Nordhavn?

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I am in St katherines dock at the moment, there is one of the Nordhavn's that crossed the Atlantic in a video of a groups adventure on the internet. The elderly owners are selling it and flying home, it is around 46ft, 8yrs old and immaculate. On the market for $550k USD, I guess vat would be payable if staying in the UK, so is this a good buy, looks very interesting but with a top speed of 8.5knots and cruising speed of 7knots (with a wing engine capable of 5knots), I could see myself getting very frustrated, but with a range in excess of 3,000 miles I could easily get to the CI's (via Iceland :-) )

We are viewing it this afternoon as guests of the owners, so any views would be appreciated just in case it catches our fancy..
 
friend of mine bought a trader 535 for use in the med a few years ago. Upgraded from a 40ft Cranchi sports boat.

eventually sold the trader because displacements speeds just took forever to get anywhere. just didn't have the time with work and family commitments to get out of the marina and back in again.

If you are happy to go that slowly why not go to the dark side and buy a sailing boat. lots of fun if not in a hurry.
 
Fantastic boats and very easy to get carried away with the dream of setting off on a real adventure crossing oceans cruising to the arctic etc but unless you have an exceptional amount of free time don't fall into the trap (I almost did). You simply will never go anywhere in it, it will just sit in the marina and rot, eg, it will take you about 14 hrs just from Hamble to Jersey, so you arrive and then have turn around and come back again even from just hamble to the needles is a four hour round trip and thats only round the corner in a planing boat.

Only real up side for most of us that are not planing crossing the Atlantic is that you can go in any weather and night passages are more comfortable and probably a bit safer. So one respect you may get using it a bit more often in winter months just don't plan on going anywhere.

I once took and ex RNLI Solent class (about the same speed) from Buckie to Dublin and I was just about suicidal after 40 hrs non stop and I still hadn't got there.

p.S. I remember my first outing on a watson class LB many years ago, had been brought up on planing boats and zip about dingy's, 900 rpm and we cleared the harbour, cox says we'll open her up, get the Gardners really working and nice and hot, ooooooh wow, floored it and tachos whizzed round to 1400rpm /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif and we shot from 6 knts to a mind bending 8 knts, went passed lagness on full flood and speed dropped to mind numbing 3.5 knts and that was flat out /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Great boats but you need time to use them.

I am thinking of a marlow Long Range boat for my next one - its range is over 4000 miles, has a wing engine and crusing speed of tem knots in displacement mode but can switch to a 26 knot boat in its SD mode.

Howver if all i was going to use the boat for was long range - then it would be a Nordhaven with stablisers - without those, i would not touch a displacment boat.
 
There are some interesting comments here. Personally I go boating for the boating - the actual being out on the water. If I need to get somewhere quickly I take the car or fly. Different views on the same game.
 
I view trawlers as mini cruise ships. IF BIG enough then lots of fiddly bits to keep me amused while slogging along. I think a small (simple) trawler would get very boring very quickly. Whither this 46' example meets the size criteria for a mini ship is not known to me (wretched lack of experience due to lack of ocean /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif ). But something to keep in mind.

Kelly
 
Some people like going more than getting there. 7 knots, 7mpg, autopilot on, kettle on, sit back and enjoy.
Nordhaven is a lovely boat that, as far as I can see, has only two drawbacks:
1. Too tall to get under bridges on the European waterways.
2. I can't afford one.
 
Agree each to his own but the transition from planing speed to displacement speed is an almighty culture shock and you really need to prepare yourself for how long its going to take to get anywhere, anybody who works or has a growing family is going to struggle to get any use out of it.

I just love Nordhavn's and their ilk for what they are, ocean crossing expedition type thingys, but in all honesty it is a bit over kill if you just want to poodle about and do some long distance coastal or X channel stuff. Dutch chappies can offer you some very fine displacement stuff and at half the price.

Had a long chat recently with a friend who was almost there with the purchase of a very fine and sturdy displacement yacht, expensive too, biggest sales mistake they made was lending him the demo for the weekend, after a day he was back with 'no thanks',..... "the kids were bored rigid, our normal flash up the coast (azimut 42) to usual haunts and half a day ashore exploring and dinner in the evening and back home the next evening turned into a marathon trip, normal 2 hour hop turned into seven hours rocking and rolling in the swell, was so bad that you could'nt even make a cup of tea".

