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      • Circumnavigator Who Eschewed Instruments Dies at 104
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      • Gulf Stream Is Slowing Down
      • Attention Cruisers, Perseids Meteor Shower Peaks Next Week
      • Ladies Publish Great Loop Tell-All
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      • Giant Floating Chain Saw To Rip Up Wrecked Car Carrier off ICW
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      • Insurance? Tell All or Risk Claim Denial
      • Gulf 'Dead Zone' Bigger Than Connecticut
      • GPS Spoofing Mystery: AIS Crop Circles & Ghost Ships
      • Yanmar To Install Fuel Cell Propulsion in Boats
      • Bahamas To Boaters: Welcome Back, Wear a Mask
      • Covid Concerns Fuel Coast Guard Retention Drive
      • Birthday Gift for Her 70th, a TT35
      • Above Average Hurricane Season Forecast
      • Foreign Boaters Get Some Relief as Restrictions Eased
      • Catalina Island Reopened for Arriving Boats
      • When a Boat Isn't: Supreme Court Decides
      • Coast Guard Adopting 'i911' for Your Location
      • Makeover: Storm Early Warning System Explained (Video)
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      • 92-Footer Sinks Off California
      • New York to Loopers: You May Be Out of Luck
      • Badass Origins of Boating Law
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      • Tale of a Terrible Boat
      • Boating and Social Distancing (Video)
      • Powering Through a Mexican Gale
      • Bahamas Says Stay Away, Get Out
      • Composting Heads Are a Good Option
      • TT35 Ad Campaign: The Un-Tug
      • Coronavirus Song: 'Drone Shot of My Yacht'
      • Smuggler's Run: Florida's Own 'Mini-Loop'
      • Virtual Tours of Old Ironsides
      • BoatUS to Gulfport, Don't Break Law
      • Luperon's Swimming Robber or Maybe Not
      • Georgia Begins Undoing Anchoring Ban
      • Gulfport Joins the War Against Cruisers
      • Video on D.R. Consulting Gig
      • Reward Increased in Hunt for Dolphin Killer
      • Our Favorite Fugitive Arrives in Mexico
      • Humungous Crane To Slice Up Wrecked Car Carrier
      • Avoid Getting Screwed by Georgia; Just Go Around
      • Radar Detects 'Fowl' Weather in Keys
      • Old Abe the Naval Architect
      • $20,000 Reward in Dolphin Killings
      • Great Lakes Search for Sunken Planes
      • Great Harbour Advises D.R. Boatbuilder
      • Despite Sewage Apocalypse, Mayor Blames Boaters
      • Loopers Will Need NY Certificates
      • Dorian Dog Story 'Spiked'
      • $209,000 for 61-Foot Hatteras MY
      • Refloating Effort Progress
      • Free Bahamas Cruising Guide
      • New Florida Anchoring Bans
      • Propane Fire
      • Psychedelic Fibers Advance Knot Theory (Video)
      • Wanted on the Waterways 1/4/2020
    • Ken Fickett's Blogs
    • Cruising in the Time of Covid: Think Outside The Loop
  • Owners
    • Moving Aboard
    • The Odyssey Begins
    • The Search For Adventure
  • Home
  • About
    • A Family Affair >
      • Ken Fickett
      • Becky Fickett
      • Travis Fickett
      • Jessica Fickett
    • Mirage Manufacturing
    • Factory Support
    • Careers
    • Contact
  • Boats
    • TT35 >
      • TT35 Specifications
      • TT35 Key Features
      • TT35 Design Discussions
      • Towing Resources
      • PRESS
    • N37 >
      • N37 Specifications and Layout
      • N37 Photo Gallery
      • N37 Brochure
    • GH37 >
      • GH37 Specifications and Layout
      • GH37 Photo Gallery
      • GH37 Brochure
    • N47 >
      • N47 Specifications and Layout
      • N47 Photo Gallery
      • N47 Brochure
    • GH47 >
      • GH47 Specifications and Layout
      • GH47 Photo Gallery
      • GH47 Brochure
    • GH74
  • Great Design
    • Trawler Truths >
      • Trawler Truth 1
      • Trawler Truth 2
      • Trawler Truth 3
      • Trawler Truth 4
      • Trawler Truth 5
      • Trawler Truth 6
      • Trawler Truth 7
    • Design Discussions >
      • Twins vs Single
      • Shoal vs deep draft
      • Stability vs Ballast
      • Fishtail Rudders
      • Space Age Core
      • Core Materials
      • Unsinkability
    • Economy
    • Our Naval Architect
  • Construction
    • Lamination
    • Interior
    • Rigging
  • Trawler Times
    • News >
