Nick Burnham picks out four of the best sportscruisers and unearths some proper open motor boats a far cry from the hard-tops of late
Around the turn of the century, Princess Yachts launched the V65, its first sportscruiser with a hard top. Open-backed and fitted with a large sliding vinyl roof, it made sense. The amount of canopy you need to cover the cockpit of a 65ft sportscruiser doesn’t bear thinking about, it would be almost impossible to handle.
However, the idea filtered down through the range, and now it’s impossible to buy a Princess sportscruiser without a hard top. I do understand the convenience (especially in the winter), but it’s also
a shame because a proper open boat is a wonder to behold and to use.
Which is why we turn to the back catalogues once more to unearth some proper open sportscruisers.
Starting with one from Princess, the now classic 36 Riviera. But in addition, the Cranchi proves that larger open sportscruisers are not impossible, Sessa brings the mid-30ft concept up to date and Sunseeker adds a dash of serious performance.
4 of the best sportscruiser motor yachts
Princess 36 Riviera
Built: 1991
Price: £56,000
Launched in 1986, the 36 Riviera was one of the first from Princess to gain a transom door (earlier boats required an inelegant clamber over the cockpit sides) and a stainless steel windscreen surround. Long and low of foredeck, it looked sensational back in the day, and almost 40 years from model launch, this is still a very well proportioned vessel.
The low foredeck limits headroom but the galley and dinette are a good size
Interior
The 36 Riviera’s Achilles’ heel was always the interior. That low foredeck means you can just about stand in the saloon and galley, provided you’re not too tall, and the cabins are pushed well forward in the hull, admittedly for very good reasons that we will come to soon. So it’s a traditional two-cabin layout, but the offset (rather than centreline) berth in the owner’s cabin forward and low headroom in the mid cabin aft are compromises you wouldn’t see today. Having said that, the galley and dinette are a great size.
Exterior
The cockpit, on the other hand, is enormous. There’s a massive C-shaped dinette opposite a small wet bar, and where virtually all modern sportscruisers of this size have a lengthways seat to improve headroom in the mid cabin, the 36 Riviera simply has a pair of huge double seats facing forwards, brilliant when underway.
Performance
This is where we understand why the accommodation is well forward. Unlike contemporaries, such as the Fairline Targa 33 that were mostly using twin outdrives mated to 200hp engines, the 36 Riviera ran huge meaty TAMD 61 306hp diesels through straight shafts, which pushed the engines further forward in the hull but gave phenomenal acceleration and effortless cruising.
The cockpit makes up for the cramped feel below, with a huge C-shaped dinette
Seakeeping
It wasn’t just performance that this set-up guaranteed. Putting the engines further forward gave the boat tremendous balance and fantastic seakeeping. It was one of the last of its kind to prioritise offshore dynamics over accommodation, and it made for an epic sea boat. However it was clear that customers valued accommodation more highly, and its replacement, the 366 Riviera, sported more cabin space and sterndrives.
Princess 36 Riviera specifications
Length: 37ft 0in (11.3m)
Beam: 12ft 3in (3.7m)
Draft: 2ft 4in (0.7m)
Displacement: 6.5 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 818 litres
Engines: Twin Volvo Penta TAMD 61 306hp engines
For sale: Morgan Marine
Sessa Oyster 34
Built: 2002
Price: £79,950
The Sessa Oyster 34 was launched in the late 1990s and evolved into the C35 in 2005, the main change being the longer bathing platform.
It’s fascinating to see the effect of a couple of decades of design evolution on a similar size and style of craft, although this is a smaller boat than the 36 Riviera. In the 1980s, the length of a boat was measured from the bow to the transom, with the bathing platform as an add on. Two decades on the moulded-in bathing platform was included. So it’s shorter and a foot narrower yet has more generous cabins and better headroom.
Headroom is impressive throughout the lower deck
Interior
The fundamental layout is very similar to the 36 Riviera: owner’s cabin at the pointy end, second cabin at the blunt end. But what a difference to that second cabin, particularly regarding headroom in the
lobby area as you enter. In fact headroom is great throughout the whole boat. Sessa offered an alternative layout that removed the forward bulkhead, reducing the privacy of the forward cabin in return for a more open feel. However, most owners (including the original owner of this one) opted to have the bulkhead.
Exterior
That extra headroom in the mid-cabin lobby comes courtesy of a lengthways seat alongside the helm, and whilst it gives less forward-facing seating at the front of the cockpit, it’s a trade-off most people are willing to make, which is why contemporaries from Fairline and Cranchi have an identical set up. What’s less usual is foredeck access through the windscreen. Although there are perfectly good side decks, crew can opt for a direct route forward by hinging the centre section of screen, which is handy if you’re cruising shorthanded.
Performance
Like almost every other mid-30ft sportscruiser of its era, this Sessa has sterndrives mated to twin Volvo Penta KAD 43 diesel engines. The boat’s top end of circa 30 knots was lifted slightly
by the newer D4-260 engines fitted to the C35.
