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Combined with the 15-foot-long saloon two steps down, the main-deck space is so big a couple could get lost in it. Indeed, the overarching impression onboard the 68 is of a much larger motoryacht, something on the order of 75 feet, and the spacious feel in the saloon is enhanced by a skylight. At first I dismissed it as a gimmick, but after a while I saw that it really does work. The 68's main-deck area is among the brightest I've been on. And the brightness continues below, especially in the vestibule at the foot of the companionway, which is open to the windshield above, and in the midship master, which benefits from port and starboard windows.
Of course, once a couple eschews crew, they become responsible for basic maintenance, and the engine-room layout becomes all the more important. The 68's is accessed primarily via a transom door, a configuration that could make access in bad weather (and when else does trouble strike?) problematic. Fortunately, the 68 has a secondary engine-room hatch in the seven-foot-long cockpit. Its ladder, which stows alongside the port engine, can also be used to access the top of the skylounge from the boat deck.
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Inside the engine room there's a lot to like. Fully forward the two identical athwartships fuel tanks, which insulate the master from the mechanical spaces, have sight glasses, and everything pertaining to fuel, including the Racors and the transfer pump, is clustered there for easy service. There's full access to both C18s and both Onan gensets (a 27.5- and 17.5-kW), and the exhaust system is a thing of beauty. It includes Soundown mufflers that, judging from our dB readings, really work. The obsession with neatness extends to enclosing the main raw-water strainers—aesthetically pleasing but of questionable practicality. You really need to be able to look into them quickly. Considering all this fine engineering, I was disappointed to see that there was no crash pump.
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The enclosed bridge makes for all-weather comfortable driving. |
As you've no doubt deduced, this is a great couple's boat, but there's one more feature that Horizon has somehow managed to incorporate into the 68 that will give any duo a welcome measure of flexibility: crew quarters between the engine room and the transom. Occupying the port side of the lazarette, it's complete with a double berth, head, and hanging locker. You could use it for stowage or an unruly toddler, but it also provides allowance for change. After all, you never know when you might decide to hire someone to do "the hard stuff."
For more information on Horizon Yachts, including contact information, click here.
SPOTLIGHT ON: Line Lockers
Everything on a boat should have a designated place to be stowed out of the way, and that especially includes line. These aft port and starboard line-handling stations on the Horizon 68 include custom-made, oversize cleats for tying off, deep, molded FRP bins to hold excess line, and roller fairleads to virtually eliminate chafe while allowing the line to move. Additional features are the receptacles for cable TV and telephone that allow you to also keep those cables out of everyone's path. With the molded tops down, you'll never know there's line inside, but open, everything is easy to get to. Note the spring-loaded strut that keeps the lid from inadvertently slamming shut.—R.T.
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This article originally appeared in the May 2008
issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
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