Riviera 5800 Sport Yacht

At the 2009 Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show, Riviera announced it was in receivership. At the same time, it had a distribution agreement with Princess Yachts and, after much behind-the-scenes work, boldly unveiled its new 5800 Sport Yacht (SY) with overtly European styling.

That boat, conceived to prove that Rivera can make global boats, appeared to have taken some cues from UK yards. Sport Concept Design Manager at the time, Stephen Ford, formerly worked for Sunseeker. The Princess folk weren’t exactly chuffed with the 5800SY and, for reasons that doubtless included the receivership, the agreement ended soon after.

Fast forward three years. We’re aboard the Riviera 5800SY #21 -- that’s roughly $40 million in sales for this very different Riv -- but a special boat for other reasons. This is the first of the yard’s high-volume cruisers with triple Zeus pod drives, after its first Zeus-powered boat, the 5000 Sport Yacht proved a winner.

Up till now, the 5800SY has been only available with triple Volvo Penta IPS 600s (435hp each). Top speed was a reasonable 28 knots (28.8 knots according to the official sea trial of a boat that didn’t have full fuel). While 28 knots is fast enough for many local pleasure boaters, you’ll now find performance commensurate with the boat's Northern Hemisphere competitors.

With almost 500hp more grunt from the Zeus trio, the new 5800SY is a 32-33 knot boat. Even behind the glass, at the enclosed helm, there’s a go-fast feeling from acceleration to fast cruise to top speed. Yet the 600hp Cummins QSC engines do it a lot easier than the Volvo Pentas, revving to 3080rpm as opposed to 3600rpm.

 "A lot of our customers prefer the Zeus system of aft-facing propellers and the bullet-proof Cummins QSC engines," says Stephen Milne, Riviera’s Director of Brand and Marketing. To which you can add other advantages like the Skyhook position holding pilot that’s available with Zeus.

The boat also introduced the first CAN-Bus switching system to a Riviera. It allows you to control the DC circuits from a touch-screen control panel at the helm and the electrical board. There are preset modes so you can program your 5800SY in advance for your preferred way of boating. Night mode brings the lights on, party mode adds music DVDs and the Bose, and so on. Full systems monitoring and tank levels are displayed on the 3.5in colour control screens.

Among the other new technologies are interior light dimming, timer controls, automated circuit control, wiper speed control and wash function. Batteries are the no-maintenance AGM types, with 24V house power and optional 5000kW inverter (fitted) for running the AV systems, icemaker and freshwater pump sans generator. The navigation lights are LED types. And so it goes…

From a base price of about $1.8 million with triple IPS 600s, this triple Zeus boat with goodies tops $2 million. Note: there are no twin IPS II pod drive options due to the garage imposing on the engine-room space. But if you want performance, well, the triple Zeus engines are the pick.

Meantime, when weighing up the cost of our test boat, you need to consider that it was really a semi-custom craft. Its owner, an engineer coming out of a Riviera 51, specified a terrific ‘shed’ aka workbench and tool storage area ahead of the triple engines. This was one of several options that took the boat to $2 million-plus. Riviera is accommodating of customer ideas these days.

It’s been quite some achievement creating a four-cabin layout in the 5800SY, as per #1 we tested, but there are options. You can have a Euro- and Yankee-style portside galley down should you prefer. One 5800SY in Sydney has this layout, we’re told. Or you can do as this owner did and turn the fourth cabin into an open-plan office. Bravo!

The test boat now sleeps six not eight. There’s a VIP stateroom forward containing a lengthened island double bed and en suite; a starboard cabin with twin side-by-side single bunks that convert to a double, with access to an en suite that doubles as a communal head; and a portside cabin with bunks for kids or stowing gear.

Of course, the five-star full-beam stateroom back aft, roughly amidships, is reserved for owners. Amenities include king bed, leather settee, vanity, big television, plenty of headroom, opening portlights for natural ventilation and en suite. All the bathrooms boast big showers and the latest push-button Vacuflush loos, plus improved plumbing, we noted.

You get a huge hydraulic swim platform, a garage for a 3.2m tender, such as the eye-watering Williams jet model, dual access to the big cockpit, and transom lounge and teak table around which up to eight can be seated.

