One beer in hand, one thumb on the remote — the 2026 Bali 5.8 shows how its hydraulic tender platform turns launch-and-recover into a party trick.
Most catamaran walkthroughs start in the saloon. This one starts at the stern — and stays there, because the feature on show is the one that shapes how you actually use a 58-foot cruising cat day to day. The video for S/V Bali 5.8, a 2026 Bali 5.8 listed by Eric Macklin, is a live demonstration of the yacht’s hydraulic tender platform and its wireless controller.
One remote, two jobs
The presenter holds up the handheld transmitter and explains its dual function: it slides the platform aft, and it drops it. That sequencing matters. The platform first extends so the tender clears the structure behind it, leaving what he points out as “a nice walkway all the way across” — full-beam transom access preserved rather than blocked by the dinghy. Only once it’s clear do the big locks get released and the tender descends toward the water.
His phrasing about holding a beer in one hand while he works the controller is a joke, but it makes the real point: this is a single-handed operation. No crew on the swim steps, no wrestling with davit falls.
The beach club moment
What he does next is the part cruising families will linger on. Lower the platform a little further, float the tender off, and the platform itself becomes a submerged terrace. In his words, it becomes “a really nice beach” — a shallow place where people can sit in the water and relax. On a boat this size, that transforms an anchorage: swimming, boarding, kids in and out of the water, all from a stable step rather than a ladder.
Recovery, and the detail that makes it repeatable
The retrieval sequence is where the demonstration earns its keep. The platform carries chocks for the tender’s hull, and he shows his personal lining-up trick — a specific cleat on the platform that he aligns with a reference point on the boat, so he knows the dinghy is sitting exactly where it needs to be over the chocks every time. Lift, settle into the chocks, reset the lock that holds the assembly in position, then raise until the platform is level with the aft deck floor. He then slides the whole thing back in, leaving that clear walking space intact.
The final step is seamanship rather than hydraulics: the tender gets strapped down with cross straps so she doesn’t shift when the boat is under way. It’s a small closing note, but it’s the kind of thing an owner-operator — not a salesperson — thinks to mention.
Where she sits in the market
The Bali 5.8 is a rare bird on the brokerage market. As of now, YachtSite shows a single active listing:
| Active Bali 5.8 listings | 1 |
|---|---|
| Asking price | $1,458,000 |
| Median asking | $1,458,000 |
The video is short and single-minded, but it answers a question buyers of big cats always ask: how hard is the tender to deal with? Here, the honest answer appears to be “not very.”