She combines a raised deck saloon and center cockpit with a large master cabin aft. Her short ends, high freeboard, and large, orthogonal fixed hull ports give her a thoroughly contemporary rather than traditional appearance.
Design and Construction
The 58 carries her beam well aft to a very broad transom. Her length-to-beam ratio is 3.5, making her a moderately beamy yacht, with the resulting gains in interior volume and after-deck space. The after deck is very wide and includes a huge lazarette with an oversized flush deck hatch for access.
Below the waterline, she has a modern shoal-draft cruising fin with a ballast bulb and a long, bulb-tipped keel. A centerboard inside the keel adds considerable lift when sailing hard on the wind. With the centerboard raised, she draws 5 feet 8 inches; lowered, it increases draft to 11 feet 8 inches. This range lets her skim into shallow anchorages while helping her stand up to her sail offshore.
Twin semi-balanced spade rudders provide the rudder area needed with the relatively shoal draft. On deck, the surfaces are carefully contoured and kept clear of gear. Flush hatches have limber holes to drain away deck water.
The wide teak decks are glued rather than screwed in place, a detail the builder says prevents the leaks that plague conventionally fastened decks. The cabin hatch lowers into a cavity behind the companionway stairs and can be set fully open, half open at sea, or fully closed.
At the bow, a short bowsprit carries the anchor rollers, while a flush foredeck well houses the windlass. The massive stem-head fitting is arranged to carry two anchors at all times, with the chain stowed in a watertight locker.
Rig and Handling
The Gunfleet 58 carries an 82-foot rig above the water with a slightly fractional foretriangle. Discontinuous upper and lower shrouds are mounted well inboard, leaving the side decks wide and unobstructed.
Her Solent rig has a distinctive double-headsail arrangement. A 100 percent Solent jib sheets inside the side stays, while a working genoa uses a long track just outboard of the cabintrunk. Short jib tracks at the mast serve the staysail.
The standard rig includes hydraulic in-mast furling and outhaul for the mainsail, along with hydraulic genoa furling powered by the Lewmar Commander system. In-boom furling and carbon spars are optional. A hydraulic vang and a manually operated hydraulic backstay complete the setup. All lines lead aft to the helms, keeping the cockpit uncluttered and making the boat manageable by a short crew.
In 10 knots of breeze, test sailors found that she could sail with the genoa at about 32 degrees to the apparent wind. With the Solent jib, she trimmed to about 28 degrees apparent and tacked through well under 90 degrees of true wind angle. After cracking off, she reached seven knots in moderate breeze. She later accelerated to 10 knots on a broad reach and held that speed.
Her sail area-to-displacement ratio is 19.27 with a 130% genoa and 16.92 with a 100% jib. Those figures are consistent with a lively cruiser rather than a sluggish one.
Cockpit and Interior
The raised deck saloon creates a huge, bright main living space. Large cabintrunk windows, two large hull ports, ample overhead hatches, and the vertical tinted hull windows that define the boat’s exterior all contribute light below.
The dinette is to port. Its table folds out across the saloon to include the starboard settee, allowing eight people to dine below when two portable chairs are added. In the cockpit, six can sit comfortably around the huge folding teak table, which has a flawless varnish finish.
One step down to starboard is a proper chart table, with a bank of bookshelves above it and a row of three fixed hull ports.
The aft master cabin is large even by the standards of a 58-footer, helped by the beam carried well aft. It has a walk-around double berth with settees flanking it, a full vanity to starboard, and a head with a large separate shower stall.
That shower stall intrudes into the snug cabin to starboard of the engine room. As a result, the secondary cabin is tight whether arranged with a single berth or stacked singles. It’s the main accommodation compromise involved in fitting a separate stall shower into the owner’s suite of this beamy aft-cabin layout.
The galley occupies the passageway aft and includes a five-burner stove, twin sinks, a microwave, a large front-loading refrigerator-freezer, and Corian counters with low bulwarks.
Forward, a small stateroom with stacked single berths to port and a head to starboard leads to another stateroom with a centerline double and a huge hanging locker. Testers considered the forward double a fine guest cabin with plenty of light.
Bright oak paneling and trim run throughout the interior. All lighting is LED, and some of it is dimmable.
Construction Details and Known Compromises
The snug cabin beside the aft stateroom is notably tight because the owner’s shower stall intrudes into it. This is the clearest accommodation drawback in an otherwise spacious layout.
The glued teak decks and watertight chain locker are presented as measures intended to avoid common cruising-boat leakage paths, not as repairs for earlier problems. Other details, including flush draining hatches and protected chain stowage, likewise show an emphasis on limiting water ingress.
Verdict
The Gunfleet 58 is a thoughtfully modern world cruiser. She trades some space in one secondary cabin for a bright, voluminous owner’s layout, while her centerboard provides a shoal-or-deep draft range that broadens her cruising ground.
Her hydraulic Solent rig and lines led aft to the helms make her manageable by a short crew. Construction details such as glued teak decks, flush hatches with dedicated drainage, and watertight chain stowage reflect a builder intent on avoiding common water-ingress complaints.
Pros
- Centerboard provides either 5 feet 8 inches of shoal draft or 11 feet 8 inches of deep draft
- Large, bright saloon and aft cabin, helped by the raised deck saloon and beam carried well aft
- Hydraulic furling rig with all lines led aft for short-handed handling
- Glued teak decks and a watertight chain locker address common leak paths
Cons
- The snug cabin beside the aft stateroom is tight because the shower stall intrudes into it
