Fairline Yachts 52 Squadron

With her mini-megayacht styling, the 52 Squadron was a very innovative design and a notable departure from Fairline’s previous reliance on conventional Euro-style designs. For openers, the interior layout is completely novel: The owner’s cabin, with its huge berth, ensuite head, and laundry room, surpasses anything seen in a sedan-style motor yacht of this type. It’s notable that Fairline chose to go with a two-stateroom floorplan in the 52; most boats this size have three. The galley is down from the salon level and the dinette is up; at the highest level is a well-executed centerline helm with a wraparound dash. In the cockpit, a full-height utility locker to port houses various master switches and fuel shutoff valves (a great idea!), and the Squadron’s oval flybridge design is a unique styling touch. Access to the compact engine room—where the engines are very close together—is through a hatch in the cockpit sole. (The cockpit lazarette could be fitted out as crew quarters.) A good performer with relatively small engines, twin 600hp Cats cruise at 25 knots and deliver a top speed of about 30 knots. In the end, the Squadron’s two-stateroom floorplan proved unpopular and production lasted only a few years.