2020 Riviera 64 Sports Motor Yacht review

Fishing. Surely one of the most timeless, effortless and yet glorious of human pursuits. And so simple we’ve been doing it for longer than we’ve worn clothes.

Similar to so many other things, humans have found ways of making fishing more elaborate and spectacular.

While you start out as a child sitting on the riverbank, pretty soon you might find yourself pining for a simple tinnie with an outboard, which in turn leads to a creeping desire for a bigger boat…

Before you know it, you’re looking at a luxury vessel such as the all-new 2020 Riviera 64 Sports Motor Yacht, with a price tag you’d still fall short of if you’d won Who Wants to be a Millionaire more than thrice.

What we’re looking at here doesn’t much resemble many people’s idea of a fishing boat. Built for a US client who likes his fishing, it’s got outriggers and a spare (optional) helm at the rear of the flybridge, but beyond that it is still a member of Riviera's Sports Motor Yacht line of adventure cruisers. That means this is a boat equally at home making long passages to far-flung destinations as it is taking its owners diving, snorkelling, kayaking, jetskiing, and so on.

The giant eight-seater couch on the foredeck also seems to be a long way from where anyone might cast a line, and far more inviting an option than fighting fish.

Then there are all the dining areas, the sumptuous couches, the giant TVs, the truly lovely staterooms, the restaurant-sized galley.

The Riviera 64 Sports Motor Yacht is the entry-level model in Riviera’s proudly Australian-designed and built range of enclosed flybridge vessels made for cruising long distances quickly and efficiently. It joins two bigger models in the Sports Motor Yacht range, the 68 and the flagship 72.

A Riviera 50 Sports Motor Yacht – a scaled-down version of the 64 – should arrive in August.

Riviera’s Australian sales director, Chris Attard, says the Riviera 64 Sports Motor Yacht is all about versatility and ease of use.

“It’s all about the fingertip controls, the steering is nice and light, the controls are simple; it’s all about making it easy for anyone to own a boat of this size,” Attard says.

“And while you could just go out on the harbour and have a few beers and watch the footy, you can also go fishing out the back while your family sits in the mezzanine in air-conditioned comfort, or, if we had enough food on board, we could head out of the Sydney Heads right now, turn to starboard and head for New Zealand, because we’ve got enough fuel to get there, and back.”

Let’s all just take a deep breath and lean into the price of the Riviera 64 Sports Motor Yacht, which is a not inconsequential $3.5 million.

But as Attard points out, the boat is entirely built and designed, with love, right here in Australia, so at that price you’re actually doing our balance of payments a favour by buying local.

Build No.1 was specced with almost $400,000 of options.

It seems no expense was spared, and it feels like all the timber and chrome would weigh a tonne on their own. All the stainless steel fastenings are 316 marine grade, and the forward hull compartment is foam-filled for added strength and (very effective) noise dampening.

The engine room, which is vast, also features acoustic insulation for quieter cruising.

Everything is air-conditioned, and there’s a properly large sunroof on the flybridge, a wine cooler in the galley, icemakers, on-board Wi-Fi, tempered glass doors, too many televisions to count, surround sound systems, plus various wet bars and lots of refrigeration and iceboxes for chilling all those fish you’ll catch.

Oh, and a 40-piece cutlery set, 40-piece dinner set, 12 goblets, 12 champagne flutes; the list goes on and then on some more. Anything you can’t find is surely optional.

One of those options is a gyroscope, in this case a Seakeeper M16, which you really would want even at $181,024. At the flick of a switch, the gyroscope cancels out almost all the Riviera 64 Sports Motor Yacht’s pitch and roll, at rest or on the move.

Step onto the aft swim deck and enter the cockpit via a pair of transom doors, and you are immediately struck by the sense of space, and width of the Riviera 64 Sports Motor Yacht.

The cockpit is divided so that there is an open area with refrigeration units leading into a very inviting mezzanine area with a large foldout teak dining table, glass doors at one end and a glass hatch at the other.

The whole space opens up to the galley and saloon inside.

The mezzanine has two large, L-shaped couches, and an LED TV that folds down for those moments where you tire of the view.

Stepping into the galley, you’re in what feels like a proper, home-sized kitchen with classy benchtops, lashings of timber and quality Miele appliances.

There’s also a huge amount of fridge space, a wine cooler, and a full-size dishwasher.

The galley blends into the big, plush saloon, which feels like a family living room, complete with a properly large 50-inch TV that rises up to act as a wall between the saloon and the galley, and a hidden home theatre surround-sound system.

The flybridge helm is dominated by three large Raymarine touchscreens laid across the length of the port side console. The skipper sits inboard, with the co-pilot enjoying a corner office.

Pop out the portside pantograph door and you can stroll onto what’s our favourite part of the boat, the foredeck. Here, you feel surrounded by the water and yet luxuriously ensconced in a fabulous entertaining space, with its own stereo system and generous iceboxes.

Owners can opt to use this space as a tender store.

Staterooms are accessed via a forward companionway descending from the forward section of the saloon.

There are two guest cabins, one to starboard with bunks and another to port with two single beds that slide together at the push of a button to form a double. There’s also a two-way entry to the portside day head.

The VIP stateroom in the bow would be a more than ample main bedroom on most boats, with its own private ensuite, walk-around queen-size bed surrounded in plush-piled carpet, and stunningly crafted cabinetry and storage.

The amidships full-beam master stateroom is something else again. It is properly presidential and almost absurdly spacious, as is its ensuite (yes, that’s three bathrooms and four bedrooms in total).

