Oceanco Sunrays: The 85.5-Metre Superyacht Built for Family Flexibility

Signature Features

• Oceanco’s Sunrays is an 85.5-metre Dutch-built motor yacht launched in 2010 under project number Y705, designed specifically for multi-generational family cruising, accommodating up to 12 guests across nine suites whose configurations can be adapted to suit different social dynamics on any given day.
• The owner’s and VIP suites on the upper deck combine into a single expansive private deck centred on a jacuzzi, or operate as two separate, independent cabins.
• Four pools and jacuzzis are distributed across four distinct decks, allowing separate groups to enjoy different water experiences simultaneously.
• An entire bridge deck is committed to wellness, housing a salon, steam room, hammam, sauna, and treatment rooms staffed by two spa therapists during charter.
• Sunrays received a comprehensive refit in 2018, preserving both Terence Disdale’s interior vision and Björn Johansson’s exterior design while bringing her systems to current standards.

Design and Exterior Architecture

Björn Johansson’s Dagger Motif

Oceanco assigned the exterior of Sunrays to Björn Johansson Design, a practice whose aesthetic is immediately identifiable in the sharp, forward-driving lines of the bow and superstructure. The so-called “dagger” motif creates a sense of propulsion even at anchor, the bow cutting forward with a clarity of intention that few motor yachts of her generation match. Above a steel displacement hull, a softly curved aluminium superstructure rises across seven decks, its teal livery making Sunrays one of the more visually distinctive vessels in the large-yacht category.

Access and Water-Level Connection

A helipad on the foredeck allows guests to arrive directly by helicopter, while a beach club at the stern opens the vessel to the sea at water level. The 14.90-metre Windy 52 Blackbird chase boat, finished in a complementary colour scheme, accompanies Sunrays on charter and provides high-speed tender service. These two points of access — air and water — reflect a design philosophy that treats arrival and departure as experiences in their own right, not logistical afterthoughts.

Propulsion, Construction, and Technical Specification

Engineering Beneath the Aluminium Superstructure

Sunrays is propelled by two MTU 16V 595 TE70 engines producing 4,680 hp each, with a top speed of 20 knots. Naval architecture was handled by Azure Naval Architects. The combination of steel displacement hull and aluminium superstructure is a well-established formula for vessels of this length, balancing structural rigidity at the waterline with weight reduction higher in the vessel — a material choice that directly supports the generous deck programming Sunrays carries.

Interior Construction: Flexibility as a Structural Principle

Terence Disdale’s interior — characterised by mid-toned warmth with an ethnic Oriental influence — connects six deck areas via a full-height elevator. The main salon opens into a billiards room and formal dining area, while a gyroscopic, convertible pool/dining table allows the same space to function as a water feature or a dinner setting. A foldable exterior bulwark opens the dining area to unobstructed ocean views. The library adjacent to the dining room converts to a video conference room, a function that anticipated by a decade the reality that yacht owners increasingly work while at sea.

Market Position and Charter Profile

A Vessel Built for a Specific Brief

Sunrays occupies a precise position within the large-yacht market: a vessel of 85.5 metres whose design brief was explicitly family-centric rather than entertainment- or charter-led. That distinction shapes everything from the nine-cabin layout to the full-deck spa commitment, where most yachts of her generation allocate a single room. Her World Superyacht Awards 2011 finalist status confirmed the industry’s recognition of that unusual programme at the time of her launch.

Continued Relevance After Fourteen Years

The 2018 refit updated Sunrays’ systems and finishes without altering the spatial logic that defines her. In a market where interiors often date quickly, Disdale’s original vision has remained serviceable across fourteen years of active use — a consequence, in part, of its mid-toned palette and its resistance to overtly fashionable detailing. For GCC clients considering large-yacht charter, Sunrays’ combination of accommodation flexibility, four-pool water programme, and dedicated wellness deck positions her within a narrow group of vessels genuinely configured for extended multi-generational cruising, rather than vessels that merely accommodate it.

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