Great Harbour Trawlers, Floating Homes That Draw Less Than Three Feet

A cruise that never left the dock

Mirage Manufacturing was around for decades before the first Great Harbour. Ken Fickett opened the Gainesville shop in 1971 and built a reputation on fast sailboats and sportfishing boats, and his composite know-how even carried over into experimental aircraft through a separate venture. The trawler line grew out of a personal plan. Near the end of the 1990s Fickett wanted to take his children cruising for a full year, but the 35-foot coastal boat he had sketched felt too cramped for a family living aboard.

He brought in designer Lou Codega, and the pair produced the Great Harbour 37. Buyers who saw it wanted one, the family voyage was pushed back, and Mirage found itself in the trawler business. The GH47 followed, along with the flush-deck N37 and N47. The Ficketts describe the operation as a family business still, with a younger generation now on staff.

Commercial simplicity instead of yacht varnish

Every Great Harbour follows the same priorities. Hulls are wide and hard-chined, so they get their roll resistance from shape rather than from fin stabilizers. Twin protective keels and skegs let the boats sit on a falling tide and survive a grounding that would bend the props on a typical trawler, which is why owners favor them on the Bahamas banks, the Great Loop and the Intracoastal. Mirage builds with buoyant coring up high and thick solid glass below the waterline, aims for positive flotation, and avoids teak and brightwork in favor of painted nonskid and brushed aluminum rails.

Customization is part of the pitch. Mirage sells factory direct, so buyers sit down with the builder to choose a flybridge or not, an office or another cabin, and the appliance list, and no two big Great Harbours are quite alike.

The current range and where the GH47 fits

These days Mirage puts its effort into the TT35, a trawler that can travel by road, and the N-series. The GH47, the subject of our model review, is on hold, so any example you find is a brokerage boat. It is the largest expression of the brand's ideas, a four-level floating house that draws under three feet. Dimensions, engines, tankage and range are covered in detail on the model page, along with what a used one is worth.

Support, resale and buying advice

Great Harbours rarely come up for sale, and when they do they usually move through trawler specialists or Mirage's in-house brokerage. That thin market makes valuation a case-by-case exercise. The upside is real factory support: Mirage still operates, still supports existing owners and keeps a build file for each hull, which reassures buyers who might otherwise worry about owning a niche boat.

When you find a candidate, request the hull's file from Mirage and inspect:

• Which diesels are installed and their hours, since engines vary by hull
• Keels, skegs, props and shafts for signs of hard groundings
• Moisture in cored decks and cabin sides, especially near window frames
• Inverter, generator and home appliances run under real load
• Toilets, holding tank and overboard plumbing
• Blistering or failed barrier coat on the bottom