Great Harbour N37 Young America at our dock yesterday

[N4712]

What is the max weight limit for a dink on the bow(N-47)? Just curious, as we're factoring that in when we look for our next boat.

 

[kraftee]

Well, due to the fact that the N47, especially, has a tremendous amount of reserve buoyancy at the bow, a heavy dinghy on the bow actually helps the boat perform better - even if it does restrict forward visibility. The limiting factor would be the structure beneath the deck. And that is a question for Ken Fickett. But if I had to guess? Somewhere in the 1,200 lb. range...

 

[Fish Catcher Jim]

Thanks Eric,
You know in that first picture looking at the CC sitting beside Gale Force makes me think that with a dinghy/ tender like that you got your self a deal....Just teasing,,
Thanks for the pictures......

I figured there would be weight issues on the Pilot house roof but I have been thinking along the line of an aluminum tender since I will spend half the time in fresh water. Can pick up a new 12 to 17 foot fairly cheap and still be way under weight. Just a thought and not written in stone.

What I want is something I can take into canals and back bays as well as some open water like around Dixie bar for some red fish and rivers......and will feel safe to any passenger too.
I mean I can fish the N like crazy but thought I might enjoy getting out and not dealing with draft some times...... For that matter.............I can deal with anything and make it work and what is there is there.
Thanks again
Jim

 

[kraftee]

All of what you say is true Jim. However, if you're serious about fishing and really want a nice tender, then just completely forego the idea of storing it on the boat and tow a nice big center console. There are several Great Harbour owners who do just that. We have towed our Mirage 15s and 21s back and forth from the Bahamas and up and down the east coast with the factory charter boats. A Great Harbour N47 towing a Mirage DIESEL 21 is just about the best of all worlds. AND, you can even fuel the 21 from the 47's massive tanks (even though the 21 has a 500-mile range on her own tanks!)

By the way, that Center Console rafted up to Gale Force (at Little Harbour, Abaco) is a Yellowfin 34 and belongs to the guy who owns Roll N Lock Corporation - the company that I CURRENTLY work for!

 

[healhustler]

Oh, Brother. Just what I needed.....another Mirage boat to lust after. I would like it equipped as above, please.

 

[kraftee]

Larry, when you say "lust after" and "equipped as above", are you really referring to the boat?

 

[N4712]

Thanks for the info.


That console is way too far back there is no room to fish. IMO.


On another note Mirage made a 41 or 40 flybridge sportfish which I really like, been on the market for awhile.

 

[kraftee]

As a side note, the blonde driving was our office girl and had NO idea how to run a boat. I got it up to speed, stood her at the controls, and then hid behind the starboard gunwale so photos could be taken! Also, that boat is a 2008 factory demo and available on Yachtworld...

 

[kraftee]

Oliver, it has more room than you think. It's a Volvo D3 DuoProp with the longest jackshaft allowable. The console tilts electrically for full access to the engine and no motor box aft. Wide boat, self-bailing with lots of fishing room. Had it down here in South Florida all year and just took it back to Ken about two weeks ago. Great boat. Dry, comfortable ride and 5 mpg at 30knots (100 gallon diesel tank).

And that 40 or 41 foot sportfish was from a different Mirage company. The biggest sportfish THIS Mirage has built is 32'.

 

[healhustler]

Larry, when you say "lust after" and "equipped as above", are you really referring to the boat?

It wouldn't be fair to be discriminate about the boat's equipment. Equipped as shown, the package could serve me well. I'd suggest that Mirage hold on the vessel and offer a "bare boat" charter as equipped.

 

[kraftee]

Bwahahahah! Damn Larry, you just made me spit Corona Light through my nose!

 

[Fish Catcher Jim]

Eric,
I have to say I like the idea of being able to fuel the tender from the trawler BUT it kind of defeats the purpose. I mean the draft on an inboard is going to be pretty close to the Great Harbour draft.

