Sunseeker Predator 75

The Sunseeker Predator 75 is 75' 8" overall on a 17' 8" beam, drawing 6' 2" at full load and displacing 103,396 lbs at half load. Power is twin MAN V12-1550 at 2 x 1,550 HP driving shafts rather than pods, and top speed is up to 40 knots. Fuel is 1,268 US gallons, fresh water 211.

Unlike the smaller Predators, this is a shaft-drive boat, and unlike its Sport Yacht sibling it runs from a single helm on the main deck. The helm sits forward of the sofa with companion seating alongside to port, and above it is an oversized polished carbon fibre sunroof that opens to flood the main deck with light. There is no flybridge and no second station.

Sunseeker's exterior work on this generation is specific. The hull and superstructure glazing are described as new and angular, with stainless steel air intake cowlings and exterior handrails, new exterior upholstery and moulding options, and a choice of four grey hull colours.

The aft cockpit carries a classic arrangement: U-shaped seating with a rise-and-fall carbon fibre table, and an aft sunpad with a large storage compartment concealed beneath it. The connection between cockpit and saloon is the detail worth noticing - the cockpit door slides to starboard, and then the door and window descend beneath the seating so the two spaces become one.

Below deck the arrangement accommodates up to eight guests and two crew. The full-beam master has a dressing table with storage, a chaise longue and additional wardrobe space. All three guest suites have en-suites, with a shared day head reached from the lower hallway. There is a fully fitted lower galley and dining space. Cabins are listed as 3 with 4 optional, en-suites and day head as 3, plus crew.

Up to 40 knots is the published maximum, and in the context of Sunseeker's current nineteen-model range that is the headline. Only this boat and the 75 Sport Yacht - which is the same platform - reach it. Nothing else Sunseeker builds today is published above 38.

The drivetrain is worth understanding. This is a shaft-drive boat, not a pod boat: the smaller Predators run Volvo Penta IPS on pods, and at 75 feet Sunseeker goes back to shafts. The standard fit is twin MAN V12-1550 at 2 x 1,550 HP, and Sunseeker offers a second V12 package on this hull. Establish which one is fitted to any boat you drive, and do not assume a demonstrator represents the specification you would order.

Your cruising numbers come off the boat itself. On sea trial, run it at the rpm you actually intend to cruise at, get observed burn at that rpm in writing, and work your own arithmetic against 1,268 gallons.

Draft is 6' 2" at full load - a foot more than the 65s, and a number to check against your home berth and your usual anchorages before anything else. Displacement is 103,396 lbs at half load, so get a rigged, loaded weight for your own hull before you book a lift.

One handling note: shafts and no joystick pods means docking is a conventional skill again at 75 feet. Test that honestly on the day, and think about whether you want a captain.

The main deck is where the Predator 75 makes its case, and the case is that one big room is better than two smaller ones.

Interior styling is deliberately bold: contemporary furniture in wood, carbon fibre and stainless steel, lit by dimmable mood lighting. The standard arrangement puts wraparound seating and a large television unit on the main deck, with the helm station forward of the sofa and companion seating alongside to port. Above the helm is an oversized polished carbon fibre sunroof, which opens the space to the sky - Sunseeker's own point is that it floods the living area with light, and on a boat with no flybridge that overhead is doing real work.

Aft, the cockpit runs U-shaped seating around a rise-and-fall carbon fibre table, with an aft sunpad over a large concealed storage compartment. The link between the two is the good bit: the cockpit door slides to starboard, and then both the door and the window descend beneath the seating. Open, there is no threshold and no frame - the saloon and cockpit read as a single deck.

Below, the arrangement takes up to eight guests and two crew. The full-beam master has a dressing table fitted with storage, a chaise longue and generous additional wardrobe space. All three guest suites have their own en-suites, and a shared day head is reached from the lower hallway rather than through a cabin. There is a fully fitted lower galley with a dining space beside it, which turns the lower deck into a second social zone for smaller groups rather than purely into sleeping accommodation.

Sunseeker describes the space configuration as fully customisable. As always, that means it is decided at order rather than later.

The comparison that matters most is in-house and it is unusually clean. The Predator 75 and the 75 Sport Yacht share one platform: 75' 8" overall, 17' 8" beam, 6' 2" draft, 103,396 lbs at half load, twin MAN V12-1550 on shafts, 1,268 gallons of fuel, 211 of water, three cabins with a fourth optional, three en-suites plus crew, up to 40 knots. Every published figure matches.

The difference is the deck plan, and it is not what the names imply. The 75 Sport Yacht adds a traditional second helm on a flybridge reached by a stairway, with companion seating and a chaise-longue sunpad, and a foredeck seating area with a table for six. The Predator 75 has neither, and instead resolves everything into one main-deck helm under an oversized carbon fibre sunroof, with a lower, cleaner profile for it. If someone tells you the Predator is the open one and the Sport Yacht is the enclosed one, they have it backwards - the Sport Yacht is the one with the extra deck.

Outside the range, the 75-foot performance market is Italian territory. The Riva 76' Perseo Super at 76' 3" is within seven inches on length and is the direct stylistic rival. The Pershing 7X at 69' 3" is shorter but competes on exactly the same instinct - a hard-edged, fast, single-purpose boat.

What the Predator 75 brings to that fight is the top speed, the fact that it is one of only two boats in Sunseeker's whole current range published at 40 knots, and a main deck that opens completely to the cockpit once the door and window drop away. That last feature is the one people remember from the sea trial.

This boat fits an owner who wants speed at 75 feet and does not want an upper deck. Up to 40 knots is the joint highest figure in Sunseeker's current nineteen-model range, and the Predator gets there with a low, single-station profile rather than a flybridge stacked on top.

It fits people who entertain on one level. The cockpit door slides to starboard and the door and window then drop beneath the seating, which turns the saloon and cockpit into one continuous deck around U-shaped seating and a rise-and-fall carbon fibre table. With the carbon sunroof open above the helm, the whole main deck is a single indoor-outdoor room.

It fits eight guests and two crew, with a full-beam master, an en-suite for every one of the three guest suites, a shared day head off the lower hallway rather than through a cabin, and a fully fitted lower galley and dining space that gives the lower deck a social function of its own.

It fits an owner who cares how the boat looks from the dock. Sunseeker gives this generation new angular hull and superstructure glazing, stainless steel air intake cowlings and handrails, new upholstery and moulding options, and a choice of four grey hull colours.

It does not fit anyone who wants a second helm or an upper deck. That is the 75 Sport Yacht - same hull, same numbers, plus a flybridge with a traditional helm, companion seating and a chaise-longue sunpad, and a foredeck with a table for six.

It does not fit a buyer who wants joystick pod docking at this size, because this is a shaft-drive boat and the handling expectations are different.