Great Harbour N37 Young America at our dock yesterday

Eric thanks for the info and this may be a dumb question but coming from a construction side of things..................Can an opening be cut in and framed etc without weakening the entire structure of the pilot house. Just a thought.................
Jim

Fish Catcher Jim said:

Eric thanks for the info and this may be a dumb question but coming from a construction side of things..................Can an opening be cut in and framed etc without weakening the entire structure of the pilot house. Just a thought.................
Jim

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Hi Jim,

I stopped off at Mirage today while I was in Gainesville and asked the shop foreman your question and he said that it was not a big deal structurally. As I recall, there is a bottom segment bulkhead that the pilot house sets on because it was raised up a foot for over the bow visibility, it is the bottom bulkhead that has the porthole for the bosun's locker installed.

Island Bound said:

Hi Jim,

I stopped off at Mirage today while I was in Gainesville and asked the shop foreman your question and he said that it was not a big deal structurally. As I recall, there is a bottom segment bulkhead that the pilot house sets on because it was raised up a foot for over the bow visibility, it is the bottom bulkhead that has the porthole for the bosun's locker installed.

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Ahhhh I kknow that voice !
Thank you for this information and all that you have done for us. I hope things are going better and the light at the end of the tunnel is looking much happier as well.
Have a great week end
Jim

Any one in here running a N37 or N47 these days ?
Sure would like to know.

Yes been living on an N-37 7+yrs.

We just returned yesterday(to New Burrrrn, NC) from our completing our 3rd Great Loop with a side trip up the Mississippi River to the beginning of navigation above Minneapolis. We travelled off and on with Young America(N-37) and briefly with Seadream(N-47). We are full time live aboards and have cruised over 36,000 miles in our N-37 Carolyn Ann and have 5100+ hrs on our engines. We have travelled most of the Western Rivers and crossed the open water corner of the Gulf of Mexico 8 times. Our longest open water passage was 340 miles. We have cruised the entire Miss., Ohio, Monogahia, Allegany, Great Kanahwa, Tennessee, Little Tennessee, Tellico, Hudson Delaware, most of the Cumberland, etc.. This is the largest, most capable power boat for it's size made! It's clever flexible, pragmatic design and features have allowed our cruising life style in comfort (standup engine room, huge tanks, low center of gravity, a real kitchen with easily serviced household appliances, wide beam with hard chine, keel protected props, shallow draft, incredible storage, sea chest, etc) without feeling like we are camping. Lou Codega is the Naval Architect Engineer(PE) a WEBB institute MIT graduate who designed the boat. Lou has done many boats and ships and is considered one of the best by his peers. He is no a simple boat "designer" but an actual professional engineer and Architect. These boats have compromises as do all boats. That said the boat was designed for a purpose with ultimate pragatism built in. It's only limitation is speed. It is and always will be a displacement speed only boat. I would not hesitate to purchase a well loved GH or N. These boats are built so well they have "good bones" and will enjoy a long, long life owned and cruised by many owners. I personally know of several great used ones on the market some of which are listed by Ken. Several of these have had system improvements made i.e. larger capacity watermaker, hydronic heaters, etc. The GH's are so labor intensive that the required pricing now puts them out of the market. I'm sure Ken would build one if someone wanted to overspend the market. There are certainly some modifications that can be made (to Ns) that do not involve mold changes. Ken is the best reference for that. If I had to buy my boat today there are certain changes I'd make to better faciltate my cruising style. Our second small stateroom would be converted into a utlility room housing a compact stack washer and dryer as well as inverter(s) which don't like engine room heat. This change would permit an small increase in the size of the one head and make for a nice cabinet where the combo Splendide washer/dryer is now. I would also delete the flybridge as I've had some sun precancer issues and have been advised to avoid it, so don't use it, making it a waste for me. Other then that, I would not change to a different boat.

Joe Pica
Carolyn Ann GH N-37

Just spotted an N37 for sale on our local Craigslist. More pictures here:

Great Harbour N-37 Trawler, Economical Comfort, *Made in the USA*

That is hull #1 of the Ns. It has incredably beautiful wood work even pocket doors. I think this best wood work of all the boats. It was the featured boat in passagemaker and was built to "show case" the Ns being the first one. At that price, you could certainly make alot of system improvements (updates e.g. sea chest)) and still be well ahead of a new built one.

