A funny thing happened to Nordhavn chief of design Jeff Leishman one day while he was standing on the docks, looking out at the boats. Before him were a Nordhavn 120 and a Nordhavn 96, docked side by side. He knows each model inside and out, but in that moment, he realized just how different in size the two vessels were, and how hard it might be for owners to move up from one to the next. “It was evident that we needed something in between,” he says.

Enter the Nordhavn 112, which the company hopes will appeal not only to buyers looking to move up to a bigger boat, but also to buyers who want to downsize from larger yachts with extensive crew into something less complex.

“I think this design would be a perfect fit for anyone who has owned a large yacht with lots of crew and is looking to simplify things,” Leishman says. “Or anyone looking to upsize from something smaller and wants a true expedition yacht. She’ll be versatile enough to be ideal for a number of different buyers.”

Leishman expects the Nordhavn 112 to come in at less than 400 gross tons, with more manageable equipment and systems that can be handled by a small crew. The full-displacement steel hull will be able to carry enough fuel for transoceanic crossings, and the superstructure could be built in either aluminum or FRP.

Accommodations will include five staterooms for 10 people: a master and four queen-berth guest spaces. There also will be quarters for six crew, along with superyacht-style amenities such as fold-out balconies, a flybridge hot tub and a gym. The deck abaft the pilothouse will be sized to carry a 26-foot tender in addition to a smaller inflatable and personal watercraft.  

The post Go-Anywhere Style: the Nordhavn 112 appeared first on Yachting.

Top Trawlers 

The following 15 trawlers are all vessels we’ve written about. They are listed in no particular order.

• Nordhavn 96: Built for an owner who desired to self-sufficiently while cruising the world, literally.
• Beneteau Grand Trawler 62: This trawler can travel nonstop for 1,000 nautical miles.
• Kadey-Krogen 52: This twin-engine-capable, all-oceans trawler is a solid fit for voyaging cruising couples.
• Bering Yachts B76: The B76 is the builder’s first fully custom trawler in this size range.
• Ranger Tugs R-43 Command Bridge: This vessel is equally comfortable at a 7-knot stroll or an 18-knot jog.
• Beneteau 48 Swift Trawler: Based on the builder’s Swift Trawler 47, this yacht has a resin-infused fiberglass hull.
• Kadey-Krogen 50 Open: The 50 Open can cruise at 6 knots nonstop for 5,000 nautical miles.
• Outer Reef 620 Trident: It has a three-stateroom layout and optional 600 hp Cummins diesels.
• Grand Banks 60 Skylounge: This yacht is efficient across a variety of cruising speeds.
• Krogen Express 52: Headroom to spare, two staterooms, a chef-ready galley and long range define this trawler yacht.
• Grand Banks 85 Skylounge: Grand Banks’ V-warp hull form makes for a level running attitude, seakindliness and long range.
• Vicem Yachts 82 Classic: Construction is in cold-molded, strip-planked mahogany with epoxy.
• Outer Reef 610 Motoryacht: Power on this Outer Reef is a pair of 500 hp John Deere 6090 diesels.
• Nordhavn 59 Coastal Pilot: Did someone say this is a 20-knot Nordhavn?
• Marlow 58E: A high level of customization and admirable performance are at the heart of the Marlow 58E.

Nordhavn 96

The Nordhavn 96 is the yacht builder’s second-largest yacht its 17-model fleet, which ranges from 41 to 120 feet length overall. (There is a new 112 on the drawing table.) The builder says the N96 is based on its earlier 86-footer with a 10-foot cockpit extension, which increases both main-deck, skylounge and below-deck volume. The N96 we reviewed was built by an owner who previously had an 86-foot Nordhavn, but with his plans for extended cruises to remote destinations, the 96 was the right size for his voyaging plans. In fact, since the owner took delivery of the boat, it has been on a continuous circumnavigation.

Quick Specifications

Beneteau Grand Trawler 62

Beneteau’s Grand Trawler 62 has 1,000-plus-mile range and 20-knot speed with twin 730 hp i6 MAN diesels. The Grand Trawler 62 is the builder’s flagship in its Trawler series, which also includes the Swift Trawler 35, Swift Trawler 41 Sedan,  Swift Trawler 41 Fly and Swift Trawler 48. Small touches set the Beneteau Grand Trawler 62 apart. They include sea rails on all lockers to keep stowed food and gear in place, leather-wrapped interior handrails for security in a seaway, and leather drawer pulls like those found on larger yachts. Long-range cruising accommodations include a full-beam master stateroom aft, a forepeak VIP and twin-berth guest stateroom. A Quick X3 gyrostabilizer helps mitigate any potential rocking and rolling on rough days.

