It’s one year and counting until the brand new flagship, the majestic Nordhavn 86, ships from P.A.E.’s partner factory in China. Progress continues to be made every day with the hull molds having now been completed. The factory is preparing to install all the tanks and transverse floors, which will be followed up by the install of the cabin sole structure. In addition, the deck is being laminated, however some of the other deck molds are still being worked on.

On a visit to Xiamian last week, Chief Engineer Jeff Leishman and Project Manager Trever Smith inspected the boat’s progress and decided to make some last-minute modifications to some of the deck tooling. Like the rest of the models in the Nordhavn line, the 86 will feature complex systems, so Jeff and Trevers spent considerable time meeting with factory engineers to discuss the boat’s systems drawings.

Jeff was impressed with his first view of the finished tooling. “It looks really good – a lot bigger than the 76.”

The boat still appears to be on track to ship next March, although the factory has slipped just a bit in the schedule. Because of the elaborate requirements of the ABS certification (which all Nordhavns adhere to), production is taking a bit longer than normal.