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Pearl 62 review: New flybridge contender doesn’t follow the crowd

With four double cabins, sprawling deck spaces and a stunning Kelly Hoppen interior, the Pearl 62 is looking to shake up the 60ft flybridge market.

There are some manufacturers that effortlessly imbue their boats with a sense of occasion. Sunseeker, Riva, and Pershing have long had it mastered and in recent times it’s Galeon that has been dropping jaws for fun in the boat show aisles.

The new Pearl 62, the smallest model of the current range, is a worthy new addition to this club. It’s a boat that has real presence, even from the pontoon where its height, style and impressively hefty mouldings and deck gear make it appear larger than its LOA of 61ft would suggest.

It just so happened that the boat berthed behind the Pearl was a Princess F62, which it dwarfed in comparison. Head to the flybridge and you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d stepped aboard a boat of more than 70ft.

The hardtop isn’t standard but every boat ordered thus far has had it and it’s easy to see why. It’s subtly integrated and features a retracting canvas section that opens the helm, dinette and extended wet-bar to the sky when the weather suits.

Our test boat – hull number one – had the option of two L-shaped seating pods with free-standing stools at the aft end of the deck but there are variations.

You can have just a sun pad or the sun pad to port and keep an L-shaped pod to starboard, the layout to go for in my eyes as it offers the best mix of space to stretch out in the sun and some snug corner seating to enjoy a sundowner with a fine view out over the water.

Update: The Pearl 62 is due to go on display at the 2022 Cannes Yachting Festival.

Read our full review of the Pearl 62 in the September 2020 issue of MBY, which is out now.

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