The master’s queen-size bed is almost dwarfed by the space around it. Giant picture windows make the space feel even lighter and bigger, with their bonus portholes to let the sea breeze flow through while at anchor.

A 43-inch LED TV is at the foot of the bed.

The boat is set up to sleep eight, but there’s another slide-out double bed hidden away below the couches on the flybridge. Drop-down blinds turn this space into another room.

If desired, owners can option an extra pair of crew bunks for the utility room.

The Riviera 64 Sports Motor Yacht’s flybridge oozes class and exclusivity and feels like a space to hang out and relax while you watch someone else do all the driving.

The layout of touchscreens and camera relays on the main helm looks like something out of NASA, or even Space X, and from here you can monitor what the kids are up to two floors below, check out a thermal view of what’s in front of you at night, navigate or make a thousand different adjustments, all at the touch of a finger.

I swear, on one screen I saw the words “gyro adjustment” and “electric towel rails on/off” right next to each other. You really can control everything from up there.

The flybridge has space for up to 10 people and includes a large, open space aft and yet another lounge area with a table.

The cockpit, where the keen anglers will spend their days, is a useful 9.1 square metres with the mezzanine taking up 7.6m square.

You expect to be intimidated by taking the tiller of a boat this big and flash, but it’s surprising just how easy the Riviera 64 Sports Motor Yacht is to pilot.

The supremely elevated, emperor-like seat for the skipper is a big help.

Standard engine choices are twin 1300hp MAN V8 1300s, while the boat we tested, Hull No.1, was fitted with the optional 1550hp Man V12 1550 units.

The sense of effortless thrust from the optional MAN V12s we had on board was little short of awesome.

Underway on our test on Sydney Harbour, the Riviera 64 Sports Motor Yacht copes with ease at all speeds. While fishing, the engines' Twin Disc express mode will allow the boat to troll at just 2.0 knots.

The sense that you are doing 32 knots, as we were once outside Sydney Heads on a glorious open-ocean day, is difficult to equate because the Riviera 64 Sports Motor Yacht makes so little noise.

“We spend a lot of time and energy making this boat quiet and smooth,” Attard says, and that effort really has worked.

“The reason we do that is if you go out to sea for 10 or 13 hours fishing or watching whales or whatever, if you’re on a boat that’s noisy and throws you around a bit, then when you get back to the dock you know you’ve been on the water all day – it can be exhausting.

Maximum cruising range based on 90% of 6500L fuel tank: 400nm@1800rpm
*Both engines

“But this is a luxury boat, and what we want from our vessels is for it to feel like you haven’t been on a boat, it’s that comfortable and smooth and quiet.

“And with the gyro stabiliser, you get back and you feel ready to go out that night.”

Having turned the gyro off and turned side on to the swell, we can tell you that the Seakeeper is an option you’d be mad to not have.

It really is surprising how much more sanguine this tall boat is with it on.

Berthing is a relative doddle, with a low-speed joystick system fitted to the bridge upstairs and at the rear deck on the starboard side – more are available if they are needed.

Overall, skippering this big boat was extremely enjoyable.

Sure, $3.5 million is a lot of money for a boat, but the Riviera 64 Sports Motor Yacht is pretty much in a league of its own.

The overall impression is that you’re stepping aboard something very special, hugely spacious and properly luxurious, and this makes the motor yacht feel much more like a high-dollar floating home.

If it was a house, it would share a postcode with Darling Point, Toorak or Peppermint Grove.

It’s also a wonderful surprise to find it so easy to use and so unintimidating to skipper, even on a busy waterway such as Sydney Harbour.

I could live with the 64, and would happily have it without even taking a look at the 68 or 72. This will do.

Specifications
Model: Riviera 64 Sports Motor Yacht
Length overall: 21.23m
Hull length: 19.02m
Beam: 5.80m
Draft: 1.68m
Weight: 42,000kg (dry, est)
Engines: Twin MAN V8 1300 956kW
Fuel: 6500L, diesel
Water: 750L
Hot water: 75L
Holding tank: 500L
Genset: 29kW/60Hz Onan with 5kW inverter
Accommodation: 8

Priced from: $3,500,000 (est) including cameras to bow (anchor) and engine room; combination Mile oven/microwave/grill; dishwasher; 3-element induction cooktop; rangehood; full-height galley refrigerator/freezer; 75L hot water system; 128,000BTU air-conditioning system; teak mezzanine flooring; vinyl companionway flooring; CZone electronics panel; LED lighting; flybridge sunroof; overhead handrail in flybridge; 2x deck wash hoses; cordless vacuum cleaner; 60kg anchor with 80m chain; 4x fenders and dock lines; boat hook; and antifouling.

Price as tested: $3,900,000 (est) including engine upgrade (twin 1550hp MAN V12 1550s) with twin joysticks and hydraulic bow thruster; active ride control trim system; tinted glass; second 11.5kW Onan genset; davit boom with foredeck battery charger for a tender; 7x rod holders in cockpit coaming; teak cockpit and flybridge aft deck floor; electric sliding mechanism enabling port stateroom single beds to form a double; forward deck sunshade; rear flybridge awning and clears; plumbed transom live bait tank; soft furnishings package; walnut interior fittings; Raymarine Axiom XL 16 Glass Bridge chartplotter and sounder with 3x 21.5-inch main helm touchscreens (including a live feed to the saloon TV) and one 15.6-inch aft helm touchscreen; Raymarine 12kW Magnum open array radar; Raymarine Evolution DBW autopilot; AIS; FLIR thermal camera; underwater and outdoor lighting; 284L/h Sea Recovery Aquamatic 1800-2 water maker; satellite TV.

Supplied by: Riviera Australia