Great Harbour new N44 “concept”

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Speaking purely to the N-44 concept, I could really get excited about such a boat. I’ve had lots of Great Harbour owners aboard my boat and there are usually two comments when comparing our boat. One, that they like the richer feel of a teak interior and two, that they wish they had the big back porch (veranda). The addition of the proposed 44’s monster cockpit is an awesome feature. Then, adding even more headroom to the already unequaled engine room and cavernous bosons locker of the 37’ is icing on the cake. Integrating the swim platform is a cherry on top. The profile of both the fly-bridge and sans fly-bridge models look great.

All that being noted, it’ll take someone younger, wealthier, and a lot more tolerant than I am to withstand the stress of bringing it into reality. I hope they find those individuals, make jointly beneficial and accountable agreements, and build a bunch of them.
 
You have failed miserably in your mission to come here and defend the indefensible and the fact you'd attempt to do so indicates you're a paid marketer who is willing to have his name tied to Mirage and Fickett. Personally, I'd be ashamed to be connected.

Judging by the number of posts you have made, I will never have the time to answer you point by point since I continue to have a job that requires attention elsewhere.

But because of your tone and tenor, I see that you take this very personally, and you don't really care to know who I am or what I have done in my life.

I am curious to know, however, what it was that began your feud with Great Harbour. I feel I am missing something here. Like I missed a crucial scene in a mystery movie.
 
Are you implying customers are fools?

Some certainly are. There's no reason to believe the boat-buying cohort does not have its share, probably in proportion to the general population, which seems to have quite a few these days. Also, having money does not seem to innoculate against the malady of foolishness.

That is not to say that we should not try harder to restrain our distain, so to speak. One boatbuilder I know (not Great Harbour) once told me, "I have spent my entire career sucking up to ********, and I've gotten pretty good at it. The problem now is that we're building bigger boats, so I'm having to suck up to bigger ********."
 
But aren't Nordhavn's designed by a naval architect?

Thank you for making my point. Despite the fact that Jeff Leishman is good naval architect and one who collaborates with other good naval architects, it has not stopped a vocal minority of Nordhavn customers from criticizing the company.

Also, I can tell you this. Jeff's brother, Nordhavn VP Jim Leishman, is not a naval architect, but I believe he would be perfectly capable of designing a boat if need be. And neither of these guys is the "irascible" type I described in my original post.

Thirdly, every single POS SeaRay on the water has a naval architect in its pedigree.

The naval architect argument I see posited here is what debaters and plot writers call a "red herring."
 
Judging by the number of posts you have made, I will never have the time to answer you point by point since I continue to have a job that requires attention elsewhere.

But because of your tone and tenor, I see that you take this very personally, and you don't really care to know who I am or what I have done in my life.

I am curious to know, however, what it was that began your feud with Great Harbour. I feel I am missing something here. Like I missed a crucial scene in a mystery movie.

I take it very personally to see others hurt by disreputable business people. This industry is important to me and I know many in the industry who are very professional. I started following the TT 35 from the day it was offered. I followed the promises and saw the failures. I also talked to many other GH owners who to protect the value of their boats refuse to speak publicly and found out what might be considered a TT 35 problem of promises vs delivery isn't new and they went through many things with GH.

Then it became more personal in seeing threats made by GH, seeing their strong arm tactics, their behavior, including some communications I had that showed their total lack of professionalism. As a lifelong businessman, I take it very personal when I see those others mistreating customers as they have. I felt the pain of the Trombley's but I feel even sadder knowing what happened with #2. I saw the deplorable refusals and/or inability to fix any of the problems.

I hear people talk about the dangers of new boat buying and negatively about the industry and I know that it's not the industry, it's certain bad players and to the buyer, it's not just a bad business deal, it's a tremendous investment into future pleasure that leads to a huge personal and financial loss. This isn't play money. It's the savings and lives of couples. It's builders like Mirage that rather than make things right, attack and threaten and refuse to do anything.

Then it's them repeatedly having friends, employees and representatives come here and try to defend them and attack those critical of them. I got attacked by their trolls when I posted during some of the ordeals, but I knew far more than I could post and still know more and continue to protect my sources.