Quick Specifications

Kadey-Krogen 52

The Kadey-Krogen 52 is the trawler-yacht builder’s smallest offering in its raised-pilothouse series, complete with a Portuguese Bridge. Owners can choose from either a two- or three-stateroom layout, and between a single-diesel engine or twin-diesel engines, for owners seeking redundancy. The standard engine is a 231 hp John Deere diesel. With the single-engine setup, draft is 5’5” and with twins it’s a shallower 4’6”. At 6 knots, range is an ocean-crossing 4,850 nautical miles. At 7 knots, it’s 3,300 nm. At 9 knots, it 1,700 nm. The builder states, “The entire Krogen 52 is built from only three molded pieces for maximized structural integrity. There are no additional secondary bonds or caulk joints that can inevitably cause issues. All deck and superstructures are cored and vacuum-bagged to maximize strength while minimizing weight.” Additionally, six longitudinal stringers enhance overall strength.

Quick Specifications

Bering Yachts B76

Lemanja is the first custom boat that Bering has built in this size range. The yacht is notable for its steel hull and aluminum superstructure, and for its 4,000-nautical-mile-plus range with its twin 404 hp Cummins QSL9 diesel engines. As rugged as the Bering 76 is built on the outside, it also offers homelike comforts in its skylounge inside, offering panoramic views out large windows surrounding the space. Sole-to-ceiling glass offers similar views in the open-plan salon. Accommodations are fox six guests in three staterooms with a master stateroom and two guest staterooms, plus crew accommodations. In addition to its traditional diesel engines, the B76 has a solar-rechargeable battery bank for hybrid propulsion.

Quick Specifications

Ranger Tugs R-43 Command Bridge

The Ranger Tugs R-43 Command Bridge is a long-distance cruiser with creature comforts. Our expert found the R-43 Command Bridge to be a solid candidate to cruise The Great Loop. We agree. Twin Volvo Penta IPS450 pod drives give the boat efficient low and high cruise speeds at 7 and 18 knots, respectively. For those that have work during their cruise, the R-43 Command bridge’s master stateroom is set up with an office with a desk. Long trips require extra stowage and a way to clean salty clothes, so on the R-43 Command Bridge there is a washer, dryer, auxiliary refrigerator/freezer and stowage under the dinette, which rises on electric rams. Voyagers who buy a R-43 Commander Bridge can opt for a Factory Delivery Experience, which is three days of instruction on Puget Sound, and includes in boat systems, handling and maintenance.

Quick Specifications

Beneteau Swift Trawler 48

The Beneteau Swift Trawler 48 has a 1,300-nautical-mile range at 8 knots, but can also speed away at 26 knots if the weather goes south in a hurry. Based on the builder’s 47-footer, the three-stateroom, two-head Swift Trawler 48 has a resin-infused fiberglass hull. Power is a pair of 425 hp Cummins diesels. The main-deck layout includes a galley aft setup, which is accessible to the cockpit. There, the seating and dining area can be fully enclosed, with tracks in place for side curtains. The helmsman is kept comfortable on long passages with a bolstered, pedestal bucket-style seat with a flip-up footrest. The Swift Trawler 48 we reviewed had upgraded 12-inch Raymarine HybridTouch displays (9-inch screens are standard).

Quick Specifications

Kadey-Krogen 50 Open

Designed for serious extended cruising, Kadey-Krogen Yachts 50 Open provides owners with amenities that will enhance those longer passages. The galley is fitted with a Sub-Zero refrigerator and freezer, a four-burner Wolf range, a microwave and an optional dishwasher. Unlike in many trawlers and their traditional pilothouse design, the galley is located on the same level as the helm and salon. Belowdecks is the master stateroom amidships with two hanging lockers, 12 cabinets, additional drawers for stowage and an en suite head, shower and two sinks. Forward of the master is an office. The 50 Open’s hull has soft chines and a curved after end, much like the characteristics of a sailboat built for cruising. The result is an efficient hull form that provides a gentle landing into troughs when the sea gets a temper. This trawler can cruise at 6 knots for 5,000 nautical miles; 7 knots for 3,000 nautical miles; 8 knots for 2,100 nautical miles; and 9 knots for 1,200 nautical miles.

Quick Specifications

Outer Reef 620 Trident

Outer Reef Yachts 620 Trident delivers a three-stateroom layout and optional 600 hp Cummins diesels that allow this vessel to approach a top hop of 21 knots. Cruising speed is a little over 16 knots, burning about 34 gallons of fuel per hour at 2,750 rpm. The amidships master stateroom has 6-foot-8-inch headroom, a walk-in closet and a shower enclosed in smoked glass. In the forepeak VIP stateroom, there are seven drawers, a hanging locker, a 31-inch Samsung TV and 7-foot headroom. The portside guest stateroom can convert to an office, too. The aft galley has a U-shape countertop, a three-burner electric cooktop, a Bosch microwave and a Vitrifrigo refrigerator and freezer. Cherry, walnut and oak are the available wood options.

Quick Specifications

Grand Banks 60 Skylounge

It’s obvious after a quick peek inside the Grand Banks 60 Skylounge that the Grand Banks Yachts trademark external DNA is retained. The deck, cabin house and skylounge are all composed of infused carbon fiber, reducing weight aloft and creating a lower center of gravity. With twin 900 hp Volvo Penta D13 diesels, the 60 Skylounge can accelerate to 31 knots and cruise at about 25 knots. The 60 Skylounge can also travel up to 2,000 nautical miles at 10 knots on a 1,530-gallon fuel tank. Twin 1,000 hp Volvo Penta IPS1200s are also available.

