64 Sunseeker Manhattan

Source: Boatpoint Magazine

It’s made in the UK but called the Manhattan, it boasts British engineering excellence but Big Apple sophistication… Introducing the Manhattan 64 – a cosmopolitan cruiser that embodies the best of both worlds

According to American Men’s Journal, Manhattan is among the top 50 best places in the world to live. Known colloquially as the Little Apple, with just 57 square kilometres of land bound by the Hudson, Harlem and East Rivers, Manhattan was selected by the magazine for its quality of life characteristics such as recreational opportunities, safety, services, arts and entertainment.

Of course, we all know Australian cities are THE best places in the world to live. But what if you could bring a little bit of Manhattan downunder? Not averse to the idea, the importers of Sunseeker boats have shipped a big slice of Manhattan, more than 20 metres of it, to Sydney.

The Manhattan 64 motoryacht is the boating equivalent of, well, New York City. Quality of life characteristics put it on top of the list of the best craft in which to live. Safety, services and entertainment go with the territory. The Manhattan 64 is also rather big on luxury.

The 16th Sunseeker to arrive in Australia, the 64 hails from a range of production motoryachts made in England, not America. Things have been going so swimmingly for Sunseeker that its 105ft flagship has just been surpassed by a 130-footer. I am told the factory now has plans for a 150ft motoryacht. A production model, that is.

All the Sunseeker boats have performance hulls designed by Don Shead, a naval architect, engineer and designer from the UK with a passion for high-speed, high-styled boats. The Sunseeker interiors come courtesy of an in-house design team headed by Ken Freivokh, who also works for brands including Prout and Swan.

While such characters may be unrecognisable to the casual observer, other names that stand behind Sunseeker should be familiar. The Manhattan range is owned by a veritable who’s who of stars, including former Formula One drivers Eddie Jordan and Nigel Mansell, and some Hollywood types.

Why? Simple. You get a production boat made to custom standards with proven wet-track performance. Regarded as the biggest production boatbuilder in the world – by length, not numbers – Sunseeker attracts buyers who baulk at the idea of driving off into the unknown.

Sunseekers such as the Manhattan 64 come with performance guarantees and trusty English engineering, as well as a choice of layouts, furnishings, fabrics and power options, not to mention spare door handles and lights, even different-coloured covers for the surround-sound saloon speakers in case you feel like a change.

As for styling, the Sunseekers flaunt an air of sophistication and individualism. The boats are more avant garde than some other UK marques. The Manhattan 64 has, for example, some reverse sheer, big elliptical windows and lots of rakish lines reminiscent of an Italian-designed motoryacht.

The Manhattan 64 is now even more popular because it has a new hull with big aft tunnels. In fact, this boat is now regarded as the best seller of all Sunseeker’s motoryachts.

After spending the best part of an afternoon driving the 64 in Sydney, I can see why. The boat turns off its bow, quite sharply for a 64, and has performance that can be dialled-up from stately to sporty. It also has the goods to go passage-making in the Pacific. It is a strong boat and, well, I can’t remember helming a more compliant 64-footer.

EASY RIDER
Sunseeker uses solid glass below the waterline, with composite construction above to save weight. The Manhattan 64, with hand-laid glass and balsa core and a foam girder system, weighs in around 30,000kg half-loaded.

Yet the comparatively light weight didn’t translate to a choppy ride on the water. The boat appears to run quite flat, thanks in part to its reverse sheer. But the way the boat shifts into gear is what I remember most from the drive.

With twin fully electronic 800hp Caterpillar motors, the Manhattan 64 is pitched as a 30-knotter. According to my rough calculations, you hit 20kt in 20 seconds and full speed in about 30 seconds. These aren’t big motors, but the performance is practical.

What is remarkable is the way the hull glides onto the plane. There is no discernible transition from displacement to planing speeds. Power on, the boat launches bodily out of the water. Brakes on, it planes down to 12.5kt or less.

