Luxury, quality and a new high standard in lifestyle can be found on the Palm Beach GT60 as it made its North American debut at the Miami Yacht Show this past February. The editors of Great Lakes Boating magazine got to be some of the first to tour the GT60 and get a close-up look at the latest luxury yacht from Palm Beach Motor Yachts.
The GT60 is the creation of yacht designer and CEO Mark Richards and the next flagship for Palm Beach Motor Yachts. It features all the power, unmatched efficiency and smooth-running capabilities for which all Palm Beach models are known. However, the GT Series brings additional contemporary styling, luxury and no-holds-barred top-end performance.
“On the water the GT60 follows closely in the footsteps of the previously launched GT50,” Richards explained. “Both yachts prove that our build practices and engineering know-how result in a vessel that is stylish, luxurious and has a performance curve that is unmatched in the industry.”
The GT60 is 64 feet long with a deck length just over 57 feet with a 17-foot, 2-inch beam. Space is fully utilized, including tucked-away laundry facilities.
“No doubt the performance can be attributed directly to our weight-saving advanced construction techniques, including vacuum-infused carbon fiber in the deck and superstructure,” Richards said. “This weight reduction and strength of our acclaimed performance-hull design sets the GT60 apart.”
Fuel-Friendly
In stateside sea trials near the company’s U.S. headquarters in Stuart, Fla., the new GT60 reached speeds exceeding 40 knots at wide-open throttle with its twin Volvo IPS 1350 power plants. Where the GT60 truly shines is in fuel efficiency that sees only 75 gallons per hour (combined, or roughly 37.5-gallons per engine) operating at speeds of 35 knots. The estimated calculated range would allow owners to travel from Cleveland, Ohio, to Detroit, Mich., and back, burning less than 42 percent of its total fuel reserves (fuel capacity at 845 gallons).
“The GT60 is an absolute dream result that our team worked tirelessly on perfecting over the past 12 months,” Richards said. “To have such a beautiful boat wrapped around a twin engine system, that outperforms similar sized competing products which use three engines—or twice the horsepower—is a truly remarkable achievement.”
The GT60 debuting in Miami ran twin Volvo Penta IPS 1350s, with a total output of 2,000hp.
Beautifully Balanced
The material choices and their placement in the GT60’s construction mean the boat has a naturally low center of gravity to aid performance, while the warped semi-displacement hull design takes cues from racing yachts to deliver a soft and stable ride at all speeds. Palm Beach then takes engineering several steps further to ensure perfect balance, running carbon fiber jackshafts from the pods to the mid-mounted engines, ensuring the bulk weight of the blocks are centered and low.
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.
“It has a very sharp entry at the bow and is flat in the back for a superior rough-water ride,” explained Carvey Iannuzzi of Palm Beach Motor Yachts. “It’s not a planing hull. The boat is down in the water to allow the boat to perform superbly.”
Signature Touches
Iannuzzi mentioned a few signature items for Palm Beach, including power windows, a massive sun roof that will allow you to open up the boat to the outside to enjoy the weather, or close things down to either shut out the cold or allow you to use air conditioning in the heat.
The layout of the yacht is designed around maximizing entertaining spaces flowing directly from the large teak swim platform, through the transom access to the full beam cockpit and salon. All hard objects feature rounded edges for protection and comfort.
The accommodations include a spacious lower galley and master stateroom amidships and a forward VIP stateroom. Both accommodations have ample storage and include their own private full ensuites.
The boat even has a “dingy garage” which will carry a 10-foot, 6-inch RIB tender. With the press of a button, the 
electrically actuated tender garage opens at the transom, revealing the 10-foot alloy RIB tender that’s concealed beneath the cockpit. The tender is stowed on custom launch rails, with the 20hp outboard in place for swift and easy deployment.
The GT60 has a water capacity of 264 gallons with a holding tank of 106 gallons.
As with all Palm Beach Motor Yachts, customers can expect to enjoy the ability to customize the layouts and available options to ensure their high-performance GT60 is perfectly tailored to their individual needs and desires.
Palm Beach Motor Yachts boasts a single philosophy when it comes to its products—provide the customer with a product that’s as close to perfection as humanly possible. And with luxury, quality and a new high standard in lifestyle, the Palm Beach GT60 lives up to the company’s philosophy.
For More Information
Palm Beach Motor Yachts
www.PalmBeachMotorYachts.com