Quick Specifications

Krogen Express 52

The Krogen Express 52 runs on twin 440 hp Yanmar diesels and can cruise at 8 knots for 1,680 nautical miles or at 16 knots for 500 nautical miles. Top hop:  22 knots. In the interior, Krogen Express has outfitted the 52 with a master stateroom and a guest stateroom. The former has a queen island berth, more than 7-foot headroom, hanging lockers and smaller cubbies to port and to starboard, and an en suite head with a molded fiberglass shower stall with a seat, a VacuFlush toilet and a granite countertop. A power lift elevates the berth and grants access to more stowage underneath. The Krogen Express 52’s salon has a 26-inch HD LED TV and a home-theater system, leather Stressless chairs to port and a built-in, L-shape settee to starboard. The galley boasts granite countertops, a three-burner Force 10 propane range with an oven, a refrigerator, a GE microwave oven, a deep Elkay sink and a pullout sprayer faucet. There is a Buff Ultraleather Stidd helm seat for extra comfort during long runs.

Quick Specifications

Grand Banks 85 Skylounge

The Grand Banks 85 Skylounge comes in at more than 87 feet length overall and displaces 108,000 pounds, with a 22-plus-foot beam and an air draft of just under 26 feet. Owners can choose either a three- or four-stateroom layout. The standard motors are twin 1,000 hp Volvo Penta IPS diesels, twin 1,300 hp MAN straight-shaft diesels are optional. With the larger engines, owners can also choose an optional stern thruster, in addition to the standard bow thruster. With the IPS diesels, top speed is 26.5 knots and fuel burn is 100 gallons per hour, resulting in a range of 699 nautical miles. At a 21-knot cruise speed, fuel consumption drops to 57 gph, and range climbs to 972 nm. At a 9-knot jog, fuel burn falls to 9 gph, and the Grand Banks 85 Skylounge can cruise nonstop for about 2,500 nautical miles.

Quick Specifications

Vicem 82 Classic Flybridge

The Vicem 82 Classic is a flybridge model built in cold-molded mahogany, which creates a stout hull form with reduced weight. The yacht is notable for its timeless Downeast lines and strong joiner work. For cruising enthusiasts, the Classic 82 Flybridge is powered with twin 900 hp Volvo Penta D13 diesels. The yacht has a top-end speed of 17.8 knots, and the cruising speed is 15 knots. At 9 knots, and considering a 10-percent fuel reserve, range is reportedly 1,100 nautical miles.  Accommodations three en-suite-equipped staterooms. The master stateroom is full-beam and amidships with a king-size berth is on centerline. The starboard-side guest stateroom and a forepeak VIP each have queen-size berths.

Quick Specifications

Outer Reef 610 Motoryacht

Built for an enthusiastic cruising couple after a three-year boat search, the Outer Reef Yachts 610 Motoryacht (part of the builder’s Classic series), was customized with a fore-and-aft berth in the owners’ stateroom (as in, not athwartships), and berths rather than bunks in the smaller of two guest staterooms. This Outer Reef 610 was designed to be used as a liveaboard vessel, so the salon is not set up for dining (there are tables in the pilothouse, on the aft deck and on the bridge). A pair of swivel chairs in the salon face the built-in couch and the pop-up TV to port. The 610 is built with hand-laid fiberglass, PVC coring above the waterline, resin infusion and a vinylester barrier coat against osmosis. Power is twin 500 hp John Deere 6090 diesels turning ZF transmissions. The 610 tops out at about 13.5 knots with full tanks and 21 people aboard. The engines burn 20 gph at 1,800 rpm for 11 knots at 45 percent engine load. Those numbers should allow it to cross oceans without shortening engine life.

Quick Specifications

Nordhavn 59 Coastal Pilot

Nordhavn has long been known for its stout circumnavigation-capable craft, and the Nordhavn 59 Coastal Pilot carries on the the tradition of a beefy build with addition of…speed. Twenty-knots-plus, actually. Twin 715 hp Cummins diesel inboards and a new semidisplacement hull form are said to be key to the performance equation. The Nordhavn 59CP has a 777-nautical-mile range at a 9.3-knot cruise, and a 255-nm range at its 20.3-knot top-end. Construction is a solid fiberglass hull bottom supported by full-length longitudinal stringers and a series of transversal supports for added backbone. High freeboard should keep the decks dry in a seaway, while rails keep the crew secure during transits. Nordhavn says the 59CP has a “CE category A unlimited offshore rating, ensuring the vessel has the seakeeping and strength capabilities to take on most serious coastal cruises up to 1,000 miles.”

