53 HCB Center Console [Boat Review + Video]

Take an extensive tour of the 53 HCB Center Console [ON TARGET] in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with Russ Schafer.

This article is a transcription of the 53 HCB video from Denison’s YouTube Channel. Tune in daily to discover the latest yacht video walkthroughs from the world’s largest yacht video collection. Watch the full video below:

Hello, my name is Russ Schafer with Denison Yachting. Today, we’re here in sunny South Florida to get on board ON TARGET, a 2019 53 HCB. HCB has built over a hundred of these 53-foot center consoles, and I’m going to go through why this boat is one of the best platforms for a serious fisherman. People who want to go to the sandbar diving. What separates these 53’s on the market with ON TARGET is the options. This has Quad 425 Yamahas with under 500 hours and under warranty till 2024. Some of the other things that this boat has that steps out is the sunshade curtain, which you have aft and forward with carbon fiber poles. HCB has several options as far as the seating goes. We think this is the preferred layout because you have bigger live wells, you have two removable coolers and great seating in the aft deck.

We’re on the cockpit here of ON TARGET. It’s 53 HCB, and I just want to go through why HCB built the boat the way they did and their thought process on all these options. So, port to starboard, we have anchor lockers on both sides. This is really to hold your spare anchor when you’re at a sandbar and you want to position your boat. So it’s actually a pretty good idea. That way you can position your boat if you’re on the hook in any way and you have that port and starboard side two huge live wells. I mean, these are pressurized live wells. Good for any tournament, serious fishing guy. And then we have a seat on top. There’s a couple of different options from HCB, but this is probably one of the best packages because if you’re fishing, it gives you plenty of cockpit. If you’re entertaining, it gives you great seating. You have two removable, rigid frigid coolers. Those can either double up here as a double couch or you can move them around.

Under foot here we have access to your bilge, shore power cord and the backside of your sea keeper six. When this boat was originally designed, it came with 350’s and sea keeper five. Obviously as it progressed, I think the newer options have done a big benefit to the boat. This now has a sea keeper six, and then the 425’s give you a great performance. Here is your access to your sea keeper. Your grill, but what I like about the HCB is all their detail as far as accessibility to all your switches, pumps through holes. Everything is easy to get to and you know where it is and it’s properly labeled. Here we have a rocket launcher with cup holders. Rod holders, probably the best use of space. It doesn’t take up too much room and just gives you a great platform and a great area to put all your stuff while you’re fishing. Port and starboard underfoot, we have freezer, fridge plate boxes for your fish. Those also have two pumps. So if you get water in there or leftover fish scales, you can pump them out with a macerator.

As we go forward here, now mind you, that gives you a cold plate there. Cold plate here. We also have a refrigerator here and then you’re going to see we have another refrigerator freezer up on the bow. So HCB really thought about the people and what they may need. On port and starboard, we have freshwater sinks. These pull out and we’ll give you access to doing a shower. Over here, we have just storage compartments. Rod holders, cup holders once again. Back here we have an 8616 Garmin, which networks into your three other displays. Up forward, we have an 8622 flanked by 286 seventeens, and then this is an 8616, so that gives you direct TV if you want to watch sports. It also gives you a bottom sounder, a depth sounder if you want to fish. And this boat, as I’ll tell you a little bit, has also one great option. A lot of boats don’t have it. It has the code in KDS 6,000 Sonar. That option was between 45 and $50,000. And that also can be seen on this screen.

As we go through the bar here, we’ve got drawer storage. We have a bar refrigerator, which I went through, and then more straw storage and tackle storage over here. Port and starboard, we also have drawers on either side. And then the other thing that I like about HCB is on port and starboard, you have dive doors. A lot of these builders are just doing one door on one side, and they’ve really engineered these, dive doors really well. So you have a safety latch that pops up. You also have two cup holders here, so they haven’t wasted any space. You have your latch and these pull inside. Some builders do it where the dive door actually goes outside. I think most of them are realizing pulling it inside is a lot better, but to have that on both sides, port and starboard, imagine yourself at the sandbar. You’ve got both dive doors open. Kids are running around. It just makes it a, a much better experience.

As we walk forward, you’re going to notice this HCB in particular has the upgraded sound system. We’ve got speakers everywhere. I think there’s a total of 20 speakers. We’ve got J Audio throughout the boat. As we go into here, this is another nice feature. You have your access to your generator, and then here are your rocker switches. But even things like the push of a button allows your rocker switches to turn. So they’ve really done a good job with making things easy for somebody who hasn’t been experienced. You have LED lighting throughout the boat. This has color changing lights. So you have purple, blue, red, whatever color you like. And then you have these custom chairs up here on the front. These actually swivel around. They have footrests that go up and down.

And then we’ll walk over here to your helm and just show you a few things that this has. Flanking the 22 is 17 inch monitors. These allow you to do anything from your stereo system to your gauges, your fuel flow, anything on there. You also have your joystick Yamaha joystick, which allows you to sit in position if you like. You also have your Yamaha throttle control, separate bow thruster, and then everything is touch button. So your underwater light speakers still allow you to hit a button and do it instead of going to an electronic display and making it work. Over here is your remote control for that sonar I told you about, which a lot of these boats don’t have. This option, once again, 45 to 50,000. It sits up front. It’s in a water tight compartment. We also have USB hookups over here. These engines all come with a start stop where you hit one button. All the engines turn on by themselves and then it also has a protection system, so you need to have a fob in order to get the engine started. But a great setup, good visibility. You’ve got your Yamaha screen up here, two glove boxes, and just everything you need. You can either put your mic, your VHF mic here, or you can put it up top if you don’t like it down here. So just the little things that HCB went through to make this right.

So the other thing that I wanted to point out with these HCBS is these frigid rigid coolers, both double doors on both sides. You got two coolers on this side, two on that side, so I think that was a great idea. Obviously insulated, but if you want to use it for storage or anything like that, you can use it for that. But a really great idea. If not, that would’ve been wasted space. So I think that was a great idea. I think some of the newer builders are, or other builders are now catching onto that and doing the same thing.

But as we walk forward here, I’m going to show you where access to the cabin is. In order to open this cabin, you just pull this up. This has a hinge that keeps that opened if you like. And then this door opens and has a safety catch on it that just makes it where you can keep it open as you want it if you need to use the head. So this has a queen berth in it. Also doubles up as a dinette. You have a microwave, you have a refrigerator and a full separate shower and head. So you know, for a 53-foot center console, you got a good amount of.

So as you come around the front here, we have forward lounge seating, which is really comfortable. ON TARGET comes with covers for all your seating up here. We also have the sunshade with carbon fiber poles. Really nice feature. Keeps you cool. Up here, we have two spreader lights both forward and aft, we have a GoPro camera installed that way if you want to record fishing or fun times. All you got to do is hit the activation button and it will record.

Forward here as I mentioned before, we have forward seating. This can be set up two to three different ways. Fishing platform. You hit the button right over here in the corner. This table will raise up and become a full platform. You maybe remove the cushions and that way if you need to cast a net, or fight a fish from up front here, easily done. And then when you come back home, you want to take the family to the sandbar. You’ve got all these cushions. This table then goes up, becomes a full sun bed up here. So you have a sun bed here, you have a full seating area here, and you got rod storage on the sides. And then I mentioned this is also a cool box up forward here. So I don’t think you can fit enough fridge and freezer space as much as this boat. I’ve really thought it out and, you know, really set it up well.

Once again, thank you for getting on board ON TARGET this 2019 HCB. Should you have any questions or want to get on board this boat or any boat, feel free to call Denison Yachting or myself. I really thank you for coming on board and look forward to seeing you.

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