Galeon 680 FLY

The Galeon 680 FLY is a 72' 0" flybridge motoryacht drawn with the Tony Castro Design Studio, and it is the odd one out in Galeon's flybridge range. The brand's signature is Beach Mode and Terrace Mode - the hydraulic balconies that fold down and widen a boat at anchor. This is the one flybridge that does without them: beam is 17' 3" under way and 17' 3" at rest. What you get in exchange is four cabins plus a crew cabin as standard rather than as an option, and a laminated carbon hardtop with an electric soft roof, also standard.

Draft is 4' 0". Fuel is 878 gallons across two tanks, fresh water is 211 gallons, the grey tank holds 87 gallons and the black tank 79. Displacement in light craft condition is 85,010 lbs with base engines and maximum load is rated at 13,647 lbs. Bridge clearance is 25' 9" from the waterline at minimum draft and height to transport is 30' 2". The boat is certified to CE Category B with a crew limit of sixteen.

Twin Volvo Penta D13-1000s at 1,000 hp each with a 7" digital display are standard, and twin MAN V8-1200s are the listed option - get the package you are actually buying named and rated on your build contract. Maximum speed is 30 knots. The standard equipment list is notably deeper than the 620's: Humphree interceptor trim tabs with automatic list control, a Raymarine VHF and autopilot, an electric vertical cockpit sunshade, a Bose soundbar and a 50" television in the master are all standard here and optional or absent further down the range.

Galeon quotes the 680 FLY at a maximum speed of 30 knots. Ask for observed burn at cruise in writing, from a boat that has actually run, and do your own range arithmetic against 878 gallons - and against two-thirds of that rather than the whole tank, which is how you should be planning legs on any boat this size.

The engine ceiling is the one number to settle on paper before you order. Twin Volvo Penta D13-1000s are standard and twin MAN V8-1200s are the listed option, and Galeon quotes the maximum between 2 x 1,200 and 2 x 1,300 hp. Neither figure is unreasonable on this hull, and the practical instruction is the same either way: get the engine package you are actually buying named and rated on your build contract rather than carried in your head from a specification you read once.

What the 680 does give you, unusually for this brand, is a deep standard specification. Humphree interceptor trim tabs with autotrim and automatic list control are standard, not an upgrade - on the 620 FLY the standard is Zipwake and Humphree is the option. A Raymarine VHF with AIS and antenna, a Raymarine Evolution autopilot with two control heads, a bow thruster with joystick and a hydraulic bathing platform rated to 1,543 lbs of lift are all standard. Coordinated turn control, a stern thruster, and hydraulic bow and stern thrusters are the upgrades.

One thing to plan for early: the standard generator is a 9 kW Onan, and Galeon rates it as not sufficient for air conditioning. Air conditioning at 89,000 BTU is an option, and the 17.5 kW and 22.5 kW generators are separate options again. On a four-cabin 72-footer those three line items are not really optional in practice, and they belong in the first conversation about the build, not the last.

Galeon separates the guest and owner accommodation by giving them different stairs. The main deck has entrances at both the bow and midship, so guests reach their cabins from one end of the boat and the owner reaches the master from the other. On a four-cabin 72-footer that is a more useful piece of design than another few inches of saloon.

Below deck the master spans the full beam, with large hull windows, a vanity station and substantial wardrobe space. Guest accommodation is a bow VIP plus two twin cabins on either side, each with its own bathroom, and the crew cabin aft is standard rather than optional. Three en-suites and a day head. If you would rather have volume than a fourth cabin, Galeon offers a three-cabin version with the port-side cabin converted to a utility room, still with the skipper cabin aft.

The main deck runs a C-shaped sofa around a teak table under the flybridge overhang. Forward of that, the sundeck converts into four separate seating zones with twin dining tables that rise automatically when needed. The galley is separated from the cockpit by folding doors and is positioned to serve both bars - the cockpit and the flybridge - and opposite it you choose between a second bar or a relaxation area. Both benefit from slide-down windows on the port and starboard sides, which is the 680's substitute for fold-out balconies: the sides of the boat open, even if they do not extend.

The flybridge is the headline. Galeon builds the top structure from carbon for stiffness and weight, extends the beam out over the sides, and fills it with a C-shaped sofa that seats fifteen, a dining setup, a bar forward, twin sport seats at the helm and a sundeck running to a venturi windscreen. The hardtop is laminated carbon with an electric soft roof as standard. Standard fitting in the master includes an electric 50" television and a Bose soundbar; air conditioning at 89,000 BTU is an option, and so is a Seakeeper 18.

Inside Galeon's flybridge range the 680 FLY sits between the 640 FLY and the 800 FLY, and it is the model that changes the brand's argument. The 620 and the 640 sell fold-out balconies - 27' 2" and 24' 3" of beam at anchor respectively. The 680 is a conventional-beam boat, and it compensates with cabins and structure instead: four cabins plus crew as standard rather than optional, a carbon hardtop, a deeper standard electronics and stabilisation package.

That makes the comparison with the 640 unusually clean. Take the 640 if you want the balconies and the choice of three lower-deck layouts. Take the 680 if you want the fourth cabin without paying for it as an option, the carbon top structure, Humphree stabilisation as standard, and a main deck with separate bow and midship entrances that keeps owner and guest traffic apart. About four feet of length separates them; the philosophies are further apart than that.

Against the wider 70-to-75-foot flybridge market, the 680's case is the standard specification. A lot of boats at this size arrive with a long options list attached to the things you actually need - stabilisation, autopilot, VHF, a proper hardtop. Here those are on the standard sheet.

One positioning note worth knowing. Galeon shares hulls across its classes, and the 680 FLY's 17' 3" beam is also used by a Skydeck model in the same range - so if you see the dimension twice, that is why, and the deck arrangement above is the difference.

The 680 FLY fits the owner who wants four cabins and a crew cabin without negotiating for them. On this boat that is the standard arrangement, not an upsell - a full-beam master with a vanity station and large hull windows, a bow VIP, two twin guest cabins each with a bathroom, and the skipper cabin aft. Guests and owner reach their accommodation by different stairs, from the bow and from midship. If the boat is genuinely going to sleep eight guests plus crew on a regular basis, this is the layout to start from.

It fits an owner who values a deep standard specification over a long options list. Humphree interceptors with automatic list control, a Raymarine VHF and Evolution autopilot, a bow thruster with joystick, an electric vertical cockpit sunshade, a laminated carbon hardtop with an electric soft roof, a Bose soundbar and a 50" television in the master - all standard. Compare that with the same brand's 620, where the trim tabs are Zipwake and much of the electronics is optional, and you can see where Galeon has spent the money.

It fits entertaining on the top deck rather than at the waterline. The flybridge structure is carbon and its beam extends out over the sides to carry a C-shaped sofa Galeon says seats fifteen, plus a dining setup, a bar forward and twin sport helm seats. Downstairs, slide-down windows port and starboard open the saloon sides, and folding doors let the galley serve the cockpit and the flybridge from one position.

It is the wrong boat if you came to Galeon for the balconies - the 640 FLY and the 620 FLY are the ones that open up at anchor, and this one stays 17' 3" wide. It is also a boat to sea-trial rather than buy off the sheet: Galeon quotes up to 30 knots, so budget the trial and ask for observed burn at cruise in writing before you commit.