Boat test for the 2007 Hatteras 60GT Convertible with boat pictures, boat specifications, and boat test results. Includes pricing, videos, engine test reviews, and ratings for the 2007 Hatteras 60GT Convertible.

This technique saved the builder 5,000 pounds of weight, and the savings directly affects bottom loading, which Angel says was a major factor in this boat's speedy nature. To explain bottom loading, let's say a boat's running surface was 100 square feet and the displacement of that surface was 1,000 pounds. The result would be ten pounds of load per square foot of bottom. So if you could shave 100 pounds of that displacement for the same size area, the bottom load becomes nine pounds per square foot, which means you need less hull structure. Now when the 60 is honkin' with a minimal amount of hull surface in the water at high-end speeds, she is lighter than her hand-laid predecessors and therefore has a lower bottom load. According to Angel, my test vessel has the lowest bottom loading of any Hatteras built to date. And because the hull is resin-infused, she's even stronger. (To even further reduce weight and enhance the vessel's toughness, the builder used PVC foam core in the hull sides and superstructure.)

The 60's nimble, too. During my wheel time, her Hynautic hydraulic, power-assisted steering was fingertip-responsive, and the boat rode like she was on rails. In addition, the Twin Disc Quickshift transmission's deep 2.48:1 reduction was deliberate and real time during shifting and spinning those massive Veem wheels. It makes sense that her hardware would be as overbuilt as her hull. She's a fine specimen of a sportfisherman, indeed.

The popularity of mezzanine seating has been on the rise for several years. Why? It offers shade on a hot day and a great place to watch baits.

However, that doesn't mean she's lacking niceties: a standard 42-inch plasma TV in the cherrywood-accented saloon, Cruisair air conditioning blasting from the decorative and subtle overhead valances, a comfy master stateroom, two guest staterooms, and two heads with top-of-the-line Headhunter MSDs. She's fishy with 60-inch-long big-eye-capable cockpit fishboxes, deep-freeze bait stowage under shady standard mezzanine seating, an optional PipeWelders tower, and enough food stowage for a crew to hit the tournament trail for quite a while. Heck, the amount of food I saw in the optional flying-bridge freezer alone was enough to keep a crew happy for a month.

The most telling part of my time in the Bahamas with the 60 came during a dinner when I saw some helicopter footage of the tournament boats heading out in the rough stuff on day one. There was the 60, out in front, taking the ever-swelling sea to task and busting through like a silverback knocking down the forest. She never looked back because she knew no one was there to see. If you like to be out in front of the rest of the pack, Hatteras has an 85,000-pound gorilla of a battlewagon ready to put you there.

For more information on Hatteras, including contact information, click here.

SPOTLIGHT ON: Interior Arrangement

The choice is yours. Hatteras Yachts has put together a vessel that is about customization and therefore offers four layout options for your 60GT. You can run her as lean as the more traditional three-stateroom, two-head vessel we tested (first layout at right) or as busy as the four-stateroom, three-head setup (next to last layout). This kind of choice goes hand in hand with other options such as interior woods. Teak? Anigre? Maple? Cherry? Yes, you can have those and many others. Aside from moving bulkheads, this builder offers a fair amount of interior customization for its owners.—P.S.

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