Sir Michael Hill's superyacht 'The Beast' soon to be chartered

Friday, 8 March 2019

Michael Hill's new boat, The Beast, is launched into the water at Foxton Beach.

Sir Michael Hill's luxurious catamaran, launched on Thursday, could soon be available for hire at a cost of a family car per a night.

The 40-metre-long vessel, dubbed The Beast, would cost US$185,000 (NZ$273,000) a week, according super yacht support company 37South.

In two weeks Hill's boat will travel from Foxton to Wellington for some finishing touches, before moving it to Auckland.

The boat was built in Palmerston North and sleeps 12 guests in five cabins and also features a Japanese teppanyaki restaurant style barbecue on the fly bridge.

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Ulysses comes jam-packed with watersport toys including jetskis and a tender vessel the size of Auckland police launch Deodar III.

Its decks offer three outdoor dining options.

The multi-role boat can be used for scuba diving, including compression chambers on board; ferrying crews to oil and gas rigs; and will be fitted with a remote operated submarine to investigate underwater sites, such as the Rena wreck off the coast of Tauranga.

The boat has a second helm at the back of the wheelhouse, and is equipped with dynamic positioning technology that keeps the boat in place regardless of waves and swells, at the touch of a joystick.

The Beast is one of the largest boats built in New Zealand and also comes with kayaks, paddle boards and fishing equipment.

The boat is powered by two main diesel engines, with 715 horsepower and four generators.

It took 22 months to build and weighs 480 tonnes when carrying its full load of 76,000 litres of fuel, 14,000 litres of water, and its 14,000 litres sewage tank is full.

Super yachts are how the rich and famous travel and holiday around the world, but recently, New Zealand's richest man, Graeme Hart sold his.

Hart sold his 107-metre, nearly 6000-ton Norwegian-built vessel for US$195m in 2017.

Hart's yacht, Ulysses, had a pool and jacuzzi deck, gym, movie room, pool table and all the necessary watersports equipment, including a twin-hulled on-board vessel the size of the Auckland police launch Deodar III.

The yacht was renamed Grand Rusalina and registered in the Cayman Islands.

The same year Australian casino tycoon James Packer also sold his 55m yacht, the Arctic P which costs about A$10m (NZ$11.4m).