Queen Of The Fleet

The tiara f53 flybridge updates the 70-year-old builder’s line without sacrificing its brand DNA.

- Louisa Beckett

Seasickness can be a spoiler for boaters, especially if they have a family member or friend who can’t tolerate even the slightest swell offshore. So, when Tiara Yachts of Holland, Michigan, set out to replace its 50 Flybridge with an updated model, the builder decided to offer the boat with an optional Seakeeper to further enhance comfort at sea. This was a major contributing factor to the design of the new Tiara F53 Flybridge, which houses an optional Seakeeper 9 Gyro in the forward part of its engine room.

“The decision to grow the boat from 50 to 53 feet stemmed from the desire to seat the Seakeeper in a dedicated spot,” said David Glenn, marketing director of Tiara’s parent company, S2 Yachts. The Tiara design team extended the hull’s running surface by 30 inches in order to compensate for the Seakeeper’s added weight and to maintain the boat’s bluewater performance, he explained. The hull extension also provided more technical space aft for big-boat systems like a lazarette large enough to hold dive tanks and a fully retractable shore-power cable.

Another challenge for some boat owners, particularly those new to the sport, is docking in tight quarters. There’s good news for them: Tiara has partnered with Volvo Penta to equip many of its models with highly maneuverable IPS propulsion systems. Both the new F53 Flybridge and its sister yacht, the C53 Coupe— with which it shares a hull—are designed to run with twin 725-horsepower Volvo IPS950 diesel engines/pod drives and Volvo’s innovative Joystick Plus control.