Comfort is the main characteristic of this hull, which is the smallest of the Sanlorenzo’ planning range. Low decibel, few vibrations, good performances and easy to handle. Both interiors and exteriors are by Officina Italiana Design of Mauro Micheli and Sergio Beretta
THE FLY IS CROWDED WITH JOURNALISTS. They come from all over the planet and are all intent on getting selfies at the commands or sprawled across the sofas. Only one, a Frenchman, seems to care not for being digitally immortalized by smartphone and soon we discover why. Just out of the port of Cannes, a helicopter appears with a photographer aboard set on making a proper photo shoot of him. It’s no wonder, we’re aboard a Sanlorenzo after all, to be precise, the SL 78, the smallest in the planing hull category. The vanity of the journalists on board quickly dissipates and they move away from the bridge. There’s only the commander left, and I decide to approach.
I check out the specs and performance and take some notes. The engines are two 1600 horsepower MTUs and at maximum we reach over 28 knots. To lift the hull from the water hull though, we can make do with ten less. Fuel consumption goes from 340 litres per hour at minimum planing speed to 630 litres for over 28 knots. Not bad, especially if we take into account that overall length is over 24 metres and displacement at full load is 70 tons. I exchange a few words with the commander and I make him understand that I would like to give it a go, in the sense that I am not content to stay by his side, but would actually like to take the helm.
He glares at me, trying to figure out if he can trust me or not, and probably wondering why I can’t just settle for a glass of bubbly like the rest. I refuse to budge and anxiously wait for his assessment to be over and a forthcoming response. Not wholly convinced, he finally decides to give me a chance at the controls. He sits back down right next to me and I feel like I did on my very first double-pedal driving school outings. I imagine that just as soon as I make any tiny error of judgment, he’ll rain down on the controls to correct course or manoeuvre. After a few minutes of silence, he understands that, all in all, he can relax a bit.
As I begin to feel the tension waning, he begins to tell me that the two engines have V-drive and ZF transmissions. At this point, I consider that I have been authorized to veer at full thrust and at full speed. The SL, despite its 78 feet, is decidedly manoeuvrable. A full 360° turn can be completed in around sixty metres diameter. Easy to handle, but composed, this is, in any case, a cruise boat for an owner wanting to navigate in comfort. Excesses have not been contemplated. The V-drive has been chosen to contain the dimensions of the engines in the engine room. The reason is that, at the design stage, there was a particular focus on the creation of a special garage for the tender.
This exploits the full beam aft, and, thanks to the submergible platform, facilitates hauling aboard and launching. The size of the garage is remarkable and there’s a 3.85m Williams aboard to vouch for it. The launching system raises the platform up to the same height as the garage. At this point, the saddles on which the tender is resting on move towards the stern and right onto the platform itself. Once there, that’s it, you just immerse the platform to place the dinghy in the water.
The reverse operation almost as simple, with the platform immersed by up to roughly half a metre. This means that, even in rough seas, it is fairly easy to place the tender over the saddles and then activate the lift to raise and slide the saddles and dinghy into the garage. Everything is controlled by an electro-hydraulic system and works so well that they are also planning to adopt it on larger models such as the SL 86. The sensation you get at sea is not only about performance and handling. It’s enough to take a tour below deck to realize this. It’s amazing what little noise and virtually inexistent vibration there is in any place, whether in the living room or cabins.
This is all thanks to a specifically designed system that Sanlorenzo adopts on all its yachts and pleasure boats to minimize onboard decibels. Even in the master cabin, the closest to the engine room, the noise level is really low, with 72 dBA going up to 74 dBA while cruising.
And on the fly, we can appreciate the almost total absence of vibration, contributed in part by the structural reinforcements of the carbon deckhouse. Elsewhere laminates are handcrafted with vinylester resins for the hull and with infusion for the superstructure, deck and aft. As for interiors and deck furnishings, all, or almost all, is customizable and can be chosen by the ship-owner. We especially loved the view you get from the inside, offered by the many windows, and from the fly, which, due to the tender garage, remains totally unobstructed. The stern railing of the fly embellishes everything and its glass allows you to admire the sea even when lying or sitting. Finally, we appreciated the cockpit volume. The entrance to the lounge is further forward than usual and so increases the surface area of the cockpit. The furnishings include a linear sofa, coffee table and other seats, not a duplication of what is already in the lounge, and, in general, space savings maximise free volumes everywhere.
MEASUREMENTS
Dinette headroom 204 cm • U-shaped table 180x350x180 cm • Dining table 230×85 cm • L-shpaed sofa next to the dshboard 145×120 cm • Master cabin headroom 200 cm • Berth 190×170 cm • Berth to ceiling 141 cm • Master bathroom headrrom 198 cm • VIP Cabin headroom 198 cm • Berth 186×154 cm • Berth to ceiling 132 cm • VIP bathroom headroom 200 cm • Twin beds cabin headroom 200 cm • Berth 187×86 cm (each) • Berth to ceiling 140 cm • Bathroom headroom 199 cm • Linear sofa in the cockpit 250 cm • Walkways at side 49 cm • Forward U-shaped sofa 150x225x150 cm • Table on the fly 102×210 cm • Chaise long next to the dashboard 105×185 cm
SANLORENZO
Cantieri Navali di Ameglia
Via Armezzone 3
I-19031 Ameglia (SP)
T. +39 0187 6181
[email protected]
www.sanlorenzoyacht.com
PROJECT: Officina Italiana Design of Mauro Micheli and Sergio Beretta
HULL: LOA 24,64m • Maximum beam 5,74m • Draft 1,80m (full load) • Full mass displacement 70 t • Fuel tank volume 5,350 l • Water tank volume 1,400 l
MAIN PROPULSION: 2 MTU • Model: 10V 2000 M96L • Outlet mechanical power 1,193 kW (1,600 hp) • Number of cylinders 10 • Bore&Stroke 135mm x 156 mm • Swept volume 22,3 l • Maximal rotational speed 2450/min • Dry weight 2,747 kg
EC CERTIFICATION: CAT B – 16 people
PRICE: 4,200,000 €
(Sanlorenzo SL 78, “the sound of silence” – Barchemagazine.com – April 2017)
