Riva 86 Open, a Drop-Top Luxury Yacht With the Spirit of a Convertible Sports Car

We hate them only because we can't join them. Jealousy is technically a sin, but those of us in the anti-luxury-yacht camp can at least make exceptions for machines that innovate. Or, are at least sufficiently different from the norm. Well then, does a hard-top convertible luxury yacht fit the picture? If you get the chance to find a Riva 86 Open tied to a harbor near you, you'd probably say an emphatic yes.

For those of you who aren't familiar with yachting lingo, it's easy to correlate Riva with the Ferrari of the yachting world. A legacy Italian manufacturer owned by the equally Italian Ferretti Group, which happens to be 13.2 percent owned by Piero Ferrari. Aka, Old Man Enzo's last living son. So then, the moniker of Ferrari of the seas isn't all that much hyperbole.

It's said that the genesis of the 86 Open (introduced in the early 2010s) began as a friendly chat between Ferruccio Rossi, Ferretti Group's managing director, and Carlo Riva, the eponymous founder of Riva Yachts. In this dialogue, Rossi learned of Riva's lifelong love of sailing under the stars, saying that the sensation of watching the endless night sky's endless constellations sailing on open-top boats made him feel like "the richest man in the world."

As if every single shining star in the infinite cosmos, at that moment, belonged to him. Will people who buy the 86 Domino feel the same way? Well, looking at some of the technology on offer, the prospects sure are promising. We can't begin a rundown of a machine like this without talking first about its convertible hard-top. Safe to say, it makes the same tech in a late model road-going car look like a child's toy.

Not only can Riva's patented folding roof arrangement be deployed in any condition and at any speed in the water, but it serves a double function as a cover for the dinette/lounge area on the bow. There the roof stays during top-down cruising. Kept in place by a pair of large electrohydraulically powered retaining pins.

When the time comes to remove the roof for a day out of yachting, a pair of hydraulic lifters rise from the retaining pins, swinging in a rainbow-like motion to where a pair of access ports swing open to receive the incoming lifters. The attached metal roof and lifters make their best impression of a La Scala Theatre Ballet routine by majestically swinging in tandem up and over the ship into the dinette area, where the still open retaining pins happily await the conclusion of the grand performance.

Now, if that's not Italian engineering in a nutshell, we don't know what is. With a fiberglass hull and powered by a twin marine diesel engines jetting 3,265.4 horsepower each, this 86.58-ft (26-m) ship with a 19.69-ft (six-m) beam can easily jet up to a maximum speed of 40 knots (46.03 mph, 74.07 kph) while delighting guests with its tastefully upholstered upper and lower levels.

Both levels are adorned with tasteful water-resistant carpets and ample ambient lighting for parties at any time of night. All alongside some awfully comfortable-looking couches, chairs, and bar/cooking accommodations if you plan on spending extra for a private cook or bartender. There's also ample bed space and couch space to accommodate as many as six of your friends and family along for the ride.

Rest assured, the master bedroom is adorned with the finest stitched sheets, linens, and comfy pillows to make yourself feel like you're living in a floating luxury apartment. The plethora of LCD OLED television screens and full surround sound stereo systems do wonders for enhancing that effect as well. Of course, a yacht of this caliber has plenty of room for custom interior design to the exact tastes of the owner.

The 86 open sports more than enough rear trunk space to house items like dingies, jet skis, heck, even smaller boats or canoes if one was truly obligated to. It's operated by the same electrohydraulic system used to power the 86 Open's convertible hard top. All in all, a pretty useful secondary job for the ship's remarkable drop-top technology.

The price of it all? Well, a company out of France is currently renting out an 86 Open to the tune of €42,000 to €48,000 ($44,357 to $50,693) per week. On those numbers alone, this must be a $2 to $3 million machine every day of the week.

Check out a full-length video showing the mechanations in this boat's convertible top down below. Stick around for more from Open Top Month here on autoevolution.