Legacy Marine L70 Review

Mat Cranswick shares an overview of Legacy Marine's flagship L70 Paragon...

Background

Legacy Marine’s flagship L70 Paragon was launched in 2022 after seven years of planning and a two-year build. At 24m in length with a 6.2m beam, Paragon is one serious sportfishing motor yacht finished to a level that must be seen to be believed – it is stunning. Legacy Marine has been established by the Shaw family who are the owners and operators of New Zealand’s most awarded aluminium boat manufacturer, Extreme Boats, and Paragon was built as the family’s dream motor yacht.

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For many winters, the Shaws have undertaken voyages across the Tasman to the Pacific Islands in search of the untouched fishing opportunities that await, and these voyages have provided invaluable knowledge as to what’s required for a motor yacht to excel on these journeys. With these offshore voyages as the foundations, a natural progression to build boats that could travel further for longer ultimately led to a range of luxury aluminium motor yachts including the L35, L45, L55, the flagship L70, and the soon-to-come L65.

Paragon

The word paragon means ‘a model of excellence, or perfection of a kind.’ After spending time on this amazing New Zealand-built motor yacht, I can confirm that it certainly lives up to its name and exceeded expectations in every way – it is perfect! Aesthetically, Paragon is faultless with a modern yet timeless look and a super yacht finish that must be seen to be believed. There is not a weld visible, with all corners beautifully coved and painted to a super yacht finish. The interior comforts leave no desire to return to land and, although Paragon is finished to such an incredibly high standard, it is also very practical and designed to stand the test of time – even with a bunch of fishers on board!

On the exterior, durable teak covers the decks and work surfaces, and intricate detailing follows all the curvature and deck hardware with absolute precision. As you step inside, hard-wearing engineered wood flooring covers the saloon and flybridge floors which is ideal for people coming in and out of Paragon (often with wet feet) making cleaning up after a day on the water a breeze. The interior finishings are comfortable, stylish, and easy to maintain with stylish hard-wearing vinyl lining the ceilings and walls, and durable dark oak laminate with beautiful, curved corners making up the cabinetry.

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Fishing at the forefront

The cockpit of Paragon has been designed by a family that not only builds fishing boats – but uses them too, and plenty of thought has gone into the cockpit to make it the ultimate platform to fish from. At the heart of the cockpit is the large centre station with stairs on either side leading up to a raised rear lounge and table offering a perfect view over the lure spread with plenty of shelter from the elements overhead and comfortable seating for 6 – 8 people. Integrated into the centre station on the starboard side is an electric hotplate for cooking outside with a large bait freezer below to keep the less desirable odours outside. On the port side is a concealed sink for rinsing lures at the end of the day or cleaning up with, and a huge amount of tackle drawers below including the largest pullout rigging station known to man!

In the centre, a large lift-up door gives access down into the impeccable engine room, which like the rest of Paragon is finished to a super yacht standard. There are plenty of rod holders above the rear lounge which are ideal for getting the gear out of the way when a fish hits while trolling, and recessed lockers along either side of the cockpit keep gimbal belts and harnesses out of the way but easily accessible when required.

Along the upper teak-lined gunwales are stainless-steel rotating rod holders, drop-down cleats for fenders, and large stainless steel hawse holes in the aft corners with recessed cleats for tying berthage lines to, leaving nothing to foul lines on while fighting fish. In the centre of the transom is a massive livebait tank with integrated tuna tubes, and transom doors on either side opening out onto the swim step.

Below deck on the starboard side is a massive rod and reel storage locker and an insulated fish bin on the port side with a salt ice maker feeding into it to keep the catch cold. Upstairs outside the enclosed flybridge is a second helm station with a perfect view down over the cockpit offering full control of Paragon for backing down on fish or while berthing, and a rear lounge and table to relax on while looking down over the lure spread from above giving a grandstand feel as a lit-up marlin appears behind a smoking lure. On the sides of Paragon are wire-stayed 15.2m Rupp outriggers which are hydraulically deployed and put away by the push of a button offering an impressive lure spread.

Elegant entertainer

Although Paragon has been designed with offshore fishing adventures in mind, it is perfectly set up to entertain or unwind in the utmost luxury. The interior has a very sociable layout keeping everybody on board well connected no matter the situation. Inside the saloon a large island-style bench with a hard-wearing HiMacs top houses the sink, dishwasher and a huge amount of drawer and cupboard storage keeping everything organized. Surrounding that is an L-shaped galley with a full-sized fridge/freezer, pantry, induction cooktop, and huge HiMacs benchtop that opens out into the raised lounge outside through a large electric drop-down window.

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In the forward part of the saloon are two soft L-shaped lounges with both a large oak dining table and a smaller oak coffee table providing somewhere to enjoy a meal together, read or play a game of cards. As you step down into the forward accommodation soft wool blend carpet greets your feet with generous amounts of headroom above.

