118 Benetti 1994 Yacht Walkthrough [Boat Review + Video]

Take an extensive tour of the 118′ Benetti 1994 [SHALIMAR] in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with Ryan Alexander

This article is a transcription of the 118′ Benetti 1994 video from Denison’s Youtube Channel. Tune in daily to discover the latest yacht video walkthroughs from the world’s largest yacht video collection. Watch the full video below:

Good morning everyone, Ryan Alexander here with Denison Yachting. This is day 4 of 5 of FLIBS, the show has been excellent. Amazing, well attended.

This morning I get to introduce you to broker, Fletcher Daves. This boat was built right after Azimut acquired Bennetti and that was around 1994-1996. You’ll read some descriptions of it and it’ll say it was built at the Bennetti yard which Azimut had just acquired. It’s really transcended, all the styles and everything like that and it’s still a very prominent boat. Incredible charter platform, easily was filling 8 to 10 weeks sometimes even 12 weeks a year.

The first thing that makes this a great charter boat is the interior volume that she has. Normally you won’t find great interior volume on boats that have a full walkaround because that cuts off a lot of the space you have inside. The second is the sky lounge which you’ll find on the sundeck. And normally you know you say sky lounge it doesn’t go with a raised pilothouse because normally a raised pilothouse just has a sundeck that’s open to the elements. This owner took the sundeck and enclosed the middle portion of it, gives the guests just an area they can be out of the elements they can still have incredible views, you still get to see those nice teal waters. On top of that the owner put an observation deck and this is something you’ll never find on a raised pilothouse. Full helm station for the captain, private seating for the guests and you can even put sun loungers up there.

Great feature I love about this boat is the massive sun pads that they have on the foredeck. Some of them belong to the foredeck. They’re accessed from the bow. Then you have another set that are on top of the wheelhouse. So the whole lip of the boat has entertaining space. So guest accommodations on the main deck, we have the owner’s stateroom. Below we have 4 guest staterooms, 3 of which are king berths and one twin.

Fletcher and I are going to walk you around the boat but let’s get things started here on the swim platform. This is where everybody connects with the water. We’ve got a big lazarette right on the other side of this door here. You can put a small spark jetski in here. SHALIMAR has a great inflatable dock that goes out where you can park jetskis, even tenders, sea bobs.

And then over here on the starboard side, we have this water softener. This is to be used to dock-side, dock water does not have to be run through the water maker membranes because those membranes have to be cleaned every once in a while and running more water through them ups that time that you have to clean them.

Before we take a look at the aft deck itself, I just want to point out that the transom drops down here. So where you would normally have a molded-in backrest for seating. Exactly and it keeps the guests that are on the aft deck connected with guests that are in the water on the beach club.

Our second stop on today’s walk through is the aft deck that we were just referencing. The centerpiece in this area is a removable al fresco dinette with seating for 6 to 8 and teak deck chairs. Benefiting this area is a built-in refrigerator below the tender deck access stairs. It’s also worth looking up to the overhead which provides cover from the elements and has been outfitted with lighting. This theme of shade continues aft beyond the overhead with this sail shade that protects anyone sitting at the bench seat running along the transom. A few other features of note include the deck gear port and starboard as well as a pair of opposing boarding gates, integrated into the gunnels.

Now that we’ve shown you the aft deck, I’d like to take him down to the engine room. I was told yesterday that I would make a terrible yacht broker because every time I show someone a boat in person, I start in the engine room, it’s just such a fascinating space for me. But the engine room on this boat is really cool. It starts with the engine color. But in terms of access, you have a hatch here in the floor on the aft deck and then a more convenient watertight door just around the port side on the walkaround.

The great thing about the engine room on SHALIMAR is the space and the head room that you have here. Well over 7 feet of headroom in here. Typically, you have an all-white engine and in 2018 he decided to paint them gold which adds a nice pop of color down here. They’re the MTU 12V TB94s. These MTUs give the boat a top speed of 17 knots and a cruise speed of around 14 knots. Very economical speed would be around 10 to 12 knots.

Aft of the engines, you have two Northern Lights generators which were recently completely rebuilt. One generator can easily power the entire boat. Something that virtually every boat does is they alternate back and forth between the generators. This allows them to stay on top of servicing them and keeps the hours balanced between the two. Now that we’ve taken a look at my beloved mechanical space, we can get to what people are actually interested in and that is the guest spaces. I think the order that makes the most sense for us is we’re going to leave here, step into the salon, take a look at the most comfortable areas onboard, where your meals are prepared, the master, the lower accommodations. We’re going to work our way up from there.

The beneficiary of an extensive interior refit, the salon onboard SHALIMAR is a great place to get your first feel of what the interior has to offer. Some of the things that jump out are the refurbished millwork, headliners, and carpet that refreshed the space greatly. Here in the aft portion of the salon, we have the living area. Offset to the port side is a radial L-shaped couch, overstuffed really comfortable and a pair of armchairs. This portside seating is opposite the wet bar located to starboard. Also found in the immediate area is a TV.

Turning our attention to the wet bar itself, this bar serves an important function because it services not only the formal dining and salon but also the aft deck. So it’s back here where you’re going to find a sink, plenty of storage, a refrigerator and an ice maker.

As Fletcher already mentioned, all the woodwork underwent full refurbishment. One of the details that I like here, they reframed these windows, right? Correct. They took every single window out and resealed it and reframed it as well. These windows do a great job of lighting up not only the aft half of the salon but the formal dining section as well and to circle back around to what you were talking about, this boat is all about white-glove service.

Over to the port side, you have a stews entrance to the galley, and the entire formal dining area is surrounded by storage for all of your China, silverware, glasses, and things like that.

