I've sailed a Gunboat..

[yeloya]

As a part of my business, beside many monos I had a chance to sail almost entire range of FP, few Lagoon, Leopard and Catana.
Last month we had a GB 62 visiting our yard or some small repairs / maintenance and the crew was kind enough to offer to me a day sailing..
Let me say that neither the boat nor the crew were in racing mode and she was heavily loaded.
So what makes this boat so different than any other cruising boat ;??

-the hull shape and the attention to details..even at 17-18 knots of speed the water leaving the hulls are extremely smooth and the flow is laminar.. No cavitation/turbulance of any kind;it seems like you are gliding on the oil.
-the boat is extremely light and and acceleration is very fast. Close reaching at 28-30 degrees app. 11-12 knots of speed, you tack, for a moment you see 8-9 knots and then back again 11-12 knots on other tack..
-the boat is so fast relative to true wind that the apparent wind is almost always fore the beam. There is one furling screecher for reaching but it's used for either very light winds for dead down wind sailing or until you reach enough speed to take the appparent wind fore the beam. Then, it's furled and you hoist the auto tackle gib...
-sail configuration / rigging is perfectly in harmony with the overall design/weight of the boat. I would have thought that this kind of light boats would have been reefed earlier. Just the opposite; the extra forces on the sails with increasing wind is converted to kinetic energy (extra speed..) with ease, thereby, there is not much load to be absorbed by the rigging. With apparent wind close to 30 knots, we sailed without reefing. When the gust comes, you just depower the boat by steering a bit more to the wind. The boat is very easy to handle under every circumstance.
-the internal finish of the boat is very good but not outstanding.. Most of the focus must have been put on the overall construction of the boat, design and engineering. The one we had was 11 years old and there were no sign of fatigue or whatsoever on the hulls and the rigging.

Overall, GB 62 is so much different than any other cat (I will sail next month a new Outremer 51 which is missing on my list) but is it worth 3 Mio bucks ?
First of all this boat is not for everyone anyway. If you are looking for space and comfort, you can buy 2 Lagoons 62 . If you need a bit of more fun and still reasonable comfort, there is a Outremer 52 or even 5X again at half price.
I believe GB is worth a premium price over these boats but twice as much could be too much. From diffrent statements of the owner, Mr Jonstone, I understand that they are not making too much money despite this price. Then, I believe they should focus more on productivity and efficiency to take the costs down without compromising anything on the quality to make this boat more affordable for a larger audiance. Manufacturing them in China or in the US to achieve this, doesn't really matter..

Cheers

yeloya

[FLLCatsailor]

Nice write up.

[norwegianspacem]

Great summary!
In respect to your statement 'From diffrent statements of the owner, Mr Jonstone, I understand that they are not making too much money despite this price.' - What would you (as a professional) estimate could be their profit margin?

[yeloya]

Originally Posted by norwegianspacem

Great summary!
In respect to your statement 'From diffrent statements of the owner, Mr Jonstone, I understand that they are not making too much money despite this price.' - What would you (as a professional) estimate could be their profit margin?

Difficult to answer.. Mr. Johnstone is a member in CF and if he wishes so he can better answer.
This boat weights about 60% lighter than a Catana of same size. All I know is making a light boat without geopardising form the seaworthyness is a very expensive exercise. This boat doesn't even have any cleat, there are several small pulleys (all carbon) on deck to attach the boat. All lines without exception is Dynemaa. This latter is 11 time per meter more expensive than standard lines that we are using. Just one of the huge spinlocks underneath the mast is 1.900 Euros (I know the price exactly as we used them for a refit of one mega sail boat) and there are several of them.
When you put all that together + attention to each detail some of the extra cost is justified. But I guess the overall problem is that a lot of fixed costs has to be allocated to a limited number of boats that you manufacture. All Ferraris are hand made in Italy (couple hundreds per year) If they start manufacturing on line and produce 10.000 Ferraris a year, would that still be a Ferrari ?

Yeloya

[barnakiel]

A boat is a boat. It must glide at speeds otherwise the turbulence would shake it to pieces. So that's that for performance - must be smooth to go fast.

Now the price part: it is not a boat for those who see price as a the deciding factor. Lagoons are.

With this much carbon, vacum and actually being one off production, the price will be high anyways.

I have seen one close up and personal (labelled Gaastra, at that point). I was not impressed, just another big (too big?) cat. Lagoon on steroids. I think sometime down the road she shook off her rig (?)

b.

[Sand crab]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

With this much carbon, vacum and actually being one off production, the price will be high anyways.
b.

These boats are built out of molds which is the same way as every other production boat. I wouldn't call them one offs. But I do agree the high tech materials make them so expensive.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Sand crab

These boats are built out of molds which is the same way as every other production boat. I wouldn't call them one offs. But I do agree the high tech materials make them so expensive.

Yes.

And how many units are built out of each mold?

The price of the mold is allowed for in the price of the unit too.

b.

[djtopper]

I am curious how you stack up the GB to a Catana of similar length. Also, if/when you sail a 5X I'd be very curious how the three compare.

It seems on paper that the GB would clearly be on top due to their extensive use of carbon. But the 5X vs a Catana 59 would be an interesting comparison.

Personally, I've become quite fond of the Catanas wrt. the optimization of price, performance and comfort.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by djtopper

GB to a Catana of similar length

My bet is GB, Outremer, Catana for speed reverse order for comfort.

You may like these if you are into the performance cruising territory:
High Performance Multihull Sailing Yachts | Luxury Catamarans

b.

[colemj]

I have been on a Sig45 and they are nice boats. It is minimal cruising comfort and maximal performance. Couldn't say I would be happy on it as a full-time long term cruiser, but would be very happy with it as a weekender or seasonal cruiser.

I suspect the Sig60 is going right at Gunboat.

Mark

[valhalla360]

It's basic project management: Scope, Schedule and Budget. Change one and it affects the others.

Gunboat has sacraficed accomodations and budget to get schedule (ie: speed). If you only need the accomodations of a 45'er in a 60' boat and don't mind paying much more for the extra speed, it's a reasonable option. The only difference is they are at the extreme end of the production market.

[rebel heart]

I just "reasonable" and "gunboat 62" in the same thread? The thing is an enormous beast with an outrageous price tag. I bet a Nordhavn is a pretty nice ride as well.

[barnakiel]

What are Sig and Gunboat alternatives anyway?

b.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by yeloya

-the boat is extremely light and and acceleration is very fast. Close reaching at 28-30 degrees app. 11-12 knots of speed, you tack, for a moment you see 8-9 knots and then back again 11-12 knots on other tack..
Cheers

yeloya

28-30 degrees is reaching? What's it do close-hauled?

[Factor]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

What are Sig and Gunboat alternatives anyway?

b.

Outremer 5X