Greenland 34: Greenland 34 vs Highland 35

[bluenomads]

I am looking at buying one of these - Greenland 34 or Highland 35.
The G34 would be 2002 or so, and the H35 2008 (based on price I can afford for the age).

The benefits for the H35 seem to be:

• bigger flybridge
• bigger cockpit
• internal helm (rudder and motor controls)
• bigger engines
• better all-around visibility in the cabin

The benefits of the G34 seem to be:

• cheaper by 30-50%
• 2 x heads rather than 1
• slightly lower air height for getting under the French canal bridges

Otherwise they appear to be the same.

We will potter around the Med and European canals for a few years, so this is the primary use. Mostly a couple but with a few other friends for various times.
If she could do it - eventually - we'd carefully load her full of fuel, carefully choose weather, carefully choose crew, and carefully motor her slowly and carefully () across the pond to do the Great Loop. But maybe not, so assume mostly Europe/Med/Baltic.

Does anyone have any opinion or know better of the Greenland 34 vs Highland 35? Anything I have missed?

I'm wondering whether putting a separate set of dual engine controls, helm using hydraulics, would be possible in the G34? They did optionally come with this I saw in a brochure from the time. Anyone done it?

I couldn't do anything about the different size of the flybridge, cockpit and visibility. But are they really bad problems for the uses we'll put her to?

BTW, the G34 I'm looking at has dual Yanmar 100's so is pretty close to the 110's of the H35.

Thanks

[Marcsailcat]

We have a 34 Greenland since 2012. It is a great boat and for the money, very hard to beat. Ours is a 2002 with dual controls. Also a larger than standard motor, 135hp Nanni's. She cruises easily at 15 knots burning less than 4 gph. Not very many of either Greenlands or Highlands in the US. When we bought ours, Highlands were much newer and therefore more $$.
Space wise there isn't much difference. Bridge clearance would be an issue in France canals. We have chartered canal boats in France that haven't a flybridge and there were some bridges the clearance was an issue even with a boat without a flybridge (we were on a Linseen 34 with a bridge deck).
The dual cabins with full on suite is great for cruising with 2 couples. Both boats suffer from too narrow bunks so if you are a larger person, the bed is somewhat narrow for your mate. Upstairs the salon table can be lowered and makes a large bed. We have used that on occasion.
Good luck boat hunting!
Marc

[bluenomads]

Originally Posted by Marcsailcat

We have a 34 Greenland since 2012. It is a great boat and for the money, very hard to beat. Ours is a 2002 with dual controls. Also a larger than standard motor, 135hp Nanni's. She cruises easily at 15 knots burning less than 4 gph. Not very many of either Greenlands or Highlands in the US. When we bought ours, Highlands were much newer and therefore more $$.
Space wise there isn't much difference. Bridge clearance would be an issue in France canals. We have chartered canal boats in France that haven't a flybridge and there were some bridges the clearance was an issue even with a boat without a flybridge (we were on a Linseen 34 with a bridge deck).
The dual cabins with full on suite is great for cruising with 2 couples. Both boats suffer from too narrow bunks so if you are a larger person, the bed is somewhat narrow for your mate. Upstairs the salon table can be lowered and makes a large bed. We have used that on occasion.
Good luck boat hunting!
Marc

Thanks Marc! That's a great help.
The G34 is certainly value for money. I suppose to know whether the H35 is going to be "needed", can you say whether you have missed any of these:

• having a larger flybridge? Did you have the full flybridge or the G34 version with the seats only half-up?
• having a larger cockpit? The H35 looks better for eating outside - did you ever feel your G34 was too small?
  
• internal controls - when you say dual controls, do you mean you had both engine and rudder controls downstairs? We think this is a must, but do you use the controls down much compared to flybridge?
  Also, would you think it would be difficult to add the controls in the cabin?
  
• Have you felt the visibility from the cabin was a problem on the G34? The H35 does seem to have made this a lot better...

Certainly agree about the height in the French canals - we'd either be constrained to 3.5m air height. An option of course is a chainsaw to bring the flybridge console down 10-15cm ...

Have you any thoughts of load-carrying - how much have you loaded the G34? For long distance, we'd have 1000+L (250g) of fuel, 300L water, 3-4 people, food, etc. And for loooooong travel, perhaps even another 200g of fuel (eek). Do you think the G34 would handle that any better than the H35? The H35 would almost certainly be a different underwater shape, but I wonder whether it's all that different once loaded...

Thank you!
Rob

[Marcsailcat]

Hi
We have a full flybridge with bimini. Height is 16 feet. But if we took down the bimini and mast I think it is about 13 feet.
The cockpit might be a bit smaller but it is still plenty big. We have had 12-14 people aboard for Christmas boat parade and for new years parties. The cockpit easily has room for a table and chairs, with sitting 1-2 people on rear lazarette and 3-4 people around other side of table. We use the table from the salon. I found some pedestal legs that fit on the bottom of the table posts.
Our boat came with a complete set of controls downstairs and on the flybridge. In Florida we almost always use the upper station only. Bad weather we will use lower station. Visibility from lower station is ok, the stairs to the flybrige blocks the view to the rear starboard side but it is manageable.
The hull looks exactly the same as the 35. I think they came from the same fiberglass mold. We carry 200 gallons diesel, 75 gallons water and even with 12 people aboard the boat handles it very well.

Marc