, was arrested on one count of terrorizing, as well as a misdemeanor count of reckless conduct in connection with the incident.

The York Police Department announced Monday that shortly after 9:55 p.m. Friday, officers responded to a report of someone being shot near the intersection of Long Beach Avenue and Webber Road.

Police said a woman told officers that she was outside when her neighbor shot a gun in her direction. The woman reported hearing a projectile fly past her head and that other people who were outside at the time also took cover in fear of being shot.

According to police, Ricker was identified as the neighbor who shot the weapon shortly after officers arrived at the scene, and he was quickly detained.

Police said Ricker was in possession of a Umrex USA Legends replica MP40 rifle that shot high-velocity pellets and .177 projectiles.

An Umrex USA Legends pellet gun that is a replica of an MP40 rifle.

Ricker was within 300 yards of his neighbors when he shot the pellet round and then shot the same pellet gun at two boats that were just offshore and also within 300 yards, according to the York Police Department.

Police said no one was injured during the incident, and no property damage was reported.

Ricker was arrested at the scene and taken to the York Police Department. Because he faces a felony charge, police said no bail was set for Ricker, and he was transported to the York County Jail.

Police said the incident remains under investigation.

Three people injured as two boats collide on Pewaukee Lake

Portrait of Cathy Kozlowicz

Three people were injured after two boats collided on Pewaukee Lake on Saturday morning.

At 10:15 a.m., the Pewaukee Lake Patrol investigated a crash involving two boats near Peterson Drive in the city of Pewaukee on the east side of the lake.

According to a news release from the village of Pewaukee Police Department, the sides of the boats hit each other as they tried to veer away from each other.

A 26-year-old man who was driving one of the boats and was the only person in that boat was treated at the scene, according to police. A 61-year-old man and a 58-year-old woman from the other boat were taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

None of them was ejected from their boats, and alcohol is not thought to have been a factor, according to police. No citations have been issued; the incident is under investigation, according to village Police Chief Tim Heier.

Cathy Kozlowicz can be reached at 262-361-9132 or [email protected]. Follow her on X at @kozlowicz_cathy.

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