For the first time, in may be ten or fifteen years, the new Moody 45 Deck Saloon has broken the mould of yacht design, by producing a walk-though, two deck cruiser.

For the first time, in may be ten or fifteen years, the new Moody 45 Deck Saloon has broken the mould of yacht design, by producing a walk-though, two deck cruiser.

The boat is based on two unique concepts. Firstly, the Moody 45DS has 'one level living' with the saloon on the same level as the cockpit, and through a set of double doors, you go straight into the saloon with no stairs to negotiate. And secondly, below on deck two, the sleeping quarters are completely separate and detached from the public saloon. This means that features normally attributed to a catamaran, have been adapted to a mono hull.

The tradition of Moody Yachts goes back 150 years and Premier Marinas bought the brand along with Swanwick Marina in a multi million pound deal in 2005. Production long since stopped on the Swanwick site, shifting initially to Plymouth and then back to Hampshire at Vosper Thornycroft's 'VT Halmatic' yard in Portchester. VT Halmatic, was the warship builder's small boat arm, and switched from making pleasure craft to small military vessels, leaving Moody without a manufacturer. In April 2007, Premier sold Moody Yachts to Hanse Yachts for an undisclosed sum, thus shifting Moody's production to Greifswald in Germany, which is about 200km north of Berlin and close to the Polish border.

Hanse realised right from the start that they had bought a very British brand and it was important to retain its Britishness. So Michael Schmidt, the head man at Hanse, met up with long time Moody designer Bill Dixon at the London ExCeL Boat Show in 2007. Michael's brief was for a completely radical, and new concept and idea. He wanted a deck saloon cruiser, NOT a motor sailor, with single level living and with no steps between the cockpit and the saloon. Bill Dixon quickly realised that this would require a completely new and radical design. He wouldn't be able to simply regurgitate a design from yet another aft cockpit boat. What was required, was a redefined cruising boat. The brief set up new challenges, for example how to work the boat, and how to elevate the helming position and how offer adequate protection and security along the decks. Respectively, these challenges led to a sophisticated layout of sheaved deck organisers for cockpit control, wide twin steering positions and a full perimeter bulwark for protection - something that's normally a feature of super yachts.

To complete the all-British design team, Mark Tucker was brought in for the boat's interior design, and fellow brit Gary Rosall headed up the research and development for this boat. Here, all three elements of hull design, interior design and R&D, shared the same computer design software which had the benefit of increasing the accuracy in the cutting and fitting of components as well as improving the speed of production, and the time to market. Moody has a long history of deck saloons and both Hanse and its British design team were keen to preserve Moody's reputation of sailing performance and comfort.

The ex factory price is £250K + VAT and the 'realistic' on the water price more likely to be £333K. This will include delivery, commission, VAT and all the extras. Premier Marinas, who have the exclusive UK dealership for Moody Yachts, like to point out that they're not keen on going down the road of an 'add-up-list' of extras, and would rather that the selected needs are sold as standard and included in the price. Therefore, expect to find included as standard, a fully battened main and furling head sail, a side opening gate and as a measure of preserving the sailing performance, a retractable bow thruster rather than a tunnelled bow thruster.

The deck saloon - the mobile stools double as stowage space

The starboard helm position

The foredeck and perimeter bulwark

The master suite

The forward view - standing at the helm

The forward view - sitting at the helm

A fantastic cockpit, but a tad exposed in a following sea

The bows - note the retractable cleats

Both the headsail and the mainsail work can be controlled from the cockpit

The forward facing chart table with complimentary panoramic views

Being a fan of catamarans, I was very interested to see if the walk -through, single level living concept would work on a mono hull, and on the Moody 45DS it does. Generally speaking, making a deck saloon a thing of beauty is hard to achieve, but as Julian Gowling of Premier Marinas pointed out "it does grow on you", and besides, I think those that'll buy this boat will value the deck saloon as a practical feature rather than an aesthetic one. The inside of the deck saloon is very spacious and when looking out you have a fantastic 360° panoramic view of the world outside, and a huge pane of glass with polished stainless steel sliding doors, separates the cockpit from the saloon. The saloon houses the galley area, an L-shaped settee with two mobile stools which can assemble 6 people around a collapsible table, and there's a fantastic forward facing chart table with its own cushioned seat. The engine compartment is accessible from a hatch in the saloon, which reveals about a 1.5m drop to a foot plate on which to stand on. The engine compartment is huge and spans the full width of the boat, making the engine comfortably accessible from all sides.