Quick Specifications

Marlow Yachts 58E

Following on the successful Marlow 57, the Marlow 58E was started from scratch on a blank sheet of paper. The essence of the 58E is that it has better performance and more internal and external volume than her predecessor. The centerline length grew 10 inches over the 57, but the waterline length increased 16 inches and the beam widened 4 inches. If you were to examine the two boats out of the water, you would see more bell-shaped forward sections making for a soft impact with the vee’d portion. Power options start with twin 575 hp Caterpillar C9 diesels, but the 58E we got aboard had beefier twin 1,015 hp Caterpillar C18 diesels. Top speed: 27.9 knots. At 8 knots, the Marlow 58E can cruise nonstop for 1,400 nautical miles.

Quick Specifications

Frequently Asked Questions:

What is a trawler yacht?

A true trawler typically has a full-displacement hull form and robust construction to handle open-water operation, and it’s designed to operate self-sufficiently for long periods of time. They are slow-cruising vessels, but over the years, hybrid yachts called fast trawlers have emerged to offer displacement-speed operation as well as the ability to run at planing speeds when desired.

What is a full-displacement hull form?

A displacement-hull form is known is for its rounded nature and deep draft. Full-displacement vessels do not plane on the water, but rather push through the water. This hull design makes displacement-hull vessels incredibly seakindly, but it also makes them relatively slow (think 5, 6, 7, 8 knots) when compared to semidisplacement- and planning-hull designs.

Is a long-range cruiser the same as a trawler?

While all trawlers are certainly long-range cruisers, not all long-range cruisers are trawlers. True trawlers will have full-displacement hull designs and not all long-range cruisers have them.

The post Top 15 Trawlers for 2023 appeared first on Yachting.

If Mother Nature had been less obstinate, Miles Cherkasky might have continued to sail.

“I’ve been sailing since I was probably 14 years old, almost half a century of sailing,” he says, now in his 60s. “One day, I was doing a delivery from Baltimore down to Miami Beach where we have a slip, and there was no wind, and I was sitting there listening to my engine run, and I couldn’t go anywhere, and I thought, ‘This is stupid. Time to get a trawler.’”

But what kind of trawler? He and his wife, Laureen, knew they liked longer-distance, offshore cruising—after Miles retired back in 2007, they bought a 47-foot high-performance sailboat and cruised it from Nova Scotia to the Bahamas a few times—but they weren’t quite sure how to achieve a good cruising experience in a powerboat. That is, until the day Miles helped with the delivery of an Outer Reef.

“When they came out of the inlet, Miles was putting away his cup of coffee, getting ready, thinking there were going to be all these waves and it would be sloppy, but nobody around him was moving or getting prepared for these big seas,” Laureen recalls. “The ride was like glass. When he came home that day, he said, ‘We have to get an Outer Reef.’”

Just like that, the Cherkaskys became members of a club that has grown almost exponentially in recent years, as an increasing number of boaters realize they can live their long-distance cruising dreams with the kinds of creature comforts that used to be limited to land. Today’s offshore-capable power yachts for cruising couples and families, built by companies such as Outer Reef, Nordhavn and Kadey-Krogen, are being built for go-anywhere adventure. They’re also being outfitted for the specific types of adventures that owners want to undertake.

“These boats are not marina queens,” says Jeff Druek, president and CEO of Outer Reef. “We talk a lot about equipment on board, things like inverters, solar panels, how many generators, what size generators, what type of air conditioning—things of that nature. Every piece of equipment in the boat is talked about, in terms of how they plan to use their boat, how far they’re going to go afield, how long they’re going to be away from the dock and where they’re going to be cruising.”

Nordhavn President Dan Streech says the way today’s bluewater hulls are being built and outfitted is making adventure cruising a real option for people who just a couple of decades ago would have feared it. The kinds of discomfort and danger that used to be part and parcel of crossing oceans are now minimized by modern construction, communication tools and redundant systems, so much so that all kinds of people feel comfortable cruising far and wide.

“You’re seeing normal people who in no way would’ve been sailboat material 35 years ago,” Streech says. “They have the chart plotters and Starlink. They’re sitting on the open ocean doing Facetime with their grandchildren. They’re not disconnecting from the world. It’s not necessary to have physical sacrifices or the emotional trauma of cutting themselves off. They have washers and dryers, wine coolers, TV, communication as they’re heading down to the South Pacific, and they are part of a huge social network, even just inside the Nordhavn world. We have 600 boats. The owners’ group—there are probably 20, 30, 40 posts a day with people who have a question. That feeling of isolation is gone.”

John Ellis took delivery of his Nordhavn 68, Dragon, in 2021 with a vision of following in his parents’ wake, only in a less-stressful way.

“I have a lot of sailing experience. My parents were cruisers,” Ellis says. “I spent time on board with them in the South Pacific. I’ve been on long passages with slanted decks. That wasn’t really what I was looking for. I loved those years—they were wonderful—but I’m looking for a different experience.”

