Filmed at the factory in Collioure, this walkthrough of Bali's largest catamaran yet trades sales patter for stew on the stove and a hard foredeck you could host a party on.
Most boat tours start with a spec sheet. This one starts at a market stall in Collioure. The Bali team member leading the walkthrough of the S/V Bali 5.8 has been out early buying local peppers, Toulouse onions, garlic, shallots, chorizo and prawns, and by the time his guest Sam steps aboard, lunch is already the organising principle of the visit. It is a disarming way to present a 58-foot catamaran — and, as it turns out, a revealing one, because the galley is where this boat makes its first real argument.
Built where it’s shown
The video is filmed in Collioure, in the south of France close to the Spanish border, which is where the 5.8 is built. It is the largest boat Bali has launched: 17 metres long, 9.06 metres wide, and around 25 tonnes — a little longer still if you count the hydraulic platform aft and the bowsprit for the headsails. The host frames it as a deliberate step up from the 5.4, enlarged and improved to meet what he describes as growing demand from Bali’s customers.
Scale is easy to claim and hard to feel on camera, but the 5.8 conveys it through circulation. There is no central bulkhead dividing the boat in two, which is the founding idea behind the Bali layout: interior that becomes exterior, and vice versa.
A galley built for someone who actually cooks
The galley sits amidships and is, in the host’s words, a masterpiece. Spice storage, deep drawers sized for large pots, a dishwasher, a handsome double sink, an oven, a bin, more stowage, and a cooker he calls enormous — all positioned so the cook stays connected to the forward cockpit on one side and the guest table on the other. Crucially, it is sheltered, with everything within reach and something solid to brace against in a seaway.
His reasoning is practical rather than romantic: a boat this size, whether privately owned or chartered, will almost always carry crew. “If you don’t offer a beautiful galley to the chef,” he says, “you won’t get a good one.” The same logic drove the decision to enlarge the skipper’s cabin.
Cabins: this one is a 3 + 1
The 5.8 is offered in three, four, five and up to six-cabin configurations, plus crew quarters. The boat in the video is a 3 + 1: three cabins plus a large owner’s cabin. The forward cabin has a queen berth facing the sea — with a view over Collioure — a hanging locker, under-berth stowage, cupboards, its own shower and separate heads, and access to the forepeak from inside. A midships cabin, suitable for two children or two friends and convertible to an island queen, has its own shower and separate WC.
The aft cabin is the interesting one. It can serve guests or crew, has a large double facing the sea, a hanging locker, drawers, a heads with separate shower — and no internal access to the rest of the boat. You step out onto deck. For owners who want genuine separation from crew, or for a couple who value privacy, that detail matters more than a brochure line about square metres.
The engine room, and what’s in it
Bali’s design brief includes generous machinery spaces, and the host makes a point of it: there is nothing worse than contorting yourself to change a filter. Inside is the hydraulic system and the pump for the aft platform, a large calorifier in each hull, a fire extinguisher, and a watermaker rated at 240 litres per hour — roughly 55 to 60 US gallons depending on water temperature, which he notes is essential with twelve people aboard. Power comes from Nanni diesels; this boat has 110 hp, with 80 hp standard and 110 or 135 hp available. At around 9 knots the engines turn under 2,000 rpm — quiet, unstressed and economical.
| Standard | 80 | |||
| Optional | 110 | |||
| Optional | 135 |
The Bali door, the rooftop, and the rest
When a Pyrenean squall rolls through mid-tour, the boat gets to demonstrate itself. The tilting Bali door opens and closes hydraulically at the push of a button — two hydraulic springs on either side — and the result is a saloon that is simultaneously inside and outside, dry and ventilated, with the deckhouse acting as a ventilation tunnel. Closed, it preserves the full interior volume. Air conditioning (with heating) and a TV that slides away complete the cafe saloon, alongside a table seating around twelve and a full-length under-sole stowage hold that is largely empty and dry — room for provisioning crates for fourteen people.
Aft, the cockpit is lined with lockers — liferaft, spare fenders, lines — plus a barbecue mounted outboard so smoke stays out of the saloon, a spare gas bottle locker, utensil stowage, and full walk-through access to the hydraulic platform. Lowered, it takes the tender; lowered further, it sits just under the surface so children can swim safely. There is a bathing ladder, a bench to dry off on and a shower.
Forward, the rigid foredeck is the signature Bali feature: sunpads, a dining table, and a structural beam that adds rigidity and buoyancy forward so the boat doesn’t pitch. A vast gelcoated fender locker holds seven fenders plus warps; alongside it sits an insulated 17.5 kW generator locker. Side boarding gates with a deployable ladder handle alongside berthing.
Up top, the host prefers “rooftop” to flybridge — it seats around twenty, split into a sunpad aft, a lounge with a table intended for cocktails rather than dining (the real table is below), and a helm with a flexible seat that doubles as a leaning post. There is a fridge up here for the beers, big lockers under the seats, a small unit with fresh water for rinsing glasses, and a hardtop for shade. Winches and sailing gear are kept forward, away from the guests.
Where it sits in the market
The 5.8 remains a rare sight on the brokerage market. On YachtSite, the picture is currently straightforward:
| Active Bali 5.8 listings | 1 |
|---|---|
| Asking range | $1,458,000 |
| Median asking | $1,458,000 |
What the video ultimately conveys is a boat designed around how large catamarans are actually used: crew who need to be kept happy, guests who need somewhere to be that isn’t the helm, and an owner who wants their own end of the boat. The stew helps, too.
For full details and to contact listing broker Eric Macklin, View the full listing on YachtSite.com