Boat Review: 75 Sunseeker Yacht

Boat Review: 75 Sunseeker Yacht

Source: David Lockwood, Boatpoint.com.au

Before testing the latest Sunseeker, David Lockwood would not have believed a 75-foot motoryacht was a manageable owner/driver craft. Packed with conveniences for the recreational boat owner, the Sunseeker 75 really puts the driver in control

There is no line set in stone to determine where an owner/driver boat ends and a crewed boat requiring at least a hired hand or skipper begins.

After all, our perceptions and abilities change, as does technology and especially driver-friendly conveniences that assist us with the knee-knocking job of berthing a truly big boat. These days, 40-footers are snaps to drive and it’s become possible for owners to park 50-to-60-footers with aplomb.

Amid this shift to bigger boats one thing is certain: the Sunseeker 75 Yacht has changed my view about what constitutes a manageable owner/driver motoryacht. Even Sunseeker’s NSW Manager, Mike Garrett, confessed: “We thought our Manhattan 64 might be regarded as the limit of an owner/driver boat that can be self-maintained. But the owner of this 75 Yacht has proven us wrong.”

SUPER YACHT
A mini superyacht, the 75 Yacht is the newest and smallest model in Sunseeker’s successful Yacht range that towers all the way to an imminent new triple-decked 140 footer.

This huge and accommodating 75-footer has a four cabin, four ensuite layout, plus separate aft crew quarters and bathroom at the transom for crew or for showers after swims and dives.

While very much the recreational owner/driver boat, the engineering is at once simple and seriously shiplike. The walk-in aft engine room allows for at-a-glance monitoring of essential engineering items when not monitoring the engine room camera.

To this already-impressive list of features you can add Sunseeker’s signature hull designed by Don Shead. It’s fashioned from solid GRP below the waterline, with composite decks and half tunnels, and powered very efficiently by the latest 1500hp V12 Man motors with, like every Sunseeker, vee drives. Consider those hydraulic bow- and sternthrusters, a view from the flybridge to beyond the bow and back to the starboard corner of the boarding platform, and you have a reassuring owner/driver mini superyacht.

However, unlike so many big boats, the 50,000kg-plus 75 Yacht doesn’t wallow when you want to go places other than back in your marina berth. The boat glides to planing speed without needing trim tabs and races to a top speed of 33 knots. It cruises at 23-24 knots with the grace of the royal carriage.

With off-the-wheel power-assisted steering, the 75 Yacht remains a sporty drive. Wearing a boyish grin, I found this boat more fun than some 40-foot so-called sportscruisers.

BIG BOAT SYSTEMS
The thrills began from the moment I strolled along the dock and admired the sheer volume and fine lines of the 75. The excitement continued to my exploration of the crew quarters and adjoining engine room. The boat’s submersible boarding platform carries a jet-powered Avon RIB. Before the platform is a transom door providing access to the air-conditioned and naturally-ventilated crew cabin. There are two adult-length bunks, hanging space, digital VHF with intercom, and a head across the way with a lot of floor space and a decent shower and electric loo.

A watertight door leads to the engine room with full headroom, an emergency hatch to the cockpit with ladder per CE certification, and shiplike systems with labelled machinery to make life easy for owner/drivers.

Among the key items are the hydraulic pump for the bow- and sternthrusters and boarding platform; the dedicated pump for the power-assisted hydraulic steering; the separate Besenzoni pump for the passerelle; the Shorepower with 100-amp single-phase power; a storage bucket for the lead; and extractor fans so the motors breathe clean air. The engines have underwater exhausts and ZF gearboxes a long way forward of the engine blocks, as per the vee-drive configuration.

There is an environmentally-friendly FM200 fire-fighting system, two compact chilled-water air conditioning units for instant temperature control, a desalinator for those trips to the reef (all the water on the boat is filtered), invertors to run the sound system and televisions without the gensets, smart battery chargers for the 12V and big-boat 24V systems, and only no-maintenance batteries.

The generators are twin 22.5kW (28kVA) models with underwater exhausts and sea strainers, hidden beneath a removable chequerplate panel with the strainers for the air-con units. The engine sea strainers are alongside the fuel filters with redundant filters nearby. The boat has external fuel and engine vent shutoffs like a survey vessel.

The fuel is carried on the centreline with water forward. All electrical and plumbing lines are coded. Underwater gear includes five-blade props, dripless shaft seals, bronze rudders and 24V hydraulic trim tabs. You also get a supplied toolkit, boathook, mooring lines, fenders, spares and towels.

Among the options are teak decks on the bridge, the Avon jet tender, and a 400kg Besenzoni davit on the flybridge. Sunseeker removed the internal flybridge ladder at the owner’s request to create a clean interior and bigger freezer area and wetbar. The saloon looks much bigger and less cluttered for it.

