I have significant experience on a 54 hat about 07'. Station wagon effect was terrible. Can I capitalize terrible? And if you weren't getting wet from the station wagon effect you were getting wet from the thousands of gallons of say coming up off the bow. She ran great in a head sea but rolled a lot in anything else.
I've had different experiences. I find the 54' to be a great seaboat and is great in a head sea. Will roll a little with a good sea on the beam, but nothing crazy and still rode very good. A touch wet, but nothing like you're saying and also not much of the station wagon effect from my experiences. In fact had an owner bring one across last Sunday in 6-8' seas and ran the boat with the center curtain open the entire time and 28 knots. Yeah it had a little salt inside the FB area, but nothing you'd think of in those seas. Now the 50' is a different story.