Well there ya go, Jim. Your dream boat! Ken could do a fly bridge for you later.

Joe and Eric

A few questions:

• Per another current thread on TF, are the Ns ballasted and if so where, type and weight?
• If the N47 were built today, what engine choices - to be legal - would be considered?
• What are the fuel and water tanks made of and capacity?

Thanks

Great post Joe, looking forward to following in your wake someday.

Some N-47 owners added lead ballast to the bow area under the chain locker to sink the bow thruster further under water to enhance it's performance. One owner cleverly modified the thruster tunnel for the same enhanced effect without adding weight. No N-47s (or any other Great Harbours) came from the factory with ballast that I know of. All tanks are fiberglass integrated with the hulls. I can speak to the N-37 tanks My N-37 has 2 150gal potable water tanks=300gal., 500 gal diesel tank and a 100 gal black water holding tank which is actually closer to 130 gals. by measurement. Of course the N-47s are much larger.
Over the 5100 hrs of cruising I've averaged 2.2 gals an hour including all generator and diesel heater opration.
Bigger engines will be no benefit to the boat as far as speed performance. Lou calculated the hp needed to drive the boat to hull speed and the current 74hp engines are larger then necessary. I have lost one engine 3 times and cruised comfortably to port on the remaining one engine at very near my normal cruise speed of 7 kts.. This with a small 5 degree rudder correction. These boats have true redundancy in that they cruise and handle very well on one engine as opposed to many "fast" boats with small rudders that.

healhustler said:

Well there ya go, Jim. Your dream boat! Ken could do a fly bridge for you later.

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Yes I guess that could be true.........................BUT I have found 2 N47's for sale with flybridges..........oh and I just found a GH 47 for sale today as well......First we cant find one now we have to MaNy ChOiCeS

Joe Pica,
Thank You Joe for the encouraging post and information. I think we have copied just about everything we could find concerning Great Harbor Trawlers and Lou Codega and Reuben Tran and of course Ken Fickett to say the least, all in order to get a better knowledge of these boats. I mean how they are made and why they were made in this way and what the purpose of these boats really are.

Well in all our researching I am finding that these boats are pretty amazing and I do believe that most people including some owners truly do not know what these boats are really capable of. We are sold !!
Now its time to sit back and take a deep breath and make sure this is what we truly desire to do then I guess it's dive in and take the big plunge !!
Thanks Again Joe
Jim

When searching, also search for "Great Harbor" and Great Harbour(correct spl) seems some listings misspell Harbour.
Also, reference the Flybridges, the only models without a flybridge option are the GH-37s. The evolution of Great Harbours is an interesting study on the design and building of a new boat. It was "purpose" front loaded by customer #1 who liked soem features of the Krogen Manatee and Florida Bay Coaster but wanted a hybrid of the two that could be a capable cruiser and be a good office live aboard at the dock.
Customer #1 wanted the boat to be built out of Fiberglass so Ken Fickett was the pickwith his extensive composites experience. There were many players involved in Hull #1 GH-37) all of who had strong opinions but in the end a great cruising boat was born. The Ns were to come later.
It is interesting how the Krogen Manatee has become a cult boat and is no longer being built but selling near it's original price. I think this will be the case for the GH-37s. They are a Manatee on steroids with more space a twin keel protected props...etc.. IMHO.

Yep, Joe you're probably right - she sure looks like the original N37 (Great Harbour trawler #25, N37 #1.) I have lost track of the various owners, names (Semper Fi, Walkabout, All Ours), and hull colors (red, green, navy) of that boat! However, she is one of only two Great Harbours (that I know of) that has gone to Cuba. Here are a couple shots from that trip...

...she also traveled to the Newport Boat Show by way of Bermuda!

kraftee said:

Yep, Joe you're probably right - she sure looks like the original N37 (Great Harbour trawler #25, N37 #1.) I have lost track of the various owners, names (Semper Fi, Walkabout, All Ours), and hull colors (red, green, navy) of that boat! However, she is one of only two Great Harbours (that I know of) that has gone to Cuba. Here are a couple shots from that trip...

