She also sits at the upper edge of what a private owner can realistically operate without professional crew. Her volume and extensive list of optional comfort systems give her the bones of a small mega-yacht delivered at series-production cost.
Design and Construction
The 590 has a voluminous, balsa-cored sandwich hull with a vinyl-ester outer skin. The main bulkhead is vacuum-infused, a construction approach that keeps weight down without sacrificing the stiffness required by a 22.9-tonne yacht.
Ballast is 5.9 tonnes of iron, or 26 percent of total displacement. The standard bulb keel draws 2.53 metres, while a 2.18-metre shoal alternative is available.
Hanse describes the deck layout as revolutionary in the way it combines comfort and performance. The cockpit is both the largest in its class and arranged for easy single-handed sailing.
The builder has also paid close attention to sound separation. An optional layer of insulation matting in the aft technical tunnel quiets the generator space, while the forepeak crew cabin is acoustically isolated from the owner’s suite.
Rig, Handling, and Performance
Berret-Racoupeau gave the 590 a fractional sloop rig with in-mast furling. The simple, battenless furling mainsail measures 81 square metres and is paired with a 60-square-metre, 100 percent genoa.
All halyards, the outhaul, and the sheets run to two pedestals right aft. The mainsheet and jib sheet lead to central winches beside the helm, while the halyard winches sit at the aft end of the coaming. The winches can be retrieved from the steering position at the touch of a button.
Test sailors found that the central spade rudder steers very directly, with light feedback. The system needs 1.75 turns from lock to lock. After a slight sheet adjustment, the boat made just over five knots upwind in the test. Under gennaker, she reached 5.3 knots in five-to-seven-knot air—respectable performance given that the furling main carries ten square metres less sail than a slab-reefed rig would.
A 150 hp Yanmar drives the boat at a cruising speed of just over nine knots.
Interior and Accommodations
Below, the low-level interior centres on a galley island. Isabelle Racoupeau focused on this feature to keep movement through the boat easy. It separates the L-shaped port galley from the saloon and houses a television that rises at the touch of a button.
Full-height windows fill the saloon with natural light. Buyers can specify an optional sofa in place of the navigation corner.
Layouts range from three to five cabins. The owner’s berth can be aft or forward, or exchanged for two double cabins, and a utility or laundry cabin is also available. The aft cabins feel enormous because the tender garage no longer intrudes into them as it did on the previous model.
Forward options include a skipper’s cabin with its own hatch access, or an owner’s cabin with a centre berth and full-width head. The stern garage holds a 3.10-metre tender launched by an electric crane.
In the cockpit, a sofa group wraps around two tables, with forward-facing seats beside the wheels.
Deck and Equipment
The optional cockpit-spanning hardtop covers 18 square metres, nearly twice the area of the predecessor’s T-top. It rests on a GRP arch forward and stainless-steel struts aft. An opening textile panel at the aft end preserves visibility of the rig, while the underside provides space for solar capacity. The hardtop covers 18 square metres, nearly twice the area of the predecessor’s T-top.
Push-button controls also operate the hydraulic bathing platform and retractable gangway, the lowering cockpit and saloon tables, and the electric sliding companionway doors.
Three water-cooled air-conditioning units each have a dedicated condensate pump. Bow and stern thrusters provide infinitely variable, lockable thrust, making close-quarters work manageable on a boat of this size.
Ownership Notes
Hanse states that it can build 20 to 25 hulls of this model each year. The show boat also demonstrated the effect of a generous options list: specifying nearly every option adds more than half again to the base price.
Customisation choices range from an extra-large galley to an additional guest cabin or a private dressing suite. As a result, no two owner boats are likely to carry identical layouts and systems.
Verdict
The Hanse 590 is a genuinely new-generation flagship: a voluminous, well-insulated hull built around a flexible three-to-five-cabin interior and a push-button deck that makes owner operation of a 58-footer plausible.
She trades outright sail area for furling simplicity and relies on thrusters and electric systems to offset her scale. The result is a polished, spacious coastal-and-offshore platform with a CE Category A rating.
Pros
- Voluminous balsa-cored sandwich hull, vacuum-infused main bulkhead, and strong acoustic isolation
- Largest-in-class cockpit, with an optional 18 m² hardtop and full sail controls arranged for single-handed operation
- Three-to-five-cabin layouts, including forward or aft owner’s berths, plus a tender garage that doesn’t intrude into the aft cabins
- Push-button hydraulic platform, gangway, tables, and sliding doors ease operation at the practical limit of owner handling
Cons
- The simple furling main gives up sail area compared with a slab-reefed rig, limiting light-air performance
- A nearly complete options list adds more than 50% to the base cost, while the added complexity means more systems to maintain
- At 22.9 t and 17.6 m, the boat sits at the practical limit for a private owner operating without professional crew
