Category: Powerboats
Nordhavn 86 Still Queen of the Fleet — For Now
For a little while longer this year–until the giant Nordhavn 120 is launched–the Nordhavn 86 is still the largest boat from this famous bluewater brand of trawlers. And in many ways, she is already a superyacht. At 400,000 lbs she has as much mass as many in the 120’ to 140’ class, so this [...]
P.A.E. Introduces New Nordhavn 52 Coastal Pilot
The builders of the famous Nordhavn brand of ocean-crossing, full-displacement yachts, this week introduced a brand-new design – the 52 Coastal Pilot — that reestablishes a coastal cruising model in the company’s fleet. The original 35 Coastal Pilot has been discontinued for several years, but Nordhavn admirers continued to clamor for a replacement. [...]
Florida Dealer Delivers the 100th Ranger Tug 29
Wefings Marine, the Apalachicola, Florida-based Ranger Tugs dealer, recently delivered the 100th Ranger Tug 29 to her new owners. The 100th boat was sold by Marc Grove, who owns the dealership. Grove also sold the first R29 in 2009. Wefings Marine has also committed to buying the first of the new R31 series. Grove [...]
Ranger Tugs Announces New Ranger 31′
Fluid Motion, LLC, designers and builders of the Ranger Tugs line of trailerable “pocket trawlers” this week announced a new flagship to the fleet — the Ranger 31′. The new R31 will make its debut at the Seattle Boat Show from January 26 to February 5; followed by an expected East Coast debut at the [...]
New Nordhavn 120 Construction Photos
Pacific Asian Enterprises, Inc., today passed along a new collection of informal photos updating the construction progress of the new Nordhavn 120. The new-design megayacht will become the new queen of the Nordhavn fleet sometime late this year. According to PAE, “Work continues on the first hull of the future queenship of the Nordhavn line: [...]
New Nordic Tugs 39 A Nice Update to NT Fleet
In a piece I wrote for YachtWorld.com this week, I said that the new Nordic Tugs 39, an updated replacement for the NT-37, is a worthy successor. The couple I interviewed in the story, Donna and Kevin Steele, went through a meticulous process that culminated in choosing the new NT-39 and their experience would serve [...]
PAE Reports Build Progress on First Nordhavn 120
Pacific Asian Enterprises, Inc., said last night that progress continues with the build process on its first true superyacht, the Nordhavn 120. According to the company, the hull and deck are joined, while the engine beds have been made and are ready for installation of the main engines (twin MTU 8V 2000 M72′s, rated at [...]
First Photos: Krogen 52′ Released from Mold
Kadey-Krogen Yachts said today that hull number one of the new Krogen 52′ line has been released from its mold. Krogen 5201 will be a single engine vessel with hydraulic bow and stern thrusters. The new yacht is scheduled to be delivered sometime this summer. There’s a lot to like about this slightly smaller version [...]
70 Sunreef Power Cat Hull Mods Double Efficiency
Sunreef Yachts said last week that modifications it has made to the 70 Sunreef Power catamaran JAMBO have nearly doubled the yacht’s fuel efficiency. The fuel consumption on JAMBO dropped from 13 liters/hour/engine at 10 knots at 2,300 rpm, to 7.5 liters/hour/engine at 10 knots at only 1,500 rpm. The mods are a demonstration of [...]
Five Pocket Trawlers for Consideration
Call them pocket-trawlers or mini/pocket-tugs, the North Pacific Yachts 28’ Pilothouse, Nordic Tugs 26, Ranger Tugs 25SC, Minor Offshore 25, and Rosborough RF-246 have hardiness and efficiency in common. The terms “pocket trawler” and “pocket tug” don’t really have precise definitions, yet both connote a small, salty vessel that’s probably a jack-of-all-trades and won’t break [...]
First Photos of New Island Pilot IP535
You saw it here first, folks. The first photos of Island Pilot’s new IP535. It’s a monster! And definitely an Island Pilot “fast trawler.” Island Pilot’s Reuben Trane confirms the boat will be on display at next week’s Miami Boat Show, so if you want to see one of the truly unique new boats out [...]
What Would YOU Do With this Nordhavn 63 Helm?
The folks at Pacific Asian Enterprises just recently unloaded N63-01 from its freighter in Miami and brought it up to the Stuart completion center. It’s a beautiful boat; an evolution of the N55/60 hull with the aft pilothouse and overall look of the venerable N62 (but not quite the beam of that boat). In looking [...]
Ranger Tugs, Cutwater Buyers Can Get Garmin Factory-Installed
Fluid Motion, the company that builds Ranger Tugs and the new Cutwater fast pilothouse boats said this week it has a deal with Garmin to provide that company’s marine electronics as factory-installed packages on both lines of boats. Of course, if you don’t want Garmin gear, you can certainly order your boat without but I [...]
The 50th Krogen 48′ Heralds an Ergonomic Makeover
Kadey-Krogen Yachts said yesterday that the 50th edition of its highly successful 48′ North Sea line is the first to sport a series of now-standard modifications that significantly improve liveability aboard a boat that was already highly regarded in the liveaboard community. The company took the opportunity to re-badge the boat as the “Krogen 48′ [...]
