Majesty 160

The 500 tonne question

Gross tonnage, the measure of a yacht's internal volume, decides more about ownership than length does. At 500 GT a wall of additional commercial regulation arrives, with heavier class requirements, larger minimum crews and compliance costs that follow the yacht for life. The cleverest modern superyachts are therefore designed to deliver maximum volume just below that line, and the Majesty 160 was conceived for exactly that brief.

At 49.5 metres the 160 stretches nearly to the fifty metre mark while staying in the friendlier regime. For an owner this is a running cost decision as much as a design one, since the yacht keeps the guest count, deck acreage and range of a fifty metre with the crewing and compliance profile of something far simpler to operate.

A Van Oossanen hull beneath a Gatto profile

For the hull, Gulf Craft went to Van Oossanen Naval Architects in the Netherlands, the studio whose patented fast displacement hull form has become the quiet standard for efficient superyachts. The shape carries displacement comfort at low speed and keeps resistance low as the throttles come up, so the yacht avoids the usual hard choice between economy and pace.

Above the waterline the 160 was developed with Cristiano Gatto Design, the Italian studio that shaped the Majesty 175 and 145. The family resemblance is deliberate, with a strong bow, deep glazing and balanced tiers that read as a scaled flagship. Power comes from twin Caterpillar C32 engines of 2,200 hp each, feeding a range in the region of 4,300 nautical miles.

Nearly fifty metres of superyacht engineered to stay a whisker under the 500 tonne line, with ocean crossing range built in.

Seven staterooms, owner forward on the main deck

The layout gives the owner a full beam suite forward on the main deck, the position with the best light, the least motion at anchor and complete separation from the guest flow. Six further cabins on the lower deck bring the total to seven staterooms for fourteen guests, a count that turns the 160 into a genuine family flagship or a serious charter platform.

The volume the hull wins under 500 GT is spent where owners feel it, in a wide main salon, real crew circulation so service stays invisible, and open deck space stacked across three levels. As a semi-custom build, the arrangement remains open to negotiation before lamination, and the yard's in-house joinery means interior changes stay inside one supply chain.

Where she sits in the range

The 160 slots between the 45 metre Majesty 145 and the 56 metre flagship 175, and she borrows from both, taking the wellness driven deck thinking of the newer boats and the composite engineering the yard proved at record scale. She is the step an existing Majesty owner takes when the next boat needs transoceanic legs and a seventh cabin.

Against the market she lines up with the Dutch and Italian sub-500 GT fifty metre class, where build slots are scarce and lead times stretch. Gulf Craft's pitch is a modern hull from the most respected naval architects in the efficiency business, delivered by a yard that has repeatedly finished large composite yachts on aggressive schedules.

In build, and what that means

Announced in 2022, the 160 has moved from renderings into production, with the first hull taking shape in Umm Al Quwain. Buying into a first hull carries a particular appeal, since the owner shapes the model's public identity and takes delivery of the newest platform in the fleet while sister ships remain years away.

Gulf Craft's record on timeline is the reassurance. The yard premiered the first Majesty 145 about a year after contract signing, a pace almost unheard of at that size, and the 160 is built on the same production system. For an owner weighing a slot, the practical questions are layout and specification, because the yard has already shown the schedule risk is lower than the industry norm.

An engine question nobody has settled

Ask three sources what powers the Majesty 160 and there is a real chance of getting two different answers. Gulf Craft's own published material and some brokers describe twin Caterpillar C32 diesels at 2,200hp each; other listings, including some carrying the yard's own name, describe twin MTU 16V 2000 M87 units at 2,000hp each. For a semi-custom yacht this far along in its announcement, with a first hull reportedly in build at Umm Al Quwain, that kind of disagreement over the main engines is worth flagging rather than quietly resolving by picking one.

It may simply reflect that Gulf Craft, like most semi-custom builders, offers an engine choice and different sources have described different configuration options rather than the same fixed spec. But nothing published states that plainly, so a buyer working from press coverage alone cannot currently tell which engine, if either, will actually be fitted to the first delivered hull. The yacht was announced at the 2022 Monaco Yacht Show, real construction was reported starting only in 2026, and a first unit is expected off the line in 2027, all of which puts genuine sea-trial data further off still. Van Oossanen has drawn efficient displacement and fast-displacement hulls for yards well above Gulf Craft's usual size range, so the naval architecture behind the 160 carries a credible pedigree even while the powertrain question sits unresolved. Whichever engines end up in the first hull, the choice will say something about whether Gulf Craft is chasing outright speed or the steadier, more efficient cruise that a composite-built yard has traditionally sold on. For now, the honest position for a prospective buyer is to treat every performance figure published for this model as provisional until Gulf Craft confirms the powertrain and a delivered hull is measured independently.

Für wen: An owner stepping up to a fifty metre with crossing range who wants the volume without the regulatory and crewing burden that starts at 500 gross tonnes.