We pick 4 of the best coupé motor yachts on the market right now. But before we picked them, it's worth taking a moment to define exactly what defines a coupé motor yacht
What’s the difference between a hard top sportscruiser, and a coupé? No, it’s not a tired Vegas comedian’s joke (I’m here all week, try the fish, etc) but a genuine question – after all, they look much the same from the outside.
In a word, it’s doors. Whilst the hard top sportscruiser is like an open sportscruiser with a lid providing some shelter to the helm and cockpit, a coupé closes off the section under that hard top with aft doors so that you can heat or cool the space inside depending on whether you boat in the UK, or somewhere more sensible!
Most builders then fit a big sunroof (so you can still get a lungful of fresh air when you need it) and turn this area into an inside deck saloon with carpets and soft furnishings rather than cockpit-style teak decks and weatherproof upholstery, but that’s it – doors maketh the coupé. And here are four splendid examples.
The best Coupé motor yachts on the market now
Nimbus 335 Coupé
Built: 2014
Price: £172,500
If you want practical all-weather thinking then you need to head to the Nordic regions. Finland, for example, has the highest number of boats per capita, while Sweden boasts the greatest number of islands at a staggering 267,570. Add short summers and challenging seas and it’s clear that the focus is on extending the boating season by building all-weather coupés with extremely capable seakeeping.
The main living spaces are all on one level for safe and sociable family cruising
Interior
Swedish-based Nimbus takes advantage of the coupé layout to put both the saloon and galley on the main deck. Surrounded by big windows for great views and plenty of natural light, it makes for a very sociable living area. The big dinette to port features a front section that flips over to create additional forward-facing seating next to the helm. That leaves space on the lower deck for a double cabin amidships and a vee-berthed forward cabin, plus heads.
Exterior
The coupé format works well precisely because of its ability to shut out the weather when needed, but also the ability to bring the outside in when desired. So there are opening glass sunroofs in the deckhead but also a large sliding side door next to the helm, something that even the Princess V55 doesn’t have. As well as creating the feeling of a more open boat, it also gives direct access to the wider starboard side deck for easier berthing, especially when cruising single-handed. The port deck is narrower in order to create more space in the saloon.
Performance
Use of a vee drive allows the engine to live beneath the cockpit floor rather than the saloon’s. This makes for quieter running as well as freeing up the space for the double guest cabin. The single D4-260 offers sufficient grunt for a circa 25-knot top end and a steady cruising pace of 20 knots.
The forward cabin has a vee berth that makes up to a comfortable double
Seakeeping
We’ve discussed practicality, but the other area in which Scandinavian boats often score highly is seakeeping. Taking full advantage of that short summer means going out almost regardless of sea conditions.
Nimbus 335 Coupé specifications
Length: 33ft 10in (10.4m)
Beam: 10ft 6in (3.1m)
Draft: 3ft 4in (1.1m)
Displacement: 5.3 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 480 litres
Engine: Volvo Penta D4-260 diesel engine
For Sale: Michael Schmidt & Partner
Princess V55
Built: 2021
Price: £1,399,000
The very first Princess V models were the Princess V52 and V39, launched together back in 1993, the former morphing into the first V55 four years later. These were open cockpit boats, but the range grew and evolved through the following 30 years until there’s not a single open V boat left. The smallest V40 is now a hard top only and everything above the V50 is now coupé only, including this V55 which launched in 2019.
Drop-down doors completely disappear when open to link the inside and outside spaces
Interior
The layout is dramatically different. Where the original had all of the accommodation on the lower deck, the coupé nature of the current model moves the saloon and galley upstairs, creating space for a massive full beam mid cabin for the owner and a generous VIP cabin forward. This has scissor berths so you can set it up as a pair of single beds or a double. There is also a third twin bunk cabin.
Exterior
Of course the inevitable result is a smaller outdoor space, the idea being that you fling those doors open, slide back the sunroof and use the cockpit and saloon as a single combined living area. In fact, there’s still plenty of outside space, from the L-shaped dinette in the cockpit to the sunpad over the tender garage, and a clever foredeck arrangement that provides yet more seating and sunbathing up front. Big hull windows and sweeping curves ensure it looks good too.
Performance
It’s interesting to see how this model has grown. Over a foot wider than the original, as well as being taller, longer and heavier, which is why it has so much more space, but also why the original boat achieved close to 40 knots from a pair of 800hp MAN diesels whereas this version winds out to about 35 knots from its twin 1,000hp Volvo Penta D13 diesels.
Full beam owner’s cabin ensures it’s as comfortable to stay on as it is to helm
Seakeeping
Princess has always had a good reputation for seakeeping and that hasn’t changed despite all the extra volume. In testing conditions off Plymouth we described it as ‘as good to drive as it is to look at’.
