I know the photograph above isn’t perfect (I was sitting on a sink, squishing my body into a corner as I shot it), but I wanted to show you this day head onboard the 147-foot motoryacht Fathom because I think it’s a truly refreshing design idea.

As bosun Simon Kenion explained to me earlier this month at the Genoa charter show, Fathom was built in 2004 and underwent a “drastic” refit in Turkey in 2007. That refit included tearing out and rebuilding the entire interior, replacing it with an art nouveau design in keeping with the taste of the owner, who also owns a hotel. I found it quite stunning, with mahogany floors, silvery gray area rugs, and white Thai silk walls. (I’ll show you more pictures soon in my full First Impression review.)

But back to that day head, which is on the yacht’s main deck. Like most motoryachts this size, Fathom has a handheld shower on her aft deck, so that guests can rinse off with fresh water after swimming in the ocean. What the owner had in mind with this day head, Kenion told me, was creating a private space where guests who are not sleeping aboard, but are instead visiting for an afternoon, could take a proper shower.

What a great concept. And nicely executed, in my opinion, as the design of the day head is with an open shower instead of a small, closed stall. Anyone using the day head’s toilet won’t feel as though they’re encroaching into someone else’s private bathroom, while guests wanting full use of the day head will have everything they need.

I’m sure this nifty design feature will be put to good use in the coming year, as Fathom is available for charters this summer in the South of France and then this winter in the Maldives. Her lowest weekly base rate is 110,000 euro for eight guests with nine crew.

Fathom is part of the fleet at BCR Yachts. Contact any reputable charter broker to learn more.

It’s not often that I write in my notebook: “Six couples would do well on this boat.” But I did just that earlier this month at the Genoa charter show during my tour of the 182-foot motoryacht Insignia, a 1979 launch whose 2004 refit left her with smartly designed staterooms and more.

So often, even on yachts of this size, cabins and other areas are designed for families, with a large master cabin for grandpa, a couple of queen-bed cabins for adult children, and a few twin-bed cabins for grandchildren. This is great if that’s the complexion of your charter party, but in some cases, six adult couples want to charter together–meaning somebody’s going to get stuck in the “kiddie bedrooms.”

Not so aboard Insignia. The photo above is not of her master cabin, but of her VIP suite–and you can see quite plainly that it’s a cabin with substantial space. That’s true on some other motoryachts, as well, but what impressed me aboard Insignia is that even the cabins with twin beds were refit with couples in mind. Each of the twin beds can be pushed together, creating a single, queen-size bed. That means that if six couples charter this yacht, nobody has to sleep in a “kiddie-size” bed at night.

And it’s not just the cabins that have been refit to keep a dozen adults comfortable, Capt. Stathis Romaos told me. The table in the formal dining room seats 14 people comfortably–so 12 adult charter guests will actually have extra elbow room. I can’t tell you how many “12-guest yachts” I step aboard that have dining room seating for just eight or 10 people, with the assumption that children will eat elsewhere. Thus, again, the attention to adult guest comfort aboard Insignia caught my eye.

Romaos has been onboard for three and a half years, and he told me Insignia performed about 10 weeks of charter last year–the same amount the boat hopes to do this year. There is availability, he said, for charters in the Mediterranean, where the yacht is based year-round (her home port is Genoa).

The yacht is part of the Burgess Yachts fleet, with a lowest weekly base rate of 182,000 euro. Contact any reputable charter broker for more information.

Sorry for the giant crane running through the middle of the above photograph, but this was as close as I could get to this highly unusual dinghy that I found onboard the 140-foot motoryacht Berzinc earlier this month at the Genoa charter show.

Your eyes aren’t deceiving you: That is, indeed, a typical inflatable dinghy, the kind that virtually every charter yacht uses for everything from ferrying guests ashore to taking them water skiing. In the case of Berzinc, the dinghy has been modified–to fly. Oh yes, you heard me right. This contraption achieves lift-off.

Berzinc’s brochure calls it a Polaris amphibious plane with a 65-horsepower engine. The crew member who gave me a tour of the yacht called it a dinghy-meets-airboat-meets-hanglider, explaining that it operates not just under power of the Florida swampland-style engine you see in the photo, but also with a set of “wings” not unlike the sail on a hanglider.

It’s a two-seater, with one spot for the captain and one spot for a guest. The crew member told me the captain is licensed to operate this flying dinghy. (By what authority, I must admit, I failed to ask. I was too busy trying to visualize the thing cruising up a wave and taking off into the air.)

Cool toys can be a selling point for charter yachts, and this one certainly sets Berzinc apart in the 140-foot field. I’ve never seen anything like it before on a yacht, though a quick check of a website that sells them informed me that about 1,300 of these ultralights have been sold since 1985. The one aboard Berzinc appears to have standard outfitting, which means it should climb about 700 feet per minute at a speed of 55 to 65 miles per hour.

A wild ride, I’m sure. If you want to check it out in person, Berzinc will be in Croatia this summer before she heads to Turkey to get her MCA (post-refit safety regulation) approvals. After that, she’ll be available for charter this winter in the Caribbean. She’s part of the fleet at Ocean Independence. Ask any reputable charter broker for more information.