Vision is exceptional and you can see back through the bridge hatch to the transom boarding platform. You really don’t need a skipper to drive this baby. Take it from me, it’s a snap. And with a bowthruster, you can stop the light bow from skidding around.

The new hull with aft tunnels either side of the centreline and a low-angle of attack on the four-blade props, converts most of the thrust back, not down. Add the weight advantage of the composite construction and you have what could be deemed a slippery 64ft hull by any standards.

On the engineering side, the Manhattan 64 has electric stern winches and windlass, auto fire systems, the bowthruster and, for Australia, the air-conditioning upgrade to an 18kW genset instead of the standard 11kW model, bridge fridge and 3.5m telescopic passerelle with a 400kg dinghy-lift capacity.

Look harder and you will find intelligent wiring systems, owner’s tomes with lots of diagrams and how-to detail, and amazing lighting that illuminates just about every square centimetre of the boat. Interestingly, the Manhattan 64 has vee drives for a layout you would expect on a much bigger boat.

CASUAL LIVING ROOM
Despite its rakish lines, the Manhattan 64’s interior is a whopper. A three-stage sliding saloon door lets you synthesise interior and exterior living areas. The heavy stainless-steel framework doesn’t affect the operation of the door. It slides effortlessly on rollers so everyone including the kids can open it.

Indoors, the Manhattan 64 has a casual sitting area comprising a big leather lounge opposite a galley and wetbar. There is also an upper saloon beyond two steps with a formal dining table, entertainment system and lower helmstation. Add the cockpit seating and you will find a room for all occasions.

The boat’s aft galley and bar area was inherited from the company’s successful 105-footer (aft galleys are the trend in many Euro motoryachts these days). Positioned to starboard behind the saloon door, the galley serves both indoor and outdoor areas and lets the cook put together lunch or dinner without being hidden away down below. Bravo! Timber flooring, cherrywood cupboards and black-ice granite benchtops with fiddle rails complement the Manhattan’s fine style. The galley/bar comes with three crystal decanters, fridge with icemaker, dishwasher with timber facia, and twin circular sinks under solid granite covering boards that take some lifting. Oh yeah, real granite.

The latest four-burner Bosch electric hob with touch-screen controls, an extractor fan and opening electric window, convection microwave and three freezer drawers let you carry the stock to cook up a storm without smoking out your guests. Twin pull-out garbage bins ensure the prawn shells remain out of sight.

For casual entertaining, there is a set of outdoor drinking glasses. But for formal occasions, the Manhattan 64 comes with a full set of Royal Daulton crockery, from milk jug to salt and pepper shakers. There is also matching cutlery in a drawer… And the crystal, of course.

A buoyant feeling comes from the natural light streaming through the saloon windows, which bounces off the white headliners, plus the mood-enhancing downlights and strip lighting. At night the boat can be lit up like a Christmas tree.

The light switches are mounted in handy locations.

There is a big choice of finishes and furnishings on all Sunseeker boats. This Manhattan 64 had a colour combo borrowed from a Manhattan 105-footer that the importers saw in Miami. There were navy blue and gold drop curtains, gold-rimmed downlights, cream leather lounges and cream carpet.

FLIGHT DECK SALOON
Up two steps, the upper saloon has a huge and accommodating U-shaped leather lounge to starboard that can seat five people. Another two can sit on separate leather club chairs. Set around a solid cherrywood dinette, the seating enjoys terrific views through low windows and across to a pop-up flatscreen television with DVD, connected to a surround-sound system concealed in a cabinet.

A three-person leather lounge to port provides additional seating behind the windscreen. Opposite is a rather swish looking lower helm signposted by a hydraulic blue leather Besenzoni pilot seat akin to what you might find in a real superyacht.

The minimalist automotive-style matt-black dash has a timber sportswheel, bowthruster control, Raymarine navigation package, digital Caterpillar gauges as well as analogue back-ups and, you beauty, a demister as well as wipers. So you can enjoy all-season, all-weather clear-screen cruising.

