5 key features of Wider’s first superyacht

Wider Yacht’s first superyacht, the Wider150, is designed for someone who is looking for large outdoor spaces while out on the water, simultaneously expecting all of the indoor comforts they require from home, plus the highest levels of engineering.

The 46 metre Wider 150 completed sea trials in December with 90 per cent of the interior already completed.

Here Wider Yacht's Jeremy Roche explains five features that make the Wider 150 stand out for her size.

1. The Wider 150's superb outdoor space and the beach club

The Wider 150 has more than 350 square metres of outdoor space, including a 90 square metre beach club and a sizeable pool. It is the biggest beach club in its competitive set and the only one to have a superyacht pool.

The pool is seven metres long, three metres wide and a metre deep. The pool provides a safe environment for small children, privacy from prying eyes or cameras, shade from the sun and freedom from the fear of jelly fish in the sea.

The 544kWh battery bank has many advantages, but it is the silence it creates that really stands out, meaning the Wider 150 features in our list of the quietest superyachts.

The huge battery bank means that propulsion is possible on battery power alone. The Wider 150 can cruise at five knots for six hours on just battery power – an excellent way to leave harbour early in the morning without waking the guests. If guests want to enjoy a day on board in a discreet bay, the battery bank (once fully charged) can supply eight hours of power in silence, whilst still running all of the hotel services as normal.

The system can be preset by the captain to ensure that the battery power bank charges whilst underway, meaning the yacht can arrive at a destination full charged. And because the generator won't need to run, guests won't be bothered by smoke from the generators while swimming near the boat, and there won't be any diesel smell while sitting in the beach club enjoying a sundown cocktail.

The 90 minute charge time is also impressive — that's less time than it takes to charge an iPhone!

The Wider 150's 9.75 metre rigid tender is unique in this yacht’s size range, normally only available on vessels over 65 metres. It includes a cabin with room for 10 people and allows guests to access the shore in all conditions.

The tender also gives the owner a toy to drive off into areas on his own, if he wishes. The stowage is a wet launching system, meaning the tender is floated in to the aft garage, which doubles as the pool.

The tender is not where the water level fun ends as under the foredeck there is a large crew garage to carry another 4.5 metre tender, two jet skis, wakeboards, paddleboards and diving equipment. The tender and jet skis can be launched here from a hydraulic hatch on the port side together with a gantry crane.

At 75 square metres, this is, again, the biggest of its type in its class. The owner’s apartment includes a 16 square metre office, with an electrically operated partition door, a full beam sleeping area of 31 square metres, a full beam bathroom and a 4 square metre dressing room.

But perhaps the most eye-catching feature of this area is the 5.6 square metre sea terrace. Generally these terraces have teak on them so that when opened they look and work well.

Normally when these terraces are closed the design of the room is completely spoiled by the fact that part of one of the walls is covered in teak.

However, when the terrace on the Wider 150 is closed, you don’t realise that it is a terrace at all because it is designed to blend in with the rest of the room. But, there is still a teak deck for the outdoor terrace.

At the press of a single button the terrace opens and stops at 90 degrees to the hull; then a floor covered in teak, which is under the owner’s apartment floor, slides out to cover this area and raises to ensure that the height of the floor is the same as the indoor cabin. Finally, handrails lift making sure the area is secure for use.

The Wider 150_ _has diesel electric propulsion with Azimuthal pods.

The advantages of this system over the traditional twin screw propulsion mean fuel consumption is about 20% less than on a similar yacht with traditional propulsion, according to Wider. And at 11 knots, it offers a range of 4,200 nautical miles.

There are no shafts, just electric cables that link the power to the electric motors on the pods and supply all of the hotel systems. This means the layout can be flexible - the engine room on the Wider 150_ _was moved into the bow, liberating more usable space in the midships, which in turn benefits the guest cabins.

The power management system of the Wider 150 optimises the use of one or more generators to ensure that the exact amount of power required at any given moment is produced – no more, no less. It also means less generator hours, extending the time between overhauls.