Why are so many Nordhavn's for sale?
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henryf
Well-Known Member
I saw the linked thread some time ago and agree that many Nordhavens either get bought for a one off trip and then sold or the reality of pushing through gnarly seas reveals the fact that crew and craft don't always have the same breaking point.
Deep down I think we all secretly harbor thoughts of casting off and traversing oceans. Leaving familiar surroundings bound for new continents or the emotion of returning to a home port after thousands of miles at sea. The reality is it's hard enough to string together a couple of weeks of spare time let alone a couple of years.
I know I always have a little dream during the Southampton boat show.
Henry
Deep down I think we all secretly harbor thoughts of casting off and traversing oceans. Leaving familiar surroundings bound for new continents or the emotion of returning to a home port after thousands of miles at sea. The reality is it's hard enough to string together a couple of weeks of spare time let alone a couple of years.
I know I always have a little dream during the Southampton boat show.
Henry
Robin
Well-Known Member
I think they are great boats having looked over them at SBS several times, but they must be an acquired taste I would think. They are designed for long distance cruising at displacement speeds, with a main single engine and a smaller wing engine as backup or for even slower speed use for economy maybe. I rather suspect that the dreamers find that they don't like the reality and find the boats are not really ideal for their more usual day cruises around the equivalent of the Solent.
Searush
Well-Known Member
Classic case of buying a dream & then living the nightmare? 
One does need to understand what one is buying into before spending several truck loads of cash.
One does need to understand what one is buying into before spending several truck loads of cash.
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Deleted User YDKXO
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Many of them are relatively low hours too which tends to suggest also that owners quickly get disenchanted with life in the slow lane. I have heard that it is quite common for a few new Nordhavn owners to take just one trip in their new boats, a trip which might have taken 3hrs in a planing boat but which takes 10hrs in a displacement boat, and then put their new boats on the market immediately. Nordhavn's marketing is slick and they're very good at seducing buyers with visions of pottering off into the sunset to some distant shore. In a way, it's why people buy Range Rovers; they imagine themselves as rufty tufty adventurers expeditioning into the wild but the reality is that they never go farther off road than parking on the pavement. Unfortunately, Nordhavn boats don't have the dual capability of a Range Rover so it's either life at slow speed or very slow speed and this really doesn't suit most weekend boaters. Luckily for Nordhavn, there seems to be a ready supply of secondhand buyers willing to buy into the dream, judging by the high secondhand prices
burgundyben
Well-Known Member
I
Deep down I think we all secretly harbor thoughts of casting off and traversing oceans.
Henry
Kind of, I dream of one day casting off for a few years, in a displacement craft at 8 knots, but not for crossing oceans, I think, perhaps as a few Nordhavn owners have found, crossing an ocean at 8 knots would be pretty dull.
My Grand plan, from the Solent to Cornwall, Ireland, Scotland, Faroes, Norway, Denmark, into the Baltic, St Petersburg, Keil Canal, Dutch Islands, Channel Islands, Brittany, into Biscay along the coast, northern Spain, Portugal, into the Med and as far as Cyprus, then home.
Longest chug at 8 knots would be from Faroes to Norway I think.
Who needs to plod across oceans?
Robin
Well-Known Member
We would have bought one at the right price (our right price that is, not Nordhavns!) but then we are used to displacement speed cruising and long hours at sea and enjoy the getting there as much as the arriving. For a liveaboard they have great accommodation and the engine room space is perfect for easy maintenance access. The pilothouse is more like the bridge on a minesweeper and would be ideal in cold wet old UK waters all year round. I can imagine however that they would soon irritate the impatient ex owners of a whizz banger!
jfm
Well-Known Member
Yup, +1, I think you're dead right there mifef. Though those prices are merely asking prices...
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Deleted User YDKXO
Guest
Yup, and the boats are mainly in the US and I've got no feel at all for how much under asking prices secondhand boats generally go for in the US. Nor for that matter have I got any idea how much discount Nordhavn give away on new boat prices because obviously that affects secondhand asking prices. All I do know is that Nordhavn's new list prices are significantly higher than other US/Chinese bluewater displacement cruisers like Selene or Kadey-Krogen but whether that's a reflection of superior build quality or just marketing hype, I don't know
jfm
Well-Known Member
Hmmm. Yup. You definitely wouldn't want to buy one, new or used, till you became immersed in the world of Nordhavn and a bit of an expert. Otherwise how would you know whether you're paying the right price or $0.5k more than the next guy? If you go into the market blind you might well find a year later that you didn't actually get a great deal and are facing much higher depreciation hit as a result. At least a newcomer to the P-boat segment buying say a shiny p42 off a Henryf doesn't end up with a lemon model or a stupidly hyped price. Likewise if buying a FairPrinSqueakFreti we know the list price, the moderatediscount% and the loyalcustomerdiscount%, so there's no embarrassment down the line...