Chartering and such it would be pretty cool but for 24/7 live aboard and such it would tend to get old pretty fast towing all the time. At least it seems that way, I mean just one more thing to have to watch over constantly and get it tucked up close in all those hundreds of locks.

I could be very wrong too for I have not towed a boat for pleasure just rescue and get back to the dock or marina. I do however like your thinking about a 20 foot CC or bay boat/ flats .
I always wanted to fish Okeechobee and you know how big that is and how shallow in places you can find yourself all in the name of the alussive tripple header.....snook....red fish..tarpon

Until they come up with a hitch on a back of a trawler and a float on trailor for your tender I think I will leave the towing to some one else.
Or even a crank out bunk/roller set up and float your tender on and crank it all back into the deck of your trawler.
Thanks Again Eric and have a merry Christmas as well as all of you the TF family.
Jim

 

[Fish Catcher Jim]

Bwahahahah! Damn Larry, you just made me spit Corona Light through my nose!

And they say all you have to worry about is Second Hand Smoke !!
Jim

 

[kraftee]

Jim,

Merry Christmas to you too. As an aside, the Mirage 21 is not an inboard. It is a DuoProp sterndrive - so only draws what the hull draws when the drive is kicked up.

ERIC

 

[N4712]

Kraftee, thanks for I the explanation. It's a very nice looking boat. We also tow a bigger tender around, sometimes I'd like bigger but it's just fine.

Here she is in Man-o-War Cay.

 

[kraftee]

Very nice Oliver. I am a big fan of towing a larger tender, as most of my preferred cruising is in the Keys or Bahamas. There, it's a real luxury having a comfortable, no-compromises tender (like your Dusky) for fishing, diving, or just traveling from island to island. Now, if my cruising was mainly restricted to ICW or Great Loop type stuff (with lots of locks), I would leave the big tender home and have a small one mounted somewhere on the big boat.
ERIC

 

[N4712]

Very nice Oliver. I am a big fan of towing a larger tender, as most of my preferred cruising is in the Keys or Bahamas. There, it's a real luxury having a comfortable, no-compromises tender (like your Dusky) for fishing, diving, or just traveling from island to island. Now, if my cruising was mainly restricted to ICW or Great Loop type stuff (with lots of locks), I would leave the big tender home and have a small one mounted somewhere on the big boat.
ERIC

Yep!

Works out perfect to put it on the hip when backing into the slip. Can't even tell it's there.

 

[Fish Catcher Jim]

Jim,

Merry Christmas to you too. As an aside, the Mirage 21 is not an inboard. It is a DuoProp sterndrive - so only draws what the hull draws when the drive is kicked up.

ERIC

Ahhh man come on Eric, Your gonna convince me to tow a bigger tender yet.
Well ok you wont have to twist my arm to much. Cool so the mirrage is a I/O..... interesting,
Thanks

 

[Fish Catcher Jim]

Hello Everyone,
I hope this is ok to post this here because it is all very true and I have posted it with the link to this thread in another forum because of the bad and untrue information that was given to me and many others over the years.

Every one in here has been very knid and patient with us and has NOT once pushed anything on us as to say it has to be this way. Infact I have even been reminded over and over to Look at Other Boats......... Best Advice ever let me tell you...

Any way to all of you Great Harbour Owners and those who have much time spent on Great Harbour trawlers that have talked with me and will be talking to me in a few days I want to simply tell you how truly wonderful you have been and how much we apriciate everything you have done in aid of learning about these fine boats.

So here is what I posted in another forum and want to share with all of you. I hope this wont come back to bite me.......
Any way a long time ago these Great Harbour Trawlers got my attention with their shallow draft and wide beam and twin engines. A loopers delight to say the least. Then I got concerned with the low horse power and top speed of about 9 knots with a typical cruise of 7 to 8 knots. So I began to post all over the place. I mean every forum I could find and it did not take long until all those other folks talked me right out of even going aboard one.

