Grand Banks 46 Eastbay FB
CAPRIO’S FIRST IMPRESSION: New England-style boats generally wear flying bridges more gracefully if they’re longer than 50 feet. The GB 46 Eastbay FB is an exception. She looks all dressed up and ready for her coming-out party.
Grand Banks’ newest incarnation of the Eastbay 46 carries a spacious flying bridge atop her pilothouse. This is a smart move, because a great many yachtsmen, their families, and friends love the lofty perch. They can see everything from there.
The design team certainly got its sums right when they drew the 46 FB. Her proportions defy improvement. To understand how the elements work together, divide the yacht into three sections—topsides defined by a wonderful sheerline, straight stem, and rounded transom; trunk cabin defined by the elliptical portlights, engine-room vents, and teak eyebrow; pilothouse and flying bridge. Each element carries the right amount of mass relative to its neighbors.
In the interest of minimal maintenance, the standard deck plan shows very little wood, only the caprail, eyebrow, cockpit sole and boarding steps, stairs to the flying bridge, the table on the bridge, and swim platform. Buyers who want a dressier exterior ought to love the optional teakpaved deck plan, which also includes two dorades, each mounted on a teak box.
Grand Banks offers three lower-deck arrangements, each of which significantly alters the boat’s character. The standard arrangement has a large en suite master stateroom in the bow. An island berth dominates the landscape, and the head is on the port side, sharing a bulkhead with the galley immediately aft. Opposite the U-shaped galley, you’ll find the guest stateroom, its two single berths tucked under the helm station above and a wet head at the forward end of the space.
Another option places an additional stateroom on the port side, in place of the galley. In this configuration, the galley ends up in the after end of the saloon on the main deck. My favorite option is the master in the bow, galley on the port side abaft the head, and what appears to be a lovely office and settee opposite in place of the double stateroom. This is a liveaboard arrangement for me. The standard arrangement for the main deck has a spacious lounge area/dinette abaft the helm. Lots of windows in the house gives everyone aboard, including the helmsman, terrific sightlines.
Grand Banks Yachts, 206-352-0116; www.grandbanks.com