A big part of the offshore powerboat experience for Ellis is fishing, so he customized his Nordhavn with extra bait tanks and rod stowage, along with two Seakeepers: an SK9 and an SK16. “When we stop and we’re fishing in the open ocean, we need to keep the motion down on the boat,” Ellis says. “The ocean has a tendency to want to rearrange the furniture on these big boats. Now, we tap a button, and it’s just as solid and stable as it can be. Nobody’s mad at me, and nothing’s breaking. No plates are crashing inside.”

That change in the way bluewater boats are built, Streech says, is also changing the profile of offshore cruisers. Back in the day, the typical Nordhavn customer was a husband who wanted to point the bow offshore and a wife being dragged along for the white-knuckle ride. Not so today, Streech says: “Just a shower alone was a luxury 35 years ago, and now you’re standing in a stone shower with gorgeous fixtures and a heated towel bar. What we’re seeing more and more is teamwork. A couple comes in, and she’s not looking at her phone half-mad because they just had a fight in the car. Not at all. She’s right there on the team and leading it sometimes. She has deduced that this is a path where they can share something, have an adventure and travel the world.”

Ellis says that’s exactly the plan that he and his wife share, now that both their kids are off to college. Their intent is to complete a 10-year circumnavigation.

“We’re going to go to the Caribbean and then come up the Eastern Seaboard, then go up to Nova Scotia, then back down to Florida after hurricane season next year, then Bermuda to the Azores, then get to Portugal and figure out whether we want to go up the Thames for fish and chips or whether we want to go around the corner to France,” he says. “It’s inevitable that we’re going to do both. My wife wants to do all the things, and we’re super happy with all the confidence we’ve been able to build aboard the boat so far.”

Sandy Peretsman says it was actually his wife’s idea to buy the Kadey-Krogen 48 that they named Third Child. She’s still winding down her career, but he retired this past January and started thinking harder about what comes next. They’d always had smaller boats and chartered larger ones in destinations such as the British Virgin Islands; he wanted them to have a bluewater-capable boat of their own, one that would let them do more as owner-operators. “My wife pushed me to do this a few years ago when I was turning 60,” Peretsman recalls, adding that his wife told him, “You don’t want to be one of those people who say, ‘I’m going to do it,’ and you don’t.”

So, they’re doing it. They base Third Child out of Charleston, South Carolina. So far, they’ve gone as far south as the Bahamas, and they’re thinking about heading up to New England, as well as cruising farther south into the Caribbean, as they become more comfortable aboard. “You can island-hop your way all the way to the Virgin Islands without ever driving more than 200 miles at a time, and we already drive that along the East Coast,” he says. “My personal preference is offshore because there’s a lot less traffic. It’s more relaxing. You don’t have to worry about how deep the ocean is or running aground, or boats passing you and crossing you. It’s just a big, blue patch, so you can go where you want, as you want.”

The more time he spends running his Kadey-Krogen, Peretsman says, the more he’s thinking about increasing his cruising distances. “I can go from Charleston to Europe and most of the way back on one tank of gas,” he says. “These boats will go 4,000 or 5,000 miles on a single tank of fuel. It doesn’t suit everybody, but if you want to be out there, it’s a wonderful boat for it.”

Streech says that for Nordhavn owners, ocean crossings aren’t even big news anymore. The company has had 13 boats complete circumnavigations so far; one of them did it three times. Over at Outer Reef, Druek says, so many people want to cruise off the beaten track that the resale value of the bluewater-capable boats stays high. Some of them, he says, he’s resold eight or 10 times.

It’s a testament to how far powerboat building has come that adventures so impressive are increasingly common. “To the Marquesas, that’s 3,000 miles,” Streech says. “It’s shocking, it’s mind-numbing that if you looked down from an airplane, you probably couldn’t even see the boat, and these boats make it. They do it over and over and over again.”

The Core Elements

Nordhavn President Dan Streech says that for distance cruising, “there are basics that have to be adhered to in terms of stability, structure, fuel capacity, fuel handling. All those things need to be there. They don’t get talked about that much anymore. They’re a given for us now at Nordhavn.”

Having It All on Board

Production Manager Fran Morey says Kadey-Krogen owners typically stay on board at least six months each year. “They want everything that’s the latest and greatest, and they also want the creature comforts of home,” he says.

The post Building Bluewater Cruising Yachts appeared first on Yachting.

Denison Yachting says the owner of the Nordhavn 96 Lacey Kay is now asking $10.2 million for the yacht, which is lying in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Lacey Kay is the third hull that was built of the Nordhavn 96, a model that evolved as a larger version of the Nordhavn 86. The current owner of Lacey Kay commissioned the yacht with an eye toward being able to run with minimal crew (or no crew) and to travel what Denison calls “big, open oceans.”

The owner built Lacey Kay with additional fuel tanks, creating an overall fuel capacity of 9,575 gallons. At a speed of 9 knots, the yacht burns 20 gallons per hour, according to Denison’s team. Maximum speed is 12 knots.

Also notable is that Lacey Kay has the master stateroom on the second deck, a custom layout choice.

What kind of range can Lacey Kay achieve? According to Denison, range is 3,000 nautical miles at 9 knots.

