USED BOAT: GRAND BANKS 47 HERITAGE
IN BUILD 2005-2014 PRICE RANGE £395,000 - £825,000
The first of these legendary cruisers with a planing hull offers pace as well space
The Grand Banks 47 Heritage was created in response to customer demand. Clients loved the Grand Banks style, but wanted the ability to cruise at faster speeds. This boat gave them that”. I’m talking to Colin Watts, director of Boat Showrooms and guru of all things Grand Banks, and he’s describing the gestation of the 47 Heritage.
Introduced in 2005, the boat was initially mooted to take over from the venerable
Grand Banks 42, a classic that dated way back to 1968. It was (and still is) the archetypal trawler yacht and Grand Banks was keen not to mess with that winning formula. The company turned to naval architects Sparkman and Stephens for a design that followed the styling cues of the original, delivering low sweeping teak-capped bulwarks and solid-looking upright superstructure. The difference was under water – a planing hull better suited to the larger engines and higher cruising speeds demanded by buyers. Initially launched as a 44, the company quickly realised that hull dynamics could be improved further by extending the hull beneath the bolt-on-style swim platform to increase the waterline length. However, that created an administrative issue with the American Boat & Yacht Council (ABYC) who objected to the now 47ft boat being badged a 44, an issue resolved by renaming the boat a 47.
The 47 Heritage was born, and in fact ended up a replacement for the larger Grand Banks 46. In 2008 Grand Banks
decided to extend the transom to the end of the waterline and revert to a bolt-on- style platform, and in 2010 the flybridge overhang of the Europa version was increased to match it.
Grand Banks built two versions, the classic aft cabin configuration that took accommodation almost the full length of the vessel called the CL, and the Europa, which was an aft-cockpit boat. Both sit on the same hull taking full advantage of the massive, near 16ft, beam to gift wide, deeply bulwarked side decks, and both are near identical back to the triple upright windscreens. But stroll aft from there and you’ll find yourself under motor yacht-style overhangs extended out from the flybridge on the Europa. At the back of this model those side decks segue into a flat aft deck plenty large enough to lay out a table and chairs, beneath which you’ll find a lazarette big enough to install a freezer or washing machine and above which you’ll find the flybridge extends to almost level with the transom. That extension allows space to store a dinghy behind a generous, high-sided flybridge. The CL gets the same flybridge minus the overhang – the dinghy instead sitting on the cabin roof of the aft cabin.
It loses that shaded aft cockpit, and although it still has a lazarette, it’s far smaller.
BIG ON THE INSIDE
Head inside and the tables are turned. Both boats get a large saloon, the Europa level with the aft cockpit, the CL a few steps down from the aft cabin roof. And both interiors are a riot of solid teak, sturdy handrails and big windows. But head forward and differences become evident. The Europa puts the galley alongside and level with the helm, steps forward taking you down to a two-cabin, two-heads layout. The forward cabin, with its low centreline double and generous ensuite, is clearly the master, guests get the twin-bedded cabin to starboard and cross the corridor to use the day heads. Headroom is full standing everywhere, toilets have domestic-style separate shower cubicles and there’s plenty of storage – it’s a proper ‘little ship’. But it’s bested inside by the CL. The forward cabin is very similar to the Europa, the
difference is that it is now the guest quarters. Head aft and you’ll find the galley in the same place but sunken onto a half deck, and steps descend at the aft end of the saloon where the Europa has doors out to the cockpit. This is the CL’S ace card – a huge bedroom with its own ensuite, a dressing table and masses of storage. It puts its two residing couples at opposite ends of the boat for privacy. Engine access is also different. On the Europa, lifting the flybridge stairs grants access to steps down to a surprisingly spacious and well-lit engine room. On the CL there’s a hatch by the helm which feels like it should offer a more compromised route, but actually works well, revealing another useful machinery space.
LIKE FOR LIKE
Standard engines for both variants at launch were twin Cummins QSC8.3 diesels pushing out 500hp a side through straight shaft drive to tunnelled props protected by a short keel deep enough that it would touch bottom before the propellers or rudders. Top speed was quoted at 25 knots, with optional 550hp versions adding a knot and a further upgrade to 600hp adding another.
Caterpillar were also on the options list, C9 motors offering 503hp or 567hp with speeds broadly in line with the equivalent Cummins. So whichever engine choice is fitted you’re looking at a useful mid-20 knots from this wide, upright 20 tonne bruiser (25 tonnes fully loaded). A sea change for Grand Banks that attracted a whole new breed of customer, like David Pugh, who bought the Europa you see on these pages brand new from Colin Watts in 2007, keeping it in Beaucette Marina in Guernsey for the first 9 years and cruising the north French coast and around the Channel Islands with Brittany a favourite destination.
“My boating history goes back to childhood with a pram dinghy and then progressing to speed boats. Our previous few boats had been Princesses, the last a V52. I’d hankered after a Grand Banks, purely for the timeless style, but with limited time, plodding around at 8 to 10 knots simply wasn’t going to give us the
range required. When this model came out with a planing hull, we headed to the Hamble for a trial and thought it was great. She cruises comfortably at 16-20 knots and tops out at 24 knots. In fact she has two cruising sweet spots, the first at 12-14 knots and the second between 18-20 knots, which is about 2,000rpm. But equally we can run at a displacement speed of 8 knots very comfortably”. David also describes it as “an easy boat to live on”.
“It might not have quite the volume of some mass produced 50-footers, but it’s a very comfortable four person boat. Everything is built big, so the showers are very useable and the size of everything makes it an easy boat to live on. Four of us have spent two weeks at a time on board very comfortably”.
SURF’S UP
He reserves special praise for the seakeeping. “The difference between this type of boat and the Princess is fairly significant. When it chops up, I know where I’d rather be. It sits in the water, not on it, and the flybridge has high sides which give a feeling of safety. The worst we’ve been in was a Force 6, gusting 7, coming back from Roscoff. Fortunately it was a southwesterly, so behind us, but at one point the waves were higher than the flybridge. But she was beautiful. She was at cruising revs and on autopilot with the speed ranging between 12 and 22 knots depending on whether we were going up the waves or down them. We never felt unsafe. When we arrived the wind was so strong we struggled to come alongside!”
David opted for the Europa because “I prefer the aft deck and the large lazarette. Plus sitting on the aft deck in a comfortable chair sipping a glass of something cool is simply a nice place to be. We did look at a CL, and although I liked the accommodation, I prefer the layout of this. But it’s a personal choice. I prefer the looks of this boat, plus I appreciate that extra storage space.”
Bob and Margaret Fanti own the 47CL on these pages. After many years of sailing in the UK and abroad, this is their first motor boat. “I went straight to the top and bought a Grand Banks” says Bob. He bought the boat new from Colin in 2009 and keeps it on the UK south coast. “I liked the more traditional style of the trawler yacht and it had a more pleasant interior. I wasn’t keen on going fast but as it happened this was GB’S first faster model, giving us the speed if required”. Bob and Margaret have taken it to France and Holland and, like David, rave about the seakeeping. “It feels very solid and will bash its way through anything.” But why the CL? “lf you have friends on board each couple gets their own space at night and then we meet in the middle – that was the deciding factor”. Across the two versions, Grand Banks built over 100 until production ceased in 2014. And against expectations the Europa outsold the classic aft-cabin CL.