GRAND BANKS 42 CLASSIC

You don't need to visit too many UK marinas before you come across the distinctive trawler-yacht lines of a Grand Banks. The latest 42-footer repeats the formula, and packs in a larger saloon. Tim Bartlett and Richard Curtis test the 42 Classic.

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Grand Banks are the archetypal trawler yachts, but builders American Marine have come a long way since 1966 when the keel of the first Ken-Smith-designed 42 footer was laid in Hong Kong. The Cruisers are now built and fitted in Singapore, and shipped inot Europe as deck cargo, arriving in Amsterdam to be made ready for sea before being delivered to their first owner.
The 42 ft Classic is right in the middle of a range that extends from a compact 32 foot to a flagship 58 foot. American Marine already produce two other variations on this hull size, which is an indication of their assessment of the size of the market.

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

At first glance, Grand Banks' style seems to have changed very little over the years, but in reality the feedback from customers has resulted in a gradual evolution of the design.

In typical Grand Banks fashion, the deck is dominated by a capacious deckhouse-saloon and surrounded by a substantial bulwark. The Classic's superstructure can only be described as angular, though the sheerline and the rise of the bulwark forward bestow a certain gracefulness nonetheless.

American Marine have created totally new moulds for this model, one of the changes giving a saloon that is larger than the earlier GB 42's.

This extra area in the already voluminous saloon is a product of a 9 inch hull stretch, and 6 inches shaved off the after cabin, emphasising even more the role of the wheelhouse as the focal point of the boat.

Below the waterline, the semi-displacement mock-carvel hull has a fine entry, full sections amidships, and full-length keel.

The hard-chine design - the deadrise flattens from 19" amidships to 8" at the transom - combined with the wide 14 ft 1 in beam, can result in a fair amount of rolling in a beam sea when the boat is at rest.

Construction is a fairly heavy hand lay-up of chopped-strand mat and woven rovings in polyester resin, with foam-cored frames and stringers and ply-reinforced decks. An interesting feature, often seen on US boats, is the way the final internal layer of reinforcing is woven roving rather than strand mat, providing extra strength and a smoother finish.

ACCOMMODATION

A hallmark of Grand Banks is the amount and quality of the teak used in the fit-out, manifest as soon as you walk through the outward opening doors from the sidedecks into the wheelhouse.

An immaculately crafted folding teak table sits in the rear of the saloon surrounded by a long L-shaped settee, which, with the addition of a couple of free-standing chairs, is sufficient to seat six people. Both this, and a straight settee opposite, convert without too much trouble to a double and a single guest berth.

The galley is situated along the port side of the saloon opposite the wheel, a much more user-friendly arrangement than having it tucked away forward, and is constructed in teak to the same high quality as the rest of the interior. The deep sink and electric cooker can be covered by reversible cutting boards to form a worktop that is a very useful 6' 8" long.

A three-quarter-size refrigerator hides behind a teak door under the counter, and plenty of drawer and cupboard space is provided. The overhead dish locker employs a neat 'swing-down' drawer arrangement, and all surfaces have fiddles; American Marine obviously don't subscribe to the theory that culinary activity stops when the boat leaves harbour.

A peculiarity of the lower helm station is a stainless steel tube that runs vertically from the overhead electronics locker to the steering console. It carries the steering and instrument cables from the flybridge, and perhaps surprisingly does not affect the view forward at all.

The console is equipped with all the instruments you need to tell you how the boat is performing, and two lockers to the right of the wheel contain the distribution and generator control panels. Although the chart area to the left of the wheel is only large enough for a quartered Admiralty chart, the main table is close behind the helmsman's chair and is easily able to take an Admirality chart unfolded, a bonus for planning.

Forward, down a three-step companionway, lies the guest stateroom, which is of course, en suite. The constraints of space preclude anything too grandiose, but the cabin still accomodates a 6ft 7in vee-berth. Stowage is restricted to under-the-bed drawers and a large hanging locker on the port side, but plenty of drawer and cupboard space is provided around the vanity unit in the shower-toilet compartment, which is fairly roomy and has a teak grate sole.

Moving aft, the owner's cabin makes full use of the generous beam of the GB42. Another three-step companionway separates the self-contained toilet from the shower stall, with a full-length mirrored hanging locker to the centre. Our test bot featured a full-size island bed, 6'3" x 4' 6", against the aft bulkhead, but optional arrangements include a double and single berth port and starboard. Teak drawers and cupboards abound, including a full-sized flat chart drawer under the bed. Natural lighting from side windows is supplemented by flush-mounted ceiling lights and small reading lamps on the beside tables. A writing bureau sits just to port of the bed above which a sliding hatch and doors lead out onto the aft deck, reached with the aid of a small clip-on ladder.