Take the next step: Contact sales broker Kurt Bosshardt at denisonyachting.com

The post Go-Anywhere Opportunity appeared first on Yachting.

Nordhavn says the N57 Lady Pam has been listed for sale in Australia. The asking price is about $870,000.

Lady Pam is a 2000 build with a beam of 17 feet, 7 inches and a draft of 6 feet, 2 inches. The fiberglass vessel has twin 350 hp Caterpillar engines showing 3,296 and 4,367 hours.

According to Nordhavn, the boat’s cruising speed is 8 knots. Fuel burn is 10 gph at 2,400 rpm and 19.7 gph at 2,800 rpm.

Where exactly is Lady Pam located? This N57 is in Queensland, on Australia’s Gold Coast.

Take the next step: contact a sales broker at nordhavn.com

The post Looking for a Nordhavn 57? appeared first on Yachting.

As it turns out, the three owners of Nordhavn Yachts—Dan Streech, Jim Leishman and Jeff Leishman—are mere mortals in this sense too. They recently bought a boat of their own and went with a Nordhavn 57 that Jeff Leishman has loved since the day it came off the production line two decades ago.

“I obviously designed the boat, but I actually project-managed that boat when it was built,” Jeff says. “I got to know the owners well, and I liked the ideas that they put into the boat originally.”

The boat, called Grande, wasn’t originally in the Nordhavn trio’s plans. They were thinking about a Nordhavn 41 because they had enjoyed cruising aboard one last summer in Florida and the Bahamas. But with a gaggle of kids, grandkids and dogs in the mix, they needed something bigger.

Some of the original owners’ choices suited their needs perfectly. Grande has a salon with an eat-in bar, instead of a big table that takes up more space. It also has an athwartships queen berth in the master stateroom (“It felt bigger to me than the standard layout,” Jeff says), and a stateroom with bunks in the bow, instead of the standard centerline queen.

Their plan is to do some updates, then take the boat up to the Pacific Northwest and Alaska this summer. After that, they’ll have a period of interior-refit work at Nordhavn’s facility in Dana Point, California, before Grande cruises down to the Sea of Cortez for the winter.

Jim has nothing but confidence in the 57, especially after having run a different 57 hull across the Atlantic Ocean in 2004 as part of the Nordhavn Atlantic Rally.

“It hasn’t been in production for 12 or 13 years, but it’s a really, really nice and great-performing boat,” Jim says. “It had a low profile, a low center of gravity, and a really nice hull with a tank-tested bulbous bow, so it was really efficient.”

They picked up Grande this past March in Virginia and ran the boat down the Eastern Seaboard, spending about half the time on the Intracoastal Waterway and half the time outside.

“We ran just under 9 knots and were burning something in the range of almost a mile and a half per gallon, which is pretty phenomenal for that speed,” Jim says. “But that boat, when we ran it across the Atlantic in the 6-knot range, it was getting over 2 nautical miles per gallon. It has a 2,000-gallon fuel supply, so that’s a 4,000-nautical-mile range. The 57 is an incredibly efficient boat when you slow it down.”

It’s also the kind of boat that doesn’t seem as if it will ever go out of style.

“The 57 is a venerable, iconic boat,” Streech says. “Nordhavns have such good bones, they essentially last forever.”

They’re planning to keep the boat’s name and home port of Gloucester, Virginia, exactly as they are now. They’re also keeping a key original feature that Jeff recalls from the build process with the original owners.

When I built the boat, these buyers wanted to go shopping in Taiwan,” he says. “They ended up buying this wooden buddha that’s the size of a shoe box. The guys in the yard built this little alcove at the bottom of the stairs for the buddha. It’s been in there for 20-plus years, and we thought it could be bad karma if we took it out, so he’s still there. Every time you go down the stairs, you rub his belly for luck.”

New Model: Nordhavn 625

Hull No. 1 of the Nordhavn 625 recently arrived in California for commissioning, with hulls No. 2, 3 and 4 under construction. The 625 is an evolution of the Nordhavn 55, a model that also was used as the basis for 60- and 63-footers.

“The tooling was getting tired,” says Jim Leishman, co-owner of Nordhavn Yachts. “So, we decided to retool, build brand-new molds, and update the appearance of the boat with a little more of a contemporary look without going too crazy. It still looks like a Nordhavn. It has a similar interior layout, just refined.”

The interior retains all of the most popular design elements from previous models, he adds.

“It’s the ultimate liveaboard cruising boat, but it’s not so gigantic,” Jim says. “A couple can operate it without crew.”

The post A Classic Move appeared first on Yachting.

Bob Giles had a goal. Whereas most yachtsmen who head to French Polynesia aim for Tahiti or Bora Bora in the Society Islands, he was instead anchored in a less-traveled archipelago called the Tuamotus—trying to find one particular dolphin.

“Where we are here, there was a dolphin that swam up to me, in this pass, and let me pet her like a puppy dog,” Giles said in mid-May. “Came right up to me, and I really didn’t know what to do. I started petting her back, and she rolled over for me to rub her belly. After six, seven, eight minutes, she swam up to the surface to get some air. So, I’m hoping she’s still there.”

