Design and Construction
The underwater profile is striking for its minimal rocker with a slight sign of bulging at station 7, a local fullness the designer appears to have introduced to ease engine installation rather than to shape the waterline for speed. The keel is a winged fin and the rudder a balanced spade, the same broad-performance configuration Farr used to give his racers bite and autonomy at speed without sacrificing low-speed control. Buyers could choose between a Swan-type wedge deck cabintrunk and the raised pilothouse; the wedge is the sleeker of the two but offers no opening ports and only minimal all-around visibility, while the pilothouse trades some visual cleanliness for enclosed command yet still carries no opening ports.
The hull measures 60'3" overall with an 18-foot beam and draws 8'10" on a 49,400-pound displacement, of which 18,600 pounds is lead ballast. The SA/D ratio of 21.06 and a displacement-to-length ratio of 152 place her firmly in the performance-cruiser band rather than the heavy-displacement voyager class, and the 3.35 length-to-beam ratio confirms a beamy, volume-oriented hull derived from a racing rule chest.
Rig and Handling
A 140-horsepower diesel drives her through a direct shaft, and the 374-gallon fuel capacity against 233 gallons of water signals a boat intended for long independent passages rather than coastal hops. The cutter rig with 1,674 square feet of working sail gives a powerful, manageable rig for a hull of this ballast-to-displacement character. The balanced spade rudder and winged fin keel combine to make her responsive in a seaway, though the cockpit on either deck version looks too small for the boat's length and the number of crew a passage-making layout implies.
Accommodations
The pilothouse interior is arranged for two couples with a clear hierarchy of space. A stateroom aft sits in palatial splendor, while a second stateroom adjacent to the mast on the starboard side is less expansive but still private. In the same forward area on the port side is a third stateroom with upper and lower berths. Both principal staterooms have adjoining heads with shower stalls, and a guest head is placed aft on the starboard side, giving the boat a genuine four-head layout suited to charter or extended family cruising.
Known Issues
The principal documented shortcoming is the cockpit size. The reviewer assessing the design for boats.com judged the cockpit on either the wedge or pilothouse version as too small for the hull, a constraint rooted in the decision to push accommodation volume forward and aft rather than preserve working deck space. The absence of opening ports in both the wedge and pilothouse configurations is a second design limitation: ventilation and lookout both depend entirely on deck-level and housetop openings, with no hull-side or trunk-side portlight airflow in the accommodation shell.
The Verdict
The Farr 60 Pilot House is a serious passage-making derivative of Farr's Whitbread 60 lineage, trading none of the hull's performance credentials for the comfort of a raised pilothouse and a three-stateroom, four-head interior. She is a beamy, stiff, well-ballasted 60-footer with the tankage and rig to cross oceans, but the cockpit is compromised and the house offers no opening ports in either configuration.
Pros
- Direct descent from Farr's Whitbread 60 racers with minimal-rocker performance hull
- Palatial aft stateroom plus two further staterooms and four heads
- 374-gallon fuel and 233-gallon water capacity for long independent voyaging
- Winged fin keel and balanced spade rudder for responsive helm
Cons
- Cockpit on both deck versions judged too small for the boat's length
- No opening ports in either wedge or pilothouse configuration
