Taiwanese yacht builder Horizon Yachts has launched a new E78 motor yacht that’s been customised for the US market with innovative hydraulic flybridge hard top.
The hydraulically operated hard top easily raises and lowers, taking the yacht’s overhead clearance from 8.8 metres to six metres. In just 15 minutes, the flybridge hard top can be lowered, and the radar arch can also be folded down and separated.
Developed by Horizon’s in-house design team, this hydraulic flybridge design on the new Horizon E78 will allow the yacht to be able to get under low fixed bridges and expand its cruising possibilities.
This new version of the 23.93 metre Horizon E78 was designed specifically for the Great Lakes region of the US, says Roger Sowerbutts, director of Horizon Yachts USA, but will be equally enjoyed in Florida and anywhere with low-clearance, in-land waterway cruising.
“At Horizon, we pride ourselves in providing creative solutions to the design and usability issues that our clients face,” says Roger Sowerbutts. “We understand that many who boat up North [in the US] in the summer, specifically in the Great Lakes area, are restricted in their cruising locations, and in the size yacht they can enjoy, due to fixed bridge heights. This location-specific design we created for the E78, with her unprecedented hydraulic hard top, was our answer to that problem, and she retains features that will appeal to boaters in the more southern areas such as Florida and The Bahamas as well.”
The Horizon E78 yacht also features a hi-low swim platform that, which extends the yacht to 25.6 metres when in use.
The three-stateroom layout welcomes six guests with a full-beam, king-size master, queen VIP and twin guest stateroom. Also with the US client base in mind, she has a galley on the main deck that opens to the saloon.
Twin 1,600hp Caterpillar engines power the Horizon E78 to a top speed of 25 knots, and she cruises at 19 knots, with comfortable cruising afforded by zero speed stabilisers.