Princess V55 specifications
Length: 58ft 5in (17.8m)
Beam: 15ft 3in (4.7m)
Draft: 4ft 9in (1.4m)
Displacement: 29 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 2,500 litres
Engines: Twin Volvo Penta D13-1000 1,000hp diesel engines
For Sale: Princess Motor Yacht Sales
Sunseeker Predator 52
Built: 2009
Price: £419,950
Launched at the Southampton Boat Show in 2007, the Predator 52 was the smallest of the Predator range at the time (fun fact, in over a decade of Find Me A…, this is the first Sunseeker Predator ever featured!). Sunseeker used the Manhattan 52 hull and much of its interior, but you’d never know because this is a very different and far sportier-looking vessel.
The main deck is split into two distinct areas separated by a couple of steps up
Interior
That Manhattan hull equals generous internal volume, which is why the lower deck has a full-beam ensuite mid cabin for the owner (still comparatively rare on a boat of this style at the time) as well as a VIP guest cabin forward with a centreline double plus a twin bunk cabin that shares the day heads.
This boat does predate the galley-up layout so that’s down here too, which means that the deck saloon, split across two levels, is all about comfortable lounging and eating on the lower section, leaving the raised forward section for helming duties with a few friends on the seats opposite. Matt walnut replaces the high gloss cherry of earlier Sunseekers, and still looks classy and well finished today.
Exterior
A massive sliding roof across the raised forward section of the main deck opens the helm to the elements in clement conditions, or seals it off when the weather turns at the touch of the proverbial. Back aft, the huge sunpad hid either a tender garage or a small crew cabin for one person, depending on the choice of the first owner. This boat has the crew cabin option, the tender living instead on the high/low platform.
Performance
Although IPS was later offered using a pair of Volvo Penta’s D12 775hp engines, the Predator 52 was launched with a pair of MAN 800hp diesels on shafts. Both options offered a top speed just short of 30 knots and a mid 20-knot cruise.
A full beam mid-cabin was still a rarity on this size of coupé back in 2009
Seakeeping
It’s 25 tonnes and almost 60ft (LOA) of British beef so safe to say that offshore seakeeping should be suitably robust. This boat has been fitted with bow and stern thrusters plus a Raymarine camera system linked to two Axiom multi-function displays to help docking manoeuvres as well so you shouldn’t have any trouble berthing it.
Sunseeker Predator 52 specifications
Length: 55ft 10in (17m)
Beam: 15ft 2in (4.6m)
Draft: 4ft 2in (1.3m)
Displacement: 25 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 2,140 litres
Engines: Twin MAN 800hp diesel engines
For Sale: boats.co.uk
Bavaria R40
Built: 2023
Price: £360,000 ex VAT
It’s testimony to the amount of difference between a hardtop sportscruiser and a coupé that Bavaria offers both at an almost identical size: the SR41 HT and this boat, the R40. But where the upper deck is all cockpit in the SR, the deck saloon layout of the R40 is very different. Indeed Bavaria even offers a flybridge version of this model.
Clean lines and contemporary colour scheme mark this out as a more modern offering
Interior
Bavaria has stretched the driving position of this boat right across the forward end of the saloon, placing two seats at the helm and a further one to port, making this a fabulous place for crew to gather when under way. The view is great; there’s an opening sunroof overhead and a sliding side door next to the helm. The galley runs down the port side of the saloon opposite an L-shaped dinette, but it’s the lower deck that is particularly impressive. Head downstairs and there’s a cabin ahead and aft of you, both with centreline double beds and both ensuite (the forward one being slightly smaller, with its ensuite doubling as the day heads).
Exterior
A nicely proportioned vessel, the coupé arguably looks better than the flybridge variant. And it gains that sliding roof, which would be impossible with an upper deck. The cockpit is a good size, and there was the option of a barbecue unit hovering over the bathing platform. This boat doesn’t have it, but it does have the very useful hydraulic bathing platform for tender storage.
Performance
Bavaria offered this boat with a pair of Volvo Penta’s D6 330 and D6 370 engines when it launched in 2016. That larger engine option was later uprated to 380hp, which is what this boat has. This should push the top speed towards the mid 30 knots, ensuring relaxed, fuel efficient cruising in the mid 20s.
Not many 40ft coupés can offer a full beam mid cabin as stylish and spacious as this one
Seakeeping
In testing conditions in the Solent, our man at the helm reported, ‘The hull rose to the challenge with gusto and took it all (which was a lot) in its stride’. The dry ride also got a mention, with not a drop of spray hitting the windscreen, despite the lumpy conditions.
Bavaria R40 specifications
Length: 41ft 11in (12.8m)
Beam: 13ft 1in (4m)
Draft: 3ft 7in (1.1m)
Displacement: 9.3 tonnes
Fuel capacity: 900 litres
Engines: Twin Volvo Penta D6-380 380hp diesel engines
For Sale: Clipper Marine
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