Discovery 67
2009 July 1
Ron Holland designed this luxurious 67-footer for Discovery Yachts in the wake of the success of his Discovery 55 design. This is a classic example of the raised saloon, center-cockpit configuration. The look is very contemporary while preserving conservative proportions. The builder offers a wide variety of design options for this boat, including owner customized interiors. I'll confine my commentary to the drawings the company sent me for what I presume it would call the "standard" version.
One of the luxuries of having 67 feet to work with is the minimal pressure on maximizing the waterline length. With that in mind, I suspect, Ron has given us a boat with a raked bow. I might even call it a strongly raked bow. I like it. It keeps the anchor away from the stem, adds flare to the forward sections to keep the boat dry and has a very yachty look to it. It really sets the entire tone for the aesthetic treatment of the rest of the design. The stern is also quite raked and carved away for an elaborate swim step arrangement. Note how far aft the rudder is. I can't see how you could get it farther aft. But located where it is means the rudder stock can have a bearing under the deck rather than under the aft double berth. I also think it just makes sense to get the rudder as far aft as possible. This rudder is on a partial skeg with some balance area below the skeg. The stern is broad but not exaggerated. Of course, in this case, the designer has 18.25 feet of beam to play with. The L/B is 3.69. Draft is 8 feet, 6 inches, with a shoal-draft version offered at 6 feet, 8 inches.
I don't care what you do below on this boat you will certainly be comfortable doing it. There are double berth staterooms in the bow and stern with adjoining heads and showers. There are two small staterooms with single berths adjacent to the mast. One has upper and lower berths and they share a small head. There is another berth in the passageway alongside the engine room. It's not private but it is convenient as a sea berth. The galley is big and well laid out. The nav station is expansive. The saloon has a wraparound, raised dinette to port and an L-shaped settee to starboard.
The B&R rig has triple spreaders with diamond stays. Diamond stays are stays that are led back to anchor on the mast. You often see them on big multihulls. Spreaders are swept 26 degrees. The jib is self-tacking with an 11.5-degree sheeting angle. There are actually two jibs shown on the sailplan. The self-tacking jib is set just inboard of the outer jib, which I presume is a genoa of some modest LP. This will give sailors the choice of being lazy and going with the self-tacker, or, if the wind lightens up, unrolling the bigger genoa. Of course you will have to roll the genoa up every time you tack as it certainly will not pass through that small gap between the two forward stays. The mainsail stows in the mast. The SA/D is 17.54.
The challenge with a deck on a raised-saloon boat is to keep the raised portion of the cabintrunk as wide as possible so all the volume of the house is available for the interior. Areas under the side decks in way of the raised trunk are not high enough for sitting headroom. So in this design you see minimal side decks. The cockpit is big but the only easy way out of the cockpit is aft. The seat backs and coamings are too bulky to comfortably climb over. Note that there are notches cut into the cockpit coaming at each wheel so the helmsman can leap out when he needs to. There is a big dining table in the forward part of the cockpit and the seats are more than seven feet long. You step up to the helm positions, so visibility forward is improved.
A 200-horsepower Yanmar will push you along when the wind dies. There is tankage for 474 gallons of fuel and 368 gallons of fresh water. A 15-horsepower bow thruster is standard. All engineering is by High Modulus Engineering.
LOA 67'6"; LOD 67'; LWL 57'7"; Beam 18'3"; Draft 8'6" (standard), 6'8" (shoal); Displacement 74,360 lbs.; Ballast 29,040 lbs.; Sail area 1,940 sq. ft.; SA/D 17.54; D/L 173.85; L/B 3.69; Auxiliary Yanmar 200-hp; Fuel 474 gals.; Water 368 gals.
Discovery Yachts, Harbour Close, Marchwood, Southampton SO40 4AF, England, 44 23 8086 5555, www.discoveryyachts.com.
OBE: $2.5 million
Our Best Estimate of the sailaway price
One of the luxuries of having 67 feet to work with is the minimal pressure on maximizing the waterline length. With that in mind, I suspect, Ron has given us a boat with a raked bow. I might even call it a strongly raked bow. I like it. It keeps the anchor away from the stem, adds flare to the forward sections to keep the boat dry and has a very yachty look to it. It really sets the entire tone for the aesthetic treatment of the rest of the design. The stern is also quite raked and carved away for an elaborate swim step arrangement. Note how far aft the rudder is. I can't see how you could get it farther aft. But located where it is means the rudder stock can have a bearing under the deck rather than under the aft double berth. I also think it just makes sense to get the rudder as far aft as possible. This rudder is on a partial skeg with some balance area below the skeg. The stern is broad but not exaggerated. Of course, in this case, the designer has 18.25 feet of beam to play with. The L/B is 3.69. Draft is 8 feet, 6 inches, with a shoal-draft version offered at 6 feet, 8 inches.
I don't care what you do below on this boat you will certainly be comfortable doing it. There are double berth staterooms in the bow and stern with adjoining heads and showers. There are two small staterooms with single berths adjacent to the mast. One has upper and lower berths and they share a small head. There is another berth in the passageway alongside the engine room. It's not private but it is convenient as a sea berth. The galley is big and well laid out. The nav station is expansive. The saloon has a wraparound, raised dinette to port and an L-shaped settee to starboard.
The B&R rig has triple spreaders with diamond stays. Diamond stays are stays that are led back to anchor on the mast. You often see them on big multihulls. Spreaders are swept 26 degrees. The jib is self-tacking with an 11.5-degree sheeting angle. There are actually two jibs shown on the sailplan. The self-tacking jib is set just inboard of the outer jib, which I presume is a genoa of some modest LP. This will give sailors the choice of being lazy and going with the self-tacker, or, if the wind lightens up, unrolling the bigger genoa. Of course you will have to roll the genoa up every time you tack as it certainly will not pass through that small gap between the two forward stays. The mainsail stows in the mast. The SA/D is 17.54.
The challenge with a deck on a raised-saloon boat is to keep the raised portion of the cabintrunk as wide as possible so all the volume of the house is available for the interior. Areas under the side decks in way of the raised trunk are not high enough for sitting headroom. So in this design you see minimal side decks. The cockpit is big but the only easy way out of the cockpit is aft. The seat backs and coamings are too bulky to comfortably climb over. Note that there are notches cut into the cockpit coaming at each wheel so the helmsman can leap out when he needs to. There is a big dining table in the forward part of the cockpit and the seats are more than seven feet long. You step up to the helm positions, so visibility forward is improved.
A 200-horsepower Yanmar will push you along when the wind dies. There is tankage for 474 gallons of fuel and 368 gallons of fresh water. A 15-horsepower bow thruster is standard. All engineering is by High Modulus Engineering.
LOA 67'6"; LOD 67'; LWL 57'7"; Beam 18'3"; Draft 8'6" (standard), 6'8" (shoal); Displacement 74,360 lbs.; Ballast 29,040 lbs.; Sail area 1,940 sq. ft.; SA/D 17.54; D/L 173.85; L/B 3.69; Auxiliary Yanmar 200-hp; Fuel 474 gals.; Water 368 gals.
Discovery Yachts, Harbour Close, Marchwood, Southampton SO40 4AF, England, 44 23 8086 5555, www.discoveryyachts.com.
OBE: $2.5 million
Our Best Estimate of the sailaway price
Comments