      • California Humpbacks Perform Rare 'Triple Breach' (Video)
      • Betrayal in Georgia? Anchoring Rules Appear Worse Than Ever
      • Ga. Wreck Removal Delayed Again: Anchor SNAFU
      • Chesapeake's Tangier Island: Enjoy it While You Can
      • Robert Peek, Beloved Deep Creek Lockmaster, Has Died
      • U.S. Agency Warns of GPS Interference
      • Rudy and Jill's ICW Tips
      • A TT35 Day at the Sausage Factory
      • Cat or Monohull Sailboat Versus a Trawler (Images, Long)
      • Loopers Warned To Linger Post-Sally
      • Coast Guard Shallow Draft Navigation Survey
      • Forget Lithium for a Moment: Why Old-Fashioned Batteries Explode
      • Tracking Hurricane Laura Live (Streaming Video)
      • The Downsides of Cruising (Comprehensive)
      • Circumnavigator Who Eschewed Instruments Dies at 104
      • Maritime Liens: Don't Let Your Boat Get 'Arrested'
      • Gulf Stream Is Slowing Down
      • Attention Cruisers, Perseids Meteor Shower Peaks Next Week
      • Ladies Publish Great Loop Tell-All
      • New NOAA Model Forecasts Another Sahara Dust Cloud Arriving This Week (Animation)
      • TT35 Demonstrations Set for Next Week
      • Prep for a Busy Hurricane Season
      • It's a Marina! It's a Mooring! No, It's a French Design (Video)
      • Giant Floating Chain Saw To Rip Up Wrecked Car Carrier off ICW
      • Lock Sked Final: Great Loop Doable, But...
      • Georgia Caves, Defangs Draconian Anchoring Law
      • Heads Up, Boaters: Here Comes the Red Dust from Africa
      • Bahamas Changes It's Mind: Keeps Covid Test Requirement
      • Insurance? Tell All or Risk Claim Denial
      • Gulf 'Dead Zone' Bigger Than Connecticut
      • GPS Spoofing Mystery: AIS Crop Circles & Ghost Ships
      • Yanmar To Install Fuel Cell Propulsion in Boats
      • Bahamas To Boaters: Welcome Back, Wear a Mask
      • Covid Concerns Fuel Coast Guard Retention Drive
      • Birthday Gift for Her 70th, a TT35
      • Above Average Hurricane Season Forecast
      • Foreign Boaters Get Some Relief as Restrictions Eased
      • Catalina Island Reopened for Arriving Boats
      • When a Boat Isn't: Supreme Court Decides
      • Coast Guard Adopting 'i911' for Your Location
      • Makeover: Storm Early Warning System Explained (Video)
      • The Reality of Quarantine in Paradise
      • 92-Footer Sinks Off California
      • New York to Loopers: You May Be Out of Luck
      • Badass Origins of Boating Law
      • Can Cannabis Save Florida Waterways?
      • Tale of a Terrible Boat
      • Boating and Social Distancing (Video)
      • Powering Through a Mexican Gale
      • Bahamas Says Stay Away, Get Out
      • Composting Heads Are a Good Option
      • TT35 Ad Campaign: The Un-Tug
      • Coronavirus Song: 'Drone Shot of My Yacht'
      • Smuggler's Run: Florida's Own 'Mini-Loop'
      • Virtual Tours of Old Ironsides
      • BoatUS to Gulfport, Don't Break Law
      • Luperon's Swimming Robber or Maybe Not
      • Georgia Begins Undoing Anchoring Ban
      • Gulfport Joins the War Against Cruisers
      • Video on D.R. Consulting Gig
      • Reward Increased in Hunt for Dolphin Killer
      • Our Favorite Fugitive Arrives in Mexico
      • Humungous Crane To Slice Up Wrecked Car Carrier
      • Avoid Getting Screwed by Georgia; Just Go Around
      • Radar Detects 'Fowl' Weather in Keys
      • Old Abe the Naval Architect
      • $20,000 Reward in Dolphin Killings
      • Great Lakes Search for Sunken Planes
      • Great Harbour Advises D.R. Boatbuilder
      • Despite Sewage Apocalypse, Mayor Blames Boaters
      • Loopers Will Need NY Certificates
      • Dorian Dog Story 'Spiked'
      • $209,000 for 61-Foot Hatteras MY
      • Refloating Effort Progress
      • Free Bahamas Cruising Guide
      • New Florida Anchoring Bans
      • Propane Fire
      • Psychedelic Fibers Advance Knot Theory (Video)
      • Wanted on the Waterways 1/4/2020
    • Ken Fickett's Blogs
    • Cruising in the Time of Covid: Think Outside The Loop
  • Owners
    • Moving Aboard
    • The Odyssey Begins
    • The Search For Adventure
Great Design   Trawler Truths   Design Discussions   Economy   Our Naval Architect
     Twins v Single   Shoal V Deep    Stability v Ballast    Fishtail Rudders    Space Age Cores    Core Materials    Unsinkability

