FLEMING 65
2018 PRICE: $3,395,000
Many boat manufacturers talk the talk, but it’s fair to say that Tony Fleming, founder of Fleming Yachts, walks the walk. His ethos was to create boats that could go almost anywhere, and then he took one of them and went almost everywhere. The boat he chose was a Fleming 65 called (appropriately) Venturer in which he went as far as Alaska.
INTERIOR
Traditional teak greets you as you pass through the saloon doors. It’s a practical layout with a large, well-equipped galley at the head of it so food can simply be passed across rather than carried up stairs. Like the
Nordhavn, there’s a proper separate wheelhouse a few steps up ahead, and it contains a great little snug as well as the two big comfortable helm seats. The lower deck includes three cabins. The larger twin guest cabin includes two Pullman berths, taking sleeping to four.
EXTERIOR
It’s an absolute joy to be able to open a side gate and step straight from pontoon level to deck level. The aft cockpit is left mostly open for freestanding furniture, and wide, well-bulwarked decks on either side lead forward past the wheelhouse to a Portuguese bridge and workmanlike foredeck. The flybridge is a great size and shaded by a fixed hard top.
PERFORMANCE
About half the boat is given over to a spectacular engine room and lazarette, something that really matters if you take your cruising seriously. Twin Cummins QSL 9, 405hp engines should give a top speed of about 13 knots, cruising at 10-11 knots.
SEAKEEPING
“Driving a Fleming is rather like driving a Bentley, whatever the speed it’s a dignified affair,” we reported when we tested a Fleming 65 in 2007. Noise levels were particularly impressive. On that occasion the sea conditions posed little challenge, but a glance at the knife-like forward sections suggest that rough water handling should live up to the boat’s reputation.
Length: 67ft 4in (20.5m) Beam: 18ft 8in (5.7m) Draught: 5ft 0in (1.52m) Displacement: 47 tonnes Fuel capacity: 6,435 litres Engines: Twin Cummins QSL 9 405hp.
FOR SALE: Fleming Yachts www.flemingyachtseurope.com