Sunseeker Predator 65

The Sunseeker Predator 65 measures 67' 2" overall on a 16' 8" beam, drawing 5' 3" at full load and displacing 83,357 lbs at half load. The standard engine fit is twin Volvo Penta IPS 1200 rated 2 x 900 HP on pods, with a higher-output IPS package offered alongside it. Top speed is up to 35 knots. Fuel is 924 US gallons, fresh water 211, and generators are given as 13.5 kW at both 50 and 60 Hz.

Sunseeker's own description leads with the propulsion: joystick control and pod handling on a boat of this size, aimed at an owner who intends to drive it. There is no flybridge and no second helm - everything happens from the main deck.

Externally the boat has two separate entertaining areas rather than one. Forward, the bow carries a seating area with a large sunpad. Aft, the cockpit is configurable four ways: comfortable seating backed onto the large sunpad over the garage, a social bar unit with matching stools on the port side, a fully integrated wet bar, or an extended J-shaped lounge running aft from the galley across the full width of the cockpit.

The tender arrangement is a genuine feature here. The garage is extra wide, sized to carry and launch a Williams 345 jet tender over a new diagonal sliding hydraulic bathing platform, and the spare volume takes SeaBobs, inflatable paddleboards, diving equipment or racking. Specified as a Beach Club instead, the space gets a fully flush floor for free-standing furniture, with a rain shower, lighting and speakers built into the opened door.

Below deck the standard three-cabin layout accommodates six guests: a full-beam master with a generous en-suite, a forward VIP, an en-suite on each guest cabin and a separate day head. Cabins are listed as 3 with 4 optional, en-suites and day head as 4, plus crew.

Sunseeker quotes one speed for the Predator 65: up to 35 knots. Cruise figures do circulate on third-party listings - 25 knots for this boat, 30 knots for the 65 Sport Yacht, which carries an identical specification sheet - and two different cruise numbers on one platform tells you exactly what those figures are worth. Collect your own instead: run the boat at the rpm you intend to cruise at, get observed burn at that rpm from the dealer in writing, and do the arithmetic against 924 gallons.

The engine story is worth reading carefully. The standard fit is twin Volvo Penta IPS 1200 at 2 x 900 HP driving pods, and Sunseeker lists a second, higher-output IPS package alongside it. If you drive a demonstrator, establish which package is under the floor before you form an opinion about the top end, because the two are not the same boat at wide-open throttle.

Handling is the part of the trial that matters most here. Pods mean joystick docking, and on a 67-foot boat aimed at an owner-driver that is the difference between using it on a Friday evening and waiting for help. Test it in a crosswind, in a berth the width of yours.

Draft is 5' 3" at full load, which is shallow for the length and worth knowing if you cruise the Bahamas or the Keys. Displacement is 83,357 lbs at half load, so get a rigged, loaded weight for your own hull before you book a lift.

The standard arrangement below is three cabins for six guests, and Sunseeker has been unusually generous with bathrooms: every guest cabin has its own en-suite, and there is a separate day head below as well. The specification lists four en-suites and day head in total, plus crew accommodation.

The full-beam master is the centrepiece, with a generous en-suite of its own. Forward, the VIP is described by Sunseeker as an equally comfortable space rather than a lesser one, which on a 67-footer is a claim worth testing in person by lying on both berths.

Where this boat gets interesting is the options list for the lower deck. In place of the standard arrangement you can specify an open-plan Owner's Office linked directly to the master stateroom - a genuinely different way to live on a boat of this size if you work aboard - or a single-berth cabin, or a lower-deck galley, or a lower saloon. A fourth cabin is also listed. These are order-time decisions, not refits, and they change what the boat is for.

On deck the flexibility continues. The aft cockpit takes four documented configurations: seating backed onto the large sunpad over the garage, a social bar unit with matching stools to port, a fully integrated wet bar, or an extended J-shaped lounge running aft from the galley across the full width of the cockpit. Forward, the bow is a second entertaining area in its own right with a large sunpad.

And the aft end doubles as a room. Specified as a Beach Club, the garage space gets a fully flush floor for free-standing furniture, a rain shower, and lighting and speakers built into the opened door - so the boat gains a waterline living space when the tender is not in it.

Start in-house, because it is the comparison that will decide this purchase. The Predator 65 and the 65 Sport Yacht share a platform, and they share it completely: 67' 2" overall, 16' 8" beam, 5' 3" draft, 83,357 lbs at half load, twin Volvo Penta IPS 1200 at 2 x 900 HP, 924 gallons of fuel, 211 of water, three cabins with a fourth optional, four en-suites plus crew, up to 35 knots. Nothing on the specification separates them.

What separates them is emphasis. The Predator's page sells the aft end: an extra-wide garage that takes a Williams 345 and launches it over a diagonal sliding hydraulic platform, a Beach Club conversion with a rain shower and built-in audio, four cockpit configurations, and a bow seating area with its own sunpad. The Sport Yacht's page sells the driving position - its SkyHelm raises for manoeuvring and lowers into the seats for running - and tells you where the crew cabin sits. Same boat, two arguments. Go aboard both and pick the argument.

Outside Sunseeker, the direct cross-shops at 65 to 70 feet are Italian. The Pershing 6X at 62' 2" is the harder-edged performance answer and the one that will feel most different on the water. The Riva 66' Ribelle at 67' 10" is within inches on length and competes on finish and on the strength of the Riva name.

What the Predator 65 brings to that group is the combination of pod handling on a 67-foot hull, an en-suite for every guest cabin plus a separate day head, and an aft end designed to be two different rooms depending on where your tender lives. That last point is the one buyers underrate until their second season.

This boat fits an owner who drives. Twin Volvo Penta IPS 1200 on pods with joystick control means a 67-footer you can berth yourself on a Friday evening, and Sunseeker has laid the boat out for that owner rather than for a captain - there is no second helm and no flybridge.

It fits people who cruise with toys. The garage is extra wide, sized for a Williams 345 jet tender and launched over a diagonal sliding hydraulic bathing platform, with room left for SeaBobs, inflatable paddleboards, diving equipment or racking. If your weekends involve gear, this hull has thought about where it goes.

It fits people who live at the waterline. Specified as a Beach Club, the garage becomes a flush-floored room with free-standing furniture, a rain shower, and lighting and speakers built into the opened door. That is a different boat at anchor from one with a locked hatch back there, and you choose which at order.

It fits guests. Three cabins take six people, every guest cabin has its own en-suite, and there is a separate day head below so nobody is walking through accommodation. Four cabins are available if you need them.

It fits an owner who works aboard, which is a narrower group than it used to be. The open-plan Owner's Office linked to the master is a real option on this boat, along with a single-berth cabin, a lower-deck galley or a lower saloon in the same space.

It does not fit anyone who wants an upper deck or a second helm - this hull has neither, and the 75 Sport Yacht is where that requirement goes. And if you plan a season around a cruise figure, plan on collecting your own at the trial: the third-party numbers in circulation disagree with each other across two boats that share one specification.