Trivia of the day for the big 60:

Along with radar and wicker lounge, table, and chairs, you got a full size automatic dish-washer as standard equipment.

The boat (of which only nine (9) were ever built during the two years of production, seven of which were the Commander and 2 of which were the Commander Motor Yacht, weighed in at 80,235 pounds, had a 1000 gal fuel capacity, and was powered with GM diesels. One source says 12V-71N and another says 478-HP, which suggests it may have been the 12V-71T. In any case, it's the largest fiberglass Commander ever built, and Chris Smith spoke about how they crafted the big hull molds, when he gave his talk at the 2009 Chris Craft Commander Rendezvous, Huron, Ohio.

During 1972 - 76 Chris Craft was also building 26 of the very fine 60' Aluminum Roamers with similar power, but weight for the aluminum boat was down to 68,500 pounds. That would make the Roamer faster and more fuel efficint, but perhaps not as solid of a feel. During 1973 - 75 they built 15 of the 68' Roamers, weighing in at 94,150 pounds with similar power. During the earlier time frame of 1963 - 68, Chris Craft built 262 57' (wood) Constellations (25 during the last three years of production), power for that luxo-yacht was a pair of 430 Lincolns, GM 8V-71, or Cat 333. On November 4, 1972 the last mahogany Constellation rolled out of the Chris Craft plant, and then there were no more.

In Chris Smith's book, he lists a 73' Roamer, and a 74' Roamer. He commented that the 74' Roamer hull was designed by Bob Director, and the first boat beat Gar Wood's speed record from Miami to New York. Gar Wood, by the way, had a narrow beam wood yacht powered by Liberty V-12 surplus aircraft engines that he had marinized. Therefore the big Roamer was able to really step it out!

I'll add some photo scans shortly, thankfully the days of shag carpet are gone aboard luxury yachts! ( What were they thinking ?? )

Regards,

Paul

The boats were the same, with the exception that the MY had an air conditioned enclosed aft deck. The floor plans were a bit odd for that aft enclosure, however, and only two of these were built. The reason it was sort of odd, was the fact that within the 18' beam, this aft deckhouse was enclosed in glass, with a full walk-around deck encircling it outboard. This made the enclosed space more narrow than a full 18' beam, still about 12' wide, but that outboard walk-around certainly helped when it came time to tend to lines. I guess the boat was big enough to handle this feature, but I have been on some 47' Commanders that had the full width aft enclosure, some modified by the owner, and these boats provided a much nicer entertainment space. The walk-around decks were cool, however. I am wondering if these two yachts still exist in un-modified form, and also wondering if the other seven Commander models were ever modified with an aftermarket aft enclosure of full width, etc.

In any case, a 60' Commander with that full width 18' open aft deck would be some world-class entertaining potential, and the aft enclosure of the Motor Yacht wouldn't be too shabby either, especially for tropical waters.

Anyone seen one of these big yachts around the Great Lakes, Eastern Seaboard, or Florida?

Regards, Paul