SUNSEEKER MANHATTAN 48
BUILT: 1996 PRICE: £155,000
The smallest of the Manhattan range of flybridge cruisers when introduced, this model was launched as the 45 before quickly becoming the 46. An extended bathing platform resulted in a further badge change to the Manhattan 48 you see here.
INTERIOR Never ones to follow the herd, Sunseeker used vee drives instead of the shaft drives far more commonly seen on 50ft flybridge boats of this era. It put the engines back beneath the cockpit rather than under the saloon floor, and that created an equally unusual layout. With an ensuite master cabin up in the bow and a decent twin-bedded guest cabin opposite the galley linked to the day heads, it feels like you’re all done on the lower deck. But aft of the galley is another door granting access to a third cabin with a double berth running transversely beneath the main deck saloon in the space you’d usually find the engines.
EXTERIOR Sunseeker went for a real motoryacht style with this one, so you get aircraft-style wraparound windscreens and slatted saloon side windows. Back aft, that extended platform allows you to sit a tender on the deck rather than hanging from davits as per the earlier 46 and 45, and there is a passerelle that can be utilised as a dinghy crane. Although new enough to get the long platform, it just predates the flybridge stairs, so you have to climb a ladder to a pretty decent flybridge, complete with period winged radar arch.
PERFORMANCE
Sunseeker fitted twin engines from 430hp aside up to 600hp each, which were reckoned to give a mid 30 knot top end. We tested the boat (actually the earlier 46) with similar Caterpillar 3208TA engines fitted to this example and achieved a still spritely 29 knots, making 20 knots an easy and relaxed cruising speed.
SEAKEEPING
Four chunky lever controls at each helm (two for FNR gear shifting, two for throttles) give the brain more of a work out but repay with greater precision than traditional twin levers, and a bow thruster helps at close quarters. In an earlier test we described the boat as having “smooth riding qualities” and impressive directional stability.