new stuff doesn’t fit the old holes, a new face panel can be made inexpensively by any carpenter and simply dropped into place. In the engine room, fuel filters, tank access, engine components, and generator are all within easy reach without one having to be built like an orangutan. The walk-in, stand-up engine room is every trawler owner’s dream. It boasts an elegant yet simple fuel manifolding system which provides a small day tank and the ability to meter fuel so closely that it can determine fuel consumption down to the last tenth of a gallon. Virtually every gallon of fuel is burnable because fuel is taken from the bottom of the two main tanks holding 1,450 gallons in all. It’s a gravity-feed system that even a dolt in mechanical matters can operate like a pro. A nice touch is the stainless steel rail around the engine, great to lean on while working on the Lugger turbocharged six. The 47 comes with a comprehensive 130-page manual that covers every onboard system in detail. PAE has a full-time engineer dedicated to compiling and verifying the manuals, each one custom-written for every boat delivered, not just one generic manual per model. Arguably, PAE manuals are the best in the industry. The fore-and-aft bed, as opposed to athwartships, in the midships master stateroom and the large, welldesigned master head sized for realworld people shout comfort and convenience. Another nice touch comes in the guest stateroom where the head has been located forward against the chain locker, so guests can sleep farther aft than, say, in the Nordhavn 40. The standard four-burner stove looks like it belongs in a restaurant kitchen. The granite counter tops give the galley an upscale air, and only brand-name appliances are installed. The fit and finish throughout the boat are terrific. You cannot beat having truly experienced boatbuilders apply their skills and talent to a vessel. And say what you will about teak, it still looks right in a boat as beauti14 · CIRCUMNAVIGATOR 2003
An isolated fuel tank feeds the 40-hp Yanmar wing engine with V-drive transmission and Martec folding propeller (top). The Hynautic steering ram, autopilot pumps and watermaker prefilters are clustered in the lazarette. House batteries are also located in the lazarette. The main engine primary fuel filter is a duplex Racor 900, with another Racor used in fuel transfer.
fully crafted as the Nordhavn. In the cosmetic department, up on the optional flying bridge, one flub is the failure to build non-skid into the mold and having to resort to linear polyurathane paint with nonskid. Inconsequential, but an unusual slip. Seating space in the saloon is less than one would expect on a boat this size, but a consequence of having given so much space to the fabulous gal-
ley and the spectacular pilothouse. After the first five 47s were built in Taiwan, construction shifted to a new factory in Xiamen in mainland China. A lot of parts will be shipped to China from Taiwan, says Joe Meglen, one of the founding partners in PAE. “Hull #6 of the 47 will be the first boat built in China. Anything less than at least equal quality is not an option. If we have to throw 10 times the labor at it, we’ll do it, because #6 will be better than #5.” Nothing but the best of everything is the theme that runs through the 47, but Nordhavn quality has a price. You do get what you pay for, and, obviously, a record number of customers are willing and able to pay for the 47. “The 47 definitely has a magic to it in terms of the customer’s reaction,” says Jim Leishman, as witnessed by the rate at which buyers are responding to interior volume, appealing design and decent pricing. But is it the perfect passagemaker? The Beebe bible tells us that a proper passagemaker must have certain qualities and characteristics. They are detailed in Voyaging Under Power and summarized in later pages of this magazine. Not surprisingly, the Nordhavn 47 does not stray from the principles and parameters laid down by Beebe, since the people at PAE are unabashed adherents to Beebe. They’ll tweak the lines a bit, add two bulges below the waterline, and load up their boats with the best of everything that customers demand, but the people at PAE remain true believers. They are dedicated to the proposition that a man and wife can cross oceans, and voyage anywhere they wish, under power, in comfort, and with dispatch. That’s what the Nordhavn 47 is admirably suited to do. Time will tell how perfectly it can perform in such service. So far, the closest anyone has come to creating the perfect passagemaker in under 50 feet is PAE, with its venerable 46. The old girl has a lead of four score boats and three circumnavigations, but the new boy shows great promise. C