Jeanneau 54: Review

Although we hear a 50 is in the making, the new 54 is currently the smallest model in Jeanneau’s exclusive three Yacht range. Like the 57 and 64 sister ships, the all-new 54 has been designed to sate today’s luxury-yacht owners looking for more comforts and greater liveability.

To answer this call, the 54 has an all-new deck design with abundant seating, homelike amenities, a clever convertible transom, slippery hull and set-and-forget sailing rig. What you get is a real owner’s yacht well suited to today’s way of hands-on and hands-off cruising.

This fits with the way we use our yachts Down Under. Tellingly, the first new 54 is arriving for the 2016 Sydney boat show in a terrific two-cabin/aft galley design that really spoils the owner. Not that Jeanneau is new at this. The company will tell you, as it did us at the press conference in Cannes, that it is the global leader in production yachts above 50 feet. It's already put more than 40 of its 64 Yacht, almost a super yacht with big aft tender garage, into 13 countries.

A Philippe Briand and Andrew Winch creation, the all-new 54 Yacht sails easily and has a real sense of sophistication rather than, well, just offering spatial voids like we have seen in the previous Deck Saloon models. That said, the new 54 retains Jeanneau’s signature massive cockpit and this yacht will be a popular entertaining stage.

Jeanneau realises it has to compete with the motoryacht market and offer life’s luxuries these days. Down below, leather drawer handles, expanded hull windows, pop-up television, drawer fridges, dishwasher, washer-dryer, generator and air-con, plush lounges, a dedicated wine fridge and commanding navigation station are some of the highlights.

But the way the 54 presents, with a big navigation station for example, the owner still retains his or her sailing authority and integrity. As such, this a five-star home-away-from-home cruising yacht that will spoil the nuclear sailing family. There's room for everyone and real living room for those who matter most.

PRICE AND EQUIPMENT
- Heading for Sydney in the ultimate owner’s two-cabin guise
The base Jeanneau 54 had a list price of $691,656 at the time of writing (Euro 0.67 exchange rate) with the standard 4JHC4 75hp Yanmar and Saildrive, but you can get a 110hp Yanmar with shaft drive. Of course, Jeanneau dealers and owners are going to personalise a yacht of this calibre and likely spec’ it up to the highest level.

The 54 we sailed in Cannes had the works, except for its standard twin-spreader deck-stepped Z-Spar rig with non-batten in-mast furling main and genoa. You can get a bigger battened main, inner forestay if you are into serious coastal cruising and/or short-handed work, there are all kinds of electronic options, shoal-draft keel, 360 Docking joystick, and so on.

The Jeanneau 54 heading for Sydney was set-up with the assistant of Performance Boating for an existing Jeanneau owner. The package price on this full-on 54 is $827,536.

The key options on this local 54 will include the two-cabin layout with aft galley; Alpi light-oak joinery; upgraded trim package with bow thruster, two-speed electric halyard winches, windlass controller at the helm; the must-have convertible Aft Terrace package; Raymarine electronics; self-tacking staysail on furler; twin composite wheels; quiet flush toilets; innerspring mattresses; basically the full luxe treatment.

"The version to be displayed at the Sydney show is the innovative two-cabin layout with the aft galley and also a self-tacking staysail and the patented aft terrace. The client felt that it offered a stylish yacht with the ability to short-handed sail in confined waters like Sydney Harbour, with good performance and a layout that is unmatched in terms of entertaining," explained Lee Condell from Performance Boating.

LAYOUT AND ACCOMMODATION
- Ingenious transom, big cockpit and huge stateroom
The clean lines of the 54 Yacht have an almost custom-yacht look and conceal the hull’s great volume. The new deck has various stations designed for specific roles, some of them with nothing more in mind than lolling about.

The patented convertible transom called the Aft Terrace is a highlight. The transom folds down to boost your waterfront real estate, daybed cushions drop in place, and the swim ladder tumbles over with an inviting splash. There are retractable Opac Mare davits for swinging a 3.2m tender with 9.9-15hp outboard when you are underway.

"Some yachts this size have a dinghy garage but it can only take a small tender. So we created this more functional rear terrace instead and use a neat retrieval system for a bigger tender that is better suited to the needs of a yacht like this," explains Erik Stromberg, the New Product Developer at Jeanneau Yachts, as we cast the mooring lines in Cannes.

Folded back aboard in no time, the Aft Terrace becomes a conventional transom for bluewater sailing, with the swim ladder doubling as access steps back into a cockpit lazarette. The spacious cockpit is another highlight, designed to cater for the short-handed sailing owner and the hands-off crew.

The big teak table takes centre stage, with inbuilt fridge and room for lunching a dozen, while aft-facing seats and sunpads under the deep dodger with nearby drink holders let you sit and chill regardless of the angle of heel.

Your next move is along the uncluttered side decks leading forward to the foredeck, with a clever concealed flip-up sunpad, closed-cell foam cushions, angled backrest, even its own shade canopy. Take a book and a drink and lose yourself.

