We first saw the Moorings 58 (Cat with 6 cabins and 6 heads plus v-berth crew cabin) in Annapolis last October. And my first question (as moorings owners) was "Can we upgrade to this?". Answer was yes, but we knew there wouldn't be many so we figured it would be unlikely. Sometimes though things have a way of working out and we were able to book the 58 from July 4th to the 11th with a total of 9 of us.
Having seen the boat in Annapolis, I knew it was big and my memory didn't disappoint. It is a BIG boat! Unlike many of the other larger boats (55-60'), this boat is in a class of its own with a whole second level. That second level has plenty of seating for more than the 9 we had plus an electric grill (which is far better than dealing with charcoal or gas blowing out), a small fridge for drinks and a sink. We made use of this upper deck all the time for meals and hanging out. It's also where the helm is and you get an excellent view of the bow of the boat. Stern you can't see unless you lean out and then you can see the starboard side. All lines are led to this upper deck and there are 3 winches with 1 electric for your main halyard (it can also be used for the other lines as needed).
On the main level there's a nice teak furniture set that seats 10 and then more seating inside which was plenty for our group. The dining table folds up so you can easily walk around it. There's also two ottomans for added seating. The galley is large and has a good sized fridge with door and two freezer drawers. There's also a 3rd freezer in the port hull. Topping off this area which is split between galley and dining table is a 46" flatscreen TV with entertainment unit (apple TV and blu-ray player). Then there's still two cabins at this level. Each one is a mirror of the other and each has its own door to the forward cockpit area which is a very good size as well. These cabins are smaller than the other 4 but have great views and it was a cool experience waking up and looking out at that level. Each cabin also has its own A/C control. In addition, the stern of the boat has a hydraulic platform that lowers to water level for storing the dinghy. Unfortunately the prior Captain that took this out damaged it, so we couldn't use it for storing the dinghy. We also got just the standard moorings dinghy - I think they are working on the details for this and may include an upgraded dinghy in the future. The dinghy worked fine for us though, even with our group of 9.
In each hull, there's two cabins. All pretty much identical except for the port stern cabin which is meant for crew and has two twins. These can be put together though to make a queen if needed. In addition there is a v-berth in the port hull which we actually never looked at. I believe it has no air and isn't really a place you'd want to put someone. Starboard side is just storage and where the water tank valves are for. There's four 100 gallon water tanks.
Plenty of storage for everything whether it was the storage outside for gear or inside storage for food or clothes. We had plenty of room with our group of 9. Would have been just as good with a group of 12.
The boat sailed well and also performed well under power. Under power we could cruise at about 9 knots at 2000-2200 rpm. Under sail, we also reached 9 knots with 20 knots apparent wind. This was a fun boat to sail as the day we had these winds and hit 9 knots, we were on the north side of Tortola going from JVD to Marina Cay. The waves were decent at 5-6' and the bow was coming way up out of the water and then all the way back down with the cross bar even hitting the water. Everyone up front was getting splashed and at one point got soaked with a good wave.
Handling the boat took some getting used to as the controls are all electric. It also has a ton of windage. But once I got used to it, it was no problem docking, you just have to pick how and where you dock. This is not a boat you want to have to back in often - between the windage and poor visibility of the stern, bow in makes much more sense. Fortunately the boat has a shore power extension cord so bow in is no problem for power.
Overall, this was an awesome boat to spend the week on! I'd do it again in a heartbeat and wish we were still on it now, although the 4800 we're on is pretty sweet too! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> If you have a large group and are looking for an appropriate boat, this would certainly fit the bill. I'm just not sure on the details of it as they did require us to have two qualified captains (myself and a friend) and I know the only other two times its been out in bareboat has been with a hired Captain.
