Fathom Yachts vs Nordhavn

That happened to a sailboat friend of mine. They did a year long trip from Washington to Australia via South America. Cruised the South Pacific for another year, then put their boat on the hard in New Zealand and flew home. That was 4 or 5 years ago!! They finally had their boat shipped back to the U.S. and sailed it home this summer.
Something about that 25 day stretch without seeing land, crossing between South America and the Marquesas Islands, didn't sound so appetizing a second time.

...Interesting post. I am not surprised with the thickness of the hull as it is impossible to figure out properly with the shown pictures. I am surprised with the dryness of the fiberglass. It looks like some of that never saw resin!
In all posts here, the Chinese origin of the hull has never been mentioned.
I work in the oilfield, an industry which today is totally invaded by the Chinese manufacture. In the last 10 years, I am still hoping to see some “made in china” piece, worth to be trusted.

I also worked in Marketing for 15 years. Please do not forget that the Passagemaker Magazine was put together as a marketing tool for Nordhavn. Some years ago, I had the fortune of flying in a commercial jet plane sitting beside an ex-PM executive, who I will not mention the name. After some good conversation about boats over dinner, he meant how “attached” PM was to these boats.
Nordhavn is a very reliable boat no doubts, but not everything you see is real, and not everything you hear is true.

If living in USA, I would go KK if I could afford!

So with all these posts what have we learned?

A N46 fell in a yard and shoved its aftermarket stabilizer fin/post through the hull, the hull is claimed by some to be " too thin " and the laminate dry.
I have seen in the past, fiberglass loaded to the failure point that the resin shatters and the cloth is left very flexible and it leaves a torn failure point.. which is what it appears to have happened here.
Was this hull fitted with the stabilizers at the factory or added later and more to the point not adequately built up to handle the point load associated with the stabilizers?.. would it of mattered if it had heavier scantlings anyway?.
No mfg. out there engineers a hull to take a drop load of that type.
Have any of the Nordhavn's had a hull failure, serious cracking/crazing, movement of interior furnishing/bulkheads in all of the blue water miles accumulated by these boats?
My guess is the Mfg. engineered or made assumptions ... at the layup of the glass for their hulls when they started production and made them strong enough to do the job intended. You can always make a fiberglass hull thicker... it doesn't make it better for the job it is designed to do.

HOLLYWOOD

Hollywood

You're correct. Apart from that, disregarding the lamination issues, a hull is not calculated to fall from 5' high on the ground, mainly on top a steel piece that belongs to equipment attached to the said hull.

In another words you and I will never know the real truth.

Cheers

Wasn't the original comment "where's the weight"... I'm not sure that a) the 46's are in the 40K+ # range (my barometer for heavy); and b) where the 46's were built. When were were considering a Nordhavn I was led to believe that the early 40's were built in the States and always figured the 46's were too.

Dave

I believe all Nordhavn's have been built in either Taiwan or China.
HOLLYWOOD

I believe Pacific Seacraft built some of the early N40s in California.

Reveille said:

I believe Pacific Seacraft built some of the early N40s in California.

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That is my understanding as well. All of the others, before and since, were built overseas.

I normally do not get involved or make a comment regarding a thread going in the direction of this but in this case I am a little confused. It appears to me that we all have to make out own decisions and no boat is perfect. I for one will remember the basic comment of pilothouse. That being, he was surprised at how thin the hull was at the point he had observed also what appeared to him the lack or resin. I will remember his comment but not draw any conclusions. If everything you hear you expect to be the truth then guess what you are very misinformed. I know this does not completely apply but in science there are no truths only present day accepted theory. We all have the right to our own opinions and any observations should be welcome. Damn, don't even know why I entertained the above. Such dribble.

Shoulda had these fitted instead of fins:

RickB said:

Shoulda had these fitted instead of fins:

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OK, Rick, I'll bite! What are they?

SeaHorse II said:

OK, Rick, I'll bite! What are they?

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Koop magnus effect stabilizers ... been hearing about them for years but saw them for the first time today. The boat has 4 of them mounted.

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