Anyway, I still think the enforced 9knots thing would drive a lot of people crazy
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Deleted User YDKXO
Guest
Half the boating world goes around at that speed or less and often not in the direction they want to go. No accounting for taste
longjohnsilver
Well-Known Member
By coincidence I had an email yesterday from one of my best mates who now has a NHaven 62 and plans to cruise at least half way around the world.
This is what he wrote yesterday
The weather her in Puerto Vallarta is very warm, 30 C daytime and 22 C overnight, we are at 20 44 923 N * *105 22 844 W, well inside the tropics. The water beneath the pontoon we are on is full of tropical reef fish, Puffer fish, trigger fish, sergeant majors, Angel fish, wrasse etc. and in the bay hump back whales are breaching with huge splashes. The bay is 400ft deep and 5 miles outside the bay it is 10,000ft deep! We are going to snorkel and try to see manta rays that are also supposed to be here in big numbers.
We took a dinghy ride up into the mangroves in the jungle and saw turtles, crocodiles 12 ft long and a huge number of tropical birds.
The plan is to go north from here into the Sea of Cortez in May before the hurricane season (June to November) and get above the normal hurricane latitude of 24 degrees north for the summer.
If you fancy joining us at anytime, in the Sea or back in PV area November to February just say the word. In February/March 2013 we will head south to get to the Equator before hurricane season and be below the area for hurricanes, again if you fancy a trip???
Tough life for some!
This is what he wrote yesterday
The weather her in Puerto Vallarta is very warm, 30 C daytime and 22 C overnight, we are at 20 44 923 N * *105 22 844 W, well inside the tropics. The water beneath the pontoon we are on is full of tropical reef fish, Puffer fish, trigger fish, sergeant majors, Angel fish, wrasse etc. and in the bay hump back whales are breaching with huge splashes. The bay is 400ft deep and 5 miles outside the bay it is 10,000ft deep! We are going to snorkel and try to see manta rays that are also supposed to be here in big numbers.
We took a dinghy ride up into the mangroves in the jungle and saw turtles, crocodiles 12 ft long and a huge number of tropical birds.
The plan is to go north from here into the Sea of Cortez in May before the hurricane season (June to November) and get above the normal hurricane latitude of 24 degrees north for the summer.
If you fancy joining us at anytime, in the Sea or back in PV area November to February just say the word. In February/March 2013 we will head south to get to the Equator before hurricane season and be below the area for hurricanes, again if you fancy a trip???
Tough life for some!
Nautorius
Well-Known Member
Half the boating world goes around at that speed or less and often not in the direction they want to go. No accounting for taste
I dream of 9 KTS.....Max in my wind powered Dream machine about 7.5kts. Although it has been fun I am thinking after 2.5years of going slow that going fast and splashing the cash on diesel is the way to go with young kids....
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Deleted User YDKXO
Guest
Do you get man eating crocs or deadly poisonous fish in Exmouth? No. Why would you want to be in a place with all that kind dangerous stuff around?
mjf
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure about this either as when you buy a boat you have able time to evaluate the accomodation and living space, helm etc.
The engineering is ok too here
maybe its the seakeeping?
I have been trying to get out in slop on one for some time now to see whats its like at anchor with and without the stabs.
My feel is they roll on wet grass and are hugely uncomfortable in any seaway but....safe.
The engineering is ok too here
maybe its the seakeeping?
I have been trying to get out in slop on one for some time now to see whats its like at anchor with and without the stabs.
My feel is they roll on wet grass and are hugely uncomfortable in any seaway but....safe.
BartW
Well-Known Member
I Can't understand why you reserved for a trip to SOF LJS
although I believe your friend is in a desparate need for some visitors
have you seen my pm John ?
Firefly625
Well-Known Member
Having spoken to someone at Flemming quite a few Nordhavn owners sell their boats & buy a Flemming... they have the range if 8 knots is your thing, but will do more when you are about to die of boredom
was sent a link to this pic a while ago , its a bit like a very expensive Hamble Scramble...
was sent a link to this pic a while ago , its a bit like a very expensive Hamble Scramble...
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Deleted User YDKXO
Guest
Thats what a lot of manufacturers of semi-d boats say. I reckon what happens is that many peeps move straight from planing boats to d boats and then find they can't stand the slow pace so they end up with a semi d boat which is either the worst or the best of both worlds depending on your point of view
Firefly625
Well-Known Member
very true.
is compromise ever the best of both worlds....? I guess someone will need to start looking for how many Flemmings are for sale...TBH I would be very happy with a Flemming... just need to make some money first.
Robin
Well-Known Member
We were intending to buy a Defever displacement trawler, but ended up with a semi-displacement 'fast trawler' for other reasons. However, coming from the rag and stick slow lane to the fast lane and intending to stay below the hump 95% of the time I think we will be able to live with it and the occasional blast to blow a few spider homes apart now and then. WOT on our sea trials was 17.5kts, so cruising at around 12kts maybe would be possible, but only by towing the fuel barge behind and the bank behind that.
That is with a current price of diesel of $4 per US gallon albeit rising.