The forward owner’s cabin could be ordered with or without a dividing bulkhead
Seakeeping
The fact that outdrives vector the propellers rather than turning rudders gives excellent handling with a fast, positive response to the helm. They’re comparatively quiet too.
Sessa Oyster 34 specifications
Length: 34ft 9in (10.6m)
Beam: 11ft 6in (3.5m)
Draft: 2ft 3in (0.7m)
Displacement: 6.2 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 515 litres
Engines: Twin Volvo Penta KAD 43 230hp diesel engines
For sale: Tingdene
Sunseeker 35 Portofino
Built: 2004
Price: €145,000
Every now and then I come across a boat that unexpectedly gives me real pause for thought. It somehow rapidly segues from “nice boat” to “I wouldn’t mind one of these!” Sure enough, it took about 10 minutes aboard a 35 Portofino for that feeling to take effect!
There is a profusion of slightly dated cherrywood but it adds to the boat’s sense of quality
Interior
Perhaps the most striking element of the otherwise fairly conventional interior of this boat is just how well finished it is. Yes, high-gloss cherry wood is a bit dated these days, and there is rather a lot of it, but nonetheless, there’s a real sense that this is the same cherry wood that Sunseeker was fitting into its superyachts of the same era.
The same goes for the thick cappings along cabinetry edges and the classic cream leather upholstery. It’s the usual cabin at each end book-ending the saloon and galley, and there’s decent headroom, in particular in the mid cabin where a curved seat at the cockpit sweeps you in underneath to where the twin beds are located.
Exterior
That good headroom is facilitated in part by high topsides, giving the boat a perhaps less sleek appearance, although it’s disguised well by the dark-blue gelcoat. The cockpit is split-level – again aiding that interior headroom but also giving a useful raised area forward for better visibility underway.
The dinette features a height-adjustable table enabling conversion to a sunbed, and there’s a neat wet bar behind the helm. The stainless-steel screen is a smart profusion of angles that nestle back into the forward sloping radar arch.
Performance
Where many boats of this size make do perfectly well with the 40 series Volvos or the later D4 motors, most around the mid 200hp mark, this boat got the much larger D6 engines, 310hp in this particular example, which should give mid to high 30-knot performance.
The cockpit is split-level with a slightly higher forward section, affording the helm great visibility
Seakeeping
The bow-thruster fitted to this boat should help offset the slightly higher windage of those high topsides – in combination with twin engines and vectoring drives you’ll have plenty of options. Out at sea, Sunseekers tend to put in a good showing, feeling solid and capable, and this one is certainly no exception.
Sunseeker 35 Portofino specifications
Length: 38ft 0in (11.6m)
Beam: 11ft 8in (3.6m)
Draft: 2ft 6in (0.8m)
Displacement: 8 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 700 litres
Engines: Twin Volvo Penta D6-310 310hp diesel engines
For sale: One Marine
Cranchi 50 Mediterranée
Built: 2007
Price: £190,000
There are some excellently priced bigger vessels on the market, and this Cranchi 50 Mediterranée is a perfect example. It’s a huge amount of fairly recent boat for under £200,000.
A conventional layout, with the owner’s cabin in the bow, frees up acres of space in the saloon
Interior
Accessed via an unusual roller shutter door, the big news with this boat is the vast amount of space on offer. Whereas most 50ft sportscruisers now have a full-beam owner’s cabin amidships, the slightly ‘old school’ set up of this boat puts the owner’s cabin in the bow, leaving masses of space further aft for a very decent saloon and galley. Further aft is a small double and a twin, and two heads compartments. High gloss cherry looks either classy or a little dated now, depending on your predilections.
Exterior
Cranchi did offer this boat with an open-backed hard top as an option, complete with a sliding glass roof, but it wasn’t the most elegant solution. The open version, by contrast, looks fantastic, with a sleek, low profile, a beautiful arching windscreen frame, and a forward-sloping radar arch that also supports the canopies. The cockpit layout is identical whether open or hardtop, with two double seats forward and a dinette to starboard opposite a wet bar and small seat to port. There’s also a big sunpad aft with a tender garage large enough for a RIB beneath it.
Performance
We tested this boat at launch with a pair of Volvo Penta D12 715hp diesels running straight shafts, and found performance impressive, with 30 knots coming up in 18 seconds from a standstill and a top speed of 35 knots. This boat ups the ante with a pair of D12 800hp motors, so should perform even better!
Curves aplenty up-top, with a sleek seating area and an elegant curved windscreen
Seakeeping
Helm ergonomics received a big thumbs up from us, with excellent helm position, electrically adjustable seats and foot-bar, a folding step and an adjustable wheel. A lazy 2,000rpm gave a speedy 29 knots but almost more impressive was the other end of the speed range, as the 50 Mediterranée could be eased back to 14 knots still planing, suggesting a well-balanced hull.
Cranchi 50 Mediterranée specifications
Length: 50ft 3in (15.3m)
Beam: 14ft 2in (4.3m)
Draft: 3ft 6in (1.0m)
Displacement: 16 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 1,950 litres
Engines: Twin Volvo Penta D12-800 800hp diesel engines
For sale: Boats.co.uk
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