A passageway leads forward and the first door on the left brings you to the elegant master suite with leather details and a one-piece molded Italian-glass vanity. This private enclave offers the owner a bureau, a comfy settee, several large windows, and two large hanging lockers, plus an en suite head with a large shower.
Throughout my tour, I kept opening lockers and pulling up panels, trying to find one area that wasn't finished either in smooth gelcoat or fine wood. No luck the level of finish is superb, even out of sight.
All the way forward on the passageway is the VIP suite, with the space and amenities you'd find in the master on many yachts this size, including a mosaic-lined shower, glass vanity, and European fixtures.
In mid-passage is a third cabin with twin berths and a day-head finished to the same high standards. An en suite crew cabin of European proportions is tucked between the engineroom and the garage.
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The Uniesse 65 Sport is built, as an American would say, like a brick outhouse. The hull underwater is solid fiberglass as thick as two inches, the sides are cored with Airex, and there is no wood used in the structure except for furniture and joinery. Even the stringers are Airex-cored. The moldwork is superb, as evidenced by the dark-blue hull free of ripples, but there is also great forethought and engineering reflected in the deep gutters around the deck hatches and the frameless windows that are perfectly fitted around the house. Weldwork on everything from the stainless steel rails to the huge hinge for the garage is impeccable.
Now, about the engines. This is where potential buyers of the Uniesse 65 Sport have an interesting choice. They can go with the standard 1,100-horsepower MAN V10 diesels or, as with our test boat, they can upgrade to 1,360-horse MAN V12s. Or they can opt for Arneson drives fitted to the smaller MANs. The efficient Arnesons give the smaller engines a top speed equal to the larger engines with conventional props. Do you want that glorious roostertail from the Arnesons or do you want your speed low key? Have fun!
And that is exactly what the Uniesse 65 Sport is: fun. Sliding into those seats behind the wheel and nudging the throttles forward gives a most satisfying push to your lumbar region. This hull is a development of a Jim Wynne-designed deep-V, and she loves to show off in rough water, slicing through swells and throwing spray far to the side. She tracks straight, but spin the wheel and she banks solidly around. The 65 comes up fast and flat onto plane. We topped out at nearly 36 knots, a bit behind the factory sea trial, which hit 38 knots without the owner's gear and light on liquids.
During the sea trial, there was a conspicuous absence of noise. Uniesse puts soundproofing materials everywhere, even between the stringers in the house. From idle up into mid-rpms, my sound meter kept getting confused by the samba music on the stereo and had trouble sorting out engine sound from bow wave.
The Uniesse 65 Sport is well mannered, good looking without being too avant, flawlessly built, and just plain fun. And regarding pronunciation, I'm beginning to see why that "you" keeps ending up in Uniesse-it's wishful thinking.
Uniesse Americas, (305) 673-3371; www.uniesseamericas.com
