Sanlorenzo SD118

The SD118 fills the size step the SD line was missing. Below it sits the SD96 at 94 feet 11 inches, above it the SD132 at 133 feet 6 inches, and the gap between those two is enormous — nearly forty feet, and a jump from five crew to eight. At 117 feet 3 inches the SD118 lands in the middle of it, which for a lot of buyers is the whole reason to look. Sanlorenzo's line for the model is sovereign space, embodying refined motion and exceptional living at sea. What that means in practice is a semi-displacement hull built for weeks aboard rather than weekends, in the tradition the yard traces back to the transatlantic liners of the 1930s.

The engine choice is the decision I would spend the most time on, and Sanlorenzo makes it unusually easy by publishing a speed for each package: twin MAN 12V D2862 LEs at 1,400 horsepower for 18 knots, or the same engines at 1,650 for 19. One knot. Nobody buys the upgrade for that knot — you buy it for the margin below maximum, for the ability to hold a schedule when weather says otherwise, and for the next owner, who will want it. Worth knowing too that a Caterpillar option gets attached to this boat all over the internet and appears nowhere on Sanlorenzo's page. If somebody offers you one, ask to see it in the build specification.

Two figures are worth holding on to and one is worth refusing. Hold on to the 291 gross tons, because Sanlorenzo publishes it for this model and does not for most of the fleet, and gross tonnage drives survey, manning and berthing conversations in a way length does not. Hold on to the 32,000 litres of fuel, because it is the honest way to think about range on a semi-displacement boat. And refuse the range figure itself. You will see a confident number attached to the SD118 in several places. Sanlorenzo publishes no range, no cruise speed, no draft and no displacement for anything it builds. Take consumption off a sea trial at your intended speed, divide the published tankage by it, keep a reserve you would be comfortable explaining to an underwriter, and the number becomes yours instead of somebody's.

— Tony Smith, Founder, Minted Yachts