So, yes, I take their actions very personal and it's a shame you don't see the personal side of them and feel for those harmed along the way. You're providing marketing support to those hurting many others. You need at some point to start feeling the personal aspect of it rather than just the business side. You even alluded to not deciding based on the owner's personality, but what about character. Surely by now you've been around them enough to feel some uneasiness and I'd hope as you learn more you'd reexamine if this is someone you really want to do business with. I don't live in the world where all is fair in business. I don't detach from the personal impact. I've bought enough boats to know what it feels like and how much one invests of themselves in it. I've also bought one boat that I was very pleased with but wouldn't buy again from the company today based on how they and a South Florida dealer have left customers in dire straits. See, you don't have to hurt me personally to get my ire, I do care about the harm you do to others.
 
Thank you for making my point. Despite the fact that Jeff Leishman is good naval architect and one who collaborates with other good naval architects, it has not stopped a vocal minority of Nordhavn customers from criticizing the company.

Also, I can tell you this. Jeff's brother, Nordhavn VP Jim Leishman, is not a naval architect, but I believe he would be perfectly capable of designing a boat if need be. And neither of these guys is the "irascible" type I described in my original post.

Thirdly, every single POS SeaRay on the water has a naval architect in its pedigree.

The naval architect argument I see posited here is what debaters and plot writers call a "red herring."

So now your defense is to attack others. I know Nordhavn has had dissatisfied customers but I look at the majority and while I'd never buy a Nordhavn, I still regard them well. I read and looked at everything available on the 120 suit and I criticized Nordhavn for every aspect starting with the initial order, but I found the one suing them far more problematic and the courts did as well. I also do believe had he allowed Nordhavn, they would have continued to try to correct issues, as they often do I deplore their long commissioning periods and the time it takes to get all the issues resolved, but generally they continue until they do.

As to calling Sea Rays a POS, I've owned several and find they build a very good production boat. The only ones I'd criticize are the L Series and there they had execution problems but the design was incredible. They were reopening a plant and didn't have control of things. I looked and didn't buy after reading the lists of issues happy buyers had. However, I also know of the boats they took back to the plant and spent months getting right after the sale. Sea Ray stood up for their product even when some dealers didn't.

The preponderance of evidence is in favor of Nordhavn and Sea Ray and not of Mirage.

Now, I do think if you see an older GH on the market and it surveys well, it can be a good boat for you. I just wouldn't deal with the company or it's principals today nor get involved in any current build.

That's like Northern Marine. They built a good product their first time around, prior to the first failure. Still good on the used market. Just not in the last decade and more.

Take off your marketing hat and listen for a while. Read all that is available. Go back and look at the timelines. Then thing how you would feel had you been the purchaser, how you'd feel if it was promised to do the loop but delayed over a year and then at the time you might have considered it your wife was too ill to do it. It stole from you a bucket list item. That owner never posted about his issues and I guess still hoping Mirage will sell it for him (I don't know the status of that boat now), but he was hurt far more than financially. Others lost a couple of years of their boating life and just a large sum of money but have now made the most of it. Also, you do act like you know how the Ficketts talk to and treat customers. If you know that, how can you possibly excuse it. Does it at all match with your own personal values, with how you treat and feel others should be treated?
 
Some certainly are. There's no reason to believe the boat-buying cohort does not have its share, probably in proportion to the general population, which seems to have quite a few these days. Also, having money does not seem to innoculate against the malady of foolishness.

That is not to say that we should not try harder to restrain our distain, so to speak. One boatbuilder I know (not Great Harbour) once told me, "I have spent my entire career sucking up to ********, and I've gotten pretty good at it. The problem now is that we're building bigger boats, so I'm having to suck up to bigger ********."

Perhaps you should choose a better quality of boat builder to deal with.

Now, why attack you? Because you came here as a paid troll to defend the indefensible.
 
Wow! BandB, how anyone would construe what I wrote as an attack on Nordhavn I don't know, since it was merely an example of another good builder that nonetheless has a vocal minority of critical customers.

Methinks, based on this type of debating tactic, you are a lawyer. I'm right, no?
 
Wow! BandB, how anyone would construe what I wrote as an attack on Nordhavn I don't know, since it was merely an example of another good builder that nonetheless has a vocal minority of critical customers.

Methinks, based on this type of debating tactic, you are a lawyer. I'm right, no?