OUTDOOR LIVING
You come aboard via one of two flights of stairs leading up to the cockpit. Outdoors, the 75 Yacht has all the bases covered; every corner serves a purpose. I immediately set eyes on the swanky electric capstans favoured in the Med to assist with stern-to berthing, trendy peanut-shaped cleats and full bulwarks backed by rails just like a real little ship.

Walking to the bow, I passed foredeck storage lockers before finding a forward-facing lounge for four built into the boat. Talk about views! Also on the bow is a sun lounge with 10 drinkholders. In fact, this boat has dozens of drinkholders. Is Sunseeker thinking of rebadging as Sundowner?

Back in the teak cockpit, under the aft bridge overhang and out of the sun, is a wonderful lunch and dinner venue by the water’s edge. The moulded built-in lounge along the transom, five teak chairs with blue-and-white upholstery, and long teak table can seat 10 in comfort. There’s an icemaker not too far away, cockpit speakers, and low-level and brighter lighting.

The observation deck, aka the flybridge, has almost as much room to rumba as the company’s flush-decked entertainers, the Predators. Compared with the Manhattan 74, the 75 Yacht is said to be a giant. The single-level flybridge looks exceptionally big, especially without the jet skis on the aft landing deck. This landing deck area, with its 400kg Besenzoni davit built especially for Sunseeker with a long-reach arm, could be used as a lounging area if ever you needed more space than the flybridge alone.

The radar arch has cool superyacht styling and sports domes for the satellite communications as well as radar and aerials. The boat has a locally-cut bimini top, which is something the Aussie agents have perfected, though we left it scrolled in its pouch for this fine autumn morning when the sun was warming our skin and we felt like we were in boating nirvana.

There are plenty of seats and lounges up top but the low surrounding rails and tinted windshield don’t provide support to allow you to lean out from the bridge. As such, this is very much an observation deck where you sit or lie back and take in the views. The sunpad alongside the helm is a great place to throw the nippers or for a lazy couple to catch some rays. I know my partner would be keen to park herself on this daybed and snooze while the autopilot or I drove on long passages.

The helm seat can seat three people, the co-pilot seat can seat a couple, and there is a massive U-shaped lounge behind the helm area with a moulded table that can seat eight for lunch. Speaking of which, the boat has a handy amenities centre behind the skipper’s seat with a deep drink chiller that can take a case of Coronas, a central ceramic griddle for cooking lobster tails, drinkholders for when it’s time to down arms and flip the lunch, and a sink with hot and cold water.

The abundant white gelcoat could be harsh on the eyes and in summer you would doubtless need to do your lunches down in the shaded cockpit. From autumn to sunny winter, however, the top deck is the place to be, and the circumambient views can’t be bettered from any other perch on the boat.

ENTERTAINING INDOORS
Speaking of views, I was besotted by the huge picture windows in the saloon. There was a perfect postcard image of the cityscape and the iconic opera house. The views are yours when seated on the boats’ two opposing leather lounges which can collectively embrace a dozen guests.

The other thing I love about the saloon is that it’s one level. You can waltz inside the big sliding stainless-framed doors, trot past the leather lounges, entertainment centre, wetbar and galley, right to the internal helm.

The entertainment centre includes a 100cm plasma TV and an upgraded Bose Lifestyle 55 system with indoor, outdoor and flybridge zones. The black-framed TV and speakers were discrete in a satin cherrywood cabinet.

To port, opposite the galley where the internal stairs were removed, is a custom wetbar with supplied crystal glasses, a three-drawer deep freeze, a storage area for platters, bowls and entertaining items, and a navigation area. You could lean on the sideboard, unfurl a chart, grab a drink and make a decision about your next destination.

While by no means huge, the galley has everything you would ask of a kitchen in a liveaboard boat. There are granite countertops, a deep sink, a Miele four-burner cooktop, Bosch dishwasher, Panasonic convection microwave, and lots of timber lockers with the supplied Royal Dalton dinner and afternoon-tea settings and stainless-steel cutlery.

Forward is a portside dinette with big cherrywood table and leather lounge set behind the windscreen. This can double as an informal seating area where you can converse with the skipper at the lower helm, behind a half-bulkhead putting the helm out of view of the saloon.

Some say the privacy afforded by the bulkhead lets the skipper concentrate, but there are options of an open galley and integrated lower helm. Either way, you will find it hard leaving the black-leather Besenzoni helm chair, what with its wonderful lumbar support and push-button height and depth adjustors. Every long-range passagemaking boat needs a high-backed helm chair like this. There is an electric locking cantilevered door beside the chair that leads out to the starboard bulwark to aid with parking and nice big wipers on the windscreen.

Boats in this league have custom electronics packages. Almost reminiscent of an aircraft cockpit, the 75 Yacht’s lower helm is equipped with a Raymarine RL 70C and RL80C combo colour chartplotter, radar, depth sounder and log; Raymarine autopilot; a Raymarine multifunction numerical screen on which you could relay your depth in large numbers; a Raymarine wind gauge; a dedicated camera screen showing views from engine room to the transom and cockpit; two electronic multifunction Man engine panels as well as analogue gauges; chain counter; spotlight; and alarm, bilge and light indicator plans.