Nearby are the electric barbecue/griddle, sink, and optional fridges and/or icemaker, both of which exist just a few steps away back indoors as well. There is a split sound system for the cockpit and, along the easily navigated side decks with bulwarks, another separate sound system with remote on the foredeck where you’ll find double sun pad with flip-up headrest and recessed iceboxes.

En route, you might notice the inboard engine vents well above water level and that the 22.5kW Onan generator has a gas/water splitter for hushed operation. The new integrated anchor system, inboard rear cleats with hawsepipes, and sculptured transom contribute to the 5800SY’s Euro lines.

The seamless indoor/outdoor living theme is a constant on Riviera’s Sport Yachts, as is the aft galley on most boats sold locally. Traced by generous Corian counters, and a new electric instead of manual awning window, the galley boasts a spread of appliances from four drawer-style fridges and freezers to Miele combination oven/microwave and grill, four-burner induction stove and dishwasher.

The wet bar opposite has icemaker, glass and bottle storage, and soft-close drawers finished in high-gloss cherrywood throughout. Easy-clean (optional) Amtico flooring flows forward to a portside dinette that’s big enough for six, with a hi/lo riser as per the cockpit table.

Opposite is a pop-up flat screen TV linked to Bose AV system. Side-opening windows flank the helm, and a big electric sunroof and plenty of glass direct air and light inside. Fair weather or foul, winter or summer, you have somewhere to entertain on the 5800SY.

But the running surface differs with the Zeus aft-facing as opposed to forward-facing props (per the standard IPS model). The underwater section, designed to meet Cummins satisfaction, has prop tunnels -- two outer ones and a central square-topped one.

There’s a big flat trim tab plate -- with preset personality -- that can be manually adjusted at the helm. The auto tab system is optimised for hole shot, while the tunnels assist with planing. Such is the automation, when you include joystick docking device, that you don’t need to concern yourself with anything but effortless driving.

Engine room access is through a hatch in the teak-topped cockpit. The rear-mounted triple QSC 600s have jackshafts, with a longer shaft on the centre engine located further forward to clear the moulded tender garage. We noted ample room to perform perfunctory pre-passage checks of the essential engineering, with access to the heavy-duty sea strainers and Racor fuel filters (two per engine).

With the engines back aft, the fuel is forward. Standard water capacity of 750 litres might see some pleasure boaters no bother about a watermaker, which was nonetheless fitted to our test boat that had a 500-odd litre capacity instead.

Meantime, because the ECUs of pod-driven boats demand a lot of battery power, Riviera has increased capacity on its newer boats. There are now three more batteries than previously fitted to triple-engine boats. The batteries live in dedicated cabinets, while the wiring and, for that matter the entire engine room layout, has been tidied up.

Much of it is a credit to Riviera’s engineers and shipwrights, such as Alan Dowd (pictured), the Design Manager with whom we tested this boat.

The sports wheel, throttles and joystick fall to hand, with the option of a second joystick docking device in the cockpit. Push the throttles forward and the Zeus-powered 5800SY is keen. Unlike the IPS pods that are splayed outwards of the hull, the Zeus hang vertically for maximum thrust.

At 2800rpm and 27.8 knots, the safe working range is 243 nautical miles using 90 per cent of the fuel supply, says the data. Top speed is 32.7 knots, while 2600rpm returns 22.8 knots for a range of 230 nautical miles. Not long legs by any means, but the Zeus boat is way faster than the IPS base model.

Vision remains good and the boat is agile without heeling too far in the turns. All that we liked about the boat originally remains, namely volume, outdoor living zones, and a big-hearted interior. At the end of the day or night, the choice is yours -- lower fuel consumption and more range via IPS or exciting zoom-zoom from Zeus.

Priced from: $1.862 million
LOA: 19.20m
Beam: 5.38m
Draft: 1.28m (max)
Weight: Around 21,300kg dry w/standard triple IPS 600 engines +
Sleeping: 8
Fuel Capacity: 2650 litres
Water Capacity: 750 litres (std)
Holding tanks: 272 litres
Engines: Twin Cummins QSC 600 turbo-charged, fully electronic, six-cylinder common rail diesel engines with Zeus pod drives