n68 the newest nordhavns
This sweeping staircase connects the saloon and aft deck. There is an impression of airiness and space, due in no small part because the floor maintains the same level all the way from the stern to the bulkhead separating the galley from the owners’ forward stateroom.
The forward deck is home to a pair of owner-supplied RIBs for which a 40-gallon gasoline storage tank and electric pump installed in the Portuguese bridge provides the fuel. Powered by either hydraulic pressure or 240VAC, an electro-hydraulically powered Steelhead 1,000-kilogram capacity dual ram standpipe davit with 14-foot boom launches and retrieves the dinghies over the port and starboard sides respectively. Again, personal needs and preferences reign, and some buyers have upgraded the davit to one with even more reach and capacity so that either dinghy can be launched to either side. The main deck is drained by scuppers, and contains 11 recessed stainless steel hawse fittings with cleats to make line 26
circumnavigator | 2008-2009
handling as easy as possible: two on the bow, four on each side, and one on the stern’s center line. Heavy upper and lower stainless steel rub rails protect the hull. The aft deck is the boat’s main entry foyer with a fully covered cockpit providing overhead protection. The weather-tight French double doors to the saloon can be opened and swung back against the bulkhead to link the two rooms and provide more space during a cocktail reception, or to take the evening air after a relaxing dinner. The caprail holds a socket for the four-foot teak flagstaff, while those who think they can catch their main course can take advantage of two self-draining fishing pole holders that are flush-fit into the cockpit bulwark on each side. The catch-of-the-
day can then be cleaned at the nearby sink cabinet which also has an alcove containing the same drive-by-wire control array as described on the Portuguese bridge. This station greatly simplifies what can be an otherwise challenging stern-to docking situation and will eliminate a lot of potential angst. For the same reason, this station also includes controls for the forward windlass to simplify fore and aft anchoring. As noted above, a centerline hawse and cleat are installed in the stern, and the line is served by either of a pair of Maxwell VC 2200 24v capstan winches. At the bottom of the aft deck’s twin staircases, a broad swim platform carries a fold-up stainless steel swim ladder with teak steps, and has two port and starboard pop-up 10-inch cleats for convenient dinghy tie-up. The cockpit lazarette on this boat is not just the usual hole into which things that don’t stow readily anywhere else get dropped, because it occupies all of the additional space provided by the four-foot hull extension. The enormous lazarette is actually a second machinery room, and is being used imaginatively by experienced owners to make life aboard just that much more enjoyable. Some of the additions include Glendinning reels for shore power cords and water hoses, and a wash pump for the stern anchor. OK, not too exciting so far, but how about a compressor and Brownie’s E-reels and Hookah system for diving? Or the outrageously convenient Med-moor passarelle installation on the Williamses’ boat? For the distaff member of the crew, however, the most attractive item in the lazarette is nothing more than a door. But it is no ordinary door. It is a watertight door that provides direct access to the machinery spaces, thus eliminating the need for tradespeople to track through all the boat’s living areas to service its systems. And there are many and varied systems to consider, for beauty is more than skin deep on this boat. Out of sight behind and below the evident luxury of the Nordhavn 68’s interior is a self-contained, scaleddown mirror of a city’s infrastructure: electricity generation, freshwater production, sewage treatment, and climate control, plus, of course, propulsion—all of it a marvel of the most modern engineering and set up to operate quietly and flawlessIII ly on demand.
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