Maritimo M600 Black Edition Review – Wonderfully simple package organises a complex array

Maritimo M600 Black Edition Review – Wonderfully simple package organises a complex array

by John Curnow, Global Editor, Powerboat.World 21 Oct 18:10 PDT

You’re simply either an enclosed transom kind of boater, or you’re not. That established, the next item to take in is that there are two kinds of boaters that will flock to Maritimo’s glorious M600 Offshore Motor Yacht. They’re either multigenerational boaters, which very much includes fur kids, or fishos. That too is pretty simple in the grand scheme of things.

I’m an enclosed transom kind of boatie. Must be the old school in me. Happily be on one of Maritimo’s magnificent Adventure Decks, any day of the week, but as a preference, I would always gravitate to one of their craft with three numerals in the model designator. Always the notion that I will once again back down on a big fish…

My first encounter with a Maritimo M600 was in O is for Oh Yeah!, which was very much set up for fishing. A couple of years on, and the new Black Edition has arrived, which we featured in our WorldMarine.Media News Show at Sanctuary Cove, just a few months ago.

Now the bonus about being out on the new one is that this one was set up as the multigenerational style of vessel, so it was a great chance to not only look at the advancements of the Black Edition, but also assess the transformability of this terrific platform.

Maritimo’s Marketing Manager, Simon Stewart, explains the rationale of the new Black Edition (available on the hugely popular M55, M60, and M600). “It came down to how can we put this in a form that the buyers can easily recognise, and therefore simply choose the items that will maximise their usability of the boat. To do that, we considered all the input and options, and then put them in a package form that the customer can select to meet their particular expectations.”

How to arrange it all

The complexity was that the nine key areas of focus meant there were several thousand noticeable, and not so noticeable items that received the Black Edition enhancements. Those permutations and combinations are so wide and varied, and by way of example it ranges from deletion of washer and dryer, to the addition of consoles up on the now even larger bridge deck, to installing a very useful and stylish foredeck lounge and forward facing seating arrangement, that when combined with the demountable shading makes great use of an oft forgotten space.

However, by and large there are two main categories for the never-ending list of developments, and they essentially fall into two categories; aesthetic and then ergonomic/functionality. I think the two biggest items (and maybe that is because they are the largest) are the foredeck arrangement, along with the cockpit console, which has just elevated all of that space and utilised what is a gargantuan area to even greater degrees. It is all about seeing the options, evaluating which ones you need, then ticking the boxes.

Another of the brilliant additions are the teak inserts on the steps in the walkaround deck, that are also lit, and the nice little bullnose treatment will add to the ease of use. So, in this one development we can see form and function being the guiding lights for the entire process. Another may be the white, louvered engine room vents that not only but look even better, but let more air into that most crucial of spaces.

Inward swinging gunwale doors are pretty much mandatory in locales where there are a lot of fixed docks. This option has now been incorporated so that you don’t lose access up the side deck, nor pay a penalty in the size of the rope locker.

An even larger Juliet deck above meant the upper cockpit lounge could be placed some 600mm further aft, and still be under the direct line of shade from above. The extra room can be specified with an array of seating and storage/refrigeration modules depending on the style of saloon doors you select.

More is well, more!

The winner is the lounge itself with its angled returns, which are simply brilliant for allowing conversations between the occupants. They also provide for non-impeded access around the lounge and table, and the entire entertainment console it is part of still tilts for entire access to the lazarette, but the real bonus is in all the other things the unit provides for.

Having the transom gates swing back into their recesses is so, so good. A larger ‘boot’ as it is often called, also means there is a bigger fridge and BBQ. However, the ‘standing’ access to the lazarette is very cool. Yes, the 700l of fresh water is now in a tank in the for’ard part of the laz (with more made by the watermaker of course so that everyone gets a Hollywood shower), and yes that means the additional bunkering is now only 1000l to take you out to a still very commendable 5500l in total. All of which means you could be looking at up to 3000nm, depending on your speed and engine choice. Even if you are getting busy with it, you still are looking at 500nm, which is Sydney to the Mooloolaba in the one hop, with some to spare.

If you are fishing, you still have room for a small fighting chair, and there is the live bait well in the coaming, and fish well in the cockpit sole, which is now a bit shallower, but still ready handy and able to take good size captures.

Up on the ‘outside’ section of the bridge you still get the ability to enclose it all, but the flexibility of arrangement expends to wrap around seating, with infill, selection of consoles to choose from or the additional head to Port, and the optional aft helm position for total visibility over the cockpit and amazing sightlines to every other angle.

