Fairline Squadron 58 Review and Generation Guide

Fairline Squadron 58: a third act for a famous name

The Fairline Squadron 58 name has been on three different boats. The one in Fairline's range today made its global debut at the 2023 Southampton Boat Show and its European debut at boot Dusseldorf in January 2024, replacing the Squadron 53. Fairline calls it the heart of the Squadron range, sitting above the Squadron 50, and it is the first Fairline with fold-down aft terraces and a full beach club.

Before it came the original Squadron 58, built from 2000 to 2008, which MBY named the greatest flybridge of all time in its 2004 centenary issue, and a second-generation 58 built from 2010 to 2013. Both are popular on the brokerage market and both are covered in their own section below, because their specifications have nothing in common with the new boat.

Slide and Hide: how the beach club works

The headline option transforms the stern. A submersible Slide and Hide bathing platform extends from a slot in the base of the transom, adding about 3 feet 3 inches (1 m) of length and roughly doubling the platform, without the marina fees of a longer hull. Above it, two hydraulic bulwarks fold down into terraces; on the port side a drop-down window lets two slot-in stools turn the aft galley counter into a bar, while the starboard balcony becomes a spot for coffee and a book.

The cockpit gets a glazed transom and modular furniture light enough to move, there is an optional slide-out barbecue at water level, and the transverse crew cabin under the steps can be specified as a day head so the beach club works independently of the interior. MBY says the package adds more than 200,000 pounds but called it among the very best beach clubs at this size. Traditionalists can instead choose a fixed or hi-lo platform big enough for a Williams 345 jet tender.

An asymmetric main deck

Fairline broke up the usual boxy saloon with angles. The aft end of the superstructure pushes further aft to port than to starboard, lengthening the galley and freeing cockpit space for the flybridge ladder, and the aft doors are set at a slight angle to the transom. Forward, a shallow diagonal step leads to a subtly skewed dinette facing an oblique settee, both undercut and lit from below.

The galley-aft layout suits alfresco life, with a big fridge in the main unit, two more under the starboard worktop and a deep refrigerated chest under a lid in the counter. Combined with a 700 liter water tank, MBY reckoned six people could cruise for a fortnight between provisioning stops. Both helms are on the starboard side, with pilot and co-pilot seats upstairs and down.

A fixed three-cabin lower deck

Unlike the deck, the lower deck is not configurable. There is a full-beam owner's cabin amidships with its bathroom to port, a twin cabin to starboard and a VIP in the bow whose bathroom to port also serves as the day head. Owners can choose oak or walnut veneers in satin or high-gloss finishes. An optional cabin for two aft, with its own transom door, serves crew or overflow guests.

MBY's first boat showed some prototype niggles, including a settee cushion that could slip off its base and no catch to hold the flybridge hatch open, and the tester would have liked something more inventive than the usual inward-facing settee on the starboard side of the saloon and owner's cabin.

Sea trial: running angle, noise and fuel

Fairline offers only two engine choices, twin Volvo Penta D13s on straight shafts at 900 or 1,000 hp, for about 30 and 32 knots respectively. MBY's test boat with the 1,000 hp engines reached 31 knots, with sound levels of 66 dB at cruise and never more than 74 dB at the top end. Fuel burn was 211 liters per hour (55.7 US gallons) at 20 knots and 88.4 liters per hour (23.4 gallons) at 9.9 knots, for published ranges of 210 and 249 nautical miles from 2,774 liters (732 US gallons).

The tester found a noticeable bow-up attitude of about 5.2 degrees at speed, partly due to extra aft buoyancy designed in to carry the beach club hydraulics. Manually trimming down to about 4 degrees gained half a knot for the same fuel flow. Steering on the first boat was undercooked at speed, and Fairline reported it had already tweaked the rudder angles to fix it, so check the turning circle on any early hull.

• LOA 58 ft 5 in (17.81 m), beam 16 ft 4 in (4.99 m), draft 4 ft 10 in
• Dry weight about 33,000 kg; air draft 23 ft 8 in
• Fuel 732 US gal; water 185 US gal
• 31 knots measured; 55.7 gph at 20 knots

The 2000 to 2008 and 2010 to 2013 Squadron 58s

The original Squadron 58 is a cult boat. MBY's used boat report on a 2008 example, offered at Sunseeker Poole for 650,000 euros, highlighted its interior staircase, a feature since out of fashion, and a clever four-cabin layout with the owner's suite in the bow. Listings show Mk1 boats with Caterpillar engines of around 700 hp and Volvos of around 840 hp, and recent asking prices run from about 368,000 to 567,000 euros for 2001 to 2008 boats.

The second-generation Squadron 58 ran from 2010 to 2013. Listings show twin Volvo Penta engines of about 800 hp, with recent asking prices of about $550,000 in Singapore and 600,000 to 899,000 euros in Europe. Neither older boat has the beach club, angled saloon or full-beam midships master layout of the 2023 model, so compare them on condition and specification rather than name.

Price, resale and running costs

MBY lists a starting price of 1,550,000 pounds excluding VAT and a test-boat price of 2,380,000 pounds ex VAT, about 2.86 million including VAT. In dollars, expect roughly $2.1 million for a base boat and well over $3 million fully optioned. Values have held well so far, with nearly new 2025 boats in the Balearics asking about 2.28 to 2.5 million euros before tax.

Running costs are those of a 60 foot twin-D13 flybridge. At 20 knots you will burn about 56 gallons an hour, so a season of fast cruising adds up quickly. Allow $80,000 to $150,000 a year for slip, insurance, service of engines, generator and hydraulics, stabilizer maintenance and part-time crew. Fairline extended its new-boat warranty to three years in 2026.