82 Sunseeker 2004

Source: Alan Harper, Power & Motoryacht Magazine

It was an unusual situation, but this is a highly unusual boat. We’d run the numbers and logged the speed, fuel, trim, and decibel readings and now were at the fun part of the test: handling. On an 82-foot, 60-ton yacht this isn’t always the fun part—I’ve tested boats this size that couldn’t out-turn the U.S.S. Nimitz—but this was different.

At somewhere between 25 and 30 knots, I cranked the wheel hard to starboard and passed control to the skipper. “Just going below for a second,” I told him. “Keep her on this heading.” Our “heading” was a turn so tight we were in danger of catching ourselves by the tail, but the skipper obliged with a knowing look, and I made my way down to the amidships master cabin. There, just outside the starboard hull windows, was a maelstrom of solid salt spray—no sea, no sky, just a chaotic wall of white water whooshing past the glass as the yacht dug her chine in and hurled herself around the turn, heeling over at an angle that would be considered dramatic in boats half this size. It was exhilarating, hugely silly entertainment, and given the hushed and opulent surroundings, strangely surreal. My brain was unwilling to believe what my eyes were seeing.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so surprised. Sunseeker is immensely proud of its sporting heritage, and even with a tall, beamy motoryacht as voluminous as the 82, its design team can’t seem to resist reaching back for it. Like a modern Jaguar that has nothing in common with the company’s Le Mans winners of the 1950’s, the name nevertheless sets up expectations: Customers who’d balk at the thought of skirts and spoilers nevertheless want the feeling of willing horsepower and taut handling, reminders of the history they’re buying into.

Sunseeker bought into history when it called in Don Shead in 1979 and started writing its own. This relationship has become one of the industry’s great partnerships. For years Shead has maintained a fully staffed drawing office at Sunseeker. His designers and engineers are completely integrated with Sunseeker’s—the companies are inseparable—and the boatbuilder’s ambition is the perfect foil for the designer’s experience. Megayachts, raceboats, production cruisers, gas turbines, surface drives, waterjets—they do it all. So whether the builder wants a new 37 Sportfish or a 140-foot megayacht, it’s all in a day’s work for the Shead-Sunseeker team. And as for a 60-ton 82 that thinks she’s a sportboat, well, that’s second nature.

Although all owners of a boat like this wouldn’t necessarily expect such handling, most would demand a choice of layouts, and there are several. Three basic configurations are available, and within those a number of options. All offer four cabins on the lower deck, with the owner’s stateroom amidships and the VIP all the way forward. Our test boat’s layout carried the title “master junior suite and port twin guest with en suite head,” and places the owner’s berth against the aft bulkhead, with heads, dressing room, and shower helping to insulate the cabin from the engine room.

Boat Specifications: 82 Sunseeker 2004

Boat Type: Megayacht (> 80′)

Standard Power: 2/1,550-hp Caterpillar C30 diesel inboards

Optional Power: 2/1,479-hp MAN D2482 LE409 diesel inboards

Length Overall (LOA): 82’6”

Beam: 20’3”

Draft: 5’6”

Weight: 121,300 lbs.

Fuel Capacity: 1,717 gal.

Water Capacity: 396 gal.

Standard Equipment: 2/23-kW Kohler gensets; Marine Air chilled-water A/C; 30-hp Sleipner hydraulic bow and stern thrusters; Panasonic and Sharp plasma-screen TVs; Sony CD player; Alpine DVD player; Furuno 1943C radar and chartplotter; Furuno GPS; Simrad IS5 speed/depth indicator; Simrad AP20 autopilot; hydraulic tender platform; teak decks; glassware, cutlery, and china for eight; vacuum toilet system

Test Engines: 2/1,550-hp Caterpillar C30 diesel inboards

Transmissions / Ratio: ZF 2050/2.47:1

Props: 38×49 5-blade Teignbridge

Steering: Hypro hydraulic, power-assisted

Controls: Mathers MicroCommander electronic

Optional Equipment On Test Boat: second porthole in port and starboard guest cabins; flying-bridge teak decking; Besenzoni passerelle; triple-horn cluster; KVH satellite TV; extra Navnet display at flying-bridge helm station; upgraded VHF; handheld autopilot control; upgraded Caterpillar engine-monitoring system; shorepower converter; heated towel racks throughout; Whirlpool refrigerator/ freezer; utility room in forward cabin; Eberspacher diesel heating system; port-side door from galley; CCTV system

Conditions: temperature: 45º; humidity: N/A; wind: 10-15 mph; seas: 3’-4’; load: 264 gal. fuel, no water, 5 persons, no gear. Speeds are two-way averages measured w/GPS. GPH measured with Caterpillar display. Range: 90% of advertised fuel capacity. Decibels measured on A scale. 65 dB is the level of normal conversation. All measurements taken with trim tabs fully retracted.