New Grand Banks 54 Heritage EU is a hit from the drawing board

by Imprint Media on 20 Oct 2013 The new Grand Banks 54 Heritage EU has already made its mark as one of the luxury cruiser builder’s most successful models.

The new model was unveiled only at the end of last year and already 12 of the 54 Heritage EUs are delivered or under construction at the company’s yard in Malaysia.

Boat No 8 is scheduled for delivery to Australia in November.

Hank Compton and his team at Grand Banks Australia have been responsible for the sale of four of the new boats into the Asia Pacific region.

'These boats were all sold sight unseen,' said Compton. 'We showed people the detailed drawings and specifications for the boat and they trusted us to deliver.'

The first 54EU to arrive in Australia is being delivered to Perth boating enthusiast Julian Walter.

'We have owned Halvorsens over the years and we have always admired the styling and build quality of the Grand Banks brand,' said Mr Walter.

'The new 54EU is built on the 53 Aleutian hull which has given it more beam than you would expect of the Heritage series. This translates to magnificent space through the cabins, particularly the midships master suite which runs across the full beam of the boat.'

Mr Walter praised the versatility of the Grand Banks design.

'We do most of our cruising at sensible speeds,' he said. 'There is no need to rush. Our Heritage is built to cruise all day at eight to 10 knots. But it has a turn of speed if I need to get back to port quickly or get out of the way of a storm. The boat is capable of planing speeds up to about 21 knots.'

He said the family had used their boats mainly for cruising to Cockburn Sound and Mandurah as well as extended trips to Rottnest Island.

'We will spread our wings with the Grand Banks,' he said. 'Our plan is to voyage north to the Abrolhos Islands and further along the coast.'

Julian Walter has a strong focus on quality. He is the founder of Australia’s third-largest home builder, JWH Group

Mr Walter visited the Grand Banks yard four times during the build of his 54EU.

'I was impressed by the attention to detail,' he said. 'The people at the yard have the same focus on quality as I do.

'Our company builds about 1,400 homes a year and our objective is always to deliver quality so that people will come back to us when they want to upgrade.'

He was impressed by the Grand Banks’ team’s openness to suggestions during his visits to the yard.

'When we suggested that the davit on the flybridge deck should be stronger they promptly upgraded it – at no cost,' he said.

'The list of standard features was also impressive. A number of items I assumed would be paid-for options turned out to be standard, down to monogrammed bath towels.'

Mr Walter decided to add one significant option to his boat. It is equipped with the Twin Disc Electronic Joystick System (EJS) for tight manoeuvring. It is the first Grand Bank delivered to Australia with the system.

'We must reverse into our boat pen at the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club and that can be difficult in the frequent heavy crosswinds,' he said. 'My wife, Cheryl and I often sail two-handed and berthing can be stressful in those conditions. We expect the EJS will solve those issues.'

The Grand Banks 54EU is the largest of the company’s Heritage fleet of classic trawler style cruisers.

The standard three-level layout includes three cabins and two bathrooms in the accommodation suite below decks, a midships galley and aft salon on the main deck along with the lower helm station and a large entertaining area and helm on the flybridge.

On the main deck, the galley is equipped with convection microwave and four drawers for freezer and refrigeration. An L-shape dinette is opposite, on the port side, and an expansive salon aft leads to a fully covered cockpit with transom lounge.

A large engine room features two-metre headroom and enough space to walk around the standard twin Cummins QSM 11 turbo diesel engines.

More at www.grandbanks.com.au