Pearl 63 review: Smaller but stunning Pearl

Pearl is back with a new and improved entry point to its flybridge fleet. Alex Smith gets onboard the Pearl 63 to see if it lives up to its impressive bigger sisters

What a stellar period this has been for Pearl. Fresh from a thoroughly deserved victory at the 2024 MBY awards for its extraordinary Pearl 72, it dived straight back in with a new 82 model, which was arguably even better.

And now, with the middle two of its four-strong flybridge cruiser fleet firmly established as frontrunners in their respective sectors, it is attempting to revamp the entry point too, building on the success of the Pearl 62, its best-selling model for the last five years, with a Pearl 63 that promises upgrades in a whole load of handy ways.

As we approach the new boat, it’s clear that the first and most obvious of those upgrades happens at the back end. The cockpit comes with a pair of high-low dining tables at the L-shaped settee, plus large opening balconies on both sides so you can extend the deck.

In addition to a high-low hydraulic bathing platform, the new stern arrangement also enables you to choose between an ensuite crew cabin and a transverse tender garage. The old 62 had a garage option too, of course, but while that was only big enough for a PWC, the new Pearl 63 can house a Williams 285 TurboJet, leaving your swim platform free for recreation.

It’s all the more useful then that this is such an easy boat to helm without professional help. With twin IPS drives, a skipper’s side door, a pair of side gates, proportional thrusters, a dynamic positioning system, integrated Garmin touchscreens, joystick control and three helms to choose from, there’s no reason at all to default to a crew cabin unless you particularly want to use this boat for charter. And with four double cabins down below, there’s unlikely to be much call for an overspill cabin either.

Up front and up top

As you make your way forward, rubbing shoulders with the superstructure, it quickly becomes plain that the side decks are relatively narrow. But that’s a very deliberate ploy from Pearl to leverage the vast bulk of the Pearl 63’s 17ft 2in beam for the living spaces of the internal saloon.

Given that the alternative involves squandering the space on a zone designed merely for passengers in transit, we have no issue with that design decision whatsoever. And as for the bow itself, that feels remarkably user-friendly.

A broad forward-facing bench, which looks across to an island sunbed in the forepeak, conceals a ready-rigged table on a simple swing-out hinge. It’s very rapid to lift into place and it means there’s no need to waste storage space on individual parts.

On either side of that, you might argue that the access hatches to the under-bench storage boxes are a bit tight but that issue is usefully mitigated by the bow locker. It employs a dividing bulkhead, which makes it a great place to stow a batch of fenders, freeing up the spaces further aft for more malleable gear like your canvases.

There’s also the option of a “Bedouin-style” canopy up here to provide shelter from the sun – and that’s all supplemented with an extremely spacious flybridge, which is broadly split into three socialising zones.

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The aft end provides a flexible lounging and sunbathing space, with an L-shaped bench unit, a big sunbed module and the option of an entirely empty deck so you can decorate it with freestanding furniture in whatever way suits your needs.

The central zone adopts a more formal layout with a fixed dinette to port and a generous wet bar to starboard, all beneath the shelter of the optional hardtop. And the final zone, at the forward end, sees the twin starboard helm treated to wraparound companion benches on the port side, so a family of four, five or even six, are able to sit together on a long passage.

Revised saloon layout

The Pearl 63 also exhibits some worthwhile upgrades in the saloon. The big C-shaped galley uses a drop-down window at its aft end, creating a bar that projects out into the external cockpit. Opposite that, the half-height starboard bulkhead has been shifted forward, creating some extra space for a proper dinette with a full-size dining table, precisely where you would want it – and it does so without cutting into that all-important owner’s private staircase.

Ahead of this, up a step to the raised forward saloon, there’s a set of relaxed seats on the port side and a more compact inward-facing bench seat behind the twin helm to starboard. It feels distinctly sociable and it becomes all the more so when you slide the portable bench pods away from their recess and use them as freestanding seat boxes next to the port coffee table.

Even then, there’s still room in the beamy saloon to make your way fore and aft unhindered and you can also use these pods just as profitably in the aft cockpit or up on the flybridge. There’s also much more light in here than you would expect of a flybridge cruiser, thanks to an unusual set of glass panels between the upper rim of the screen and the flybridge screen deflector.

