De Antonio D50 Review, Open or Coupe and Which Outboards to Order

The De Antonio D50 in one paragraph

The De Antonio D50 is a 47 ft 7 in day yacht from the Barcelona builder founded in 2012, powered by outboards that you never see. It launched in 2022 as the D50 Open, a T-top walkaround that Motor Boat and Yachting toured at the Palma show that June, and gained a sister in January 2023 when the D50 Coupe debuted at Boot Dusseldorf with an enclosed helm deck. Motor Boat and Yachting reported that the D50 takes the hull of the earlier, award-winning De Antonio D46. Both versions share De Antonio's published figures of 4.4 m beam, 0.7 m draft, 11 tonnes, 1,500 liters of fuel and 340 liters of water.

Buyers searching for a De Antonio D50 are usually choosing between the two versions and between engine packages, so this guide treats the D50 as one platform with two tops and four power options.

The engine chest: outboards under the furniture

De Antonio calls its signature feature the engine chest. The outboards sit in an enclosure beneath a large aft sunbed, behind a full-beam swim platform, so the stern looks like that of an inboard sterndrive yacht. Lucas Hackathorne of Nautical Ventures, the US distributor, told Power and Motoryacht that the enclosure also cuts maintenance because the engines are sheltered from salt spray. An electric hatch lifts the sunbed to reveal the motors. Motor Boat and Yachting described a raised level in the platform that lets the props trim out of the water, while Power and Motoryacht noted that the tips of the drives stay slightly immersed when trimmed up.

Ahead of the engines, under the sunbed backrest, a transverse compartment holds a tender of about 8 ft with an electric outboard on its own mount and charging point, lifted out with a manual crane. Motor Boat and Yachting's tester pointed out the catch: because you pull the tender out by hand, your choice is limited by what you can lift. Many owners will use the space for cushions, canvas and toys and carry a bigger tender on the optional hi-lo platform.

Open or Coupe: what the hardtop changes

The D50 Open is a T-top walkaround with the helm, galley and a huge dinette under shade and the side decks running straight from bow to stern. The Coupe adds a full enclosure around the helm deck, which Power and Motoryacht saw as the way to extend the season into less-than-perfect weather. Motor Boat and Yachting measured the coupe structure at about 500 kg extra with no noticeable effect on speed or handling, and priced the Coupe about 10 percent above the Open.

The enclosure cuts direct access from the helm to the side decks, so De Antonio split the transverse galley in two to make a central passage from the helm to the cockpit. You keep four helm seats, two fridges, two hobs and two work surfaces, and wide midships boarding gates with removable carbon guardrails. De Antonio lists a 45 knot maximum for the Coupe and 50 knots for the Open.

Twin V12s or quad outboards

De Antonio's current list offers six packages from 1,200 to 1,600 hp. The base choices are two Mercury Verado V12 600s or four Verado V8 300s with joystick piloting; above them sit four Verado V10 350s or four V10 400s, each with or without Mercury's joystick system. Earlier press material mentioned a quad 450 option that Motor Boat and Yachting expected to reach 50 knots in the Open.

Twin V12s mean fewer engines to service and the V12's two-speed gearbox and steerable gearcases; quad V8s or V10s spread the load and give more redundancy offshore. Power and Motoryacht's Fort Lauderdale boat carried four 300s, while Motor Boat and Yachting's test Coupe in Malaga ran twin V12 600s.

What the testers measured

On twin V12 600s, Motor Boat and Yachting's Coupe reached 44.9 knots. At 20 knots it burned 164 liters per hour (about 43 US gallons) with 76.7 dB(A) at the helm and a range of about 146 nm, and between 24 and 34 knots fuel flow stayed under 7 liters per nautical mile, for about 180 nm from the 1,500 liter tank. Builder figures quoted by Power and Motoryacht for twin 600s were 48 knots top end and a cruise near 30 knots at about 40 gph.

The ride is the De Antonio signature: the hull extensions around the engines keep the stern up, there is almost no bow rise onto the plane, and trimming the drives barely changes the attitude. Testers found that accessible for new owners and refined at speed, with sound under 80 dB, but warned that the flat attitude, vertical topsides and flare-free bow may not suit a lumpy following sea. Draft of about 2 ft 3 in to 2 ft 4 in makes shallow anchorages easy.

A seawater pool where the sunpad should be

Order the right option and the forward sunbeds sit inside a glass-and-stainless frame; lift the cushions, press a button and seawater is pumped in to make a soaking pool for up to four people, then drained before you leave. Motor Boat and Yachting described it as a 2.5 m hot tub and believed the D50 was the smallest production boat to offer one. Power and Motoryacht put the pool at about $30,000 extra and the jacuzzi function at about $5,000 more. Without it, the bow carries sunbeds and a forepeak dining area for six.

Two or three cabins and a party room aft

Below, the vertical hull sides create a lower deck larger and brighter than most Mediterranean 50 footers. The forward lounge and cabin can be one open space or divided by a folding wooden bulkhead, a day head with separate shower sits amidships, and aft is a full-beam cabin with a U-shaped lounge and an ottoman that slides across to form a queen berth in seconds. De Antonio offers two or three cabins and one or two bathrooms. Motor Boat and Yachting found the aft lounge table and its rotating drinks tray a little awkward on hull number one.

Owning a D50 in the US

The D50 is sold in the US through Nautical Ventures, and Power and Motoryacht's Fort Lauderdale boat came with a hydraulic platform, generator and joystick system at close to $1.3 million. Outboard power keeps service simple compared with inboard diesels or pods, but four engines mean four sets of annual service, four lower units and four sets of props. At a realistic cruise of 30 knots on about 40 gph, a season of 150 engine hours uses about 6,000 gallons of gasoline. The D50 Coupe was a finalist in the 2024 Motor Boat Awards in the sportscruisers over 45 ft class.