Horizon did many things right with its V68.
Those things start with the salon layout. Sure, the salon is where we entertain, but oftentimes it’s for lounging, and the L-shaped settee faces a 50-inch TV in the corner. It’s not a pop-up or swing-down unit that makes you crane your neck to see it, but instead sits right in front of you, just like at home. Two bucket chairs add to the layout’s flexibility, and a wet bar in the after corner is situated for serving guests in the salon and cockpit.
That cockpit is nearly 11 feet long from the salon doors to the settee. And the salon doors fold—not slide—out of the way, while the half-window abaft the wet bar swings up, further joining the two spaces.
The layout of the country-kitchen-style galley forward reflects the other things we do aboard: eat, drink and hang out. A raised dinette is forward under the windshield. One countertop is to starboard with a Jenn-Air induction cooktop. Another countertop is aft with a high backsplash, and there’s a double-duty island that, by using the tall seats from the dinette, becomes a bar with a foot rail. Whoever is doing the cooking gets to be part of the action in the open living area that stretches 48 feet from the cockpit to the forward dinette, while the skipper has a pantograph door to the portside deck, with gentle steps to the bridge.
Designed by Jonathan Quinn Barnett, naval architect Christian Stimson and the Horizon team, the V68 carries her 19-foot-5-inch beam far forward to a plumb bow, giving her a waterline length of 66 feet, 1 inch, about 3 feet longer than her bigger sister, the V72. The result is increased interior volume, especially in the lower deck accommodations, and particularly in the forward VIP.
Heading below from the galley, steps lead down to a foyer with a hidden washer and dryer. The foyer has an inlaid pale-oak sole with black China-fir accents, a theme repeated throughout the yacht. The stateroom forward is in an area usually defined (and constrained) by a sharply tapering bow, but with the V68’s plumb bow, there is walk-around space on each side of the queen berth; and there’s a pair of nightstands, which are unusual on a yacht of this length. The en suite head with a shower doubles as the yacht’s day head.
Aft, the light and bright master stateroom spans the beam with a centerline king berth, love seat and desk/vanity. The master head is forward to starboard, allowing space for a private companionway from the foyer, and a walk-in closet to port.
The guest stateroom is also off the foyer, with twin berths separated by a nightstand. The berths slide together into a double, revealing a previously hidden nightstand. Like the other staterooms, this one has an en suite head.
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Horizon offers a multitude of alternate layouts, including four staterooms on the lower deck, several iterations of the main deck including a lower helm, and an open or closed bridge.
The V68 that I got aboard had a bridge that was a fine choice between enclosed and open: a full enclosure with Strataglass vinyl panels that unzipped and swung up to tailor the amount of indoor/outdoor exposure. A nice touch was the day head aft. Bridge seating included a wraparound settee with a teak table opposite a built-in love seat, and the boat deck aft had room for lounges and seating to taste. Just abaft the dinette were a propane grill, sink and fridge. Some owners may want to use the open real estate on the deck for a tender; Horizon has reinforced and prewired the area for a davit.
Forward, the bow has two lounges (the forward sun pad flips up) around a table. Aft, there’s a beach club with a wet bar and raised settee under the hydraulically opening transom. The area abaft the engine room can be used for stowage or as a crew cabin with a single berth, head and shower.
Power for the V68 is a pair of 1,135 hp Caterpillar C18 Acert diesels, which push the yacht to just over 25 knots with an 18-knot cruise. Drop the throttles back, and the 9-knot range is more than 800 nautical miles, making the V68 a contender for cruising down-island as well as for making West Coast hops from California to Cabo or Alaska.
Standard equipment includes a pair of 29-kW Onan gensets, ABT-Trac stabilizers, and bow and stern thrusters. The engine room is right: There are even small lights behind the fuel filters, to let owner-operators check for contaminants without juggling a flashlight.
Those kinds of details make it hard not to like the Horizon V68, a yacht that gets so many things right.
Take the next step: horizonyachtusa.com
