Review, features, description, and engine performance test of Sunseeker's Manhattan 70 motoryacht.

Regardless, it is the yacht-style features and smart options inspired by the 86 that do more to define this vessel than anything else. She’s like a mini-megayacht, and in that regard, displays one notable megayacht characteristic: silence. With the throttles wide open, her top sound-level reading at the helm was a mere 79 db-A. (65 db-A is the level of normal conversation.) With 169 gph combusting in the 1,550-hp MANs, that’s a considerable feat. Down in the master it was 72 db-A, and in the VIP it was an equally low 71. Such quiet is accomplished through a multitude of features, not the least of which are three-inch thick sound-damping insulation in the engine room, Halyard exhaust silencers, and Phoenix engine mounts.

Customization is another megayacht feature found aboard, and my test boat had plenty of it, a great deal of which was located in the ER. A hearty aluminum ladder bends out over the twin Dometic chillers. With two air handlers in the saloon and one in each of the four cabins, the zone-controlled air conditioning can pump out up to 92,000-Btus of coolness. Another upgrade that I couldn’t miss was not so much the larger 27-kW Kohler genset to port (a 21-kW is standard) as the 19-kW “nighttime use” model to starboard. An optional Aquamatic watermaker was located behind the secondary genset, and although it’s a bit difficult to access, the 630-gpd reverse-osmosis unit should be generally trouble free. (The 10-hp stern thruster hydraulics are also lodged there.) One option I’m surprised the owner didn’t go for is a fuel purifier in the fuel-transfer line between the self-leveling tanks to ensure clean fuel while coasting around the Bahamas or places with less reliable sources of clean diesel.

Aft of the engine room is the crew cabin, which truly secures the 70’s place in the big-boat arena. For a boat this size, it’s well appointed, with its own head and stand-up shower. My boat had the optional three-berth layout, which I felt was a little tight; the standard single queen (shown in the deckplans) should make whoever is operating the boat plenty happy. A full-width tinted picture window in the transom doesn’t hurt either. One thing I would have preferred to see is a secondary means of egress in case of emergencies; currently, the only way in or out is the door to starboard.

The 70 is a megayacht in just about any way you can imagine except size. But she compensates for this one point with smart engineering and a design that gives you the illusion that you’re on a boat that’s much larger than she actually is. She’s a pleasure to run, and for an adept owner, that possibility is definitely not out of the question. I mean really, why pay someone else to have all the fun?

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