Minor Offshore has a New 28′ Cruiser
The Minor Offshore brand of Finland-built patrol/cruiser boats has introduced a new 28′ model that strikes a good balance between affordability and size — all packaged in a hardy, family-ready cruising boat. Represented in the U.S. by Skarne Marine, of Milford, Connecticut, the Minor Offshore boats could eventually become major players in the small-to-mid-size cruising [...]
Nord Star Offers New 24 Offshore Model with Outboard Power
Nord Star USA and Brewer Yacht Sales will be showing a new Nord Star 24 Offshore model from the Finnish boat builder at the New England Boat Show in late February. The boat features outboard propulsion but retains the salty pilothouse looks of its sister ships in the Nord Star Patrol line that runs all [...]
Cutwater is New Brand of Fast Cruisers from Ranger Tugs Builder
Cutwater Boats is the new brand from Fluid Motion, LLC, the designers and builders of the popular Ranger Tugs. The first two models out of the yard in Monroe, Washington, will be the Cutwater 26 and Cutwater 28, express-style, diesel-powered fast cruisers capable of up to 25 knots. The company said Mark Mansfield has been [...]
2011 Ranger Tugs Rendezvous Set for Sept. 9-11
Following a successful 2010 owners’ rendezvous in Bremerton, Washington, this past September, Ranger Tugs has announced that the 2011 edition will take place September 9-11, 2011, again in Bremerton, at the Port of Bremerton Marina. Some 42 Ranger Tugs attended the fleet gathering this year, up a third over the previous year. Ranger Tugs are [...]
Nordic Tugs Production Re-Starting
News this week from Nordic Tugs, Inc., that it has re-started production after a three-month hiatus during which most of the operational employees were laid off. Bob Shamek, who heads sales and marketing for Nordic Tugs, said workers were being recalled as the production processes ramp up. The company has a number of boats on [...]
Greenline 33 Shows How to Do Green
In a recent piece I did for Boats.com, I wrote that the new Greenline 33 cruiser is the real green deal. I saw and briefly tested the boat at the Annapolis Powerboat Show last fall and it truly impressed me. Here’s a quick rundown on the boat; for the full story, read the article at [...]
Dashew Offshore Working on FPB 112 Design
The Dashew Offshore designs, pioneered by Steve and Linda Dashew’s Wind Horse and the tens of thousands of miles under her keel, have been moving smartly forward recently, with the FPB 64 in production and now, the FPB 112 moving into detailed design and production. Wind Horse, the FPB 83 that served as the prototype [...]
Rough Weather Video
Yeah, I know I really shouldn’t be doing this. Showing rough-weather videos to boating junkies is like feeding the bears at Yellowstone. It’s not good for them. They want more. They will go to YouTube and spend (waste) hours looking at rough-water videos, then bad weather videos, then tornado videos, then videos of that cool [...]
North Pacific Yachts 43 is a Value Leader in Pilothouse Yachts
When I first wrote about the North Pacific Yachts 43 Pilothouse in March of 2009, I thought the model represented a good value for families looking for a roomier vessel to cruise on with the kids. On seeing the boat again at this year’s Annapolis Powerboat Show, I’d like to expand that view to mark [...]
Northern Lights Shrinks Genny, Adds WaveNet NMEA 2000 Monitoring
Northern Lights is basking in the southern sunshine this weekend at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (FLIBS) with a new skinny genny and a NMEA 2000-certified digital monitoring system called WaveNet. The newly shrunk generator, the M773LW3, is a 9kW model and is almost 30% smaller than its predecessor. “The overall size of smaller [...]
Selene Building First Ocean Explorer 92
Jet Tern Marine announced that it has sold the first hull of the new Ocean Explorer 92 model and that the boat is now under construction for an expected debut at the Monaco Yacht Show in 2012. Mark Seaton, of Selene Europe. provided us with the text of the press release announcing the sale, along [...]
Nord Star 26 Should Be Your New SUV
There are not too many boats in this size category that truly work as cruisers, but the Nord Star 26 is the kind of marine SUV (Sport Utility Vessel) that can take a small family for nice summer cruises and be wildly entertaining in between. It’s all made possible by the mad-crazy efficient layout of [...]
Judging Innovation in the Boat-Building Biz
As I write this, I’m on my way back home from the “IBEX” international Boatbuilders Exhibition in Louisville, Kentucky, where I served as one of the judges in a panel that gave out a series of awards to recognize innovation in new products. IBEX is a unique, trade-only show where the people who make everything [...]
First Two Nordhavn 75 EYFs Meet in Cabo
There’s a great little item on the P.A.E. Nordhavn website about a chance meeting of the first two 75 Expedition Yacht Fisher (EYF) boats in Cabo San Lucas this summer. The two families who own hulls no. 1 and 2 apparently read the marketing materials that P.A.E. produced when it launched the new model. One [...]





