Great Harbor Trawlers for Sale, a Guide to the Great Harbour GH47

Great Harbor trawlers for sale, and why the GH47 draws the questions

Search for Great Harbor trawlers for sale and you will find a small, loyal market. The builder spells it Great Harbour, and the fleet is small: Mirage Manufacturing says more than 50 Great Harbour Trawlers have been built across all its models. The GH47 is the one that gets the most attention, because no other 47-foot trawler packs in as much living space or draws as little water.

On paper it is a 46-foot 10-inch, 15-foot 10-inch beam full-displacement boat that displaces 70,000 pounds at full load, draws 2 feet 10 inches, and runs at 8.25 to 8.5 knots on twin small diesels. In practice it is a floating house for couples who live aboard, cruise the Bahamas and the Intracoastal, and want commercial-grade simplicity rather than yacht varnish.

Production of the GH47 is suspended. Mirage says it has devoted its resources to the TT35 trailerable trawler and its N-series boats, and it supports existing GH47 owners and the brokerage market. Every GH47 you can buy today is therefore used.

Ken Fickett, Lou Codega and a factory in Gainesville

Mirage Manufacturing was founded in 1971 by Ken Fickett in Gainesville, Florida, and first made its name building performance sailboats and sportfishing boats, and Fickett also applied his composites expertise to experimental aircraft through a separate company. In the late 1990s Fickett wanted a boat to take his young family cruising for a year. Plans for a 35-foot coastal cruiser did not suit full-time family life, so he enlisted naval architect Lou Codega, and together they developed the Great Harbour 37. Orders followed, and the line grew to include the GH47, N37 and N47.

Yachting's mid-2000s review of a new GH47 noted that Mirage had built and sold its first 47 the year before and then fine-tuned the design for production, and that the N37 shares the same Codega hull design concept. Boats were sold factory-direct, and owners were encouraged to customize; the tested boat had an office with file cabinets and a leather-topped desk, while the next hull on the line had a larger forward stateroom instead.

Seventy thousand pounds that floats in 34 inches

The GH47's defining number is its draft. At 2 feet 10 inches, it opens Bahamas banks, Florida Bay and Intracoastal side creeks that are off limits to most trawlers drawing 4 to 5 feet. Twin propellers sit behind large skegs and twin protective keels, so the boat can be dried out on her own bottom and can survive an inadvertent grounding better than most yachts.

Stability comes from the hull form rather than stabilizers. Mirage argues that its wide, hard-chined hull provides enough form stability that fins are unnecessary, and Yachting's tester, who had taken the related N37 to Bermuda, reported no stern kick in sloppy quartering seas. The trade-off is windage: the GH47 is tall and boxy, which Yachting acknowledged makes it better suited to island hopping and coastal cruising than to ocean passages.

Mirage also builds the boat to be unsinkable, using buoyant core material in the decks, superstructure and hull above the rub rail, with heavy solid fiberglass below. Exterior rails are brushed aluminum and decks use a commercial-grade painted nonskid, so there is no varnish or teak decking to maintain.

Four levels of living space

Mirage claims the GH47 offers more interior space than most 60 to 65-foot yachts, and a walk through explains why.

• Optional flybridge with centerline helm, built-in seating and room for a RIB on the aft boat deck
• Pilothouse with a commercial-style helm, chart and nav station and a raised settee for four that converts to a long double
• Watch cabin aft of the pilothouse with a double berth and its own day head, often used as an owner's retreat or office
• Main saloon with seating for six to eight, entertainment center, bookshelves and a hi-lo table, with large opening windows
• Galley with household appliances, including a front-loading or side-by-side refrigerator, ceramic or four-burner electric cooktop, convection microwave and even a dishwasher
• Dinette or utility and machinery room opposite the galley, housing the washer, dryer and engine room access
• Guest stateroom or study to port, guest head with a home-style bath to starboard
• Forward master with a queen island berth, three hanging lockers, built-in dressers and an en suite stall shower

Eight knots on two small diesels

Great Harbour gives the GH47 twin Yanmar 75 hp diesels in its current specification, while Yachting's tested boat had twin 71 hp naturally aspirated Westerbeke diesels, so engines vary by hull and should be confirmed for any boat you inspect. Either way, power is modest and fuel burn is low. The builder quotes a cruising speed of 8.25 to 8.5 knots and a range of 3,500 nautical miles with standard tankage, rising past 4,000 miles if a watermaker allows one of the water tanks to be converted to fuel.

Yachting's test boat carried 1,000 gallons of fuel for roughly 3,000 miles at 8 knots; the builder's current specification lists 1,300 gallons of fuel and 700 of water, though its detailed equipment sheet describes other tank arrangements, another reminder that these boats were built to order. Those range figures imply a fuel burn of roughly 3 gallons per hour for both engines at cruise. Twin engines give redundancy that many single-engine full-displacement trawlers lack, an advantage far from boatyards.

Systems chosen for full-time liveaboards

The equipment list reads like a checklist written by people who have lived aboard. The engine room has standing headroom and access to all sides of both engines, and a seawater chest eliminates all but one through-hull. The builder's specification sheet lists three 3,550 gph bilge pumps, hydraulic steering, counter-rotating three-blade bronze props, dripless shaft seals, a 20-gallon water heater, VacuFlush heads with a 140-gallon holding tank, 50-amp 240-volt shore power, a 3,000-watt inverter-charger and 8D batteries. Ground tackle is a 55-pound Delta and a 32-pound fluke on a dual-gypsy horizontal windlass.

Option packages covered air conditioning and a generator, extra AGM house batteries and high-output alternators, an oil change system and fuel polisher, a RIB with outboard, autopilot, Furuno electronics and flybridge controls. When shopping, check which packages each boat actually received.

Owning a boat the builder no longer makes

Because Mirage still exists and still builds trawlers, GH47 owners are not truly orphaned. The company says it supports current owners and keeps the most accurate records on each GH hull built, and its brokerage arm handles listings and buyer representation. Ask for the build file on any boat you are considering.

Annual costs are moderate for a 47-foot liveaboard but not small. Dockage for a 16-foot beam, insurance, haul-outs with bottom paint, twin-engine and generator service, and systems upkeep typically run $35,000 to $70,000 a year before fuel, which is low thanks to the small diesels.

Shopping a used GH47

Because so few were built, finding the right GH47 takes patience. Decide first whether you want a flybridge, which Yachting's reviewer felt spoiled the profile but which adds a superb vantage point and boat-deck tender storage, and which interior plan suits you: office, third stateroom or dinette. Then judge each boat on how it has been used. A GH47 that has been cruised regularly tends to have well-exercised systems; one that has sat at a dock may need engines, hoses and appliances refreshed.

Compare it with the Great Harbour N47, a lower-profile flush-deck sister on the same length with less windage, and with mainstream trawlers such as the Kadey-Krogen 44, which offer better resale liquidity but deeper draft and less volume.