Sirena 48 Sea Trial and Review
Turkish shipyard Sirena has long shown a knack for squeezing superyacht-size interiors into motoryacht-size hulls, and in its own smaller way the 48 carries on the tradition. The height, vertical windows and upright stem tell you at once that this is a boat designed from the inside out to maximize accommodation volume. But its semi-displacement hull also boasts pedigree naval architecture from the German Frers studio.
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She has three cabins and two heads down below, and with a rational, rectilinear layout there is no wasted space across a pretty generous beam of just over 16 feet. So, the amount of floor space in the midships master feels quite luxurious, the beds are all 6 feet, 4 inches long or better, and the minimum headroom you’ll find anywhere is 6 feet, 5 inches. Stowage space is good too, notably in the master and VIP cabins, but even the starboard twin has a generous hanging locker. The heads are of a similar size, each with a roomy shower compartment.
On the main deck, those vertical windows offer an almost all-round view, whether from the helm or from the sofa and dinette. The galley, although not especially large, is sociably placed aft between the cockpit and salon, and feels spacious and practical, with useful stowage space and a good sized fridge across on the starboard side. Two contrasting interior design schemes are available.
Outside, broad side decks lead forward from the cockpit, which comes with a quite creative variety of layout options, to the foredeck sunlounging area. There is another acre or so of upholstery up on the forward half of the flybridge, which also has seating aft, along with an alfresco galley behind the upper helm. The hydraulic stern platform comes as standard.
The 48 is offered with a choice of two engine installations, both on V-drive shafts. Our test boat had 550-horsepower Cummins, and if you want more power, you can have 670-horsepower Volvos. Sirena claims a maximum speed of 24 knots with the Cummins engines. We can’t argue with that, because the weather for our brief sea trial at the recent Cannes show was pretty atrocious and the only things on board reaching that sort of velocity were flying phones and coffee mugs. The optimum cruising speed is given as 16 knots.
Heading out into such blustery conditions—waves were about 6 to 7 feet, and quite steep, with the remnants of a strong breeze still blowing—I was intrigued to find out how she would behave, especially as the 48 is a design with a lot of top hamper, and this particular boat had neither gyro nor fin stabilization fitted. It is fun to do this sort of thing at a boat show, too, because you just know that half the people on board are not particularly interested in the finer points of handling and performance but have just come along for the ride. I knew I wasn’t going to be popular. So it proved.
The 48 punched into the seas gamely enough, but with that fashionable, vertical and virtually flare-free bow, at 15 knots she was shipping pretty solid spray right over the hard top. These were the sort of cruising conditions where you would want to get everyone off the top deck to lower the center of gravity. As it was, we had ten people up there, and within about five seconds of my taking the helm they were all totally drenched.
It is downwind, of course, that sets the real test—especially with everyone now heavier by at least a gallon of sea water. I found the 48 actually tracked reasonably well with the seas astern, but it required close attention from the helmsman—get distracted for a second and she was just waiting to heel over and scoot off to one side or the other down the face of the wave. She did this several times—not, I would like to point out, while I was driving—and with the seas on the quarters, even closer attention was needed.
In the end she did OK. Having to drive with that level of concentration gets tiring after a while, but for the hour or so of a boat-show sea trial, it was seriously fun. For me, anyway.
Sirena 48 Specifications:
LOA: 52’ 4”
Beam: 16’ 2”
Draft: 3’ 11”
Displ: 45,400 lb (dry)
Fuel: 502 gal.
Water: 158 gal.
Power: 2/550-hp Cummins QSB 6.7; 2/670-hp Volvo D8
Cruise Speed: 16 knots
Top Speed: 24 knots
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This article originally appeared in the January 2024 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
Source: https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/boats/sirena-48-sea-trial-and-review