The cockpit has two long seats either side of a folding cockpit table and for shelter there is a retractable awning, which slides within the moulded cockpit canopy. The stowage space within the cockpit area is enormous for there's no aft cabin underneath to intervene with the stowage. The twin helming positions are located as wide on the aft quarters as possible, and like any large deck saloon superstructure as this, you have a accept that the steering vision is impaired, although to compliment this one, the majority of it is glass and therefore transparent to a degree. I'm 6'4" tall, and when standing at the helm, I couldn't see the point of the bow, but there is a seat, upon which you can stand on, and should raise your position a foot or two. I was lucky enough to watch this boat being berthed in the depths of a congested marina before its press launch, and I could see to that the skipper was struggling for vision - a lot of bobbing of the head and repositioning of the body was required - and I could image this would grind after a while. The cockpit is also very exposed to a following sea and there would have to be a very disciplined approach to closing the large glass sliding doors, otherwise it would reveal a huge gaping void for water to flood in. The coach roof of the deck saloon can double as a superb sun platform, either to brush up on one's tan, or if you're environmentally conscious, you would mount a whopping 5sq m of solar panels on it. Local energy specialists Barden Batteries inform me that a solar array of this area could contribute about 130 AmpHours per day (in summer) of electrical power to the general good. As for other alternative energy sources, there might some deck space just aft of the helming positions to anchor a wind generator, but its rotating parts in close proximity to the helmsman would be dangerous.

At the forward end of the saloon is a short flight of steps leading to the corridor of the sleeping accommodation deck. This small and short corridor provides access to the various cabins, and is slightly reminiscent of the cabin decks on a cross channel ferry. All the cabins and heads have full standing heading room, apart from the after most cabins where the bunks slip under the sole of the saloon deck. There are about 6 cabin layouts to choose from, and one version even provides for a study. Common to all cabin layouts however, is the forward master double cabin with en suite showers and heads. All the other remaining cabins share a shower and heads facility. The interior throughout is either a choice of mahogany or American cherry veneer - both with a satin finish. Since the cross section of the hull is very beamy and square, it provides ample opportunities for stowage space, and indeed throughout the saloon and sleeping accommodation, cupboards and lockers pop out from all over the place.

The clutterless all perimeter bulwark is a joy to use and up in the bows the problem of keeping the anchor off the bow when launching it, is solved by a bowsprit device that rotates out of the foredeck and releases the anchor about 1m forward of the stem (view the video opposite). A cruising chute can be stored in the bow locker and launched through the deck, meaning there's no need to take it through the saloon and along the decks. The retractable fore and aft and mid ship cleats are beautifully housed along the gunwale, thereby eliminating problems of snagging or stubbing ones toes. The need for foredeck or mast foot work is reduced by a self tacking furling head sail - a feature perhaps inherited from Hanse - and all the mast halyards, kicking straps, the mainsail and head sail sheeting etc. is led back to the cockpit.

The whole design and layout of the boat makes it an ideal short handed cruiser and coupled with its impressive potential for alternative energy resources, I can see this boat selling well in the hot sunny climates. The draft of the vessel just scrapes under the 2m mark which may limit where it can go, and in a way its a shame that it didn't have a lift keel, for this would open up all sorts of opportunities.

Plans are afoot for a Moody 60 ft Deck Saloon plus some faster aft cockpit 36 to 40 foot cruisers. How this new brand of Moody yachts fairs under the umbrella of a high volume manufacturer like Hanse, I'm afraid we'll have to wait and see. On the face of it, the quality is there and we might have to wait for a year or two to see it if it all holds together.