From stories of getting kicked out of marina's because of to much swing and drift on the hook to to much rock and roll under way and so forth. The list of reasons why Great Harbour trawlers were a bad risk went on and on. So I went back to researching and looking at trawler after trawler all the while the Great Harbour kept popping up in my thinking. I would blow it off only to find the thought of a Great Harbour trawler was there again and I could not shake the feeling I needed to truly check into these boats.

Well a few more tries and looking at the website until I could quote it in my sleep and still people kept steering me away..........THEN it hit me.......... STOP talking or listening to those who have not owned one or really spent any time on one. So my adventure began and I started seeking out any one and every one who had anything to do with Great Harbour trawlers........ To my surprise there is a wonderfully aray of many different owners and employee's who have or still work with Great Harbour in some way or another.

Now then I have taken many months of steady research into these Great Harbour trawlers and have found out that nearly everything I was told in these forums simply is NOT true at all. I have found out from owners how wonderfuly smooth and stable they run and how little pitch or roll they do have. ( Slim to none ) I have learned that YES the GH models which are a 37 foot and a 47 foot model do tend to swing some in the wind BUT what boat does not? Even my old 16 foot deep v aluimun boat swang on the hook in a breeze. The trick is just like any other boat..............Learning How To Tie Your Boat Up and THEY DO NOT swing like an amuzment park ride either and it does take some decent wind or current to make it a big deal and like I said......simply learn how to tie up your boat to prevent most if not all of this.

True they do not have a plaining hull and do not run 20 to 30 knts BUT then again they do not burn 15 to 30 pluss gallons of fuel an hour either. At a 7 knt cruise you can expect about 1.50 to 2.50 gph from what I have been told by actuall owners and operators.

These boats are undersetamated to their performance leval but NO ONE has ever claimed them to be a good Ocean Passage or crossing boat. However they have been getting around pretty well and as the owners are learning how these boats were designed to operate they are finding more and more avenues to cruise. In Short...........I pray Ken Fickett gets things turned back around for the better and gets back to doing what He and His team do very well,
Building Great Harbour Trawlers.
Thank You and Merry Christmas Every One
Soon To Be an Owner of a Great Harbour Trawler Too
<>< JIM ><>

 

[healhustler]

Jim...I'm qualifying you as the guy who will rescue GH from furum frolics and straighten these opinionators out once and for all. The only way to approach it is to have your own GH and tell it like it is. But no. Amigo....there will always be naysayers on any design that stretches accepted design criterion. The GH was purpose built and it serves that purpose well. It attracts critique from those who disagree with the parameters it stretches to achieve tbat purpose .

 

[Jobe]

'Undersetamated'. Who needs fancy gyros when you got undersetamation?

 

[Jobe]

(Jim, I am also a fan of Great Harbour)

 

[MurrayM]

Hi Jim,

There is no one perfect boat design...just the best one for a particular purpose, or with the least amount of compromises for the owner.

Dare to Dream

 

[MurrayM]

I think I read somewhere that Great Harbour hulls are based on some sort of working boat...does anybody know what those boats did, and where they are from? (Photo's much appreciated)

 

[Fish Catcher Jim]

Murray HI,
I bet Eric will answer this much better but here is some copied text from one of the articles I have collected. I just took some so it would not be a book to read. I also believe that Lou Codega as a big factor in this hull design used his skills and knowledge to create this hull and yes after a work boat but NOT a copy of any paticular one....Eric can correct me if I am wrong here.

Any way here is the parts of the one article........Story by Bill Parlatore on July 23rd, 2012
When you want something bad enough, chances are you’ll find a way to get it or make it happen. It’s that way with life, and it’s the same with boats. If you really want a particular boat, I mean really want a particular boat, other things will fall by the wayside and other priorities changed to accommodate getting that boat.

