New Hatteras 72’ Motoryacht Designed for Owner-Skipper

The Hatteras 72 Motoryacht was finished just prior to the Ft. Lauderdale show.

Now more than ever before, a seasoned couple who can work together as a team can easily handle a motoryacht as large as 72 feet with a minimum of stress. Today’s chart plotters/gps combos make navigation quick and easy. Bow and stern thrusters plus remote control devices make docking a large motoryacht actually easier than a single-engine skiboat. All of this combined with the boating industry’s new-found understanding that not only should everything on the boat work – but work for several years without having to have a riding mechanic aboard -- even the technically-challenged among us can not only handle a large motoryacht, but also enjoy doing it.

So, what has Hatteras done to make their new 72 “owner-friendly?”

Designed for Baby Boomers

The first thing it has done is to eliminate the lower helm station on its standard interior layout. By doing that it forces the helmsperson out of the cabin where visibility is horrible in a motoryacht. The only helm in the standard arrangement is on the flying bridge, and perched up there one can easily see the bow and move to one side or the other when docking. Being up on the flying bridge makes a world of difference in visibility, hearing, and sensing what is going on around the boat instead of being in the cocoon of flushdeck pilothouse.

Second, the boat comes standard with a bow thruster. By adding an optional stern thruster and remote hand-held engine and thruster controls on the starboard cabin wing on the aft deck, the skipper can dock the boat standing nearly anywhere on the boat. While it is not quite as easy as the new intuitive joystick systems available on smaller boats, it is the next best thing and almost as easy.

These different layouts allow buyers to match an interior to their own needs.

Third, the boat comes standard with a Northstar 6101i GPS/plotter, a Simrade AP2504 autopilot and a Furuno RD30 depth sounder which makes navigation easy and safe if the skipper is paying attention. Add a powerful radar and the Sirius weather service to the mix and you’ve got as much navigational horsepower as many ocean-going vessels.

Fourthly, the 72 has side decks so that the mate, spouse, or friend can easily move from bow to stern to set fenders and handle lines. Hatteras is proud of their innovative fender lockers located in the overhead in the coach roof overhang so that all one has to do it reach up and pull the finders down and affix them to the rail. Port and starboard side doors in the country galley make moving from port to starboard quick for one person.

Cruising Made Easy

Helping Hatteras on its quest to make boating easier for a motoryacht couple are several fender makers which are producing lightweight fenders and clamps for them on the rail. The boat comes standard with a Cablemaster and remote for handling the shore power cable (no boat of any size should be without this).

We would make a couple of suggestions to make docking even easier and that is to add electric warping winches port and starboard to the aft deck and to use lightweight dock lines for the initial tie-up. Once you have the boat settled down, then the strongest member of the team can place proper weight lines where they belong.

The boat deck completely covers the aft deck of the 72 allowing owners to enclose the cockpit with cruising canvas to extend the season.

Hatteras Stylin: "Subtle Contemporary"

Here’s how Hatteras describes the exterior look of their 72: “The new 72 Motor Yacht…features traditional exterior lines with subtle contemporary styling cues for an overall effect that fits into today's marketplace while easily standing the test of time.”

Built in Hatteras' main facility in New Bern, N.C., the 72 motoryacht is constructed with a resin-infused hull, rather than one built up of layers of hand-laid fiberglass. This reduces weight and since an leaner glass to resin ration can be obtained, it adds strength. The automated resin-infusion process also produces a more uniform hull and more precise fit for stringers, bulkheads and other components.

The solid-fiberglass hull bottom includes beefy support for key areas such as the tunnels, shaft log and strut locations. Divinycell coring is infused into the hull sides, decks and superstructure to add stiffness and reduce weight. The company says that wherever possible in the vessel's interior, lightweight components and materials are used to increase performance without sacrificing the structural integrity and soft ride.

The 20’2” beam boat comes standard with Cat C32s and weighs 160,000 pounds. That means she is no lightweight and should relatively comfortable offshore in all but rough conditions.

Watch for BoatTEST.com’s video commentary of the new 72 in a future issue of our “Offshore Motoryacht” e-newsletter.