Unsinkability

great harbour gh47 at seaGreat Harbour owners can go to sea, with confidence, knowing that their vessel will remain afloat even in the worst of circumstances.


More than one boat builder has claimed their vessels to be "unsinkable." Unfortunately, reality has not always born out these predictions... the Titanic comes to mind.

Thanks to their unique construction methods, Great Harbour trawlers truly are unsinkable. Yes, water can still get inside in the unlikely event of a puncture of the rugged, solid fiberglass hull. But because the entire topsides of our boats are constructed using buoyant composite-cored materials. the boat will remain afloat even when awash.


The particulars of this phenomenon are laid out in this letter from Great Harbour team, which appeared in Soundings Magazine
I was both delighted and disappointed by the September article "Unsinkable boats, exceptional safety." Delighted because a serious boating journal was touting the obvious advantages of boats that can't sink, disappointed because the article failed to mention Mirage Manufacturing, which has been building unsinkable trawler yachts since 1997, when we launched our first Great Harbour 37. We now offer three models, the GH37, the N37 and the GH47, which displaces 70,000 pounds but will not sink.

As your article noted, materials play a major role in constructing an unsinkable boat, and indeed our use of Nida-Core, a honeycombed plastic coring material, is a major factor. Our hulls are solid fiberglass up to the rubrail, but above that the super structure is made with Nida-Core to add stiffness as well as buoyancy and insulation against both sound and temperature.

The coring material, however, is just one of two factors. Nearly every full displacement trawler yacht on the market is based on a hull form that is round-bilged like a beefy sailboat. The designers of the Great Harbour trawlers took a less traveled road, and that led to several technological breakthroughs, one of which was positive buoyancy. Instead of the familiar sailboat hull, naval architect Lou Codega and Mirage President Ken Fickett based the Great Harbour hulls on those of offshore tugboats--beamy, hard-chined and inherently stable.

Form stability eliminated the need for ballast, and solid fiberglass is a couple ticks on the scales shy of being neutrally buoyant, so that left only the ship's machinery to pull her to the bottom. Our use of Nida-Core easily overcomes that pull. For example, a single Nida-Core part, the boat's rooftop, has sufficient buoyancy to offset the weight of  both engines. 

Our sportfishing line of boats is also unsinkable because of the use of high-density foam coring of the hull. This was demonstrated in dramatic fashion when one of our customers thought that he could land a 1,200-pound shark on a 6,000-pound vessel, and swamped 100-miles off New Jersey. Not only did the crew survive, the vessel was recovered and put back into service.

Whenever we see notions of seaworthiness debated, we have ruefully noted the omission of unsinkability as a factor. This silence is because most manufacturers of larger vessels, particularly trawlers, have taken a path that makes it impossible for them to achieve unsinkability. This is not a condemnation; those builders have looked at the marketplace and put a higher premium on aesthetics. We don't blame the builders; we blame their customers for failing to see the advantages as described in your article.

Peter Swanson
Mirage Manufacturing, builders of Great Harbour Trawlers


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©Mirage Manufacturing, 2015
3001 NE 20th Way, Gainesville, FL 32609, Phone: 352.377.4146,  sales@greatharbourtrawlers.com