There are optional crew quarters in the bow, fitted out as such on our Cannes test yacht and perfect for kids, that in standard form function as a whacking great sail/storage locker. Add a workbench and create a man’s shed.

Ease of sailing was a key requirement in the 54’s design brief, so all the lines are concealed and lead back to the twin wheels and the nearby electric two-speed Harken 46 and primary 70 winches. Getting around the decks is just so easy.

There are flexible accommodation plans including three, four, five and six cabins and various head arrangements. Our test boat had the two cabin and two bathroom layout preferred by today’s luxury yacht-owners who aren’t interested in catering for the Brady Bunch.

Although Jeanneau has retained a big forward-facing navigation station thanks to designer Winch’s wishes, the spacious saloon is given over mainly to lounging and living, with a pop-up TV, wine fridge, and opposing settees that double as sea berths in the saloon.

The dinette converts to a spare double, giving sleeping for up to six on this two-cabin 54. The three-cabin version sees the aft galley shifted to the saloon where the portside lounge otherwise exists. It’s still a very appealing layout.

On this two-cabin version, the galley is located aft in what would otherwise be that starboard aft cabin. This way, the yacht presents as one big social living room when you wonder down the wide and inviting companionway below. Handholds are abundant, too.

Inside that galley area we found a three-burner gimballed stove and range hood, twin sinks, drawer fridges and freezer, even a dishwasher and washer dryer on the test boat. All the drawers are soft-close, too.

The portside aft cabin gains space around its double bed, due to the fact the bulkhead is pushed across towards the galley. Jeanneau talks about the 54 having a hierarchy of accommodation that includes this aft VIP guest’s cabin and then various alternate cabins should you want them. The aft bathroom doubles as the day head.

But it's the stateroom forward that will sell this 54 to would-be owners. It’s enormous, bathed in lights, with an island bed lying as the centrepiece in the crown around which you can move with freedom. The en suite with shower stall is part of this arrangement, creating some of the best owner’s accommodation on a 54 that we’ve ever seen.

HULL AND ENGINEERING
- Fine pedigree and designer touches
Replacing the Jeanneau 53 (ex-2009) and the 54 Deck Saloon prior to that, which were both seriously popular models, the new 54 has a completely new Philippe Briand wide-chine hull with an Andrew Winch interior design.

Briand’s pedigree ensures performance from a sleek rather than bubble yacht, while Winch’s influences guarantees a new level of luxury in keeping with superyachts rather than regular production yachts.

The hull is vacuum-bagged with a balsa core above the waterline, the deck is injection moulded, and there is a foam-cored spade rudder with composite stock. The steering system uses Jeanneau’s own quadrant but with Jeffa bearings and it’s accessible through a deck hatch to be sure.

The rest of the game is tried-and-tested Jeanneau global yacht building. The light oak joinery and dark oak flooring was a nice contrast and the whole interior is bathed in light and LEDs.

The standard L-shaped cast-iron keel draws 2.24m with 4645kg of ballast for the 17,164kg dry (read 20t by the time you have everything aboard) hull. So this is a well-ballasted yacht in the stable offshore cruiser class.

ON THE WATER
- Setting sail and trimming is just so easy
With the factory Technique Voile Dacron sails, the 109 per cent 63sqm genoa and the modest 48sqm batten-less furling main on the Z Spar rig, we held 5-5.5 knots upwind in 8 knots of wind.

The classic main of 60sqm will help performance if you intend to sail for long distances. With all the accoutrements onboard — generator, air con, washer dryer and more — the 54 as tested was no lightweight.

But it was in realistic owner’s trim and the light airs performance underscores the Briand pedigree. In the 30 knots a few days later, the 54 was smoking.

Off the breeze, the 108sqm Code Zero on its separate hoisted furler saw us reach away in absolute delight. We were up around 6-6.5 knots, which is going places in light airs, and the yacht didn’t seem to drag its ends at least as a light ship.

This was pretty much the extent of our sail review aboard the new 54 in Cannes in the South of France. Short but sweet, you could say.

VERDICT
- It’s all about the owners on the 54
Yachting is no longer about crew, it’s about ensuring the owners are treated properly. It is no longer about 1/10th of a knot extra to windward, but slippery reaching and running. And it’s more about at-anchor life than at-sea discomfort.

Indeed, it’s at the destination, wherever that may be, that your 54 Yacht yields. This is where the luxury sailing is at these days — owners want more comforts, greater conveniences, and fewer concerns. They want more static appeal, as much as they demand pedigree and sailing performance.

Using Briand and Winch, the 54 mirrors the 64 with big yacht lines and a suite of big features, starting with the patented Aft Terrace, which is the stuff of superyachts, and ending with that magnificent stateroom.

LIKES
>> Fantastic owner’s cabin forward
>> Ingenious convertible Aft Terrace
>> Forward sunpad with private bimini
>> Ease of handling and setting sail
>> Safe and predictable cruising motion
>> High-volume hull performs nicely even in light airs
>> Big-brand backing and dealer support

NOT SO MUCH
>> Aft galley tucked away won’t suit everyone
>> Battened main will give you considerably more juice

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