Nordhavn 120 Trawler Yacht

I haven't seen anyone start a discussion of the new Nordhavn 120, so I thought I’d get us going. Pacific Asian Enterprises (PAE) has announced this model formally in the latest issue of Circumnavigator magazine. The new issue is available for download now and will hit newsstands later (http://www.nordhavn.com/news/pressrelease/CNIII.php).

The design follows the tried and true aft pilothouse styling similar to the N86 and N68. There will be four decks including the covered flying bridge. The article states that owners will be able to customize the interior, but the initial design suggests comfortable berthing, dining, and lounging for an owner and spouse and up to eight additional guests. On the main deck, the owner’s suite is forward and includes an office. The galley follows aft and is just forward of a dining area. The aft end of the main deck is devoted to a saloon with bar and small gaming table. Along with the wheelhouse, the captain gets a double berth on the bridge deck and there is a sky lounge with great views aft. The guest accommodations are comprised of four king size cabins with three-piece baths on the lower deck. Aft of the engine room are two cabins and a private mess for up to four additional crew members. The foredeck will hold two generously sized tenders.

As of printing, it seems the vessel is still under development as it mentions that the hull will be tank tested. Unlike the vast majority of Nordhavns, the article also suggests that the N120 will be commissioned at the factory in Asia and be delivered on its own bottom (shipping on freighters is the norm for virtually all of the smaller vessels including the N86). The article also states that these will be ABS certified yachts. There is no specific mention of initial pricing although the owner’s interior design choices will certainly influence the bottom line.

The N120 has the following specs:

LOA: 120 ft. 7 in.
LWL: 108 ft. 4 in.
Beam: 27 ft. 11 in.
Draft: 9 ft. (half load)
Displacement: 352.5 LT (full)
Fuel: 17,500 gal U.S.
Water: 2,800 gal U.S.
Engines: Twin MTU model 8v-2000-m2
Power output: 965 hp @ 2,250 rpm

N120 Website

For anyone interested, PAE has made its preliminary pages devoted to the Nordhavn 120 public. They did include downloadable PDFs of the GA and starboard profile. The rest of the specs and content are pretty sparse, but will be filled in I'm sure in the weeks to follow.

http://www.nordhavn.com/120/index.php

Construction Update

Nordhavn reports that they have completed the mold for their new 120 foot model on schedule and will begin the construction of hull #1 next month. They have few photos of the massive plug (in blue) and the mold (in red) coming off the plug on this page - (http://www.nordhavn.com/news/pressrelease/120_tooling/).

RE: Diesel Electric

I think it was a combination of the reality of the implementation and the performance. I know I read it somewhere else and it is confirmed on Ken Williams’ blog (http://www.kensboat.com/), that the boat was actually converted back to a traditional diesel propulsion system after delivery.

Ken (previously owned a N62 and was the impetus for the N68) mentions this about the N76 in his blog…“I spoke, only briefly, to the owner about his reasons for the refit, and the bottom line seemed to be stability and maintainability for long-distance passages.” Click for source.

Price Confirmation

That figure is backed up by the article in Nordhavn's fourth issue of Circumnavigator magazine in an article about the 120.

"Consider also that the Nordhavn 120 sells for $19 to $20 million, more than three times the price of Nordhavn's next largest model, the Nordhavn 86."

Page 70 of the printed version and page 36 of the PDF version. The sales and marketing tool (magazine) published for Nordhavn can be downloaded free from the site...

http://www.nordhavn.com/circumnavigator/circumnavigator.php4

I have to agree with you on the larger Nordhavns being produced. I am not a big fan of the look of the 120 either and I really think at least one of the 86s out there is pretty bad. The original specs for the 86 called for twin engines with dry exhaust. The design incorporated two stacks in the aft corners of the house structure for the mains. These specs used to be listed on the web site, but the standard has since been changed to wet exhaust. I don’t know if dry exhaust is even still an option. There is a sidebar devoted to the extensive explanation of the initial choice for dry exhaust in the article announcing the 86 model in Circumnavigator II (still available on the site as a free PDF download – see the link in my previous post).

The second N86 named Aurora has a horrible flying bridge design. The molds were still designed for twin exhaust stacks, but since they used wet exhaust, they simply lopped off the tops of the stacks and have these weird box-like structures supporting the fiberglass bimini above which the sat domes are mounted emphasizing the strange look. Then the entire structure has been enclosed for weather. Overall I think it looks rather odd and gives the appearance that the design was done piecemeal. For photo evidence check out pages 5, 16 and 24-25 of Circumnavigator 4. One can also do a Google search for “nordhavn 86 aurora” and find a few sites with photos. There is a collection of pics from when the boat was up here by me at the Cap Sante Boat Haven this summer.

First N120 Sold

Pacific Asian Enterprises has announced the sale of their first 120 foot model. Delivery is now set for April 2012. Dee Robinson Interiors will handle the custom design which will have African cherry woodwork throughout. The owner just recently took delivery of the 86-foot Nordhavn Aurora (previously mentioned in this thread) and has owned both a N62 and N76. The press release can be found here: http://www.nordhavn.com/news/pressrelease/first_120/

New Interior for N120

For those interested, PAE has published a new GA for the N120. It is a dramatic redesign of the interior featuring relocation of the crew quarters from the stern to the forward hull, splitting the guest accommodations fore and aft, and new arrangements for the main galley and owner’s cabin. A dedicated AV electronics storage space has been added as well as additional laundry equipment, and the crew gets a third double cabin.

http://www.nordhavn.com/120/drawings/