Grand Banks 60 Review, Specs and Price

The Grand Banks 60 is a different kind of trawler

If you know Grand Banks from the teak and Lehman diesels of the 42, the Grand Banks 60 will be a surprise. It keeps the classic silhouette and a curved sheer, but under the skin it is a modern, fast cruiser. The builder calls it a long range cruiser, and with a 31 to 33 knot top speed and range numbers that stretch past 2,000 nautical miles at 10 knots, the name fits.

The boat comes from Mark Richards, Grand Banks' CEO and chief designer, an Australian ocean racing skipper who won line honors in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race nine times with the super maxi Wild Oats XI. His approach brings racing yacht thinking to a cruising powerboat: light structure where it counts, an efficient hull, and careful weight placement.

Power and Motoryacht ran a first look at the Grand Banks 60 in June 2017, and the model has since become a core part of the brand's Long Range Cruiser series, sitting below the GB62, GB65, GB73 and GB85. It is built at Grand Banks' factory in Malaysia, where the company has built boats since 1995.

V-Warp hull and a carbon superstructure

The hull uses what Grand Banks calls V-Warp technology, a variable deadrise shape designed to run efficiently both at slow displacement speeds and at planing speeds. The bow is fine for wave entry, while the aft sections flatten to provide lift at speed. That dual personality is the whole point of the boat.

Weight is the other half. The superstructure is carbon fiber, and the builder bonds bulkheads and fixed furniture to the hull for stiffness. At a listed displacement of 69,445 pounds on a 66 foot 10 inch boat, the GB60 is light for its size. Compare that with a heavy displacement passagemaker such as the shorter Nordhavn 57, and the different philosophies are obvious.

Draft is only 4 feet 3 inches with shafts and 4 feet 2 inches with IPS, which is remarkably shallow for a 67-foot yacht and opens anchorages in the Bahamas and along the ICW that deeper boats have to skip.

Three Volvo packages and what they deliver

The current standard package is a pair of Volvo Penta D13 diesels at 900 hp each on conventional shafts, quoted at 31 knots top and 26 knots cruise. Volvo IPS 1200 pod drives at the same horsepower raise those figures to 33 and 30 knots, while the 1,000 hp D13 shaft option delivers 33 knots top and 28 knots cruise. Early boats were offered with 725 hp Volvo D11s as standard, good for about 27 knots, so check what a used boat carries. Power and Motoryacht's 2017 test boat with 900 hp D13s on shafts reached 30.5 knots and ran 26.3 knots at 2,000 rpm on 60 gph.

At a fast 21 knot cruise, the builder quotes 38 to 42 gallons per hour depending on package, giving 761 to 858 nautical miles of range. Those are the numbers for owners who want to cover ground quickly, for example a run from Florida to the Bahamas and back in a weekend.

Shaft drives are simpler, easier to service in remote places and better protected in shallow water. IPS brings joystick docking and better efficiency at speed but requires Volvo service support. For a boat designed for long range cruising, many owners prefer shafts.

Range at displacement speed

The interesting number is not 33 knots but 10. Power and Motoryacht measured 9.5 knots at 750 rpm on just 4.4 gph, a range of 2,973 nautical miles with a 10 percent reserve, and 7.9 knots on 2.6 gph for over 4,100 miles. At 11.6 knots the burn jumps to 10.4 gph and range falls to about 1,500 miles, so the sweet spot is narrow. Even so, that is genuinely long range: Fort Lauderdale to Nova Scotia, or Seattle to Juneau and back, on a single fill of 1,532 gallons.

That flexibility is why the GB60 appeals to trawler buyers. You can cruise like a trawler most of the time, then run at 25 knots to beat a weather window or make a schedule. Few true displacement trawlers can do that, and few fast motor yachts can match the range at low speed.

Stabilizers and motion

A light, fast hull needs stabilization for comfort at anchor and at low speeds. Grand Banks does not list a standard stabilizer on its public spec sheet, so equipment varies by boat: the 2017 test boat listed a Seakeeper 9 gyro as a $93,500 option, and brokerage boats variously carry a Seakeeper, Side-Power Vector fins with zero speed mode, or Humphree all-speed fins. Ask exactly what is installed and test it at anchor and at 10 knots in a beam sea if possible.

At speed the hull is stable and dry, helped by the fine entry and the flatter aft sections. At low speeds it rolls more than a heavy displacement trawler without stabilization, so do not skip this item.

Flybridge or Skylounge

Grand Banks offers the 60 in Flybridge and Skylounge versions. The Flybridge has an open upper deck that suits warm climates and entertaining. The Skylounge encloses the upper deck in a climate controlled room with a view, which makes the boat much more usable in the Pacific Northwest, New England or for long passages in cold weather.

Below, owners choose three or four staterooms, with handcrafted wood finishes and custom options. The 19 foot 2 inch beam gives a wide saloon and a generous master stateroom.

Great Loop, Bahamas and long coastal runs

With a 4 foot 3 inch draft, the GB60 can run most of the Great Loop by depth, but its size and air draft make the route harder. The fixed 19 foot 1 inch bridge in Chicago is a hard limit, and a flybridge or skylounge boat of this size is unlikely to clear it without significant modification. Check before planning.

Where the GB60 shines is long coastal cruising: the East Coast from Florida to Maine, the Bahamas, the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, and the Caribbean. It is not designed for ocean crossings in the way a Nordhavn is, but its range at 10 knots allows long open water legs with careful weather planning.

What it costs to own

Budget roughly $180,000 to $320,000 a year for slip, insurance, maintenance, fuel and crew if used. A 67-foot slip is expensive in most US markets, and engine service on twin D13s is significant. Fuel costs vary with use; at 10 knots they are modest, at 25 knots they add up fast.