New Heights

With its largest power offering, Sunsation’s offshore V-bottom, the F-4, performed like a champ.

Sunsation Offshore Powerboats owner Wayne Schaldenbrand was asked recently why his company has such loyal customers. Schaldenbrand’s answer was surprisingly simple: They stand behind their products.

By answering the phone and doing what needs to be done to keep its clientele happy, Sunsation has established one of the most loyal followings in the industry. It’s not uncommon for a customer to have owned three or four Sunsations.

Delivered to Fort Myers, Fla., for our 2009 Performance Trials, the latest F-4 from the Algonac, Mich., facility was a prime example. The company’s most powerful 43-foot offshore V-bottom to date—its first with Mercury Racing HP1075SCi engines—was built for Bill Harrison, one of Sunsation’s most devoted customers. He and his wife, Wendy, have owned four Sunsations, the last of which was an F-4 with a pair of Mercury Racing HP700SCi engines.

“(Our customers) just keep coming back, it’s a beautiful thing,” Schaldenbrand said. “You don’t have to talk them into anything. They just tell you what they want and you build it for them.”

There’s no question why the Harrisons and others keep returning to Sunsation. Not only is the company’s commitment to its owners exceptional, the quality of construction and performance are on par with the customer service.

PERFORMANCE

Sunsation set up the F-4, the company’s 11th from the mold, for all-around performance. Coupled with the HP1075SCi engines were a pair of Mercury Racing No. 6 dry-sump drives with 16 3/4" x 37" Hering propellers.

The propulsion package did not disappoint, as the 43-footer reached 122 mph at 6,200 rpm in conditions not very conducive for top-speed runs.

The extra power did liven up the F-4, but our Test Team didn’t think it was necessary. A previously tested F-4 with 700-horsepower engines was just as fun and topped 100 mph. Don’t get us wrong, we’ll take the 120-plus-mph top speed and the 4.2-second time in the 40-to-60-mph drill, but overall we’re not sure if the additional 750 hp was worth an extra $150,000.

The power did get the boat on plane rather quickly for a 43-footer, taking 5.3 seconds with the Mercury Racing 280S K-Planes down. Nearly 15 seconds later, the two-step V-bottom was running 81 mph.

As expected, handling received high scores from our test drivers, Bob Teague and John Tomlinson. Teague praised the V-bottom for its turns at cruising and full speed, while Tomlinson did the same and also emphasized the boat’s superb tracking ability.

Although the offshore conditions we encountered on the Gulf of Mexico were fairly mild, the boat excelled in head-on and following seas.

WORKMANSHIP

When it came to construction quality, our workmanship inspector was thoroughly impressed with the F-4. Starting with the rigging of the staggered HP1075SCi engines, which featured cowlings painted to match the boat’s graphics, everything was evenly spaced and the wiring was organized neatly in red tubing.

Sea strainers, battery boxes and oil tanks were mounted appropriately, and the bilge was finished in red and silver gelcoat. Catching our attention was the underside of the engine hatch that lifted to a near vertical position. Finished with mirrors framed within red billet inserts, the hatch included a mirrored Sunsation logo in the center.

Sunsation didn’t skimp on the boat’s hardware, all of which was standard except for the wraparound wind deflector with custom billet bracket assemblies. A pair of Bomar hatches in platinum-color frames lined the deck and billet vents for the engine compartment were installed in the hatch, on the transom and into the gunwales.

Step plates with rubber inserts, pushpin-style fender holders and pull-up cleats were mounted on each side of the boat to protect the paint job. A rubrail with a stainless-steel insert was painted to match the graphics, which were expertly applied by Mitcher T, the man behind all of Sunsation’s paint jobs. Also integrated into the paint job was the swim platform, which had a nonskid surface and a compartment with a pullout ladder.

Overall, our inspector gave the boat top marks when it came to attention to detail and quality of construction.

INTERIOR

Easily the coolest part of the F-4’s interior was the custom CNC billet panels that spanned the entire dash. Although both test drivers would prefer the gauges to be in front of them, they said the layout had definite dockside appeal.

Ahead of the co-pilot to port, standard Livorsi Marine gauges with dark carbon-fiber faces were angled toward the driver in red and silver bezels. The more essential engine-monitoring gauges—oil pressure and water temperature—were grouped directly ahead of the driver above the IMCO Marine helm.

Monster-style Livorsi gauges for the speedo and tachs were mounted above the frosted cabin door and a Mercury SmartCraft RaceView display sat in its own billet panel ahead of the driver. Also on the driver’s dash was a compass, a Garmin GPS, a stereo remote and the indicators for the drives and trim tabs.

The boat’s high-quality interior, including the rear bench, power dropout bolsters with electric footrests and the entire cabin, was manufactured by McLeod Design Group. The red and gray colors matched the boat’s graphics perfectly as did the covers for the marine coolers in dedicated recesses below the driver and co-pilot bolsters.

As it’s been with each F-4 we’ve evaluated, the cabin was extremely livable. Sunsation didn’t leave anything out belowdeck. From the plush U-shape lounge and V-berth to the Ultrasuede headliner and LED lighting, the fit and finish was well done.

Included was a “dealer promotional package” that came with valances, pillows and faux flowers in seaworthy pots that were painted to match the graphics. Closer to the cabin entrance was a head locker to starboard and a galley to port with a microwave and a top-loading refrigerator. A Sharp flat-screen TV was mounted in the port-side bulkhead above the E-Plex touch-screen system that controlled various cabin functions from the air conditioner to the reading lamps.

OVERALL

From the rigging of the supercharged engines to subtle nuances in the cabin, Sunsation took the attention to detail to new heights in its latest F-4. With an as-tested priced of $883,000, the 43-footer isn’t a bargain. But considering its top speed, performance and good looks, the F-4 is on the money.

Click to enlarge.