JMYS has helped many clients purchase and build their own trawlers. Below is one of Jeff's favorite builds and reflects the principles he founded JMYS on.
The Nordhavn 52 Dirona is one of the best boat building projects I have ever been involved with. James and Jennifer Hamilton worked with me for over eight years before we finally got to the stage where they were ready to purchase. At that time, I was still working with PAE/Nordhavn and over the course of several months we met in person, talked on the phone, and exchanged hundreds of emails to help define every detail they wanted in their boat.
There were a number of “firsts” that resulted in a lot of extra work for the project manager and builder – first to quote and then to implement. My experience has been that it is much better for all parties, buyer and builder, to have a very thorough order at the time of contract. It is difficult to make changes after you sign your agreement (although we made dozens), so it is extremely important to specify all of the equipment and changes you wish to make as a buyer up front and before making a final commitment.
“It is much better for all parties, buyer and builder, to have a very thorough order at the time of contract. It is extremely important to specify all of the equipment and changes you wish to make as a buyer up front and before making a final commitment.”
Since the Nordhavn 52 is essentially a “stretched cockpit” Nordhavn 47 we weren't dealing with a complete unknown design that had only been created on paper. During our due diligence I supplied James and Jennifer with thousands of photos of features and options I had observed on other Nordhavn 47s. Jennifer organized all of these photos by room and by feature so that they could flip back and forth to design their ultimate cruising machine. Reviewing photos, talking to other owners, getting on as many boats as we could and tirelessly researching created a “greatest hits” list of requests and it made the pre-purchase pricing process much more difficult, but much more effective and they truly left no stone unturned in their pursuit for the ultimate trawler.
Visiting the Shipyard
Among the many important steps we took after signing up was to visit the ship yard in Xiamen, China, when the boat was very far along in production, but before the machinery was placed in the lazarette. With the equipment on hand, we spent two days organizing the optimum layout for weight balance and serviceability. This could only really be done in person and the team at South Coast (the builder) was very helpful in working with us to achieve this.
