Salthouse Sovereign Spirit 55

With a name like Salthouse, what else could these two brothers do? Building on their deep love of boating, starting with designs hailing from the Logan era, the 'Salty Bros' formed a boatbuilding factory and thereafter found they had calls for all kinds of craft.

After sculls and sailing dinghies came Cavalier yachts, motor launches and then trans-Pacific motorsailors like the Abel Tasman. A split then saw Dean Salthouse concentrate on custom-made launches and boat interiors, while brother Bob got serious with production boats.

With a son, Don, handling the marketing, and a daughter, Julie, as managing director, Salthouse has toyed with the Australian market before. Now, the family is ready to launch an assault on our big-boat market.

The way they see it, Riviera's range ends at 48ft, so the Salthouse Sovereign range is primed to take off. With anywhere from five to 10 boats able to be assembled in the giant Auckland factory, the facility exists to satisfy demand in Australia for boats from 50 to 75ft.

For example, there was a 62ft charterboat bound for Sydney under construction, a 60-footer destined as a corporate entertainer for the America's Cup and a 40ft cruiser being readied for pleasure work in the NZ factory as I looked over the new Sovereign Spirit 55.

But while these are the biggest-selling cruises in New Zealand, Salthouse prefers to describe its boats as semi-custom craft. The hulls and the hardware remain constant, but the buyer can choose between layouts, finishes and intended applications.

So, it should be noted that the 55 seen here can be ordered as a hardcore gamefisher. Things such as the boarding platform and transom can be changed just as easily as the colour of the fabric on the settees. A chair can be mounted mid-cockpit, livebait tanks added and a bait-rigging station built in.

Indeed, this is the flexibility in design that is the real strength of the Salthouse yard.

"When people get to this size of boat they know what they want. We deliver on their wishes and make certain they get exactly what they are looking for," explains Don.

HULL OF A TIME
Drawing on this reputation of the Kiwis as the creators of fast and seaworthy boats, the Salthouse range is built for efficient travel on windswept, open seas, using engines and hulls that are more efficient than their competitors.

Using a balsa-cored laminate, the 55 is lighter than a solid glass boat. But with full-length fibres from keel to chine and tri-axial rovings, the hand-laid hull is strong.

Finished with vinylester resins, the boat is built like an America's Cup or Whitbread round-the-world racing yacht.

"By taking the dead weight out of the boat and putting it back in fuel and provisioning, we are essentially drawing on a yachting background," explains Don.

And this is why the Salthouse boats can cruise so cost effectively.

Fitted with twin 420hp 3126TA Caterpillar engines, the new Sovereign Spirit 55 waltzed down the coast from Southport to Port Stephens consuming just 100lt of diesel at 20kt cruise speeds.

When conditions were bad, with up to 35kt of south-easterly wind on the nose, the boat was pegged back to 8-12kt. At these typical trolling speeds, the 55-footer used just 40lt/hr.

Compared with a Riviera 48 with twin 610hp Volvo diesel engines, which weighs around 22,000kg, the Salthouse 55 with twin 420hp Caterpillar engines tips the scales at just 17,000kg.

DESIGN CONCEPTS
The other big difference is in the design features which they worked very hard at getting right. Drawing on feedback from Salthouse owners doing up to 1000 hours a year in their boats, the 55 works well underfoot.

The highlights include an integrated spiral staircase to port instead of the usual flybridge ladder and an outdoor head which keeps grubby traffic outside, and is a boon to entertaining. On the starboard side, the moulded facility includes a toilet and a shower.

The other thing worth noting is the boat's soft curves and lines which flow together like a fine sculpture. Buyers may also consider the fact that every boat is independently surveyed and cross-checked before leaving the factory.

Each hull, backed by a five-year hull warranty, has three watertight bulkheads and four full-length girders in its frame. To this Salthouse adds a one-piece moulded top deck, with raised toerail and gunwale overhang for safety, and a superstructure made from foam-cored laminates.

All interior components are glued and/or glass taped to the hull for additional stiffness, while everything right down to the Furuno 16nm radar, 25kg Manson plough anchor and bar fridge in the bridge are included in a veritable turn-key 55ft package.

ROOM TO GROOVE
The layout of the 55 demo boat is what Don terms a typical three-cabin boat. The accommodation includes a cabin with queen-sized berth to port, a forward cabin with island berth and his and hers lockers, and a guest cabin with bunks that are top-and-tailed for more shoulder room.

The saloon itself is a generous size, despite extra-wide walkarounds to the bow. Underfloor, the engine room is massive, well ventilated, and capable of taking twin 800hp Caterpillar donks if speed is your priority.

While the galley is unconventionally aft, it works well when you're entertaining or at sea. Features of the U-shaped galley include a servery window back into the cockpit, big green-flecked granicoat bench tops, teak edging, teak joinery and teak and holly flooring. Nice touches include the stainless power sockets, huge icebox, massive storage area under the sink, dedicated crockery cupboards, double stainless sink and the teak bottle and sauce cupboard.

With appliances, all four bases are covered: four-burner electric stove, electric oven, microwave and a domestic sized fridge/freezer opposite. This same teak cabinet harbours the fridge on the starboard side and the boat's control panel and entertainment centre.