Moving forward from here we pass into the main deck foyer. I just want to take a second and break down all the different directions that this foyer can take you. First, you have the option to head down to the lower accommodations or you can continue forward into the master. There’s also a set of stairs leading to the wheelhouse. We’ll be returning to all three of these areas in just a few minutes. Facing aft, you see another set of stairs that access the sky lounge as well as a centerline door that opens up into this yacht’s day head.

Just beyond this on the port side of the boat is the galley. Stepping inside we first see a cleaning and prep space below opening windows in the superstructure. Turning towards the forward bulkhead, this is where the cooking takes place at a ceramic cooktop, electric grill, and a pair of ovens. A considerable amount of cold storage is found along the aft bulkhead in this floor-to-ceiling stainless arrangement. Passing through the galley, we enter the crew accommodation companionway with access to the raised pilothouse.

At the top of the stairs, we step into mission control, an area outfitted with everything your captain needs to run this boat in a climate-controlled environment. The visibility in here is great. Thanks to the pilothouse windshield that wraps around port and starboard. Seated at one of two helm seats, your captain and crew find themselves an arm’s length away from the helm and surrounding controls. Additional seating is found just aft of the helm for a few more.

To port are the stairs that we took to get up here, into starboard is a short staircase that brings us back down to the main deck foyer as we transition into the owner’s suite. A favorite for many yacht owners is an on-deck master just like this one which has an ideal layout for private use or charter.

Refurbished in just about every way this bright and open stateroom features everything you’d expect from a forward-facing king berth to a desk over on the starboard side. This doubles as a vanity and is just a few feet away from the entrance into a walk-in closet with enough storage for two.

Stepping outside of the storage area, we see a comfortable area to relax with the love seat placed below a horizontal window. This is right next to the ensuite head and shower which is complete with a tub, his and hers vanity, head, and bidet. Wrapping up in here, let’s jump down to the lower deck and take a look at the remaining guest accommodations.

At the foot of the stairs, you’re greeted by a foyer offering you access to 4 staterooms of which we’re first going to take a look at the aft pair. The port stateroom is your VIP. The experience in here is based around an athwartship king berth with the rest of the amenities surrounding it. At the foot of the bed is the entertainment center. In addition to the primary storage locker in here, a full-sized hanging wardrobe. Right next to this is the entrance into the ensuite.

Guest stateroom two is on the starboard side of the yacht and you see the same things as in the last room including a desk and an opening hole window. The difference in here though is the size and feel of the ensuite. Stepping out of these cabins, you see two doorways leading into a pair of mirrored guest cabins with twin berths. These are part of what makes this a great charter option allowing families with kids to settle in with ease and in style.

Leaving the lower deck our next stop is the panoramic sky lounge. You would never have this on a normal raised pilothouse. This was a completely custom feature to this boat and it’s something you find on a much bigger boat. Not only is the footprint of the space impressive but you have windows forward and aft that ties in really well with these little seating areas that have windows themselves.

In the starboard aft corner over here, we have the wet bar. This is a great spot for loading up the bar ahead of time you can bring all the provisions up from the lower deck, put them directly in the bar. But once the night gets going, this stays shut and you have your main walkway on the port side. Similar to the layout of the salon and how the bar down there services the aft deck the salon the formal dining area for it into the, boat here on this deck you have something similar.

This bar services outside, inside, the top deck. So it’s important that it’s fully equipped. So there’s plenty of bar top space here with this blue stone, you’ve got refrigeration, an ice maker and a sink. Aft of the enclosed portion of the sundeck, you have the tender deck which also doubles as an incredible lounge area. When SHALIMAR is underway, the tender’s up here. But when it is at the dock or at anchor, the tender is off to the side allowing you to entertain 10 to 12 guests comfortably.

Passing back through the sky lounge and stepping outside of the sliding glass door on the forward end, we step onto a protected sunning area with a wide-open footprint. Whether you’re soaking in the hot tub under the stars or sprawled out on a lounge chair, this really punctuates what’s special about this customized deck. Forward of this are the sun pads that we mentioned earlier at the top of today’s walkthrough. These continue all of the way forward and down onto the bow and were designed to make the most of otherwise unusable space. At the foot of these is the foredeck where we have the ground tackle and a bench seat that serves as a private escape when you’re on board. Finishing up here, our last stop is the space onboard that stunts everybody who experiences it.

We have saved the best for last. Here we are on the observation deck and as you can see incredible views. So if you look just north of the boat, you see another yacht that we have listed called 4 ROSES. This boat is 185 feet long and you see that the height of this deck is very comparable that’s something that makes the layout of this boat really unique. The first area I want to focus on up here is where you keep your sea-doo spark. This can be lowered into the water by using the 2000 pound davit found on the aft portion of the sundeck.

The centerpiece of the observation deck as you may be able to tell is this upper helm right here. A lot of boats brag about having great visibility, this is a boat that actually pulls it off. From this position, you can see in every direction, all the boats on every side of us. You can even see the bow forward.

Also found in this area overhead are your radars as well as the domes that provide this yacht with satellite communications. Here on the forward half of this deck, you’ll notice that you have platforms that surround the outside. These have stringers in them so you can walk around the outside of them but really what we want to point out here is the safety rail that surrounds the area. Yesterday as I was wrapping up the shoot, the owner came walking out and she made it very clear, this is her favorite spot on this boat. It’s killer during boat shows but I imagine you’re out here at anchor that is what this boat is all about. It took a lot of collaboration from both sides to produce what is now SHALIMAR.

We’d love to get you on board. If someone wants to get on board, they can reach out to you directly. Of course, just give me a call, shoot me an email, happy to show you through.

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