Grand Banks 52 Europa

 

The stabilisers came into their own in the washing machine chop set up by the ferries coming and going from Circular Quay.

CONSTRUCTION & LAYOUT
Although the overall length is 16.48m (with the boarding platform and the pulpit), it's a full 15.7m (52ft ) on the waterline, which gives the hull enormous internal volume.

The simulated-plank moulded hull has the traditional straight bow with a low chine that hardens towards the stern, with a deep skeg on the centre line that's deep enough to protect the propellers. It flattens out aft to a slightly rounded transom, which helps the boat to almost plane and gives a very stable motion. Even without the stabilisers the owner had fitted.

The superstructure is square - there's not a curve in it. The designers have broken the shape up, however, with two side plates that run from the low bulwarks to the flybridge deck. The side deck is full walk-around from the bow to the generous aft cockpit.

A large hatch in the cockpit sole leads to the engine room through a large void space that houses a washer and a dryer on one side and a workbench on the other, and there's still plenty of room for storage. Now step through the door into the engine room, it's the biggest I've ever seen on a small ship of this size. The space houses twin Cummins 540hp QSC diesels, is full stand up and walk around. It's an engineer's dream.

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The square superstructure gives full headroom in the saloon with a level walk-in from the cockpit. The saloon is open plan with a full view past the galley, right through to the pilothouse windows. The lounge area is aft with an L-shaped settee around a folding table that can be raised or lowered hydraulically, with two armchairs sitting opposite.

The large galley is on the starboard side with all the mod cons including microwave, dishwasher, two fridges, four-burner cook top with fiddle rails to hold kettles and saucepans firmly in place, plus a garbage compactor. A feature is the drop-down plate and cup storage mounted above the Corian bench top. The cabinetry is top class with all the draws built using good old-fashioned dovetail joins.

The pilothouse is a true pilothouse, but without the bulkhead that usually separates it from the saloon. But there's a small partition with a forward facing bench seat on the back of the dinette.

The helm station is on the centre-line with a very comfortable driver's seat behind a traditional wooden wheel. The centre windscreen opens electrically. It's too far to reach over the console to open it manually.

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