Room to Move
The Monte Carlo 105 takes an impressive step over the 100-foot threshold.
Here’s tHe scenario wHen tHe owners of tHe Monte carlo 105 sHow tHeir guests to tHe ViP staterooM on tHe lower deck:
Guest: “Oh, no, we couldn’t possibly take your owner’s stateroom away from you!”
Owner: “You’re not. Our stateroom is on the main deck.”
Guest: “You’re just being a gracious host. Your stateroom couldn’t possibly be bigger than this one.” Owner: “Follow me to the main deck.” That is just one possible scenario for surprising guests aboard the Monte Carlo 105, because the builder offers multiple layouts. They all have the main-deck master, while the belowdecks options include the full-beam VIP mentioned above along with a pair of guest staterooms forward; or a pair of VIPs where the full-beam version might be; or a suite where the two forward guest staterooms might be.
The owner options on the layout are among several features that, with this 105, bring Monte Carlo into the megayacht sector. The builder’s first hull, a 76-footer, debuted in 2010 and found buyers even though the year was not so great for the yachting industry. Since then, Monte Carlo has brought out 65-, 70-, and 86-footers, and now the MCY 105.
Monte Carlo’s starting point for the 105, as with all of its models, was the Venice-based design team of Nuvolari Lenard, which is known for yachts into the hundreds of feet length overall. The duo created clean lines that should remain stylish for years, and did so without relying on irritating fads. This styling purity is carried throughout the Monte Carlo line, which is notable for round windows that float like cheerful bubbles on its yachts’ topsides. The 105 is a raised pilothouse motoryacht, but the styling eliminates the wedding cake look.
The pictures will give you the essence of the airy salon, which (on this particular 105) is all about
entertainment, from the lounge seating that doubles as a media space to the dining table for six to the bar overlooking the afterdeck dining. One reason for the open feel is the galley-down layout, with the cooking essentials tucked into the crew quarters. (If this salon doesn’t ring your bell, then Monte Carlo has a blank sheet of paper for you to envision your perfect design.)
Just forward, the master suite has windows that make it seem loft-like in its airiness, and snowy Carrara marble lines the shower as well as the double-wide trough sink and counters in the ensuite bathroom.
A central foyer on the lower deck opens to the guest accommodations. On this 105, the owner chose mirrored staterooms aft with angled berths. Just forward are a twin-berth stateroom to starboard and a triple to port. The triple is unusual in that it has no Pullman; instead, a full berth is above and outboard of the lower berth. It’s a great arrangement for the grandkids.
The pilothouse, like the galley, is nearly invisible to guests. It has hidden steps to the salon, where a door opens to the side deck. Twin leather seats are behind the monitors that make slit windows of the steeply raked windscreen. A pilot berth to starboard allows the off-watch to doze nearby.
A carbon-fiber hardtop with opening sunroof tops the flybridge, so owners can choose shade from the sun or broiling beneath it. The helm is forward, and the bridge has a scattering (owner’s choice) of chaises, sunpads and settees, all lubricated by a built-in bar.
One design element that has steadily become more defined with each new Monte Carlo is the use of the foredeck as a terrace. On the 105, the side decks bend inward as though becoming a Portuguese
bridge, but instead, they funnel guests onto a collection of sunpads with flip-up backrests, all protected by awnings on carbon-fiber poles. On at least one 105, the owner opted for a TV screen at the bow, giving the effect of a 1950s drive-in movie theater.
Access to the foredeck is secure with high bulwarks from the aft deck to the bow, capped by rails forward and tucked inside distinctive raked buttresses.
Power for the 105 is as flexible as the layout, with a choice of 2,200- or 2,400-horsepower MTU 16-cylinder V-drives. This Monte Carlo 105 has the 2,200-horsepower M84s, which the builder says gives her speeds in the mid-20-knot range.
While the 105 has a hydraulic transom platform capable of lifting and holding the tender, it also has a garage designed for a 13-foot (4-meter) Williams jet tender. The garage shrinks the size of the engine room, but it also keeps eye-offending clutter off the stern.
Crew have a separate control room just like those on superyachts, allowing them to manage the yacht’s systems in air-conditioned comfort without the roar of engines. And in spite of the garage, there is room for two standard Seakeeper gyrostabilizers that should keep the 105 continually sailing on a millpond.
A delightful meld of Gallic élan and Italian gusto, the Monte Carlo 105 is an impressive step over the 100-foot threshold for this builder.