It is always a challenge to make the Classic post! Do you choose the top selling model, or the one which changed the industry and gave a new step to the name it represented. For the Posillipo Technema 52 launched at Genoa boat show in 1986 it was both!
The 52 was one of Posillipo's most popular models, and twenty years over its stop in production it represented the Technema look of the future selling 27 units World wide, in a not so long at the time five year production run. Interesting numbers when one notes that the Technema 52 was also one of the most expensive production fiberglass build flybridge motor yachts in its size, costing when launched in 1986 at 700.000 US$ ex factory. To put this cost into perspective a whooping 20% more then a Riva 50 Super America HP. Interestingly the Posillipo Technema 52 will sell more then its Riva competitor, reason being the much space it offered in all areas, three double cabins versus two, and its spacious unique at the time twin level saloon. Fair play the Posillipo was also about a meter bigger, and featured bigger engines.
Posillipo and its then designer Zuccon created the new age with the Technema 52 a motor yacht which was already in the future in the mid eighties, and was inspirational to nowadays modern looks. Giovanni Zuccon started his yacht designer career with Posillipo in 1978 with the Technema 65 (68) and ended his collaboration with the South Rome builder twenty one years later with a 65 Technema second series he designed in 1999, named as 63 in project stage and launched in 2003.
A decade later to its launch it could easily be said the Technema 52 reinvented yachting in 1986 with its outside profile different and very modern, looking from the future to everything else, yet elegant and sleek. Soft curves appeared on every corner and its split level main deck house while looking modern helped expand interior spaces without looking heavy on the length. The hull also brought a unique design with the wing chine giving a unique distinctive in the future powerful look. It is no strange that Posillipo never stopped using the unique winged Technema hull from that day onward in the models which followed the 52.
Giovanni Zuccon was also thinking views from the inside to the outside in the Technema 52 and the profile windows serving the lower part of the saloon could offer that to guest just by sitting on the couch. The technical part also had a deeper study see large air intakes integrated in the main deck just before the window, which could not be seen unless you are looking at the Technema 52 from the front.
In the end the Technema 52 is as much about Posillipo as it is about the genius that Giovanni Zuccon was showing at the time and will show more of into the future. For example in that same year Posillipo also launched his designed Technema 83, which also featured a fore deck C-shape settee arrangement, with other designers and builders catching with this from 2002 onward.
Zuccon will eventually join Ferretti in 1990, which interesting to know offered the bigger competition to the Possillipo Technema 52 with it's then Ferretti 52 Altura S, selling in high fifty plus numbers at a same time and date production run, and a less expensive price tag.
Specification:
LOA - 16.46 m (54ft)
Beam - 4.75 m
Draft - 1.19 m ex props
Displacement - 17 t unloaded, 23 t loaded
Fuel Capacity - 2850 l standard, up to 3300 l option
Water Capacity - 670 l
Accommodation - six berths in three double cabins, crew cabin forward
Engines - 2 x MAN 630hp, 680hp, GM 550hp, 635hp, 735hp
Propulsion - direct line shaft
Speeds - 30 knots max with Man 680hp
Hull Shape - modified Vee with spray rails and fifteen degrees deadrise aft
Project - Giovanni Zuccon
Variations - radar arch mast with twin or single arms, 1991 last four hulls named as Technema 16.90, a wide body version was also offered but never produced
Production Run - 1986 till 1992
Builds - 27 (last four hulls from 24 to 27 where called 16.90)
Developments - 1995 Posillipo 60 Technema, and 1996 55 Technema are both extended developments of the 52
What Is Awesome
+ Modern top deck design
+ Winged Technema Hull
+ Split level saloon with view windows
What Looks Dated
Aft deck open bulkhead
Radar arch
COMPETITOR - Ferretti 52 Altura S produced from 1987 till 1992
* Please note that some Specifications are not from official sources and may not be accurate
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