Warm. that’s the feeling I got when I laid eyes on the Vicem 58 Classic at the Bahia Mar marina in Fort Lauderdale. The yacht’s high-gloss mahogany sliding doors reflected bright morning sunlight, highlighting a fine finish. When combined with the soft feel of the teak cockpit beneath my feet, the sight made the environment cozy and inviting.
A sunshade extends from the hardtop on demand to cover the cockpit when the day’s rays become too intense, and it’s especially helpful when preparing lunch at the outdoor Bosch electric cooktop to starboard. Relaxation space out here is in the form of an L-shaped settee that stretches along the transom and up the port side. Just forward of that settee is a smaller one for two.
Simple Elegance
Accommodations
With two fingers, I pushed on one of the cockpit doors, and both opened in concert, revealing an unobstructed salon floor plan. Light-tone and opposing settees were to port and starboard. The helm console, with side-deck access via a door next to it, was forward and to starboard. The setup is solid for shorthanded cruising, and the yacht’s 4-foot-9-inch draft makes her Bahamas-friendly.
She is built tough, with a cold-molded, mahogany hull supporting an in-house-designed hard-chine, planing hull form. Power for the 58 comes from twin 725 hp Volvo Penta D11 straight-shaft diesels, and bow and stern thrusters help with close-quarters maneuverability.
Vicem says the yacht has a 25-knot cruise speed and a 29-knot top-end. That’s some thoroughly modern performance wrapped in an ageless design built to time-tested and exacting standards.
THE FINER POINTS