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Does that boat have a stand up engine room or am I mistaking it with another boat?

Yes, at least for 5'8" me .

CPseudonym said:

Does that boat have a stand up engine room or am I mistaking it with another boat?

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I went on Young America and I recall you could have party in that engine room .

Joe Pica said:

Yes, at least for 5'8" me .

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Pack Mule said:

I went on Young America and I recall you could have party in that engine room .

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Hmmmm...

Thank you gentleman

Yeah, I from what I recall, there was also space for a party size fridge in that engine room.

Here's something I wondered about but never had the occasion to ask Ken Fickett. Here's the N-37 Silver Queen in standard trim, and then with a foot added (like on the N-47) to the base of the pilothouse, making the engine room and the bosuns locker 6'8" or more, and also giving the option of having the window in the bosuns locker/man-cave. With the extra foot, I don't think the pilothouse overwhelms the boat. Same molds, ....why not.

Ya kinow I would agree with thiat !! It sure looks alot better with the higher pilot house like the N47 has.
I bet the view over the bow is improved big time as well. Hmm if you could take the pilot house up a little higher on the N47 you could do away with a flybridge alltogether as well.
Either way, the N is one classy boat which gives more then expected of it.

Because it is not the same molds. The N-37 and N47 PILOT HOUSE molds are identical, however, the deck molds are quite different. This is where the extra foot is. In order to get the same height from the N37, Ken would have to make an entirely new deck mold - and for what result? To go from 6' headroom to 7' headroom in the engine room - and from 4' to 5' in the bosun locker? I guess that would be advantageous for some people, but for most, the extra foot just means an extra foot of air draft and a one-foot step up into the pilot house. You CERTAINLY don't need the extra foot to see over the bow (which is the original reason for that one -foot in the N47). Also remember, the lower you can stand while piloting the vessel, the less apparent motion. So, don't hold your breath on a new deck mold for the N37!

By way of further explanation, here are the two deck molds. The first one is the N37 and the second is the N47. Keep in mind that the molds are inverted, so you can easily see the recess in the N47 mold that becomes the one foot higher saloon deck.

...also, someone was asking about tank construction earlier in this thread. Thought they might like to see a comparison of the N37 and the massive tankage of the N47. Notice that the tanks become part of the hull and add tremendous structure with their 360-degree bonded baffles and lids.

Love the tank pictures! The forums are full of postings on "Tank Problems"..... Not on Great Harbours!

Well thanks for the smack-down on my extra-height, dream N-37, Eric. That was almost as bad as when you talked me out of the GH-37 with the fly-bridge! It was my birthday, for heaven's sake!:lol:

Seriously though, the tank photos are hard to believe. I knew the hull was thick and heavy, but now I'm seeing where a lot of the GH and N series weight comes from, almost like a honeycomb of baffles, walls and lids.

Healhustler, I assure you that the extra foot may cause problems not anicipated. That unnecessary 1' adds to air draft in some areas that are great cruising. I have 5100+ hrs at the lower helm of our N-37 and 28hrs on the flybridge helm. Simply, I see better from the lower helm especially when docking, then the upper (Bahamas not withstanding) and enjoy the comfort below. Your cruising may be different but that is my personal experiences.

Sorry to dash your tall N37 dreams Larry! But, if you still want a tall boat, there are used GHs on the market! Since you guys seem to be enjoying them, I thought I would post a few more cool construction pics.

The first set of pics is of Hull #44 (N37 #12), Meermin. She was the last N37 built in the "old" mold. Originally we built the 37s AND 47s in the same mold. It had 10' inserts that were removable. Of course, this added a lot of extra fairing work to the hulls - and we could only lay up one hull at a time. So, we flipped Meermin, did a LOT of fairing work and popped a new mold off of her. All later 37s (Ns and GHs) came out of this new mold. The old mold was converted to a full-time 47' mold and was reworked to be much fairer. The flipping process took a giant crane, all our shop guys, and almost created a catastrophe when the hull slipped as it was just about flipped over. Terrifying.