Inside, and the new floating dash is a thing of beauty and customized to meet your selection of screens – no one size fits all here. Maritimo’s bespoke electric seats and new footrest round out the essential changes. Think M75, and you are there. Elsewhere and the cruising lounge now has its own coffee table, which will come in more than handy.

Some of the changes in the interior are so sublime that you could miss them. Like the all-one-material headliner, and mood lighting strips, or cozy little home for the safe, to say nothing of the slightly lower bed in the VIP Stateroom and new drawers. The galley has the new ‘waterfall’ island bench that can house all manner of utilities you could require.

However, the pièce de resistance is glorious in both its form and appearance. That would be swapping of the tower pantry to the other side, with the 600mm longer return in the galley delivering more workspace, and placing overhead lockers above the stove has meant the galley now has direct access to the aft section of the famous Vista Windows. Let there be light! Winner. Winner. Chicken dinner. For sure…

Did someone say optional wine fridge? Don’t worry. It hasn’t gone, it is just that now it is housed facing into the main saloon, under the end of the bench that houses the sink. Phew!

Taking the girl out dancing

Best to think of the M600 Black Edition as 35 metric tonnes with full fuel and water. Four engine options exist. Twin Volvo-Penta D13 straight sixes delivering 800hp a side with the ‘more easily available’ ZF boxes behind them, then a pair of Scania’s Di13 inline sixes with 900hp each and your choice of ZF or Twin Disc final drive. Climbing up the scale and you can opt for the Volvo-Penta D13 sixes at 1000hp a side, or the brilliant Scania bent eights at 1150hp each. The PTOs on the boxes will power the hydraulic thrusters, and one of the engines will supply grunt to Maritmo’s race inspired power steering.

Surprisingly, the difference between the base offering and the range-topper is not that alarming. Seriously. The M600 has a real cadence at 24 knots. This sort of cruise pace will require you to look to the upper end of the powertrain list, but often you find you do better elapsed trip time versus overall fuel usage when you go down that route. If you are four knots faster for 10 hours as you undertake a passage in daylight hours, for instance, you will be 40nm further down the road each day. That’s Gold Coast to say Brunswick Heads.

We had the twin 900hp Scanias, which do a marvellous job of the initial launch onto the plane in the mid-teens, and like to hold 20 and bit knots for a cruise, going through to the high 20s WOT, with the latter consuming 170l a side.

Our day off the Gold Coast was quite benign, but that was only because it was building to the crescendo that arrived in the latter part of the afternoon. There was the typical, barely one metre rolling swell out of the Sou’east, with maybe a 10-centimetre chop on top of that. There was meant to be a super-vague Nor’wester around somewhere, and its imperceptible strength is probably a result of the fact that when we turned to come back, it had become a soft Nor’easter.

Running downwind, but into the swell, we were at 20.5knots consuming 110l a side, and very much wet ship, with all that fuel and water on board. The 30-inch wheels below made for a typical Maritimo super-smooth ride, and the gentle roll (stabiliser off) was close to lullaby material. Oh the joy, but this is a job, not a folly.

A conversation

It did serve as an entrée into a discussion about stabilisation, however, and how these days, any roll is too much. Little wonder there is so much going on in that market segment right now, as companies work to have the lowest power draw, and being the most effective across a wide speed range, which is nowhere near as simple a task as that last phrase was to write! The entire active trim aspect will be more critical as we move forward, not just for comfort, but also consumption/range.

It is important to have this chat. Historically, the bridge was small, a place for work, and not a lot else. Make it bigger, enclose it in glass, entice people up there, give them fridges and TVs so they don’t miss out on anything, then put Sat domes and tuna towers above that, and well the CofG has gone skyward too. To say nothing of your overall mass.

After being in the background for some time, about five years ago the stability question really took off. Make boating more accessible, and all… So if you’re the kind that needs to know how many cup holders your car has, then stability is really something you need to look at when it comes to your boat. If not for you, then do it for the others, which in turn will make your whole boating life way, way better. Capiche?

Send it home (or is that sail away forever?)

Having been on both versions now, I can truly attest to the adaptability of Maritimo’s M600 platform to meet the needs of the two market segments it serves. In the new Black Edition, Maritimo have made the process of creating your own waterborne dreams that much more specific and pleasurable.

What I can also say is that the delight in the process of selection will only be surpassed by sheer joy as you consume sundowners on the foredeck lounge, or back down on a giant tuna at 12 knots that you are going to land and have fresh sashimi only moments thereafter. Break out the cold Sake…