The most striking aspect of the Custom Line 112 Next is the incredible amount of glass that the builder has managed to work into the design. Glass on a yacht-particularly one exhibiting a thoughtful layout-can change the whole tone and feel of its interior spaces, and the windows worked just such magic here.
The glass has a positive effect on the living space, opening up the rooms and allowing them to seem larger than they actually are. As we approached the yacht, the large expanses of glass each appear to be a single entity at first glance, but closer inspection revealed that Custom Line wisely divided them into smaller panels, achieving the desired visual effect inside and out, but making the yacht less vulnerable to catastrophic damage at sea.
The Custom Line 112 Next is a redesign and remodeling of the original flagship 112-foot motoryacht, which the company launched several years ago. The previous 112 enjoyed considerable success, and there's no reason to think the Next model will not continue in that direction.
The first hull of the Next series is a fresh reinterpretation. There is new décor and a new layout-the windows offer an enlightening perspective-and the flying bridge has been reworked to allow more guest area. It may not sound like much, but the combination of these and a number of more subtle changes add up to a yacht that lives much larger than her older sisters.
True to its name, Custom Line works with the buyer to allow a range of selections in all non-structural areas, from décor to furnishings to joinery. Custom Line, a division of Italy's Ferretti Group, builds motoryachts exclusively in fiberglass. The group was founded by Norberto Ferretti, a yachtsman and offshore racer, in 1968. Custom Line was established in 1996, delivering its first yacht in 1998, to provide semi-custom yachts to experienced yachtsmen who, unsatisfied with typical production yachts, wanted more involvement with the design and construction of their yachts without undertaking full custom projects.
The first hull of the 112 Next design was built for an Indian owner who selected a modern interior, appropriate, I think, to the yacht's exterior lines and planing speed. Other touches speak to modernity, not least the iPod docking stations in the owner's stateroom and the salon. Also in the salon is a 42-inch pop-up plasma screen which, like the screens in the VIP staterooms, is coupled to a Playtime multimedia platform for control of all audio/video entertainment.
Guest accommodations include four staterooms. The two twinberth cabins, port and starboard, are identical, and each includes a Pullman berth. The heads include both toilet and bidet, and the showers are quite spacious. Forward of the twin cabins is a VIP stateroom, with a queen berth to starboard and the head to port. As I mentioned earlier, the two large hullside window arrays-one next to the berth and one over the whirlpool tub-each have two large fixed panes and two opening elliptical ports, bringing in both light and air.
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The aft VIP stateroom, like the forward, spans the full beam of the yacht and is also fitted with hullside windows. This stateroom, though, is a bit longer, placing the head and hanging locker between the engineroom and the sleeping portion of the cabin. This allows considerable additional space, part of which is allocated to a larger whirlpool tub in the head, and part to the cabin where there's a settee to starboard and a vanity/dresser to port, with the queen berth on centerline. This arrangement also puts both of the large windows in the main part of the stateroom rather than having one in the head, as in the forward VIP stateroom.
