Boating has always been part of Mike Cantor’s life. Raised in New Jersey, he spent countless summers cruising offshore and still remembers long conversations with his grandfather, a motoryacht enthusiast who owned classic yachts including an Elco, a Trumpy and a 1950s Chris-Craft. Cantor’s father shared that same passion for the water, introducing him to a racing sailboat when he was still an infant. As the family’s real estate development and construction business grew, so did the fleet at the Cantors’ dock. Father and son cruised, fished and explored together, developing a deep affinity for both the sea and boatbuilding.
Throughout his life Cantor combined a love of yachts with a practical passion for fishing boats. He collaborated on complex refits — including a 192-foot yacht once chartered by high-profile clients — but found greatest satisfaction in designing and operating work-oriented fishing vessels. Over the years he has owned about 30 boats, sometimes several at once. He ran everything from a 68-foot Hatteras to more compact dayboats: center consoles and a 40-foot fishing-ready catamaran. Many of those boats featured large outboards, which he grew to appreciate for their performance and simplicity.
Still, Cantor missed certain comforts common to larger yachts — a proper head, a Seakeeper gyro, and an air-conditioned cabin. That prompted him to look for a larger, more comfortable center-console that could still perform as a serious offshore fishing machine. He found what he was looking for at the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show: the 53 Sueños from Hydra-Sports Custom Boats (HCB). The 53 Sueños is a luxury center-console designed to blend high-end finishes with the functionality serious anglers demand. With a refined helm layout, a roomy cabin and a deep-V hull built for offshore conditions, it struck Cantor as the ideal combination of comfort and capability.
The Sueños also carried a personal connection: it reminded Cantor of a Hydra-Sports model he had owned in the 1970s. By 2018 the brand had refocused as HCB to emphasize customization, and at the boat show Cantor met Elias De La Torre III, HCB’s CEO. De La Torre, whose family built Plantation Boat Mart into a leading Hydra-Sports dealer before he purchased the company, saw in Cantor a demanding and knowledgeable customer. “If I can please a guy like Mike Cantor, that’s an accomplishment,” he said, noting how Cantor’s exacting expectations drove creative solutions.
Cantor arrived with a clear vision for his personal 53. HCB’s approach was pragmatic: provide a 2019 stock boat as a platform for testing and to help Cantor generate a definitive list of modifications, then build a new customized 2020 model incorporating those changes. Among the practical upgrades Cantor requested were a water maker and an icemaker — features he uses extensively and had been routinely missing on similar boats. Matt Huyge, HCB’s director of technical sales and a naval architect, recalls that Cantor’s input led HCB to offer these systems as options for the 53; several other owners have since added them.
Functional fishing features received careful attention. The cockpit setup was primarily organized for cutting bait, so the concealed grill went unused. Cantor kept the live wells, rod holders, outriggers and freezer/refrigerator but added custom tuna tubes, 14 swivel rod holders, extra electrical outlets for deep-dropping and kite fishing, and he relocated the shore power line for better access. He also upgraded the outrigger system and boosted propulsion to quad Yamaha 425-hp outboards for greater performance and reliability on long offshore runs.
A major change was Cantor’s insistence on an open bow free of lounges and a table so anglers could move easily while working the deck. Removing the bow lounges required mold modifications and a reconfigured stringer system. Huyge explains that while the stringer structure was designed to accept alterations, creating an open bow still required new engineering and system-level analysis because deck changes affect the whole boat’s structure. Removing the built-in stowage under the original lounges meant that items such as the ditch bag, life raft and cleaning supplies needed new dedicated storage; HCB created additional locker space in the cabin and on deck to accommodate them.
Cantor also fine-tuned the head layout, changing the showerhead position and shortening the sink faucet to keep the floor dry after use. Inside, he selected cabinetry, countertops and flooring with a simple, elegant eye for detail. He specified practical additions and electronics to suit heavy offshore use: chill plates for the fish boxes, a 25-kW open-array Garmin radar, dual 2-kW CHIRP transducers, SiriusXM marine weather, dual VHF radios, a cellular signal booster, two ACR spotlights and a 50-inch light bar for night swordfishing. He also opted for an Awlgrip painted finish rather than the standard HCB gelcoat for improved durability and shine.
Throughout the build HCB remained flexible and collaborative. Cantor says the process from delivery onward was smooth and that the team’s readiness to discuss and implement changes made a difference. The customized 53 launched in the fall of 2020 and now rests on a lift at Cantor’s home in Manalapan, Florida. He’s looking forward to cruising the Atlantic coast and fishing in the Florida Keys and the Bahamas, enjoying both the boat’s offshore performance and the comfortable accommodations it provides for extended trips.
Specifications
LOA: 52’11”
Beam: 13’0”
Draft (engines up): 2’8”
Weight: 31,500 lbs.
Power: (4) 425-hp Yamaha XTO outboards
Fuel: 1,000 gals.
Water: 60 gals.
This article was originally published in the February 2021 issue.