Are Nordhavns The Ugliest Boats in the World?

I came across this sentence the other day in a thread on Boat Design Forums.

…imho Nordhavn´s are amongst the most ugly boats on the market.

So, full disclosure, as most of you know, I like Nordhavn trawlers. I think they’re good boats and they have a great following, but boy are they ugly. So the post that I was reading got me thinking, are Nordhavns the ugliest boats in the world? Are they too ugly to be successful?

I started doing some research to see what others were thinking. A quick search on Google surprised me for a moment:

A quick Google search for keyword “Nordhavn ugly” turned up a Nordhavn.com site in the #2 and #3 slots… Uh oh. Is Nordhavn marketing their boats as ugly? This was getting interesting. As it turns out, however, Nordhavn merely mentioned the word ugly in a page about the Nordhavn 35. They didn’t say that it was ugly (oh, but it is!). On to more results…

In another result, on Ken Williams blog (a Nordhavn owner), a commenter named Dan Streech (President of Pacific Asian Enterprises, parent company of Nordhavn) posted:

“The N46 was an “ugly duckling” and confused people when it was first introduced in 1988”

So I was somewhat surprised to find that post by Dan. It caught me a bit off guard, but that might be one of the things that Nordhavn is going for: the ugly, salty, fishing boat look…. hmmm.

So the question is: how does this bear on the commercial viability of a company like Pacific Asian Enterprises and the Nordhavn brand? I have no idea, but I think people will line up into two camps:

• Nordhavn fanboys
• Everyone else

The Nordhavn fanboys will line up and (after cursing this post), they will come to the rescue of the ugly boat, saying how their wives “Love” the salty, fishing boat look. Uh-huh… Sure they do.

On the other hand, those of us who have decent vision will appreciate the aesthetics of something like a Sea Spirit Passagemaker, for example. Wow, that’s a good looking trawler!

More Evidence of Ugliness

And, in another post, on Cruisers Forum, a poster points out:

I’m sitting next to a small Nordhavn this Summer – boy is it ugly.

So on to one of the largest trawler discussion forums on the internet, Trawlers and Trawlering, a reader writes this about the Nordhavn Motorsailer:

Very ugly looking boat from its profile drawing. There are other much prettier and probably better sailing motorsailers out there, such as the Bruckman 50, the Hood 51. They may not be equipped with as big an engine as the Nordhavn, but if one is going to do a motorsailer, I think the emphases should be put on sailing.

Wow! That was a smackdown! But, a commenter on TrawlerForums has this to say about the top-heaviness of Nordhavn trawlers:

Sorry, but  Nordhavn is pretty much at the top of my list of ugly production boats. Every one I’ve seen appears WAY too top heavy. I know they’re not but it’s an even more awkward design than the GB.

Anyways. there is little doubt that Nordhavn makes a good, solid boat. After all, they have a reputation for being incredible offshore cruisers and have many circumnavigations under their belt. Nordhavn trawlers are said to be made for offshore cruising, but perhaps they prefer to be in the middle of the ocean because there’s nobody around to see just how ugly they really are.

Think about it… Have a comment? Share your opinion with us below the related posts!

One more before you go from the Hatteras Owners Group:

I’m sorry, but NerdHavens are butt ugly. They may be great boats, but I couldn’t get past that part. Don’t you buy no ugly boat.

Update:

Since I posted this a few days ago, we’ve seen Nordhavn receive a ton of compliments on TrawlerForums. The general consensus was that Nordhavn trawlers aren’t ugly at all. So I’m wrong. I’ve been wrong before.

See some of the responses:

From Woodsong:

The Nord 46, 57, and 62 are great, great looking boats IMO. Even their 35 looks nice- just ridiculously overpriced for a small coastal cruiser!

Ksanders chimed in:

The Nordhavns follow suit.  They are great looking in a very functional way.

and JohnP said:

Even to my uneducated eye, I agree the Nordhavn 46 has fine looking lines.

Further Reading:

Check out our awesome review of the best trawler forum on the web, Trawlers and Trawlering.