Sanlorenzo 500EXP

A steel explorer hull, then whatever the owner wants built onto it

The 500EXP is a larger, steel-hulled evolution of Sanlorenzo's 460EXP explorer, built from the keel up for long-range and remote-water cruising rather than restyled from a motor yacht, with an extended stern that adds a helideck the smaller boat does not have. Sanlorenzo launched the first hull, Ocean Dreamwalker III, at La Spezia in May 2018 timed to the yard's 60th anniversary, and its owner later told Boat International about opening the balcony to a mimosa and breakfast with whales directly in front of the boat off Alaska, and swimming in the pool facing a 200-metre glacier, before planning a run to Antarctica next.

Exterior styling on every hull found in this research is credited to Francesco Paszkowski Design, while the interior architect changes owner to owner: Studio Indigo dressed the 2024 hull known as M in a dark wood, cream and pastel palette that won the 2025 World Superyacht Award for displacement motor yachts, while Antonio Citterio built a contemporary interior for Para Bellum, a 2023 hull reported as the largest new-build order by a Greek client since 2014, complete with a quarter-deck infinity pool no other hull carries. That range of outcomes on one hull shape is the honest way to describe this model: the steel hull and helideck are fixed, everything above deck is a client brief.

CAT power, a sub-500 GT hull by design, and range figures worth checking yourself

Standard power is twin Caterpillar C32 ACERT diesels at roughly 1,320 horsepower each, with twin MTU 8V 4000 M63 offered as an option and fitted to the first hull, giving a widely cited range of 4,000 nautical miles at 11 knots that a dedicated review specifically warns buyers to verify rather than trust. Reviewer commentary at Minted Yachts states plainly that circulating range and consumption numbers are not Sanlorenzo's own original figures but copy repeated across brokers until it sounds official, and recommends asking for actual sea-trial fuel-burn data before relying on any published range for a specific hull.

Top speed is commonly given as 15 to 16 knots, modest next to a planing motor yacht of similar length but consistent with the displacement hull an explorer needs for that range, and the same review calls the CAT C32 choice a genuine practical strength, since parts and service support for that engine exist almost everywhere in the world a remote-water cruiser might break down. Gross tonnage is deliberately held under 500, which the review states is a design choice that reduces the survey, crewing and certification burden a bigger tonnage band would trigger, and at least one further hull beyond the eight named in this research was built to a formal ice-class notation for a Dutch owner, though no source names the specific class notation assigned.

The first 500EXP's owner told Boat International about swimming in the yacht's pool facing a 200-metre Alaskan glacier, whisky in hand, before setting off for Antarctica next, the kind of cruising the steel hull and helideck were built for.

Named hulls, real specification gaps, and a spec sheet that will not sit still

At least eight hulls have been named in press and brokerage coverage between the 2018 launch and 2026, Ocean Dreamwalker III, Amo, Lars, Drifter W, Arrow, Para Bellum, M and Casa F, though different sources number them inconsistently and this page reports the named hulls rather than asserting a single precise production total. Casa F, launched in 2026 with a reported 5 million euros of owner upgrades, including Loro Piana fabrics, custom marble and a DJ station built into its beach club, was described by broker EKKA Yachts as pushing the lower deck beyond a traditional swim platform into a genuine lifestyle space.

Cross-referencing brokers and directories on this model turns up real disagreement rather than a single settled sheet: beam is given as 9.3 to 9.6 metres, draft as 2.7 to 2.83 metres, and fuel tankage as 60,000 to 65,000 litres, spreads that most likely reflect genuine per-hull customization over an eight-year production run rather than a reporting error. No source found publishes generator make or output, watermaker capacity, or thruster specification for any hull, and no independent sea-trial review from a title like Robb Report, Yachting Magazine or Motor Boat & Yachting could be found for the 500EXP itself, only for the smaller 460EXP, a real gap in independent coverage this page is not going to paper over.

What it costs to buy, and what a season of ownership adds up to

Asking prices on named delivered hulls have run from 27.5 million euros for the original 2018 hull, Ocean Dreamwalker III, to 35 million euros for M in 2024 and Casa F in 2026, with Sanlorenzo itself publishing no retail price list; a market aggregator's spread of pre-owned asking prices, roughly 22.8 to 35 million euros, is consistent with that range rather than contradicting it. Arrow, a 2022 hull, was listed in St Maarten through HMY Yacht Sales at just under 32 million dollars, and Para Bellum's asking price was reduced by a reported 1.55 million euros during its time on the market with Edmiston.

Charter rates on active hulls range from roughly 250,000 dollars a week for Para Bellum to 348,000 dollars a week for the newest 2026-built hull, a real market signal on running costs even though Sanlorenzo has not published an annual operating budget for the model. Build lead time runs close to three years from contract to delivery on the two data points available, the Casa F build and a 2025-signed contract quoted for 2028 delivery, and every hull is built at Sanlorenzo's La Spezia yard in Liguria, part of the group headquartered at Ameglia.

Buying used: a steel hull needs a different survey than a GRP one

No recalls, systemic defects or class-action reports turned up anywhere in this research for the 500EXP, but the model's steel hull and aluminium superstructure call for a different survey emphasis than a fibreglass motor yacht: steel corrodes from the inside out, so a survey needs to check interior hull surfaces and coating condition directly rather than relying on an exterior inspection, and the cathodic protection system's maintenance history is worth requesting in writing. This is general steel-yacht practice rather than a documented 500EXP-specific problem, and should be read that way, not as a red flag on this particular model.

Given the model has had real specification drift across its eight-year production run, engine option, tank capacity and even interior architect all changing hull to hull, a used-boat buyer's most useful diligence step is requesting the specific hull's as-built specification and sea-trial fuel figures rather than trusting a generic 500EXP spec sheet found online. No independent owner forum thread or third-party defect report was found either way, which for a low-volume, high-value explorer built in the single digits per year is the expected state of public information, not a gap unique to this model.

Для кого: An owner who wants a genuine long-range, steel-hulled explorer with a helideck and the parts-and-service simplicity of Caterpillar engines, and who is buying into a heavily bespoke range where the interior, layout and even some engineering options are a client brief rather than a fixed specification, meaning real diligence on the individual hull matters more than on a production model.