Perhaps that is a good way to begin our story about the Great Harbour 37.
Many hours of deliberation and tire-kicking brought the Danielsons to the realization that they really had only three core parameters for their new boat. Three requirements that would, despite other considerations, allow their dream to come true:

1. The boat had to be capable of safe travel up the Amazon River. It would need shallow draft and long, self-sufficient range. If the boat could make it safely up the Amazon they figured, it could handle any other inland waterway with ease.

2. The boat needed to be a good platform for cruising the Caribbean. With long, bluewater voyages now a thing of the past, Gary and Sue felt their future cruising grounds would be shorter trips in the Caribbean, or other tropical destinations-which translated into having the range and seaworthiness to handle 3/4 days in open ocean travel in rough seas. Not hurricane travel, not in ultimate storms, no major nasty stuff thousands of miles from land. They had already been there, done that…

3. The boat had to readily convert into a fulltime office for Gary’s law practice-a suitable office for at least three people, complete with case files, law books, filing cabinets, fax and telephone lines, computers, desks, chairs, and all the trappings of a modern office. A tall order indeed, especially when you consider the year-round weather conditions of the Great Lakes.

Finding a proper passagemaker and office was quite a challenge. Gary and Sue went ahead and determined the interior space requirements for Gary’s office, which they then had to fit into a boat small enough for two people to handle in all conditions. The Danielsons looked around at various production options. They considered a Marine Trader 50 (but felt it wouldn’t be up to the rigors of the Amazon), a DeFever 49 (not an easy conversion into an office), a Nordhavn 46 (also a difficult office conversion), and a Krogen 42 (it just didn’t work for them). They also found that suitable motorsailers needed to be at least 60′ overall, and there was no way they wanted a boat that big.

But they kept looking…

A Design Is Born

During the search, Gary became intrigued by Jay Benford’s Island Packet 35, a vessel that seemed a smaller version of the Florida Bay Coaster (a line of steel freighter-like coastal cruising boats that were built some years back).

Gary and Sue talked with Benford about their requirements for a new boat-one with character, one with space, but in an overall size that would fit their small-is-better philosophy.

There was even some talk that this new boat might be a candidate for a production series, although the design was far from complete, the engineering had to be done-and there was no one yet identified to build the boat.

Several versions of the concept design were drawn, and the Danielsons stayed keen on the project, despite the growing commitment of involvement that is the nature of a custom boat. They investigated building in steel or fiberglass for the hull, but chose fiberglass for its longevity and low maintenance.

This decision led to the selection of a boat builder-Ken Fickett and his Mirage Manufacturing of Gainesville, FL, an extremely experienced shop with expertise in high quality fiberglass boats, aircraft, and fiberglass components. Ken was excited by the boat’s design, which appealed to his own plans for future family cruising.

As often happens in the custom boat business, the project stretched on for months, and some of the players changed. Naval Architect Lou Codega of Arlington, VA, came onboard to do the engineering work on what ultimately evolved into the Great Harbour 37, and Reuben Trane joined the team to market the completed boat, as well as manage the construction of the first hull. Reuben had been instrumental in the Florida Bay Coaster project, and, as a result, had a lot of experience in developing interior layouts that took advantage of the boat’s unique volume.

With the team now in place, the project really started to come together, and building the first Great Harbour 37 began in earnest.

A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing

It is NOT a toy boat,” Lou Codega told me. “The boat was never intended to be cute. All of the features we used were brought to the boat because they work, features commonly found on workboats.

“The hull reflects a strong workboat heritage, with fine waterlines forward, deep sections amidships, and a flat run aft. I think this is appropriate, as a workboat must earn its keep 365 days a year and care for its crew, regardless of weather. She is easily driven and comfortable in a sea. Scantlings are to commercial standards.

“The machinery and systems are all intended to be simple, accessible, easily maintained, and redundant.”

