Monte Carlo Yachts 76 Test Walkthrough Video

When it launched, the MCY 76 heralded a new benchmark for luxury and technological content and introduced Monte Carlo Yacht’s timeless, elegant style to the world. Join us as BoatTest.com takes a test drive of this refined motoryacht:

The opinions expressed in the video you are about to see are solely those of BoatTest.com and its test captain.

Hi, Capt. Steve for BoatTest.com, and today I’m going to be doing a full test and performance evaluation on a yacht that has won more than its share of design awards. It’s the Monte Carlo Yachts 76 – not only a very well laid out yacht but a wonderful boat to handle both around the dock and on open water. Let’s take a look.

Coming up to the flybridge helm, taking control is as simple as activating the upper station and then bringing up your helm panel. Now while your navigation is right at your fingertips, you have a commanding view of your surroundings.

The upper helm is well laid out, particularly for what some would consider to be a secondary operating station. There are dual 15-inch displays that are completely networked and customizable, including as you can see the ability to display camera shots from around the boat.

To the right are the MAN power displays, which are touchscreen displays that you can also customize to your liking. Below we have the controls for the Humphree interceptor trim tabs, then the ZF 4000 pod joystick control, controls for the bow thruster. Over to starboard, the ZF digital engine controls, the Raymarine display controls and the ZF display just ahead.

I’m very comfortable behind the helm but if you try moving in and out from the helm sideways, you’re a little bit cramped and the seat does not move fore and aft. Facing the helm at standing up, again fingertip controls, and that’s just about right for my 5-foot 8-and-a-half frame.

And from the seated position I’m still seeing over the console, I’ve got a good sight line of the bow and of course a panoramic view of the surroundings. Let’s go down below and see how the scenery is down there.

Now taking control of the lower helm station, pretty much the same as the upper station; just push the button on the controls to activate them, you don’t have to bring the console up, they’re already in position. Not quite 360 degrees visibility but very close to it. Thanks to the nice window mullions, angled way back. There is only one bulkhead in the stern that’s interrupting my view; but other than that, I’ve got very clear sight lines of my entire surroundings.

With two big 19-inch display screens this is clearly going to be the helm that you’re going to operate from in inclement weather. When you hit the throttles, it’s going to take about 20 seconds for the turbos to spool up and for you to get up onto planing speed. But once you do get up to that speed, there’s only about a 5 degree bow high attitude, and that still leaves me with plenty of sight line on the horizon

Our Monte Carlo Yacht 76 had a length overall of 75-feet 7-inches or 23 meters and a beam of 18-feet 6-inches or 5.65 meters. With an empty weight of 101,412 lbs. or 46 kilograms, half fuel and 7 people onboard, we had a test weight of just under 106,700 lbs. or 48398 kg.

With two 1200 horsepower MAN engines driving through ZF 4000 pod drives, our MCY 76 had a top speed of 29.8 knots burning 125.2 gallons per hour or 473.9 liters per hour, which translates into a range of 227 miles. Her best cruise was at 19 knots, where she burned 67.3 gallons per hour or 254.8 liters per hour giving her a range of 268 nautical miles.

Dial her back to a displacement speed of 10 knots and she burns only 15.5 gallons per hour, or 58.7 liters per hour, giving her a range of 616 nautical miles. Of course, if you really want to increase your range you can opt for larger tanks. The optional tanks will add another 317 gallons, or 1200 liters to your capacity, which will dramatically increase your useful range.

Now let’s get to the handling. As I pull away from the dock, the first thing I notice is how nicely the 76 handles at low speed. With the new ZF 4000 pods under the hull, the 76 response instantaneously rather than having a wait for the effect of prop wash against a pair of rudders. This made some of the tight maneuvers around the dismantling of the Cannes International Boat Show a non-event.

Now I’m at about half speed and as I bring the boat into a turn, it enters that 3 degree bank and then I’m coming around as you can see looking out the side, roughly 2 boat lengths. I straighten out, just a couple of turns of the wheel, and now I’m able to hold my heading nice and straight.

And I kind of like the positioning of the wheel as well. I’m able to steer with fingertips, and that’s how I like to steer a boat this size, you just don’t want to get heavy-handed on a large boat.

Of course on test day it was calm and clear environment, but we did manage to find a large wake now and then which shows that the 76 cuts nicely through throwing water well to the sides. With her heavy weight, the passage through the waves was barely noticeable.

As our test boat was equipped with the Humphrey interceptor trim planes, I decided to let them handle the trim functions themselves, and they seem to do a good job, keeping us level and at optimum trim. Now let’s head back to port and take a look at her docking capability.

Now I question having the joystick on the port side of the helm but as you stand in this position, I can look right down the companionway and see a clear view of the swim platform as well as the bow, so it really is a good position for the joystick to be in.

So of course, I won’t bother switching to the pod drives until I start getting up to the dock and start my maneuvering. Then it’s just a matter of activating the joystick control with the push of one button.

There’s a bit of a lag time on the pod, so you want to be very gentle with your maneuvers – just give it little burst. Takes a little bit of motion to get the joystick to actually activate the pods and you can feel when it happens. So again don’t get too heavy-handed, let the boat respond, move the pods gently, bring the joystick back, let the boat respond, and then go ahead and give it another burst in the direction that you want it to go.

The prop wash shows the shot of propulsion and then a way to let the boat respond to that. Gentle motions and a soft approach are the way to keep things manageable. Remember that the further you move the joystick, the more thrust you produce in the pods.

So if you’re not easing the stick over, you can easily get into a back-and-forth thing that will only get worse as you progress. Stop, let the boat settle and then give just a shot to correct in the direction you want. It’s not hard and doesn’t really take a practiced hand to make picture-perfect dockings every time.

So that’s our look at the beautiful and easy to operate Monte Carlo Yachts 76. For BoatTest.com, I’m Capt. Steve. We’ll see you on the water.