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Sometimes a boat is built around the engines. At least that was the case with the Symbol 75 Flushdeck Motoryacht I recently tested out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida's Bahia Mar marina. A little more than 15 months ago, this boat's owner was seeking a vessel that could cruise in the low- to mid-20-knot range. She also needed to have four to five staterooms to accommodate his large family while cruising around his native Puerto Rico. The owner, who is the operator, too, also wanted the 75's range to allow him to cruise between his home island and South Florida. In fact, she's likely making that trip as you're reading this.
With these requirements the originally planned 73-foot Flushdeck was fitted for a pair of 1,015-mhp Caterpillar C18 diesel inboards. Soon after the design for this modified-V-bottom, Jack Sarin-designed yacht started, the 1,652-hp Cat C32 ACERT diesels became available. To comfortably accommodate the larger engines, the boat grew about four feet feet in length and gained an extra foot of beam. While the boat is called the 75, she actually measures 79'1" LOA. The extra length and beam helped seal the deal on a fifth stateroom and allowed for a full-beam master aft, which can also be modified into crew quarters.
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Aside from the speed and accommodation requirements, the owner let Symbol's U.S. dealer, Barin Cardenas of Lucid Marine, choose a majority of the layout and interior look of the boat. That's one of the benefits of working with a semicustom builder: Its expertise enables it to fit out a boat, and yet it's also happy to get owner input and insight. In fact, the owners of a future Symbol were onboard during my test, and I learned they have a strong sense of how they want their 82-foot yachtfisherman laid out. To that end, they're working closely with the builder and even retained Sarin on an individual basis to help with some of the details. However you want to build your boat, Symbol seems to make the wants and needs list happen for its owners.
And, like I said, this 75's owner's need was performance first. And she delivers. The boat was easily on plane at 1500 rpm. On a somewhat short-chop-topped (two- to four-foot) Atlantic, my test boat effortlessly made an average cruise speed of 25 mph at 2000 rpm, with a fuel burn of 131 gph. When I dialed her Cats back to 1750 rpm, the 75 effortlessly cruised at 21.6 mph with a fuel burn of 88 gph. Top average speed for this 152,200-pound yacht was 30 mph at 180 gph, but the engines weren't turning full rpm. The C32s are rated at 2300, but they were only reaching 2214 to 2230. Symbol's captain informed me the boat had bumped the bottom prior to my arrival and may have had a ding in her 44x43 four-blade nibral props. I did notice a slight vibration on the starboard side and think the 75 may have another half to full knot in her once the wheels are hammered out.
Wind-swept salt spray seemed ever present on the front of the four-sided EZ2CY enclosure as the yacht slid through the swells. I wondered if the boat could benefit from spray rails. She did, however, run smoothly in open water. The 75 felt bedrock solid underway, and I'm sure her beefy build, which is highlighted by a solid-fiberglass hull bottom and closed-cell high-density foam-cored hull sides, played a part. The standard Wesmar stabilizers kept the boat running without mal-de-mar-inducing wallowing, even when heading beam to the seas. After I asked for the stabilizers to be turned off, her roll was inconsequential. From her engine placement to her triple FRP fuel tanks and optional twin 30-kW Northern Lights genset, the 75 is an exercise in proper balance.
The Hynautic hydraulic power-assist steering was up to the task of smoothly turning this big-feel motoryacht at 21 mph within five-plus boat lengths, and the Glendinning controls were working in real-time fashion; opposing the throttles easily spun the boat on her axis. The standard 40-hp hydraulic Wesmar bow and stern thrusters were at the ready, but not needed. While I only operated the boat from the upper station, bad-weather days can easily be handled from the lower station. Of course, you don't have to have the lower station, and it can be replaced with a skylounge. The owners of the 82-footer are opting for the skylounge, as they prefer to run the boat from the flying bridge.
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