CAROLINA CRUISER
IS FOR MEGA, AND MANAGEABLE
The M90 Panacera from Hatteras Yachts is a vessel with mega-yacht styling and features — a foldout balcony, for one.
WITH THE M90 PANACERA, HATTERAS YACHTS INTRODUCES BIG-YACHT BENEFITS IN A STEP-UP MOTORYACHT LENGTH.
the launch of big yachts. In September, Hatteras Yachts hosted a weekend-long event for VIPs to see a few of its models. Shortly after sunset the first evening, while a DJ spun tunes, spotlights highlighted each boat cruising into view. Clients craned their necks from ashore. When the largest of them all, the new M90 Panacera arrived, the music swelled. Smartphone flashbulbs glittered everywhere, and, right on cue, festive fireworks shot into the sky. ¶ For the Hatteras team, the revelry was more than just show. It was indicative of the bigger story behind the M90 Panacera’s conception and execution. ¶ Certainly, the M90 serves as a step-up model from the M75 Panacera, adding a transition option before the builder’s 100 Raised Pilothouse. But to classify the M90 solely as a slot-filler sells her, and Hatteras’ efforts, short. The North Carolina builder is so serious about keeping traditional motoryacht cruisers in the fold, it’s looking to significantly larger, fully custom mega-yachts for inspiration.
As a result, the M90 Panacera incorporates creature comforts and technologies typically reserved for the superyacht domain. ¶ This isn’t to say that everything about the M90 breaks from tradition. She is classically Hatteras in the built-to-cruise sense, with resininfused fiberglass construction, deep tunnels for shallow-water running, and multiblade props for performance. Owners can expect a 17- to 19-knot cruise speed and a 21- to 23-knot top speed with standard 1,600 hp Caterpillar C32As, according to the builder. (Optional 1,900 hp Caterpillar C32As provide a 22-knot cruise and better than 24.5-knot top-end.) The M90’s general arrangement is just as classic, and classically American, with a salon and formal dining area, country kitchen and four staterooms, including a full-beam master belowdecks. ¶ Where the M90 Panacera starts to surprise is in the way some of those areas look and feel more spacious and feature-filled than they do aboard more traditional motoryachts. For example, when’s the last time a fold-down balcony appeared aboard a vessel that’s 91 feet 9 inches length overall? The balcony is along the salon’s port side and deploys hydraulically. It’s an optional feature that Hatteras incorporated on Hull No. 1, a stock boat, to show how the balcony can create a sense of openness and enhanced appreciation for the sea. ¶ Other big-boat features
that Hatteras incorporated within the M90’s 22-foot-6-inch beam include rosewood cabinetry and the country kitchen’s atrium skylight, a signature element that the builder introduced aboard the M75 Panacera. The atrium is much larger aboard the new model, and the headroom is so high, LeBron James could throw down a dunk. Here, as with the balcony off the salon, the sense of openness is powerful. A few builders with models in the M90’s size range are putting the master stateroom forward on the main deck, where it’s typically located aboard larger yachts, but the M90’s atrium effect feels just as “big boat” in its own way. ¶ On the technology side, Hatteras’ HattCon system is included as standard equipment. It provides fingertip control over a host of navigation systems and ship-monitoring data. While yacht builders naturally strive to provide owners and captains with integrated information at the helm, units unfortunately don’t “talk” to one another properly at times. That requires multiple, and sometimes inconsistent, systems installations. Hatteras’ own research and development department set out to simplify things, with the input of a Germany-based marine-engineering company. HattCon integrates systems that owners and captains might want to monitor, along with ones it’s convenient to control, via
touchscreen displays at the helm. Owners or captains can use HattCon to check tank levels, see genset status, monitor bilge and hatch alarms, call up engine data, and view radar, chart plotter and AIS visuals. HattCon also controls lighting indoors, outdoors and underwater, as well as the M90’s air conditioning. ¶ To address the problem of using touchscreen controls in rough seas, HattCon has a surface-mounted display with traditional controls. For system security, a fingerprint reader is used with a backup digital passcode. ¶ And in addition to the helm monitors, the M90 has two 10-inch displays: one in the crew’s quarters and the other in the galley. There also are smaller, wall-mountable and automatically dimming touchscreens in guest staterooms and relaxation areas. Those screens allow lighting and temperature control, while iPads control music and movies. ¶ With Hull No. 2 in build — sold before Hull No. 1 even hit the water — Hatteras has high expectations for the M90 Panacera. The builder hopes that clients have high expectations too. The model is designed to offer features that clients never imagined they’d see on a yacht this size. As the fireworks display made clear: mission accomplished.