Moving to Power

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ValhowellPower

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2024
Messages
26
Location
Socal
Hi. My wife and I live aboard a Beneteau Sense 51 in Socal. After careful consideration we are looking to convert to power. Most of our cruising will be the Socal Coast and Channel Islands. We entertain A LOT. While we have been looking at motor yachts for some time (mostly online) and have done several trips on others boats including Socal to Oregon we are constantly evaluating and refining our must haves for the 'right boat'. We are both lifelong boaters, racers and love our live aboard life style. We will be reading a lot and likely asking a lot of questions as we refine our focus. Thanks in advance for the welcome and your candid thoughts.
 
Welcome!
 

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Glad to have you here.
 
Hi. My wife and I live aboard a Beneteau Sense 51 in Socal. After careful consideration we are looking to convert to power. Most of our cruising will be the Socal Coast and Channel Islands. We entertain A LOT. While we have been looking at motor yachts for some time (mostly online) and have done several trips on others boats including Socal to Oregon we are constantly evaluating and refining our must haves for the 'right boat'. We are both lifelong boaters, racers and love our live aboard life style. We will be reading a lot and likely asking a lot of questions as we refine our focus. Thanks in advance for the welcome and your candid thoughts.
We were/are in the same boat! After 3 sailboats (43-52') in San Diego, we switched to to a Queenship 59 pilothouse in 2009, sold her in 2020 and bought a Nordlund 57, which we cruise today. Our cruising grounds are San Diego, Catalina and the Channel Islands. We live aboard, in the islands, half of each month May thru October thanks to Starlink. Happy to answer any specific questions. Both were/are great, high quality coastal cruising boats
 
We cruise the same waters. We are in Ventura and spend a lot of time at the Channel Islands. Queenships are hard to find. We have looked at a couple Sonships but the galley is not quite right for the master chef (full oven no microwave convection). We have seen a couple Tollys but MTU engines and DDs are not at the top of our list for propulsion. Why did you trade out the Queenship for the Nordlund?
 
Old Detroits (6V92 625hp) caused us to be afraid of rebuild costs (rebuilt one engine right after we bought her), and eventually was going to need a new paint job. So the equation was do we want to own this boat for another 10 years + to make economic sense of the two big, likely expense items. It was a 9-9.5 knot boat at 1 nmpg, 18 knot fast cruise at 0.3 nmpg, 23 knot top end. Weighed 75,000 lbs wet. Layout was great for entertaining and boat was very comfortable, even without stabilizers. 3 decks, lots of up and downstairs. Only went back to the slip twice in 12 years due to swells.

Nordlund is a bit more of a custom built, highly responsive 'sports car', weighs 38,000 wet, has ABT stabilizers, delivers 11.5 knots at 1 nmpg, 18 knot fast cruise at 0.78 nmpg (20 knots at 0.68 nmpg), 26 knot top end. More of a single level (not quite but close) boat. Designed by Ed Monk Jr and Tim Nolan. Engineered for weight and safety. 6 watertight compartments. Gentleman that had her built came out of Santa Cruz 52 sailing and the boat has some sailboat performance and design features. There is a nice Power & Motor Yacht writeup online, and Dennison broker video.

For comparison you can see Calypso, the Queenship 59, at boatbnb.com where the new owner gets $550/night as a unique hotel alternative in San Diego. The last known Admiralty model Queenship was a 2008 model. They are about 60 Admiralty models out there between 56'-68' (same hull, just stretched). Engineering is very good, as are system. I think there were only 2 completed between 2005 and 2008. Very nice boat with elegant interior
 
We did a passage from Ventura to Brookings Oregon on a Nordlund 65. Great boat. We like the Nordlunds, but again, they are hard to find. One in Fla, but not great shape. Does you Nordlund have Cat engines? Does she have a full oven in galley? We will be in San Diego in Feb. We used to live there (Navy 77-81, North Park 2000-2004). Would love to see your vessel if you are around.
 
Highly recommend Nordlund if you can find a fit. Ours was the smallest one build since 1985 as far as we can tell. It does have CAT C9's, and no the oven is a Princess electric, non full size. Check out Wasabi, a 1983 68' Norlund gem. A very nice refit boat.

Our Queenship had a 27" GE oven. Our Nordlund is at the SDYC. Let us know when your down and we'll see if we can coordinate. Regarding the Sonship option, perhaps a cabinet shipwright can help you accommodate a full size oven. Usually 3-4 Queenship Admiralty series come up for sale each year. Some have Cat 3406's, which would be ideal. At least one I saw had Mann's. Never seen one with Cummins. We miss the dishwasher and trash compactor we had on the Queenship. The smaller oven on the Nordlund has not be a big deal, and our GE Convection microwave with stove top exhaust has helped provide extra oven capacity.
 
PS the number of Queenship Admiralty hulls and Sonship 58's is close to the same, with the earliest Sonship launching in the early 1990's and the earliest Queenship Admiralty's 56/59/64/68 launching in 1996. I've watched Yachtworld for these models for close to 20 years. The number for sale ebbs and flows between 0-6 at any one time. I had the opportunity to visit the Queenship yard in Maple Ridge, BC about around 2012/13. There was an unfinished Admiralty hull, and a 144' super yacht named Diamond Girl which had it's build stalled at about 90% finished due to the 2008 crash. The yard closed shortly thereafter. I had a fantastic tour where we could really see how well she was built and engineered as many finish panels where not yet installed. The Ocean Alexander 58 and Offshore 54 are similar if you are open to a Taiwan built boat over a PNW built boat.
 

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