Boat test for the 2005 Silverton 45 Convertible including boat specifications, photo galleries, boat videos, boat layout diagrams, boat test numbers, boat test results, and boat speed graphs. Also includes pricing, engine test reviews, ratings, standard features, and gear for the 2005 Silverton 45 Convertible.

I was sitting on my boat at my hometown marina in Freeport, New York, when a voice called out from down the dock, "Hey kid, you gotta see dis" in a distinctly Brooklynese tone. It was the captain of a Silverton 48 Convertible dubbed Caribbean Queen. The boat was spending the summer in my marina, and since Capt. Joe and I had exchanged hellos and shared dock talk over the season, he was inviting me onboard to see his boat. I took him up on the offer, especially knowing that I had an upcoming sea trial on Silverton's prototype 45 Convertible just a few days later, and this would give me a good opportunity to understand the look, layout, and philosophy behind this New Jersey builder's bigger boats.

The 2003 48 was impressive. I especially liked the electric panel behind the flat-panel LCD TV, to starboard just as you enter the saloon from the cockpit. I simply flipped up the TV, and there it was. I also liked the galley-up, large dinette to starboard, and L-shape Ultraleather settee to port. In addition, the 715-hp Volvo Penta D12s were housed in an engine room that gave me stand-up headroom (I'm 5'7").

After spending about an hour onboard listening to the captain praise the virtues of this 48, including how he ran her in six-plus-footers from New York City to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, last season without issue, I was ready to see what her new little sister had to offer. That is if you consider this 45-footer, which bridges the size difference between Silverton's 42- and 50-footer, little.

The minute I spotted her at the docks of New York's Tobay Beach Boat Show, I was struck by the 45's lines. Her wraparound windshield allows light to flood into the saloon, narrowing at the sides and accenting the raked flying bridge and curvaceous pilasters, which are equipped with sturdy stainless steel handholds. They not only complement the boat's lines, but they come in handy when transiting the two 15-inch steps from the cockpit up to the side decks. And there's another handhold under the flying-bridge overhang, a detail that makes me suspect a well-versed boater had a hand in this vessel's design. Silverton added more handholds along the flying bridge and a bowrail that was thigh-high on me and starts just forward of the house. Consequently, you're never left without something to hold onto. Combine this with an aggressive molded-in diamond nonskid, and you get a secure feeling maneuvering around all points.

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