Such are the goals a yacht owner can set when he owns a boat built by Nordhavn. The brand has been synonymous with go-anywhere, ocean-crossing powerboats since 1989, when it completed Hull No. 1 of the N46. Today, the company makes some of the best trawlers and offers models from 41 to 148 feet length overall and routinely sees owners cruising them everywhere from the Panama Canal to Australia.

Giles became part of the Nordhavn family about a decade ago, when he bought a Nordhavn 86 on the brokerage market. He liked the boat well enough but never got any farther than the Caribbean. He’s not sure exactly where, but it was somewhere in those islands—maybe the Grenadines, maybe St. Maarten—where, he says, “I just decided that I wanted to go around the world.”

As the chairman of Giles Automotive, he had the ability to do it. He ordered a Nordhavn 96 and took delivery five years ago at the factory in China. That’s the moment his circumnavigation began aboard the N96 VivieRae. It’s been continuing ever since.

“I want to take my time,” he says. “When I picked up the boat, the trip was 270 days from China to San Diego, and I was on the boat 210 of those 270 days. That, and I am just kind of bored of the Caribbean. I wanted to go somewhere different. Where I am right now, in Apataki, that’s an atoll just north of Fakarava, and it’s very remote. Those are the places where I love to be—the places where most people don’t go.”

Building a boat from scratch was a process he found intriguing. He hired interior designer Destry Darr, lengthened the sky-lounge deck and sun deck so the overhangs would provide more shade to the decks below, and built the sky lounge to convert into a fifth stateroom.

“If I want to bring four couples in addition to my wife and myself, I have room for it,” he says. “I also charter some, so the boat can accommodate 10 people.”

He also built a scuba center off the stern to support his passion for diving every day, two to three times a day. There’s space to carry 10 scuba tanks, as well as a station to refill them. There’s also a hyperbaric chamber on board.

“I bought it when I bought the boat,” he says. “Just because of how much we dive and how remote we are, if somebody gets the bends, there would be no time or no way to get them to treatment.”

Those kinds of locations also tend to lack trash facilities, which mattered to Giles because he used to end up with stinky bags of garbage in the bow, attracting flies. Aboard VivieRae, Giles asked the yard to build the swim platform, which is usually hollow, with watertight hatches and a freezer plate on one side, so he has a place to store trash when the boat is away from shore for weeks at a time.

“It has worked phenomenally well,” he says. “It almost freezes the trash, and it’s watertight. It’s about 6 feet by the width of the boat.”

Inside VivieRae, Giles had the yard set up an office so he can continue running his automotive company from anywhere in the world. He owns five dealerships and is in the works to buy a sixth, and he owns a tunnel car wash with a second one about to come online. Global Data Systems in Louisiana set him up with the bandwidth he needs, and the yard installed satellite-communications equipment, including a 3-meter Intellian dish.

“Communication hasn’t been a problem,” he says. “There’s worldwide coverage. It allows me to get away and still allows me to stay connected with what’s happening at home.”

And get away he has. So far, his itineraries have included the Panama Canal, Costa Rica, Cocos Island for some diving with hammerhead sharks, the Marquesas Islands and more. VivieRae was expected to be in French Polynesia through July before heading to Fiji this month and then Vanuatu from there.

He remembers Vanuatu from a previous visit. It’s a memory as vivid as the dolphin that acted like a puppy.

“We went to some amazing places there,” he says. “One was a volcanic island where the caldera had collapsed, so we could sail up into the middle of the island. As we approached it, about 20 dugout canoes came out to greet us. Our mate was ahead of us in the tender, and I was flying my drone, and these looked like warriors coming out and surrounding him. I thought, Oh, my God. They’re going to kidnap him or something, but they were so happy to see him. They hadn’t seen anyone in three years.

“We’ll visit that place again and then go north to the Solomon Islands, and then around to West Papua and Raja Ampat and all through Indonesia, and then Malaysia, Thailand and the Maldives, and through the canal to the Med for maybe six months or longer and then back to the Caribbean.”

The day before he spoke with Yachting, Giles had dived at Manihi Atoll, just ahead of a naturally occurring grouper-spawning event.

“At the entrance to the pass, there were thousands of 1-, 2-, 3-pound grouper that were all arriving to spawn,” he says. “As we went through the pass, it was filling up with the sharks that also come to feed on the grouper when they start spawning. These were gray reef sharks and some small whitetip reef sharks, all common in the Pacific.”

He was hoping to see something similar at Fakarava.

“That’s where there’s lots of sharks in the pass, going in and out,” he says. “People that don’t understand think you’re crazy, but I love diving with sharks. When we went out to Cocos, there [were] some tiger sharks out there that have killed a couple people in the last few years, so we were diving with the hammerheads and looking over our shoulders. There are a lot of sharks I wouldn’t want to spend a lot of time with, but the reef sharks are really fun.”

