express-style yacht. Owners will enjoy a large, centrally placed double bed, flat screen television, comfortable settee and plenty of storage through an array of drawers, lockers and a hanging wardrobe. If you need more storage, you can swap the settee for bonus storage compartments. Then there is the nicely appointed en suite master head, with its separate shower and screened, opening portlight. Guest accommodations are now located all the way forward. At first blush, this stateroom appears to have a standard double berth — but all is not as it seems. That double berth can swing apart to create twin V-berths, making the cabin easily adaptable for adult guests or for children. Very cool. Here, too, there is ample storage, as well as an en suite head with shower and opening portlight. That’s a nice touch, as it gives everyone aboard plenty of privacy and living space during a longer cruise. The 48’s salon sits at the vessel’s heart, gleaming with cherry wood grain, shining lacquer and glass. The U-shaped, convertible seating area lies to starboard; this is where your group will gather for a movie on the flat screen television or an intimate late-night dinner. To port is the fully equipped galley, which provides an electric refrigerator, double electric-hob cooktop, microwave and plenty of cupboards and drawers for all the meal-preparation essentials. Sunseeker also includes tableware and silverware for six.
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Ascending the companionway to the spacious cockpit, I quickly noted that the live-aboard amenities don’t stop belowdecks. Here is a full wet bar with icebox and both hot and cold running water (a cockpit refrigerator is available); full dinette seating with a fold-out table for al fresco meals, a folding helm seat, ample companion seating and a chart table. Since our test boat had the available hardtop, Silvia slid the massive sunroof open and let the fresh breezes blow through the large side windows. We might as well have been on a wide-open bridgedeck, with all the sun, light and air that surrounded us. If that’s not enough, of course, sun worshippers will appreciate the huge lounge that is perched aft, over the 48’s tender garage. And additional sunpads with folding backrests lie forward, on the 48’s gently sloping bow deck. After a quick peek in the tender garage, I noted the teak-laid steps, the hydraulic teak-laid swim platform, the fold-away swim ladder and the hot-and-cold swimming shower. Feeling the slight bite in the wind off Lake Michigan, I couldn’t help longing for the lower latitudes. You can’t set foot on the Portofino 48 without imagining jovial hors d’oeuvres in the cockpit, a nap on one of those soft sunpads and a refreshing dip off that teak platform. Alas, that would be a bit too refreshing today. Back at the helm station, Silvia and I discussed perhaps the most significant feature of the Portofino 48, the