58 convertible

[whoover]

I'm going to view a 58c tomorrow, I'm interested but mostly because I have never been aboard one before. I have noticed the ones I have seen come up for sale are mainly on the west coast, not many on the east. I'm looking for opinions, was it not too popular, too close in size to the 55 and 60 or was it not a great design

Thanks
Walt Hoover.

[rsmith]

I can’t remember the problems but it was not a well liked model. DDECS and MTU’s of that era were both problematic. You could always tell a MTU boat back then because they were always “on the tilt” with one engine apart or out.

[Cricket]

The issue with the 58c is they "keel walk". I'm guessing most of them either had the keels cut down and or added battens to stop the suction that made the boats list to one side or the other a high speeds.
Maybe the other issue would be dealing with the 12v or 16v 92's.

[luckydave215]

I looked at one when shopping for our 60C.
The interior quality isn't up to Hatteras standards, it looked to be made of cheap plywood, the one I saw was delaminating in places.
The worst part was the ER, I swear is was shrink wrapped around the mains, almost everything could only be reached by a Dwarf with extra elbows.
Nahhh....

[Bob Bradley]

To be fair, Dave may not be totally objective regarding the space in the engine room. Shaq could do jumping jacks in Dave's engine room, so everything else looks pretty small by comparison.

[SKYCHENEY]

Since Shaq just had cosmetic surgery on his butt, maybe it would now fit in the ER of the 58.

[whoover]

We after a long drive I looked at it. The engine room was in disarray so I can't comment on how easy it was for accessibility. It was not the boat for me, I would pick a 55c over a 58c.

Walt Hoover

[rsmith]

Curious what your other thoughts about the 58.

[whoover]

First off I think that 58' just isn't quite big enough to accommodate two full staterooms and a bunk cabin. The saloon is close to the same size as a 55' and layout. I was not impressed with the bridge layout. It's at the front with a second station at the rear starboard side. The forward station is very overpowering, like looking at a wall when you get up the ladder. At the risk of offending the owner if he happens to be a member the boat needs a lot of love. It was more than I wanted to take on.

Walt Hoover

[jim rosenthal]

Smart to walk away, then.