Messing about in boats since 1975. Online Since 1997.
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The 54' Trawler Yacht
"Greatheart"
GH-54 Outboard Profile | GH-54 Deck Plan | GH-54 Interior Plan | GH-54 Interior Profile
GH-54 Perspective Rendering | Larger Color DrawingCopyright 1999 - 2007 Michael Kasten
General Concept
A full size steel trawler yacht for long range ocean voyaging. Steel is chosen for ruggedness and economy in building. This vessel could certainly be built in aluminum, and if that were the preference, one could increase fuel capacity for a longer range under power..
The Greatheart 54 is intended to accommodate a couple with two children or two guests on a circumnavigation. The interior offers a very spacious pilot house having a pilot berth above the aft cabin, a huge galley and saloon area for social activities below, two heads, two private staterooms, plus a project room / large office. The forward head even has a bath tub..! Nice..!
Power and Range
As with the other members of the Greatheart family, the GH 54 hull is designed after the Pacific Northwest fishing vessels, only made considerably less burdensome for the sake of long range efficiency. The engine chosen is the John Deere 6068, mated to a Sabb reduction gear driving a Helseth Controllable Pitch Propeller. Equally viable engine choices would be the excellent 6 cylinder engines offered by Lugger, Gardner, or CAT in the range of around 125 to 150 horsepower.
Displacement will vary from around 45k pounds to around 58k pounds fully loaded. Using the Beebe algorithm to calculate range under power, the GH 54 range will be approximately 3,000 NM at an S/L of 1.15 (around 7.5 knots). Lower speeds will yield longer range, as expected.
Design Genesis
As with our other designs in this series, the hull form for the Greatheart 54 has been adapted from real trawlers - US West Coast fishing vessels which have to operate in all weathers - including in the Gulf of Alaska, a place where the ocean is... well, not so nice. Our aim has been to retain the excellent sea keeping qualities of those working craft, and to refine their lines into 'yacht' form to achieve a more easily driven hull with relatively light displacement. See the following links for vessels in the Gulliver / Greatheart series...
Greatheart 36 | Vagabond 36 | Gulliver 46 | Greatheart 48 | Greatheart 54
Greatheart 60 | Swallow's Nest 60 | Swallowtail 60 | Braveheart 53 | Braveheart 63 | Swallows Nest 70In order to achieve a proportionately longer waterline and more interior space without increasing boat length, we developed another series of designs based on the same hull form, but with a more upright stem and transom. Combined, this reduces the overhangs and increases the WL length to gain more interior space with less overall hull length. Check out the following links for boats in the Vagabond series...
Vagrant 49 | Vagrant 70 | Vagabond 50 | Voyager 52 | Valdemar 53 | Valdemar 70
For more information on this or other designs, please inquire.
Please see the AVAILABLE BOAT PLANS web page.
Home | Intro | Our Design Process | Stock Design Info | Motor Yacht Designs | Sailing Yacht Designs | Prototype Designs
Plans List | Articles | Our CAD Design Stream | Maxsurf | SITE MAP..! | Site Search | Design Team | Contact Us