He also likes the comfort that he returns to after every dive. VivieRae is the kind of boat he always told himself he’d buy when he turned 60. Now that he’s 68, he appreciates having not only go-anywhere capabilities, but also plenty of creature comforts.

“He uses that boat as his own personal cruise ship to take him anywhere he wants, and it has all of the amenities,” says Jenny Stern, Nordhavn’s director of marketing. “If you look at their Instagram, it’s phenomenal—the diving, the fishing, the local food, the locals themselves, getting into the cultures where they visit. He is the epitome of what we hope the average Nordhavn owner will strive to do.”

Giles definitely is still striving to explore, and he says he’ll probably buy a 120- or 130-foot yacht next, to get even more interior volume for even more comfortable world exploration.

“But when I bring people on the boat and tell them that, they always ask, ‘Why?’” he says. “I don’t know why.”

He’s just going.  

Take the next step: nordhavn.com

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During a production run from 2002 to 2009, Nordhavn built 59 hulls of its N47.

Powered with a single Lugger diesel, the 47 has a 3,000-nautical-mile range at 8 to 9 knots.

The owner’s stateroom is amidships with a guest stateroom forward, both with en suite heads. The 47′s interior has teak-and-spruce soles, teak cabinetry, Sub-Zero and GE appliances, and granite countertops in the galley and heads.

At press time, there were two Nordhavn 47s on the market, ranging from $635,000 for a 2003 model to $845,000 for a 2007 version.

From the Archive

“Entering the space and looking aft, the 173 hp Lugger is on centerline. A stainless-steel grab rail skirts the engine’s perimeter, an asset for performing tasks underway. Abaft the main to port is the 40 hp Yanmar auxiliary engine. I see that little gray Yanmar as peace of mind. It is a V-drive configuration with a separate shaft, a folding propeller and a mechanical transmission. It can power the 47 at 5 knots.”

—Yachting, October 2007

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Pacific Asian Enterprises has announced the newly designed Nordhavn 51, a sistership to the N41 that emphasizes streamlined build orders instead of individual customization.

The Nordhavn 51 has two staterooms and two heads, along with a flybridge. According to the builder, the Nordhavn 51 will closely resemble other long-range cruising Nordhavns with a separate pilothouse, while the interior will mirror the finishes of the N41. The yacht will be built with stabilizers, a bow thruster and a davit among the standard equipment.

Standard power will be twin 160-horsepower John Deere 4045AFM85 M1 engines. The Nordhavn 51 will be CE Certified Category A for offshore use.

According to Pacific Asian Enterprises, the first seven hulls of the Nordhavn 51 have already been reserved for purchase.

When will Hull No. 1 of the Nordhavn 51 hit the production line? Tooling is underway, and the first hull is expected to lay up in March in Turkey. Construction is expected to take 18 months.

For more information, visit: nordhavn.com

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It’s been over 30 years years since Nordhavn entered the powerboat market with its N46, a fiberglass vessel designed to cross oceans and penned with what has become the builder’s trademark shiplike aesthetic. And it’s been just over 20 years since the company’s founders took Hull No. 21 of its smallest model, the N40—a mini explorer yacht built by Pacific Seacraft in California—and cruised 26,000 miles around the world during a 27-week voyage. The circumnavigation helped to solidify the Nordhavn brand as being ideal for yachtsmen who wanted to venture to remote locales.

As the years have progressed, so have the sizes of Nordhavn’s models. The largest fiberglass yacht—the Nordhavn 120—launched this past fall. And, not to rest on its mega-yacht laurels, the builder recently partnered with Dutch yacht-design firm Vripack to build its first metal superyacht: the Nordhavn 148. It is the builder’s second collaboration with Vripack, which also worked on the Nord- havn 80.

The 148—with an exterior design from the builder and Vripack, and interior design and naval architecture from Vripack—will have a steel hull and an aluminum superstructure. The hull will also be outfitted with an ice belt: reinforced plating around the waterline where the hull would come into contact with ice. This could prove invaluable if her owner cruises in high latitudes. According to Vripack, the yacht is designed to operate in water temperatures as low as 39 degrees Fahrenheit and as high as about 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

The builder says that constructing the yacht in steel and aluminum creates more flexibility for owners to customize the layout too.

Power will be twin 741 hp Caterpillar C-18 diesels, which are compliant with Tier III emissions requirements. The 148’s projected top speed is around 14 knots, with a 6,000-nautical-mile range at 8 knots. A 114 hp hydraulic bow thruster will help with close-quarters maneuvering.

The yacht is expected to come in at about 495 gross tons, about a 25 percent increase in volume over the builder’s current 120 flagship. Draft will reportedly be 9 feet at full load, and standard zero-speed stabilization should help keep the 148 on an even keel.

There will be accommodations for 12 people, including a main-deck owner’s suite, with four guest staterooms belowdecks housing two double berths, two single berths and two Pullman berths. There are also five cabins for crew and the captain.

According to the builder, the Nordhavn 148 should take less than two years to complete. Stay tuned for more.

Take the next step: nordhavn.com

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