The hull, bulkheads, soles, and decks were, in fact, built to ABS workboat standards. The GH37 is not a borderline cruising boat with maximum interior room priced to sell, but a serious workboat- tough cruising boat, with a price that is kept down by eliminating frills, fancy teak brightwork, and complex machinery. The details of the boat were kept simple-the team concentrated instead on developing the boat to use as much beam as possible that would fit in a normal slip, while keeping the overall length down to a manageable and less expensive size. (Per foot slip fees can really add up.)

Want some examples of the workboat strength of this boat? A strong, unitized structure that doesn’t flex and twist in a seaway, with acres of hand-bonded fiberglass…below the rubrail the solid glass hull is laid up with 12 layers of fiberglass (the outer layers glassed with vinylester resin), and there are numerous bottom longitudinals of foam core. This translates into a hull that is minimally one inch thick; in many sections, over two inches thick.

Above the rubrail, the hull is cored with high-tech Nida-Core™, a structural polypropylene honeycomb coring material impervious to rot, water absorption or migration. There are 4 layers of non-woven biaxial fiberglass 2408 cloth on each side of the Nida- Core™ to create a balanced laminate.

The superstructure of the pilothouse has 2 layers of biaxial cloth over each side of the core. (All vertical surfaces use 3/4″ Nida-Core™, and all horizontal areas are constructed with 1-1/8″ Nida-Core™.) This decreasing laminate schedule, and the resulting upper-structure weight, contribute to the overall stability of the vessel, while all areas of the boat are more than tough enough to handle the demands of full-time cruising.

All cored surfaces are also vacuumed-bagged for maximum bonding of all materials. This is advanced glass work indeed, but then again, Mirage also builds airplanes and large highspeed sportfishing boats. Needless to say, Fickett’s team builds a strong boat, with stability and strength where needed.

Any way Murray this should hold you over until some one with more knowledge can answer your question. Toooo Me they just make good sense....
Merry Christmas
Jim

 

[Fish Catcher Jim]

Hi Jim,

There is no one perfect boat design...just the best one for a particular purpose, or with the least amount of compromises for the owner.

Dare to Dream

OH how I do agree with you here. All any one can do is research and search and find the one boat that meets most if not all the needs they have and then just settle back and add some tlc and make it their own !!
I am starting to see my dreams unfolding right before my eyes.
Jim

 

[Fish Catcher Jim]

(Jim, I am also a fan of Great Harbour)

Jobe meeeeeeeeee tooooooooooo and one day I will be able to say... I am not only a big fan of the Great Harbour trawlers I am an owner of one too !!
Merry Christmas
Jim

 

[Fish Catcher Jim]

Jim...I'm qualifying you as the guy who will rescue GH from furum frolics and straighten these opinionators out once and for all. The only way to approach it is to have your own GH and tell it like it is. But no. Amigo....there will always be naysayers on any design that stretches accepted design criterion. The GH was purpose built and it serves that purpose well. It attracts critique from those who disagree with the parameters it stretches to achieve tbat purpose .

Larry I except this position in life !!
I agree with you here and I admit there are still many other boats out there that I like and would not mind owning BUT in practical sense......for me.........Great Harbour just fits very well.....
Merry Christmas Larry
Jim

 

[kraftee]

Yes, Jim. The basic hull design was inspired heavily by many of the Pacific Northwest workboat hulls built since the mid 80s. And while I certainly agree that there is no perfect boat for everyone, I also believe that for everyone there is a perfect boat!
Merry Christmas Folks.


ERIC

 

[Fish Catcher Jim]

Yes, Jim. And while I certainly agree that there is no perfect boat for everyone, I also believe that for everyone there is a perfect boat!ERIC

Eric I do so agree and for me and my family it's simply nothing but a Great Harbour N47
I got blessed today with one of the most wonderful gifts today. I was given a GH 47 owners hand book. Now that put some life in my day and I sat there with my tablet and read the thing cover to cover and some over again !! Now thats what I call the perfect gift !!
Have a great week and a very "safe" and wonderful new year as well !!
Jim