Updated on October 19th, 2024
The 18-meter OT-60 boat from Omikron Yachts aroused our distrust at first glance. Even though, as we heard, it won some awards. And few people trust awards these days, because independent opinions can now be found, perhaps, only on forums, and not always. Be that as it may, we decided to take a closer look at the boat from the Greek shipyard.
At first, you might think that this is a hybrid of a racing sailboat and a motor yacht. And indeed, the hull of the OT-60, which was worked on by the naval architect Juan Kouyoumdjian, has a triangle when viewed from above and a bottom with combined contours, in which one can guess the desire for maximum fuel economy at low speeds, but with the preservation of the boat’s ability to accelerate to a maximum of 14 knots.
The variable deadrise of the bottom near the midships not only becomes flatter, but also rises slightly upwards closer to the transom, almost like on tugboats. Obviously, thanks to this, the stern will not “pull” water behind it as much as it does on pronounced planing hulls. The absence of a zone of low water pressure and strong turbulence behind the stern significantly reduces the overall hydrodynamic resistance and, accordingly, saves fuel.
However, in exchange, you will have to give up the planing mode. Yes, this is a displacement boat. Probably, it is capable of moving in a transitional mode, but there is no point in this, since the engine power and fuel consumption will have to be increased, and the maximum speed will increase slightly and will still be limited by the length of the hull. In addition, the very concept of the OT-60 implies a relaxed cruise, the feeling of which is closer to a sailboat or trawler.
There are some words about sustainability and other nonsense flashing there again, but this is still a yacht with two diesel engines with a total capacity of 500 hp. You can optionally install less powerful engines, 150 hp each. And although fuel consumption is really low (it is only 1.25 L per nautical mile), we cannot understand where sustainability comes into play here again. Perhaps you can no longer publish boat descriptions today without the obligatory mention of the word “sustainability”.
In any case, we like the idea that an 18-meter yacht with such a magnificent living volume can get by with only 500 or even 300 horses. And at a speed of 8 kn, the cruising range will be around 1000 NM. This is far from phenomenal, but certainly better than the 350-500 miles of the average planing cruiser.
And the comfort on board is really worth mentioning, as there is much more space on board than on a trawler of comparable size or on any cruiser. With a truly wide stern and midships that reach a third of the hull length, you will definitely have no problem moving around the boat. And despite the lack of a flybridge (or because of it), you will have a separate sunbathing area at your disposal, taking up half of the hardtop of the saloon.
We very rarely touch upon the description of cabins and other interior spaces of motorboats, since they are usually all little different from each other due to the limited space, but here, looking at the overall design of the saloon, galley and dining area, it is obvious that the design, in which Lorenzo Argento participated, was partly inspired by Dutch displacement cruisers.
The OT-60 has a category A certificate, but this is exactly what confused us a little, since we felt that this boat is not quite suitable for safe sailing on the open ocean. However, despite the fact that in bad weather it will not be very comfortable compared to a trawler (not to mention the sailboat), due to the ratio of the width to the length, it feels like a very stable platform. Well, in good weather the boat behaves wonderfully and turns even without an external heel.
So, who is the Omikron Yachts OT-60 suitable for? It is obvious to us that the boat is ideal for classic leisurely Mediterranean cruises. This is not a brutal yacht for rough seas or for high latitudes, rather, it is an attempt to create a universal comfortable platform for a family holiday, where the main requirements are not seaworthiness, but habitability and an uncluttered deck, which is greatly facilitated by the minimalist design.
You could say that this is a symbiosis of a fast houseboat and beautiful Dutch-Belgian noble boats. No, we are not saying that the OT-60 has a superior design, because this is obviously not the case. All we are saying is that the inland cruising concept has been successfully applied by Omikron Yachts to create this relatively economical boat.
But you should pay attention to the lack of a flybridge. Maybe the shipyard will add a FLY model, we don’t know. Although we think that a flybridge is definitely not needed here, since it will further increase the windage and with a draft of only 0.86 m the boat will be blown away by the slightest gust.
In addition, reducing the weight of the OT-60 was part of the strategy to increase the fuel economy and range. That is why the GRP hull uses a 70% to 30% fibre to resin ratio, and carbon prevails in the superstructure.
- Price: about € 2,000,000
- LOA: 18.41 m
- Beam: 6.06 m
- Draft: 0.86 m
- Displacement: 20 T
- Fuel: 1200 L
- Water: 600 L