Alongside the helmseat is a trick door leading out to the bulwarks. The watertight door has an electric locking device and is cleverly recessed so it’s barely discernible from the outside. Perhaps more than any other object, this door personifies the quality build of the Manhattan 64.

ACCOMMODATION STATIONS
Not too many boats have a foyer, but when you advance forward from the formal saloon, a foyer is what you will find. In the cupboard, below the boat’s impressive control panels for its 12, 220 and 240V electrical systems, is a handy washer/dryer.

Accommodation is spread between three cabins and a separate crew quarters back aft (accessible through the cockpit). All the cabins have ensuites. The ensuite for the guests’ cabin amidships doubles as a convenient dayhead, complete with Vacuflush loo and full shower stall.

The guests’ cabin has a typical Euro layout, with twin 2.10m single berths, a lowboy in between, hanging locker, porthole with view, and a separate flatscreen television and air-conditioning controls. A chic ribbed bedhead and pewter and honeycomb patterned bedspread complete the picture.

Because it is not located in the traditional spot under the lower helmstation, this guests’ cabin is the biggest of its type I have encountered. Full-height dressing and headroom runs the length of the cabin.

Still, the pick of the rooms to reserve is in the bow. Here you will find an island double berth cloaked in buff and white bedspread with a waffle pattern, lots of luscious cherrywood joinery including a hanging locker (no light), your own flatscreen television and air-conditioning controls, plus nice lighting features.

Headroom is okay in the forward cabin despite the boat’s reverse-sheer deck line. Mirror-backed doors add to the sense of space, while factory-supplied framed nautical prints contribute a nautical flavor.

So far so good, but what comes next is great. The owners’ cabin on the Manhattan 64, albeit down an economical companionway, runs the full width of the boat. Think 80-footer not 64-footer and think plenty of room to move or live aboard.

In this case the giant island bed was topped in a gold and cream spread, surrounded by a soft-touch camel bedhead with mirrors and lots of cherrywood joinery almost reminiscent of the craftsman-style. There was a leather lounge to one side, his and her hanging lockers (with lights and recesses for shoes) and Art Deco-style bedside lamps.

As a proud owner, you also get an independent entertainment system and a pull-out stool near a dressing area. There is scope in the design for turning this space into a compact home office. My choice: HO, for sure.

The ensuite is big enough to double as a dressing area and, with air-conditioning ducts and extractors, you are assured of coming out dry. There was a big vanity topped with a black-ice counter, designer fittings, Vacuflush loo, full shower stall with a new sealing system, timber venetian blinds, Sunseeker towels and so on.

Now to the crew cabin. Accessible via a hatch and ladder in the cockpit, it is big enough, thanks to the vee drives, to sleep two children at opposite ends. Between the single berths is a mess of storage cupboards and an airline-style bathroom with fold-down wall sink and private loo.

ABOVE AND BELOW DECKS
I found useful shade under the flybridge overhang, where one might plonk a cockpit table and chairs and unfurl the Sunday paper. Alongside is an icemaker and granite-topped food-prep area. Full camper-style covers slot into tracks moulded in the overhang. The aft stern winches and rope lockers are also integrated, hidden behind covering hatches that conceal the bollards and mooring lines.

Outdoor seating comprises just an aft lounge for three. The boarding platform is big enough for couples to sunbake, however, like a balcony on a Manhattan apartment. There are moulded fender lockers, hot/cold shower, central wet locker and swim ladder. The electric Besenzoni passerelle, with moulded teak steps alongside, is a trick bit of work that can also lift a RIB.

Full bulwarks lead to the bow where optional sunpads can be fitted. In Ab-Fab fashion, there are champagne-bottle holders up front. Patsy is unlikely to take an accidental bath, however, as the bowrails are nice and high.

Back in the cockpit, a hatch leads down to the engineroom. The 800hp CATs leave plenty of servicing room around them. There is an Onan generator to port (room for a spare genset or watermaker to starboard) and direct access to the strainers, oil pumps, fuel shut-offs and so on.

