“Remarkable Refit by Setag Yachts”
Credits: Nick Burnham
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT
This is a Sunseeker Portofino 46, but it’s not just any Sunseeker Portofino 46. This is a Setag Sunseeker Portofino 46, and they have done an incredible job on this one.
The interesting thing about this is it’s owned by the original owners. So they technically bought this brand new in 2006 and has run it ever since. It was starting to look very tired and very secondhand. It seemed a bit of life, and he took it to Setag, and they have turned it back into a new boat for him because he loves it. He doesn’t want to get rid of the boat; he just wanted a new one, and they’ve done that with his own boat.
EXTERIOR
We’re going to start right on the outside with this colour scheme because this [hull] is not a wrap; this is a proper painted finish, and it looks so much better for it. They’ve done the Radar Arch as well. The canopies are new. We’ve got the canopies on because the weather, as you can probably tell, is decidedly iffy. 5 minutes ago, it was pouring with rain, which is why everything’s wet. So that’s why the canopies are on it. Nonetheless, it won’t stop us looking around the whole boat.
We’ve got the high-low platform on this one, so you can put a tender on the back of it, and we’re going to step on board here. A Letterbox Passarelle comes out of here [starboard side transom step], this is where it all starts. So we’ve got new canopies, we’ve got new teak on the floor, we’ve got new upholstery. And when you walk onto here [saloon] it genuinely feels like a new boat.
The attention to detail on this is fantastic. One of the things I particularly love is this wet bar. It was here [starboard] originally, but Sunseeker put a fridge in here with no door. It was just literally a fridge on the outside, so you can literally look at the front of the fridge. So, they’ve created this door here, matched it all in, and hidden a new fridge behind it. That makes that completely smooth, and then it’s been painted to match the outside of the boat.
“This boat has been completely refurbished, from the hull to the upholstery, all the way down to the engine room.”
There’s a new barbecue underneath here [benchtop]. The Radar Arch has been painted. The speakers have been colour-coded to match the paint. The detailing on this is fantastic! Really, really good!
Cockpit table—this has changed, so this originally had a table that folds away behind there. But they put a bigger, nicer table, and it’s got this lovely sort of matte finish. And of course, the little Setag Yachts logo on there, sign-writing, signature, whatever you want to call it.
Up here [helm], similar deal. This has all been redone, so this would have been the original sort of Walnut, old Jaguar finish on here. And I think this is now a spray finish [helm panel]. That was white around there but that’s been done in the dark grey, and that’s to reduce the reflections in the windscreen.
So, new Raymarine equipment for the VHF radio. This apparently, was just a blank panel. It did nothing at all. So they sunk and flush-mounted Raymarine Axium touch screens onto there. New Raymarine autopilot, compass, all that kind of stuff, that is all new. New bow and stern thruster on it as well. I mean, it is a really, really thorough job. When I say they’ve turned it into a new boat, I don’t think that’s an exaggeration. And wait till you see the interior. We’ll go and look at that next.
INTERIOR
Now down here, Sunseekers of this era had a lot of wood inside them, and what I really like about what they’ve done with this is they haven’t expunged it completely. They’ve kept the original Sunseeker finish in places like this [wall cupboards], but then over here [island bench port side of the steps], where this was all wood, they’ve changed it to this sort of finish. So it’s branded, it’s modernised, but you haven’t lost that sense of the traditional, the sense of what this boat was when it was new, and I think that’s great. This one here [top storage of the island bench] is a bar area, and then underneath here [bottom storage of the island bench], bottles, whatever else you want to keep in there.
Galley—this has got a new surface on it, it’s got new cooking on it, it’s got new fridges on it. In fact, they are fridge freezer drawers, so you can select these to be a fridge or a freezer, and you can have one as each as you prefer. But I love the way they’ve kept this original wood around here [wall cupboards]. That little nod to the original is fantastic.
Lighting are all new. Look at the way they put this in around here [overhead]. That is fantastic. And in fact, there’s a little controller here that controls all the lighting. So if we go to Zone one, for example, that is the stair lights, and then we can dial this up and down. So each individual part, depending on where you press this, you can adjust exactly how you want it. So you can go to Zone 2, for example and that’ll be underneath the sofas. How cool is that? That’s brilliant! Let’s pop that down and let’s carry on around.
Obviously, new upholstery, new carpets, new linings, new table. What’s interesting here is that the original settee was a big semicircle, which looks great, but it takes up a lot of space, and it means that you can’t really tuck yourself into a corner. You can’t put yourself here and put your feet up. So this has been changed to this shape, which is much nicer. Storage all the way along here [above the seats], new AV equipment, again, new head linings. It’s brilliant.