The boat has electronic controls with a handy amount of detent so you know where neutral is, a single joystick for the bow- and sternthrusters, and a large timber wheel with featherlight steering – very few turns were needed to bank the boat around thanks to the power-assisted hydraulic motor. Most of these controls are repeated on the flybridge.

CABIN FEVER
The 75 Yacht is truly accommodating with beds for eight in four cabins, plus four heads, and the crew quarters. It’s also sophisticated with satin cherrywood joinery, feature panels, timber blinds, metallic curtains and earthy tones.

The VIP guest cabin in the bow features an island double berth on the centreline surrounded by lots of drawers, a dedicated dresser or boating office, and a walk-in wardrobe with full-length mirrors. The third and fourth cabins down a step and just aft of the foyer feature comfortable adult-length single berths, big hanging lockers and drawers, air-con and even flat-screen televisions with satellite and Foxtel.

The boat’s washer/dryer is also down here, but I would prefer a separate unit in the crew quarters.

The pièce de résistance is the owner’s stateroom abutting the thickly sound-insulated engine room. The full-width cabin has three deep windows behind Roman blinds that frame the views from the central island bed. One porthole in each set can be opened for natural ventilation.

There’s a leather lounge big enough for two people alongside the bed and a dressing area with tub chair and 240V outlets to make a decent boat office. Ahead of the bed is a 50cm flatscreen television and behind the bedhead is a huge walk-in wardrobe and ensuite with granite vanity, personal storage, extractor, Vacuflush loo, and large shower stall with five-jet body massages and showerhead.

BLUEWATER CRUISING
The V12 1500hp Man motors proved exceedingly quiet whether driving and riding aboard in the bridge or the saloon. In relative terms, these big blocks aren’t gas guzzlers. The 50-tonne boat glides to planing speeds and cruise speeds without the motors working too hard. Synchronised at 1500rpm, they were using 100lt/h each for a handy cruise of 18.6kt.

But what stunned me was the speed of the everyday cruise. At 1800rpm, the Mans sounded really happy and the boat was cruising at 23 knots using 163lt/h per motor. The efficiency of the hull was underscored by the lack of a rooster tail astern and spray being pushed off the bow. Fast cruise speed was clocked at 2000rpm and 27 knots using 200lt/h per side. Flat out at 2350rpm, the 75 Yacht gave 33 knots while consuming a tad more than 300lt per motor per hour.

In some ways, it’s been just as exciting tagging along for the ride and seeing Sunseeker come of age Down Under. From those early days when the boats lacked polish to the present day where they can cut it at marinas anywhere in the world, the boats are getting better and better. The 75 Yacht probably has more in common with a semi-custom superyacht than a production motorboat. Even the Sydney Water Police couldn’t help but steam over and admire the new calibre of owner/driver luxury boat. Way to go.

HIGHS

• Submersible boarding platform
• Big crew quarters and walk-in engine room
• Labelled big-boat engineering systems
• Walkaround and observation/entertaining deck
• Single-level saloon with sophisticated finish
• Great lower helm with leather lounge opposite
• Four big cabins each with ensuites
• Classy soft furnishings with a timeless elegance

LOWS

• Low windshield and rails around the flybridge don’t provide support when standing
• Washer/dryer in the accommodation area instead of separate units in the crew quarters
• Cream carpet will be a challenge to keep clean
• Lots of white fibreglass in bridge to keep clean
• Needs Twin Disc gearboxes for low-speed work

Boat Specifications: 75 Sunseeker Yacht

SUNSEEKER 75 YACHT

OPTIONS FITTED Satellite communications and television, electronics package including cameras, chilled water air-con, bow and stern thrusters, Bose Lifestyle 35 system, 100cm plasma television, custom factory food freezer and no internal ladder, separate washer/dryer, crane for tender on bridge, soft furnishings and more

GENERAL

Material: GRP hull with vinylester resin and foam-cored decks and hull sides

Length (overall): 23.13m

Beam: 5.66m

Draft: 1.68m inc props

Deadrise: n/a Rec/max hp: 2 x 1300hp–1500hp

Weight: 42,700kg hull w/ base motors and dry

CAPACITIES

Fuel: 5500lt

Water: 1100lt

Holding tank: About 600lt

Accommodation: 8+2

ENGINE

Make/model: MAN D2842 LE409

Type: Injected 90-degree vee, V12, IMO compliant, turbo-charged, aftercooled diesel motors Rated hp: 1500hp @ 2300rpm

Displacement: 2193lt

Weight: About 2040kg

Drive (make/ratio): ZF gearboxes

Props: Five-blade bronze