Keeping it in the family
Orakei Yacht Sales have yet to lose a Jeanneau owner to another agency, says Jason Snashall. Savvy Too replaces an NC11 the Havelock couple owned previously, which they bought secondhand through Orakei Yacht Sales after the original owner traded it for a Prestige 500s.
Prestige Motor Yachts are built by Jeanneau, so Orakei Yacht Sales is also the New Zealand importer and agent for Prestige, meaning they’ve kept it in the family.
Lifting the bench top reveals a sink with foldaway tap and a two-burner gas hob and polished aluminium splash back. An under-bench fridge and gas oven complete the galley, which also has reasonable stowage for plates and utensils, bottles and pantry items.
Actually, you're spoiled for storage space aboard the NC14. With its engines aft under the cockpit, there's a massive hold under the oak saloon floor accessible via a ladder. The owners have installed a washing machine and there's additional room for a freezer, wine cooler or a water maker, which is coming.
The easy living theme continues outside where the cockpit, while not huge, becomes much bigger with the transom slid back. This is the same system Jeanneau uses on other NC models. The whole modular transom unit, complete with lockers and seating, is mounted on tracks in the teak-soled cockpit. It slides aft electrically, adding half a metre of useable length to the cockpit. When it's in the outboard position there's room for a drop-in table for al fresco dining and socialising.
There's good shelter from the saloon roof overhang: it features twin skylights, LED floodlighting and cockpit speakers. Two transom doors let out onto the wide swim platform and it too has a party trick, hydraulically lowering to below water level to give swimmers, divers and water toys easy on-off access. It's big enough for an outboard powered tender. A cockpit freshwater shower makes post-swim rinse-offs quick and easy too.
The cockpit and swim platform are made for summer fun on the water, as is the generous foredeck with its sun-lounger cushions. Sunbathing is less popular in this part of the world than it is in Europe, but I'm sure Kiwi families will enjoy the sundeck while tucked up in a quiet bay on a sunny evening.
IPS POWER
One of the reasons the NC14 has such spacious accommodation and lots of storage space is because of its Volvo Penta IPS500 pod drives fitted under the cockpit sole. Access to the engines is good via a T-bar ladder from the cockpit and there's reasonable space in the engine room, though like most European production boats I've seen, no space is wasted. The boat's owners have also opted for a gen-set, which shares the machinery space, along with the battery banks.
IPS pod-drives offer excellent manoeuvrability and joystick control at low speeds with conventional electronic throttle and shift at normal operating revolutions. A bow thruster is also fitted, so berthing is a breeze.
2 x Volvo Penta IPS500 D6 370hp turbo diesels
counter-rotating, forward facing propellers on pods 2 x 450 litres