Welcome to the Riviera and Belize Boat Show featuring a limited selection of new, state-of-the-art motor yachts currently available as you start thinking about your future boating escapes.
Our representatives offer the opportunity to inspect your next luxury motor yacht through a variety of options including a personal virtual tour via Face Time, Skype, email video with commentary or in person if possible.
In this edition, we shine the spotlight on two new Riviera models that are currently available. To assist with your consideration, we have used the impressions to two independent boating experts to guide you through these new yachts.
To view these or other models currently available in our global Boat Show click here.
Riviera 39
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Riviera 505
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Exterior: “The flybridge makes the Riviera 39 feel much bigger than its compact form would suggest, and on a warm summer’s day it’s the place to be seen as you cruise out of the harbour. Size doesn’t mean the Riviera 39 Open Flybridge misses out on any of the appointments of its bigger siblings. Owners get the same sleek styling and a spacious, versatile interior layout wrapped in a craft that looks as elegant as the rest of the range, and built to exactly the same standards.” |
Exterior: “The 505 is an addition to Riviera’s popular SUV line-up of sedan-style models, which combine the wide-open cockpit of the company’s flybridge models with the single-level living and alfresco entertaining style of its Sport Yacht range. The 505 adds a mezzanine to the deck plan, bringing another dimension of comfort and versatility, and a huge foredeck sun lounger with adjustable backrests offers yet another relaxation option. The 505 SUV offers a good-sized cockpit, low to the water, and an extra-large, hydraulic boarding platform with space for a jet-ski or tender, accessed via two outward opening transom doors.” |
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Interior: “Everywhere you look there are quality finishes and fittings. The impression is immediate – exterior of the saloon, with its swing-up awning window, is framed in highly polished stainless steel. Step through to the saloon and you are instantly struck by a unique contrast – the US owner of the test boat passed over the standard satin oak finish and trim for high-gloss walnut throughout. This provided a dark, rich balance to the upholstery, floor trim and benchtops. The 39 Open Flybridge helm’s high seating position provides a clear view out the two-panel windscreen, with deep side windows and the aft floor-to-ceiling glass bulkhead separating the saloon from the cockpit providing excellent all-around vision.” |
Interior: “The mezzanine is a real focus for the 505. A teak table on the port side can be folded in half while lounging seats on the starboard side convert to a generous daybed. A Euro awning is available for the cockpit while clears are available to completely enclose the whole mezzanine should the weather become inclement. Overhead, an electric sunroof opens to the sky, while a large awning window on gas stays and a massive stainless-steel and glass sliding door ensures excellent communion between the aft galley/saloon and the entertaining zone of the mezzanine and cockpit. Step inside the 505’s spacious, light-filled saloon and it’s hard not to be impressed by the choice of materials and the builder’s attention to detail. The overall effect is luxurious, but also modern in a very stylish way.” |
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Accommodation: “The Riviera 39 Open Flybridge will allow up to five people to live aboard in comfort via two staterooms accessed via a stylish four-step stairwell descending from the saloon. In the bow, the master stateroom is spacious and filled with natural light via a translucent overhead hatch fitted with a blind. On the starboard side of the stairs, a short hallway leads to the second, lower-ceilinged stateroom. It contains three single berths, but comes with an in-fill to turn the two side-by-side bunks into a double bed.” |
Accommodation: “Step down through the wide companionway, past the stacked washing machine and dryer hidden behind a gloss walnut door, and there’s a luxurious guest stateroom in the bow. The bow cabin shares the well-appointed bathroom, accessed via its own door semi-ensuite style, with the other guest cabin to starboard. It features two large single berths one above the other. The full-beam owners’ suite occupies the space under the saloon. Furnished with its own upscale bathroom, a decadent chaise longue, a walk-in ‘robe and heaps of well-designed storage in drawers and cedar-lined lockers, it looks like it was somehow transported from a much larger vessel.” |
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Engineering: “The Riviera 39 Open Flybridge has a solid fibreglass hull below the waterline optimised for strength. Cored topsides, decks and superstructure save weight and reduce the centre of gravity. Vinyl-ester resin is used on the hull’s outer layer to strengthen it and prevent osmosis. Similar to the Riviera 395 SUV, the hull’s bottom has a large, consistent planing hull forward and a moderate deadrise aft. From amidships forward, the vee angle steepens, culminating in an entry shape at the stem that is finely angled to slice easily through wind chop and ocean swell.” |
Engineering: “Although the 505 sits somewhere nearer the smaller end of Riviera’s SUV range, it feels like a bigger boat. That’s because lots of big boat thinking went into its design. Thinking like higher gunwales and a wide, flared hull, walkaround side decks, big hull windows, a full-beam owners’ cabin and storage everywhere. But most of all, the big boat feel is created by the 505’s clever layout and the ability to open it up and allow fresh air and light inside. Riviera markets its SUV range as ‘ocean-ready’. The 505 SUV has a solid hand-laid moulded GRP hull, keel and chines with cored decks and hull topsides. Top-quality isopthalic gelcoats and vinylester resins are used, there’s a collision bulkhead forward and independent compartments throughout the hull, foam-filled where possible for sound dampening, buoyancy and strength.” |
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Performance: “The two Volvo Penta D6-IPS600 in-line six-cylinder turbodiesel engines provide the Riviera 39 Open Flybridge with plenty of pep from very low revs. Response is eager to any input from the twin fly-by-wire controls. The 600s deliver a comfortable plane at about 18kt. Pushing the throttles further forward generated instant response as the Volvos dug deep and delivered with barely any change in pitch. The motor yacht will run out to a top speed of 33.6 knots (66.2km/h) at a moderate 3580rpm WOT.” |
Performance: “The IPS 950 package is a premium option for this model – twin 600hp IPS 800 drives are standard – but the upgrade gives the 505 SUV a sporty feel with brisk acceleration, a higher cruising speed and a maximum speed of just under 34 knots. Once on the plane the 505 SUV rides nicely level, so forward vision is good, and climbing onto the plane takes very little time. Bow lift is nicely controlled. With four adults aboard and half a load of fuel and water, we saw an indicated top speed of 35 knots down tide.” |
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The verdict: “The 39 Open Flybridge shows downsizing doesn’t have to mean you will miss out on the trimmings that have earned Riviera the reputation as one of the global luxury motor yacht brands to which to aspire. In this respect, it woos you into staying onboard longer — with little compromise compared with a larger boat.” |
The verdict: “With a fresh and appealing layout finished to a high standard, it’s not surprising the new 505 SUV was well received at its Miami International Boat Show debut in February. I may have been the first Kiwi to step aboard Riviera’s latest SUV, but I certainly won’t be the last.” |
