BOAT REPORT


All of this adds to the V58’s fun in the sun ethos; you can just picture it in a cyan bay


P


Plenty of seating around the dinette and the big teak table raises/lowers electronically


rincess and Bernard Olesinski seem to be on a winning run at the moment. The S65, tested on these pages last month, is probably the sweetest looking sportsbridge on the market, and the new


75 – launching this very month at the London Boat Show – is going to be a beauty. Which brings me on to this, the V58 Open. For me, the V58 Open stands out from an


already handsome crowd. It’s long and low and elegant but it’s also arresting with proportions that are close to perfection. Princess usually errs on the side of caution


Wet-bar is half galley, half entertainment system thanks to the 42in pop-up TV


when it comes to design, preferring evolution over revolution, but the V58 treads an ideal line between agression and elegance. This a boat that draws you in with its appearance then charms the pants off you the moment you step on board. Sure, looks aren’t everything but in the world of the 60ft sportscruiser they’re a damned good place to start. One reason why the Open looks so good is because of just that – it’s open. Princess hasn’t had to increase the height of the roofl ine to accommodate cockpit doors, so the charcoal superstructure can sweep tightly over the cockpit and give the boat a far more hunkered down profi le. There is a deck


saloon version coming, and no doubt it will be popular, but for now we can focus on the party version, the sun-soaked version, the version that is a giant nod to sportscruisers of old. Interestingly the split between sales of the


smaller V48 Open and its deck saloon sibling have been split pretty much fi fty-fi fty, suggesting that the enclosed saloon version of these boats isn’t going to have it all its own way on the sales sheet.


OPEN-AIR LIVING On an open-backed sportscruiser of this size the cockpit is a single gigantic outdoor living area with the added convenience of a pneumatically sealed sliding roof (that is also


enormous) and inset with glazing so even if the weather’s poor you still benefi t from the natural light. Part and parcel of this more traditional


layout is of course the sunpad on the transom, which though well clear of the protection of the hardtop can be doused in shade thanks to an optional electric awning that glides out from within the coaming. Below the sunpad there is of course space for a tender garage, this one large enough to swallow a Williams 325, meaning you can keep the hi-lo platform clear or use it to stow additional water toys if you’re happy to carry more weight at the stern. All of this adds to the V58’s fun in the sun


ethos; you can just picture it anchored in a cyan bay with the tender swinging gently off the stern and the bathing platform submerged just below the surface of the gin-clear water, adorned with a couple of director’s chairs.


PARTY PALACE And the cockpit, wow! Once you step up from the bathing platform, the sole is completely fl at all the way up to the companionway hatch. This makes moving around so safe and easy, as does the large passageway between the table and the wet-bar, which avoids any sort of pinch point. And you are likely to have a fair few people on board because I reckon you could fi t the full RCD complement of 14 passengers around the imeense cockpit dinette at a single sitting. It might be a bit tight but the point stands, it’s a fantastically spacious seating area opposite an equally expansive wet-bar that is kitted out with a good selection of storage cupboards and the usual goodies like a griddle, top-loading cool box, sink and £15,000 worth of (optional) 42in pop-up weatherproof TV. Yes, a pricey option, but a great way to transform the cockpit into an outdoor cinema on a balmy evening. Forward and to port a curve of seating


doubles up as place for crew to sit on passage and somewhere else to sunbathe beneath the open sunroof if the sunpad at the stern is occupied. The helm station opposite has two seats to cater for a navigator, who can control one of the pair of chartplotters, while the skipper concentrates on helming. Not that helming the V58 takes much


concentration; in fact it couldn’t be much easier or more relaxing to get this boat galloping gamely over the crests. The engine options are simple, both D13s from Volvo Penta in either 900hp guise, as we had on test, or the detuned 800hp versions. Both are fi ne partners for the V58 with even the smaller


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