The only notable issue here, in fact, is visibility, which is limited on the Pearl 63 by the thick fibreglass spear that dissects the side windows at eye level. There’s nothing to be done about that because it’s both a structural element of the boat and a recognised stylistic feature of Pearl’s flybridge range. But it is the kind of feature that might encourage you to head aft or outside for a more enjoyable view over lunch.

Sleeping for eight

The unusual four-cabin, three-bathroom layout of the Pearl 63 feels really strong for a 61ft boat. The private full-beam owner’s suite sits a good way aft, just ahead of the engineroom but distanced from the noise by means of a transverse bathroom and a neatly arranged lobby at the bottom of its private staircase.

It uses a central bed with a large dressing table on the port side and a delightful seating section to starboard, so you can relax over breakfast with your partner before heading up to join the rest of the guests.

Further forward, the other three cabins, accessed by means of a second staircase next to the helm, include a VIP in the bow and a pair of twins amidships, each with forward-facing beds that can be easily converted to doubles.

As you would expect, the Pearl 63’s VIP gets access to its own ensuite bathroom to starboard and on the other side of the boat, the port twin has its own dedicated access to a bathroom, which is shared both with the day guests and with the occupants of the starboard twin.

The VIP cabin is of course the biggest of the three in this forward part of the boat and it’s the brightest too, thanks to a combination of the lovely deep hull windows and the glass cutout in the moulding for the foredeck sunbed. But the guest cabins are also remarkably good, with full standing headroom throughout and loads of room to sit up in bed and take in the view.

The Kelly Hoppen fit-out on the Pearl 63 feels good too. It comes in three intelligently conceived schemes – the bright and fresh “Modern” scheme, the dark and lustrous “Indulgence” scheme and a “Luxury” scheme that sits somewhere between the two.

That enables you to make the boat feel just that shade more bespoke and while it’s not available yet, we’re told that a “Monochrome” interior fit-out will also be added to the palette later this year.

Behind the wheel

This Pearl 63 is certainly a voluminous boat but it’s actually very decent to drive. In spite of all that heavy equipment aft and that big flybridge up top, steps have been taken to mitigate that – most notably, relocating the Seakeeper 9 from its natural home in the engineroom to a spot beneath the deck at the bottom of the steps to the forward cabins.

When you get underway, there is still a bit of bow lift but, with some judicious use of the tabs, it’s perfectly possible to plane relatively flat at speeds as low as 14 or 15 knots.

Outright pace is decent too. With the test boat’s rig of twin 1,000hp IPS-1350s, we’re seeing around 34 knots at the top end, as well as plenty of grunt en route to that. You could opt instead for the IPS-1200s (900hp) for 31 knots or for the standard rig of IPS-1050s (800hp) for speeds in the region of 28 knots.

They’re both based on the same block so in terms of weight and space, there’s no difference at all. But given the fact that the 1350s enable you to cruise at between 20 and 30 knots with relative ease and refinement, as well as a steady fuel flow and a consistent range of around 200 miles, it’s likely that these most potent engines will be the most popular choice.

As intimated, this is a thoroughly unintimidating boat to drive but there are certainly better places to do that than the main helm because visibility, both on the beam and the quarters, is a bit hemmed in. The Pearl designers have tried to help with that by shifting the helm toward the centre, distancing it from the thick mullions that surround the skipper’s side door.

They’ve also left a very sensible gap between the two seats so the co-pilot can come and go without inconveniencing the skipper. But even so, the fact that the skipper’s door obstructs your passage aft by filling the starboard side deck when open – and the fact that the transverse overhead beam offers a natural bumping hazard for unwary heads – means that buyers of this boat are likely to be better served by a combination of the big sociable flybridge station and the cockpit’s optional third helm.

Pearl 63 specifications

LOA: 61ft 0in (18.61m)
BEAM: 17ft 2in (5.23m)
DRAFT: 5ft 2in (1.59m)
DISPLACEMENT: 36,500kg
FUEL CAPACITY: 2,650 litres
WATER CAPACITY: 800 litres
ENGINES: twin Volvo Penta IPS-1050, 1200s or 1350s
RCD: C10
CONTACT: pearlyachts.com

Pearl 63 costs and options

PRICE: from £1.77M ex VAT.
Test boat includes the following options:
Volvo Penta IPS-1350s: £125,800
Hard top with sunroof: £55,209
Fold-down balconies: £52,580
Hydraulic high-low platform: £35,269
Tender garage & deployment system: £16,399

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