Wasn't that it was too bad for their existing planing boat, conditions were quite good just a swell running. Agree with Gludy, displacement boat of reasonable size needs stabilizers or can be quite uncomortable.
 
As you say, each to his own. Earlier this month, on the way back from I few weeks inland Europe, we stopped in Brighton and I met a chap in the marina office who had just come back from Nieupoort that day. I had also just come back from Nieupoort, but it had taken me 12 days and 7 ports. Slow ones may take longer to get there, but we see more on the way.
 
Indeed, I agree with you in that for me, it's the getting there thats fun, not the being there (you can be somewhere a lot faster and cheaper than in a boat).

Your 37 a Y or V hull?

S.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Agree each to his own but the transition from planing speed to displacement speed is an almighty culture shock and you really need to prepare yourself for

[/ QUOTE ]

Paying the fuel bill, you get change from £50 /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Steve

Y Hull, just like yours, except I have a flybridge (trimmed down to 3.35 to get under bridges). Big keel is what is needed for Inland Europe and it also makes for easy handling on one shaft for economy.
At sea she transits comfortably, and reasonably ecconomicaly, at 1500 revs, which gives between 8 & 9 knots depending on wind and waves.

Just had a bit of dejavous, I think we had this conversaion a few months ago. PM me if you want to discuss further
 
Everything is relative - I am a die hard raggie, but I have wellies in the mobo camp as well (and I am also a fan of power cats), and I can only dream wistfully about being able to average 8 or even 7 knots on a passage......
For me, being on passage is definitely part of the fun - I can easily cope with a 25 day transatlantic passage, no worries - you are never bored, always lots to do, even (I am sure) on a displacement mobo - always a different sunrise and sunset to enjoy, and life to live in between.
And if you are efficient, and have all the maintenance chores out of the way, and are bored with rustling up new recipes, then there are all the books that you never read, but always wanted to......
 
Well Pete,

What did you think? Must admit to looking at an SD boat at the moment but that can still hit 24 knots. At 8 knots I may as well Sail and save a wad of cash!

Cheers

Paul /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Brilliant replies everyone, and great food for thought, I must say the height was the worry for me I could never crusie the Mudway river to it's full extent /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I didn't actually get time to look on the boat, had taken my daughter to the Natural History museum and when we got back to St Kaths had to rush to get the lock as I had a forumites party to go to, unfortunately the losck times seem to be a guide, we were delayed waiting for nearly an hour which seriously worried us as that meant we were going to be travelling a good bit of the way back to the Medway in the dark, but a great experience and we lived through it /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I haven't got the time to potter at that speed, life is too short, when I think of what I have seen in my four years of boating it is probably equivelant of a lifetime for some raggies, although I must admit they have probably had more time to saviour any views. At least I now know where I would like to go back to.

Met some raggies at St Kats, what nice people, they have shown us all the places to explore in Holland, very easy for us to get to from here, so roll on next summer /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Thanks again.
 
As other replies have said, it's a lifestyle choice. On the MBM cruise this summer to Holland, we had a couple of longish legs to cover. The really slow trundlers left an hour before us, but the fast boats (Targa 34, Sealine S42 etc.) got there in about three hours. The mid boats that cruise at 20 knots (mostly old Princesses and Birchwoods and the like) would get in about an hour or so later. Then we'd all moor up and report in and clean the boats, go and have a wander round, have a few drinks on board someone elses boat etc. Finally, after about 10 - 12 hours Kim would come trundling home in Formanda escorting in the displacement jobbies. We were happy with our way of doing it, mostly they were happy with theirs. Kim even managed a bath on one trip while his dad drove the boat - you can't do that in a sports cruiser! I suspect that eventually as we get older and slower, so will our boating. Priorities change!!
 
spot on

you have to work with it not against it - do your cleaning and chorese as you travel, tie up and striaght into the resteraunt you booked 3 weeks ealier knowing you were probably going and what time you would arrive; dressing for dinner as you approached port etc etc

probably one day..........
 
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