Majesty 160
- 49.5 m LOA, engineered below 500 GT
- Fast displacement hull form by Van Oossanen Naval Architects
- Developed with Cristiano Gatto Design
- Twin Caterpillar C32 diesels, 2,200 hp each
- Range in the region of 4,300 nm
- 14 guests in 7 staterooms, main deck owner's suite
- First hull in build at Umm Al Quwain
- Announced 2022, semi-custom platform
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 horsepower 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.
Pour qui: 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.