A large television and VCR faces back to wonderful saloon lounges. Just ahead of the galley, the U-shaped lounge has a dinette with burl-elm wood table and teak and holly trim.

Don says he likes to put different woods together to lift the feel of his boats and this table is indeed a highlight. There is also a four-person lounge opposite, covered in a jade-coloured leather which ties in with the carpet.

The opening saloon windows are covered by teak blinds and a white headliner and scrubable vinyl wall liner completed the picture.

With only one flybridge helm station, the lower dash can be used for plonking curious or maritime artifacts. The armour-plate windscreen looked solid.

SLEEPING BEAUTY
Because the galley isn't down on a mezzanine level, the accommodation gains in size. This is particularly noticeable in the amidships cabin, which has a giant transverse queen-sized bed. Aside from being the best place to sleep in the boat, it has storage space in a teak hanging locker, four drawers and shoe-storage space.

Opposite is a guest cabin with twin single berths. As mentioned, these have excellent shoulder room thanks to the bunks being topped and tailed. This cabin also came with finely crafted his and hers hanging lockers fashioned from teak.

The owner's cabin in the bow features a big island berth with quilted salmon-pink bedspread and cool blue and crimson scatter cushions. Hanging lockers, under-bunk drawers, and sidepockets offered plenty of room to store your Sunday best.

The en suite was a beauty with a big walk-through shower area, moulded sink, with teak rubbing rail, and a great circular moulding holding a toilet. Chrome fittings, big green towels and other highlights were every bit as good as you'd find in a top hotel.

While this 55 was obviously designed with cruising comfort in mind, serious gamefishers will no doubt see the potential here. There are beds for six people in three cabins, with an en suite for the owner, and a separate toilet outdoors for the crew.

In this way, the Salthouse 55 may be the perfect set-up for tournament fishing. With air-conditioning keeping everyone cool during those hot summers, the boat would be a popular watering hole and liveaboard during social fishing events.

CRUISING ON THE FLYBRIDGE
Beyond the sliding saloon door is a moulded staircase leading up to the bridge. Fully enclosed, as is the Kiwi fashion, the bridge includes a big circular lounge surrounding an island helm console.

While there was just one pedestal seat, the factory can easily extend the width of the helm and add a seat for the co-pilot. As it was, room exists to seat eight people on the circular lounge and pushpit seat behind the helm seat.

Though Waterways in NSW wouldn't allow it, the factory has apparently tested the boat with 18 people up top and it didn't fall over in banking turns.

The console was fitted with a Furuno chartplotter interfaced with a 24nm radar. There was also a Furuno deep-water sounder, two engine dash panels for the Caterpillars and a fridge and sink to keep the skipper nourished.

DECK FITTINGS
Granted this is a big 55-footer, I still found the decks overly generous. The sidedecks, for example, are very wide and easily navigated at sea. There is a step-up from the cockpit and big stainless rails that back you every inch of the way.

The cockpit is similarly generous in size, but thanks to a drop in the sheerline it's not too far from the water to play with the fish. Built into its peripheries are lots of storage hatches that could be converted to take tagpoles, gaffs, etc.

Although the boat had centrally-located transom gates, designed so you can swing them open and pull a tender straight onto the deck, you can go for a conventional offset marlin door instead. There is also scope to mount a gamechair.

As it was, the boat has an interesting full-length boarding platform with stainless rails and lifelines to keep you contained. I could only imagine how the sharks would like to suck on your toes out here. Or how much fun it would be for fishing the reef for red emperor.

As a throwback to its homeland, the boarding platform included twin wet wells which, says Don, can keep crayfish alive for about two weeks if they'd last that long out of the frying pan.

The cockpit also included a big lazarette for storage. The exhausts were an underwater variety to reduce noise and only in tight turns did they lift out of the water. An 11kVa genset, four bilge pumps, and everything from fenders to docking lines, are included in the $1.4 million package.

PORT OF CALL
Parked outside the rather fine Anchorage in Port Stephens, the Sovereign 55 appeared as comfortable as a resort. With the rain beginning to fall and a biting south-westerly wind, we were grateful for the boat's commodious flybridge with hardtop.

Someone came up with the bright idea they would stage a dolphin-spotting cruise. Moments later, the Caterpillars were purring as we charged downstream on the most upmarket dolphin-watching platform imaginable.

Despite the comparatively small engines, the 55 strides along at a handy 27-28kt at 2750rpm. The boat slots into the cruising groove at 2400rpm, where it returns a handy 23-24 kt, while we backed off to 2100 to 2200rpm for a very pleasant 20-21kt when outside.

Unlike other big convertibles, the Salthouse feels lively and responsive. There was a little chatter and thum here and there as the winter chop slapped the bow, but despite its cutting-edge construction methods the makers have embraced good old-fashioned values.

From sons who grew up as sailmakers to daughters who developed a flair for boat interiors, each Salthouse clan member has input in a certain area.

Thus, the only thing missing is a hardcore gamefisherman in the clan.

With a fighting chair, a spare flybridge chair and a transom designed for serious gamefishing, the Sovereign 55 would cater for the ranks of serious big-game fishermen. The way it was, the boat was a sumptuous touring vehicle and way too good for just spotting dolphins.