60 Hatteras Convertible

Source: Boatpoint Magazine

Hatteras is a legendary name in sportsfishing circles – on all seven seas. BlueWater’s newest US contributor, boat testing afficiando Roy Attaway, profiles the latest from this classic marque

It was perfect weather for wringing out a boat. It was a lousy day to go fishing. For more than two weeks, a steady easterly wind of 25kt or more had raked across the fragile Abacos, the northern archipelago of islands in the Bahamas. Meanwhile, a fleet of 61 boats stood poised to do battle out of Marsh Harbour. At stake was the first leg of the Bahamas Billfish Championship — and possibly a world record.

I looked quizzically at Capt Terry Stansel, skipper of the Hatteras Yachts company flagship, a new 60 Convertible Hatterascal. Terry responded with one of his (in)famous enigmatic smiles.

“We’re going fishing,” I said. Not a question. I admit, my heart sank. It was really nasty out beyond the reefs. I love fishing. I hate being sick.

“We’ll stick our nose out and see how bad it is,” he said.

As the American baseball legend Yogi Berra once said, it was deja vu all over again.

Several years before, I had gone down to Puerto Aventuras on the Atlantic coast of Mexico to fish in another tournament on Hull #1 of the 60 Convertible. The skipper then was John Bayliss. Same scenario, though – 30kt from the southeast made the ocean look as if God was playing with an electric mixer. It was so bad that coming into the inlet in the evening had turned into a spectator sport, with beer-guzzling dudes standing on the breakwater and cheering skippers’ attempts to surf their boats in.

Nevertheless, we went fishing. We had a couple of shots on sails, but otherwise, fishing was slow.

What had impressed me then was the performance of the boat. In a confused 2-3m chop, John ran the boat at 29kt. This was a real sea hull – the very kind of boat Hatteras founder Willis Slane had in mind when he started the company.

INCENTIVISED
There was an incentive to go through with this madness again here in the Bahamas. A lot of very large fish have been taken on the windward edge of the Great Bahama Bank called the Sea of Abaco.

The bottom here is one excellent fish aggregating device. The bank itself plunges precipitously into the ocean and a ridge runs out some 20 miles to the Abaco Canyon. There are seamounts with such fanciful names as Wonderland, The Mushroom and Jurassic Park.

These are magnets for bait and billfish. One captain raised a fish he estimated at more than 1400lb near Jurassic. The area is being touted as the next gold mine for Atlantic blue marlin.

So it was, one bright and windy morning, we left the dock just as the sun was fighting with a low scrim of cloud on the horizon. Here, in Abaco Sound, protected by the barrier cays, Elbow, Man O’ War, Scotland, Great Guana, et al, there was a light chop. As soon as we turned east, however, through North Man O’ War Channel, the seas came at us like angry pugilists, pounding, punching and counter punching.

Our crew that day consisted of Hatteras vice president for sales and marketing, Bryant Phillips, his Jacksonville (Florida), dealer Roger Hansen and his clients, Mike and Elaine Sandifer, mate Brian Smith, Capt Dave Wills (along for the ride and assisting as second mate) and Terry’s ever-cheerful wife, Bonnie.

Nice crew. Long day. Green faces. Two small mahi mahi. No billfish sighted. Everybody happy to see the teeth of white water at the inlet again.

It was so rough, nobody moved unless you were a designated angler. Nobody went to the head for 10 hours. We taxed the boat’s plumbing the instant we slid into quieter water.

But, the boat – magnificent performance, as usual. As I am fond of saying, the boat could take a lot more punishment than we could.

Indeed, this is an updated version of the very popular 60C, itself a refinement, an evolutionary descendant of the legendary hulls designed by Jack Hargrave. To begin with, the bottom has flatter after sections with only about a 5° deadrise at the transom to make it a more stable platform. It still has, of course, the deep forefoot and some of the famous North Carolina flare in the bows – not as much as some of the other Carolina boats but still good at flinging headseas aside. If getting to the honey hole first is a paramount concern, this is your boat.

DOCKSIDE TOUR
Back at the dock, Bryant took me on a tour of the interior, pointing out the changes, including a reconfiguration of the starboardside cabinetry, where a huge flat TV screen is featured – and on which we were able to see the reasons for our misery: a high pressure ridge to the north and a low pressure trough to the south, between which the wind spun in a devastating flow.

(One thing the chambers of commerce in the Bahamas and South Florida don’t tell you is about the wind and how it can blow for weeks on end!)

The galley has also been re-done, pushing the cabinets over the forward counter back into what was originally a more-or-less wasted ‘attic’ space over the midships master stateroom. The microwave is now hidden and, in this option, the fridge and freezer compartments are under the after counter and are the slide-out variety, which makes a lot more sense in a boat designed to work in rough weather.

A lot of attention has gone into the fit and finish.

One of the first things that strikes you is the high – gloss polyurethaned finish on the woodwork. These include fluted valances, giving the saloon and the staterooms that ineffable air of glamour you find on, say, a Sunseeker.

The accommodation on the 60C comes in two offerings, the standard arrangement with three staterooms, two offering queen berths, and each with private head; and an optional fourth stateroom layout (but still with three heads). There is a choice of galley layouts, as well, although both are based on the U-shaped design that makes it easier to wedge yourself in and fix a sandwich in a seaway.

Across from the galley is a very comfortable dinette. The saloon has an L-shaped settee to port, with all-enclosing cabinets opposite.

Stowage is everywhere. Literally. Lots of room for your wife’s ball gowns or your girlfriend’s bikinis. Or both!

FIGHTIN’ WORDS
The cockpit, as you would expect, is all business. At almost 15sqm, it is big enough to accommodate the kind of frenzied action engendered by a big fish.

Standard features include a bait and tackle centre with sink and gear stowage under, a double-size drop-in bait freezer, rodholders, both fresh and saltwater washdowns, a flush in-deck storage box (with macerator pump), and a molded-in transom fish box with drain. A mounting plate for a fighting chair is molded into the cockpit sole. The chair is an option.

Topside, on the flybridge, there have been changes as well, most of them the result of input from Hatteras owners and the company’s own nit-picking design team.

Its set-up still features goodies like a top-loading drinks box and rod stowage in the forward locker and portside bench. The Tournament Console, a power-actuated electronics array is an option, but one you’ll want to consider. An enclosed bridge also is an option, as is an interior stairwell from the saloon.

Capt Terry put it succinctly: “The difference between this boat and my first 60 is night and day.”

I confess, I spent the next day ashore. Roger and Elaine and I took Roger’s Mako 23 on a tour of the quaint villages on the smaller keys, even spending some time talking with Mr Emerson Albury, patriarch of the famous boatbuilding family.

As to the weather, I called Capt Terry a week later.

“It was blowing 25 when you were here? It’s blowing 35 now,” he said. If I believed in anthropomorphism, I could just see the Hatteras 60 sitting in its slip, its bows upturned in disgust at the wimpy humans around it.

And, a week after that, I was part of a Grady-White ensemble trying to run a new 33-footer from West Palm Beach out to Green Turtle Cay, north of Marsh Harbour. It was still blowing 35. We ran down to the Keys instead.

As they say in ‘Noo Yawk’ City: “Enough already.”