ROOM WITH A VIEW

SWEDISH DESIGNER GABRIEL HEYMAN POURED A LIFETIME OF IDEAS INTO THIS PILOT SALOON CRUISER, WHICH INCLUDES ARGUABLY THE LARGEST COCKPIT AVAILABLE AT THIS SIZE

- GABRIEL HEYMAN

Think about it relative to houses, and it makes more sense. After all, who would choose to put their kitchens and living rooms in the cellar or basement? Especially if you have a sea view! Yet to the layman, that is what happens on conventional monohulls. You walk through the nice views of the cockpit, and down a flight of stairs to the living and accommodation in the bowels of the boat, on the lower floor.

And what about entertaining? When friends visit you want to be able to host and socialise with them in the best space and comfort. Of course, cruising multihulls have long addressed this issue, by placing the living accommodation on top of the hulls where the prime viewing's on offer. But pilothouse monohulls have done so for longer still, albeit in a more niche way - it's hard to blend a large coachroof structure onto a comparatively compact single hull. Most pilotsaloon cruisers are traditional and verge on being considered motorsailers.

Designed for two to live aboard in real comfort, the Heyman 42 PPH (Pocket Pilothouse) combines some of the best of these monohull and multihull features into a modern hull shape - an attractive yacht which brings a lot of fresh thinking from a lifetime's design experience.

It offers beach house-style, inside-outside living, in what Heyman promotes as 'a level of comfort offered by few, if any, boats under 55ft.

MAKING AN IMPRESSION

On first approach, you instantly know the Hey42 is something different. And that's not simply because of its classic lines, deep cockpit or bright deckhouse, but the fact you can easily board it from the pontoon - a faux hull window conceals a step which folds out of the topsides - genius! Then there's the hinging transom built into the counter, which drops down to increase the single-level cockpit space.