Great question, and not one I have the technical skill to be able to answer. I'll give my best shot at an answer, then forward your question to Jeff Leishman at Nordhavn, and post his response here.
First off: It would take a lot of convincing to make me believe that Nordhavn's new taller boats are more seaworthy than the earlier boats (notably the 62). Nordhavn is a business, and businesses listen to their customers. Customers have requested larger interiors and stand-up engine rooms. These things add height.
This said, I doubt there is much, if any, of a gap between the sea-worthiness of a N62 and an N68, especially when compared to other yachts I could have purchased. Nordhavns are very rugged boats, with 100s of thousands of miles on them. No Nordhavn has ever been sunk by bad weather (to my knowledge). There have been some unfortunate collisions with rocks and ships, with adverse consequences, but the Nordhavns have proven their seaworthiness, and this reputation is not going to change.
From my layman's perspective, and we'll have to see what Jeff has to say, the key issue is the relationship of weight below the waterline, and weight up high. There are ratios that must be maintained, and the designers at Nordhavn run lots of math to engineer a new boat.
I'm sure my having a hot tub on the flybridge has caused a few people to shake their heads. Weight up high is a very bad thing. Please be assured - the boat will never be under way with water in the hot tub. It is replacing a large seating area that probably doesn't weigh much less.
I'll post anything Jeff has to say on the topic.Overall, it's an issue I've thought about and decided is a factor, but a very tiny one. If anything happens to the boat, it is likely to result from an encounter with some hard object, lightning, ...or via having lost power, and gotten itself beam-to in some ugly seas. My focus is on finding ways to avoid each of these. There are a lot of redundant systems, monitoring and equipment like AIS and Sonar on Sans Souci that will hopefully keep me out of trouble.
All this said: Generally speaking, the most important safety feature on a boat is a captain with a healthy respect for the sea. I've got that one well under control.
-Ken W
| Williams, Ken |
2006-10-03 06:06:45
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