If you had a boat that you loved like this owner and said, “It’s a great boat, but I want a new one, please,” and of course, they don’t make them anymore, well, then this is how you do it. This is brilliant. I’m really taken with this. They always do a great job, but this boat, in particular, I just think is such a nice meld. They haven’t destroyed that beautiful cherry high gloss that you would have had on the original. What they’ve done is toned it down and modernised it by using fabrics like this and headlining like this and this headboard at the back of the bed. It just works really well.
“They’ve preserved the beautiful cherry high gloss from the original design by toning it down and modernising it with fabrics, headlining, etc.”
All this [bench] is new along here, of course. It’s new mattresses, new bedding. This is new around here [bed frame], new carpets. Bit of storage in here [starboard]. And then up at this end, this are all storage along here [overhead cupboards on the port side of the bed], and there are drawers under the bed as well.
And then up here [en suite] again, complete refurb because new toilets, new sink, new taps, new floor, new linings, new headlining. It’s made it new again. These worktops here are new, just brilliant. That does look nice, doesn’t it?
Okay, let’s press on back down this side [galley]. There’s another cabin back here [next to the galley], and again, same kind of deal. New carpets, new linings, new head linings, new beds, new bedding. But we still got the original Sunseeker cherry just dotted around just enough to remind you what this boat was really all about.
You see these little vents, It’s got new air conditioning in it. In fact, there’s quite a lot of mechanical upgrade, and I’ll take you into the engine room and show you that in a minute. But this kind of thing, so it’s got the new Dometic touch screens, for example, for the air conditioning.
Storage is in here [starboard side of the door], and there’s another en suite here [next to the storage], again, same deal. New floor, new worktops, new sinks, new taps, new loo, new linings. Brilliant! That is superb, isn’t it?
Honestly, you would swear you’re on a brand new boat without doubt. Even keeping that original wood, it tones in so nicely. There’s nothing in here that would make you think you’re on anything other than a brand spanker. That’s fantastic!
ENGINE ROOM
All right, let’s press on. New steps, new carpet here, superb! Okay, I want to show you the engine room because the engines have been out and refurbished and repainted. In fact, they were green, and now they’re white.
So I’ll show you what kind of job’s done there. Okay, so in here, these are the original engines. I say they’ve all been repainted. They were green and now white. And these are the original Volvo Penta TAMD 75 EDCs, I think I’m right in saying, 480 horsepower each. I’m sure I’ll be corrected if I’m not right, but I’m pretty certain that is correct.
They’re on V drives, so the power comes out from the back of the engine and then it goes back down. You can see the shafts down underneath. So it puts the engine drive at the back, but gives you shaft drive and 480 horsepower each. Apparently, the boat’s doing about 32 knots flat out, so you’re looking at a sort of a mid-20 knot cruise, I guess. Normally, this boat does around 250 nautical miles range. Again, bit of a guess, but I suspect I’m not far out.
“This boat is powered by Volvo Penta TAMD 75 EDCs, each with 480 horsepower, giving the boat a flat-out speed of 32 knots.”
New generator, new air conditioning, all neatly racked and put out there. That’s the passarelle across there that extends out the back. That’s all sound deadening up there, but yeah, that’s a thorough job, isn’t it? Even down here, look how clean this is. That’s how far this refurbishment has gone. It’s brilliant! it’s a proper new boat feel.
BOW
Alright, let’s come back out of here. We’ll take a quick turn around the deck. There’s not too much to show you there actually, but just for completion. Obviously, all these canopies come off, but we’re having some pretty changeable weather here at the boat show today. It’s been pouring with rain literally 10 minutes ago, and now it’s dried up again, which is why you can see everything’s a little a bit wet.
Okay, let’s head up here [bow]. We mentioned the arch had been repainted, and in actual fact, that colour-coding goes right into the satellite domes and the antennas and the radar. New radar on there, of course. That is the latest…I think Raymarine, right fellas? And then finally, new sunbathing up here on the bow, and again, with a Setag Yachts logo.
SUMMARY
So there it is. I think that is a really impressive job, very, very thorough, because they’ve gone behind the scenes with that one. Sometimes you find that the interior is done and then the engine room is very original, but on this one, the owners clearly commissioned them to go right through it, and they have done that and some.
Massive thanks to Setag Yachts. They’ve all organised this tour. I’ll put a link to those guys in the description. Huge thanks, of course, to you all for watching it, but let me know what you think of that. I think that is pretty impressive, and we’ll catch you on another one of these real soon. Take care, bye-bye.