When it comes time to rest and relax there is a guest cabin with a double bed to port, a bunk room with two singles to starboard, a VIP cabin with an ensuite nearest the bow, a shared bathroom and a day head. The full beam owner’s accommodation is situated centrally beneath the saloon also with its own ensuite and lounge for relaxing on. The whole motor yacht is fully air-conditioned making time in the tropics much more comfortable, and incredibly quiet.

The hull surfaces surrounding the accommodation are sound insulated thanks to a spray-on membrane applied prior to the interior modules being lowered into place, and all the modules have rubber packers fitted restricting any creaking noises caused by modules fixed to the hull itself. While trolling, a rubber band can be heard snapping on the rigger lines before the growl of a screaming reel above the quiet drone of the V12 Man diesels that certainly make the right hum to draw the fish up!

A flybridge for all the crew

Upstairs in the enclosed flybridge, two luxuriously soft lounges provide ample seating for all the crew with an oak dining table to rest hands of cards or beverages on. There are two pull-out refrigerator drawers below the seating to keep refreshments handy and plenty of natural ventilation on offer thanks to a huge electric opening sunroof and large electric drop-down window to aft. Two bolstered helm chairs are positioned in front of the well-laid-out dash housing four 19” Raymarine Axiom XL high visibility glass bridge multi-function displays linked to 3kW and 2kW through hull transducers, and cameras throughout the motor yacht to keep an eye on things from upstairs. A Raymarine 4kW open array radar and thermal camera make navigation during darkness no problem and allow early starts or late finishes as required.

Ease of use

One thing that really blows my mind is how easy every task on Paragon is. For maneuverability, the Twin Disk Express Joystick System links the bow and stern thrusters with both engines turning Paragon on a dime and making berthing a breeze, and it is amazing how accurately such a large vessel can be positioned. On her first voyage to the islands, Paragon could easily be reversed up to a jetty or tender and held millimetres away allowing a crew member to step off with no problem at all. The station hold function also allows Paragon to hover over a position which is ideal for fishing over a deep mark or when waiting to move into berths.

All the electrics are run through Czone touchscreen displays which are positioned throughout the vessel and set in various modes. When stepping off Paragon at the end of the day, you can simply hit one button on the display and select ‘moored unattended’ which will shut down all systems no longer required (such as lights and tuna tubes) and turn on everything required (such as the dehumidifier and fridges) for the scenario. There’s no need to run around trying to remember what does or doesn’t need to be turned on or off.

When undertaking engine checks prior to trips there is a generous amount of headroom so there is no need to crawl around, and everything is easily accessible. Getting on and off Paragon to go ashore is a simple task thanks to the Legacy 5m aluminium RIB tender powered by a 60hp Mercury outboard that lives in a cradle on the bow. A Steelhead ES1500 davit with a 680kg lifting capacity lifts and lowers the tender with minimal effort and comfortably gets all the crew ashore when needed to visit local restaurants, get supplies, or simply go ashore to have a look around. Even the swim step has been designed perfectly with stainless steel corner rails on either side for bracing yourself against while leadering marlin, and nothing in between to make getting on and off the tender an easy task.

Designed to leave no horizon out of reach

Paragon has been designed to leave opportunities endless and explore the untouched fishing grounds that many can only dream of. While trolling or cruising at 8.5 knots Paragon uses only three litres of diesel per nautical mile, and with 9,000L of diesel capacity a serious range of around 3,000 nautical miles is on offer. When you want to get somewhere in a hurry the twin V12 Man diesels can push Paragon along at an impressive 36 knots and the Sea Keeper 26 Gyro always holds Paragon nice and stable.

For longer voyages offshore, Paragon has a freshwater maker onboard keeping freshwater at the turn of a tap and a massive amount of refrigeration and freezer space to keep plenty of pre-cooked meals and hard-to-find goods on hand while visiting remote areas. In the saloon, there is a full-sized fridge/ freezer in the galley as well as four large refrigerator/freezer drawers built into the cabinetry below the stairwell to keep plenty of supplies chilled or frozen. There is ample power on Paragon with two Fisher-Panda PMS45i generators with both 24-volt and 240-volt power available thanks to the onboard inverter making most household items such as kettles and toasters available at the flick of a switch.

Fulfilling a dream

Prior to the build of Paragon commencing, the Shaw family no doubt dreamt of having their own custom-designed motor yacht doing amazing things in magical places. One of the first offshore voyages planned was to a special destination that has provided many great memories and catches over the years – Vava’u. In the next part to this article Paragon ventures 1,300 nautical miles to the Kingdom of Tonga to experience its first offshore fishing adventure and fishing so good it was hard to believe!


September 2023 - Mat Cranswick
New Zealand Fishing News Magazine.
Copyright: NZ Fishing Media Ltd.
Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited

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