DECK

All the deck areas of the GB42 are laid teak on glassfibre, stretching from a 3' 0" anchor platform to the full-width bathing platform. The single-level sidedecks are a very practical 1' 6" wide, which with the abundance of handrails, the substantial teak-capped safety rail and the high bulwarks, means accidental disembarkation of crew is unlikely.

Anchoring with the 35 kg CQR is made simple by a foot-operated electric Lofrans winch, mounted on the dual roller anchor platform. A neat refinement is the duplication of the foredeck shore power sockets on the transom, allowing for any variations of foreign mooring procedure. Eight 12" stainless steel cleats are well up to the job of holding the GB42, as are all stainless fairleads in the bulwarks. An anti-theft feature of the large hatches for the lazarette in the aft deck is that they are remotely released from the wheelhouse, and the locker is easily big enough to take fenders,and outboard, and a variety of bulky cruising gear.

From the port sidedeck, two small steps lead up onto the aft-cabin steps lead up onto the aft-cabin coachroof and then up trhee full steps to the flybridge.

Visibility is excellent, especially for close-quarters manoeuvres, and the helm position is comfortable, all controls falling nicely to hand. The teak wheel fronts a Perspex-covered instrument panel.

There is a large locker to port, two back-to-back double seats provide seating for eight, and both seats contain watertight lockers. In common with other lockers on the boat, these are floored with a teak grating - a nice touch and typical of American Marine's eye for detail. Canvas dodgers surround the open area behind the helm benches, which can be fitted with the option of seats and a table.

Right aft on the flybridge, and improving the lines of the GB42, are an aluminum mast and boom. There is the option of a steadying sail, but its main use is to hoist a solid tender overboard from chocks mounted on the aft cabin coachroof.

ENGINES

As a result of Grand Banks' philosophy of supplying 'go anywhere' boats, they tend to fit engines known for reliability and low maintenance, and then place them in an engine compartment that almost makes maintenance a pleasure. Access to the space, that if it had slightly more headroom could properly be called an engineroom, is via large hatches in the saloon sole, or through a doorway under the forward companionway. The Caterpillar 3208s fitted to previous GB42s have been replaced by twin Caterpillar 3116TA 300 hp straight six diesels, mounted side by side, with the Onan 8kW generator positioned against the aft bulkhead between the two 600 gal fuel tanks.

The four-bladed 27 in x 27 in propellors are driven through Twin Disc MG 5061 gearboxes with a reduction ratio of 2.47:1. Installation is very professional, with piping clipped and wiring trunked. The generous beam of the GB42 allows all-around access to both engines, making routine maintenance simple.

Two features I very much approve of are a central wiring juction on the forward bulkhead with all circuits labelled, and a fuel management panel as good as any I have seen. A set of fuel cocks schematically marked means that either supply or return can be isolated, and either engine or generator can be run from either tank.

Twelve-volt power is supplied by three heavy-duty batteries, fitted with their own chargers and boxes, via circuit breakers to the main distribution panel. Two methods of water heating ensure comfort at all times: a calorifier, and an electric immersion tank run from the generator or shore power. A fire extinguishing system was noticeable by its absence, but suppliers Boat Showrooms tell us that every boat is fitted with a comprehensive system to the owner's spcecification. An important point this, as despite appearances, insurance companies regard the GB42 as a speedboat, and quite rightly insist on adequate fire protection.

HANDLING AND PERFORMANCE

Fine-bowed, full-sterned hulls like the Grand Banks' are never at their best in beam or quartering seas: whenever a wave lifts the stern, the bow digs in and the boat tries to swing round it, throwing a pronounced roll for good measure. In a low-speed boat, there's precious little you can do but hold on, or turn round, but the power of those two 300hp Caterpillars gives another option - speed up. At about ten knots the GB42's bows started to rise, and I found that as the knots increased, so did the boat's directional stability.

Upwind is a different matter: here, of course, fine bows slice through waves instead of bouncing over them, to give a smooth, if rather wet ride. Manoeuvrability at low speeds was admirable, the distance between the props aiding accurate close-quarters work. At higher speeds, the full-length keel stops any skidding experienced by some boats with a low deadrise, but prevents any aspirations towards turning on a six-pence. Control was positive at all times, helped by the traditional cable and drum steering and separate gear and throttle controls. Although speed is not really part of the character of the GB42, the 300hp Caterpillars when fully wound up return a respectable 18.8 knots.

CONCLUSION

American Marine have pretty well cornered the market in quality trawler yachts: others have come and gone, but Grand Banks have stayed the course. In over a quarter of a century, the most major change has been the switch from wood to GRP, followed more recently by a step up in power across the whole range that has made these supposedly displacement boats capable of planing speeds. More minor changes have come about by a process of evolution, largely fuelled by feedback from existing owners. But the outward signs of change are small, and the ethos of the range has stayed much the same: substantial and well-built boats offering genuine home-from-home accommodation.

REPRINTED FROM MOTOR BOAT AND YACHTING - SEPTEMBER 1992