Big fans with veins ensures only clean air makes it into the engines. The exhausts are underwater types with mufflers and idle-relief valves. The boat sounds throaty from the shore, but quiet aboard. You can see the tunnel-shape of the hull from the engineroom and a quasi keel. On the water, you can feel these design features working in your favour.

DRIVE TIME
After climbing some eight or so steps, via internal and external stairs, you reach the bridge where the layout differs from some other motoryachts. There isn’t the usual big aft sunlounge but a giant circular settee surrounding a folding fibreglass table. This way you can carry eight or more people on a sightseeing cruise without upsetting your view.

The sunpad on the Manhattan 64’s bridge is set beside the dash, perhaps providing views of a different kind for the skipper, who sits on a benchseat like that for the co-pilot. An amenities centre behind the captain’s seat includes a sink, fridge, barbecue, icemaker and storage space.

A simple dash layout has room for flush-mounting the nav gear, analogue and LCD CAT gauges, steering indicator, compass, hydraulic steering, radio/CD remote and more. The trailing edge of the boarding platform can be seen when reverse parking, if you leave the transom gate open.

The boat’s rakish lines are reflected by the angle of the targa arch. While you could argue a bimini top would spoil the boat’s lines, it is rather bright up top in the height of summer.

Despite 20kt of persistent wind, this was one of my best drives of the year. With 800hp Cats, the Manhattan 64 is a 30kt boat. Moreover, it gives a wonderfully comfortable cruise speed of 22kt at 1900rpm. The big hull turns off its bow section and is surprisingly agile, smooth into a headsea and dry at all times.

The electronic shifts make for two-finger operation and with a sports wheel you can’t help but throw the boat around. Having driven a lot of 60-something boats in the last few years, it is my view that the Manhattan 64 is the smoothest yet.

Brash and brazen, the boat is big on everything but awkwardness. It has an especially big presence on the water, which sounds very Manhattan to me. But its presence is also felt when cruising to faraway places… Smooth passages, economical sea miles.

If you are shopping for a hot new waterfront address, make an appointment to inspect the Manhattan 64. You won’t need to worry about building certificates, levies or land tax. As far as quality of life characteristics, well, this apple-of-the-eye beats the real Manhattan any day.

HIGHS

• You can’t help but love the drive.
• Sweet handling is teamed with serious seaworthiness for long-distance luxury travel.
• Aft galley works a treat, while the full-width master cabin rivals that in a true superyacht.
• Everything including crystal and china comes gratis. Attention to detail and finish is superb.
• Plenty of possibilities in the layout and finish departments make Sunseeker’s semi-custom production boats.

LOWS

• Saloon carpet wasn’t edged.
• Plastic hatch catches on a multi-million dollar motoryacht?
• No lights in some of the hanging lockers.
• Perspex windscreen in the bridge seemed too wobbly.
• Sleek lines will challenge bimini makers.
• Reverse sheer could see you take water over the bow when chugging into a big sea.

Boat Specifications: 64 Sunseeker Manhattan

Sunseeker Manhattan 64

Options Fitted: Generator upgrade, air-conditioning upgrade, bridge fridge, passerelle.

General

Material: Fibreglass with composite balsa decks

Type: Modified-vee planing hull

Length (overall): 20.28m

Beam: 5.20m

Draft: 1.44m(inc. props)

Deadrise: N/A

Weight: 29,900kg (half load)

Capacities

Berths: Six plus two

Fuel: 2935lt

Water: 950lt

Engine

Make/Model: Twin CAT 3406E

Type: Inline six-cylinder diesel engine w/turbocharging and aftercooling.

Rated hp (ea): 800hp each@ 2300rpm

Displacement (ea): 14.6lt

Weight (ea): 1586kg

Gearboxes (Make/ratio): ZF 2.032:1 vee drives

Props: Four-blade NAB bronze