Peter
Good luck with BB jousting. But, a good understanding of the TT35s birthing problems as seen by buyers and "re-doers" may be of benefit to you when discussing GH on an open forum.
 
I have seen other cases like this, though, and sometimes it is not as one-sided as it may seem. Kinda like a messy divorce.

Sorry, my opinion, but in this specific case, the above quote is bullsh&t.

Again opinion, GH should have built TT35, hull #1; assessed the good and the bad; made any fixes to hull number #1 (at their expense); learned from the process and incorporated what they learned into future build from hull #2 onward. Rather than do this, they (opinion again) seemed to put all the eggs into the initial design and hoped it worked.

Makes me wonder (again opinion) if they have the capital AND commitment to build any new designed boats?

If I were buying a new 44' boat it would NOT be a new designed GH.

Based upon the delivery of TT35, hull #1, I would not buy any new GH boat.

Last (personal opinion) is that you can market 'crap' in whatever pretty package you like, but it is still 'crap'

Jim
 
Wow! BandB, how anyone would construe what I wrote as an attack on Nordhavn I don't know, since it was merely an example of another good builder that nonetheless has a vocal minority of critical customers.

Methinks, based on this type of debating tactic, you are a lawyer. I'm right, no?

Not a lawyer, but I consider comparing them in any way to Mirage to be an attack. Guess it's perspective. As you just said, "they're a good builder."
 
Sounds like you are making the argument one should avoid hull no. 1 of the N44.

Some types of people definitely should not buy Hull No. 1 of the N44 or Hull No. 1 of any other boat. Here is the test: Did you constantly freak out when you were having your custom home built? Do you change your mind a lot? Would you tell your entire family to book air travel to Florida on a specific day for the launch party? If this your first major boat purchase? Do you take all setbacks personally?

I could go on...But you get the picture. If you or your wife is high-strung, wait for Hull 2 or 3. This is not your Mini-Cooper on the assembly line.
 
P Swanson, most of the forum members have watched the movie, so you are swimming upstream. Also, Thanks for letting us know that Sea Rays are POS’. I always thought they were an affordable, well made production boat and we sure liked ours. I spent quite a bit of time on the Sea Ray forum back then and 99 percent of the owners also thought they were great boats.
 
Again opinion, GH should have built TT35, hull #1; assessed the good and the bad; made any fixes to hull number #1 (at their expense); learned from the process and incorporated what they learned into future build from hull #2 onward. Rather than do this, they (opinion again) seemed to put all the eggs into the initial design and hoped it worked.

So when you say "opinion" in boldface, you are actually saying you have no evidence what you are saying happened or didn't happen or could have happened. When I compared these situations to a divorce I was not kiddiing. It's pretty facile to make that kind of judgement from afar. And I wont. Maybe Great Harbour was a total dick, but maybe...just maybe...the other side wasn't totally innocent either.
 
P Swanson, most of the forum members have watched the movie, so you are swimming upstream. Also, Thanks for letting us know that Sea Rays are POS’. I always thought they were an affordable, well made production boat and we sure liked ours. I spent quite a bit of time on the Sea Ray forum back then and 99 percent of the owners also thought they were great boats.

Great boats, I guess, if you're in the NFL and like to party. After years of working in boating magazines, I just remember the self-censorship that had to occur when writing reviews of those POS because Brunswick or whoever owned them at the time was the biggest advertiser. But truth be told, I was just using SeaRay as my idea of a POS. To fully understand my analogy, pick any swoopie, go-fast boat that is top heavy and can barely go 100 miles between fill-ups and insert that brand in my text.
 
So when you say "opinion" in boldface, you are actually saying you have no evidence what you are saying happened or didn't happen or could have happened. When I compared these situations to a divorce I was not kiddiing. It's pretty facile to make that kind of judgement from afar. And I wont. Maybe Great Harbour was a total dick, but maybe...just maybe...the other side wasn't totally innocent either.

As a paid troll, you're ignoring well documented facts. In fact, they're all available in abbreviated form on this forum. Surely you could avail yourself of the time table from promise to delivery and the design issues that were severe in boats 1-4.

A couple of huge differences between you and I in this argument. First, I've done my homework. I have facts from multiple sources on which I've based my opinions. I know what happened and when. I even communicated in private with one of the Fickett's. Either you haven't done your homework or you have and choose to ignore everything you found out in so doing. Second, I have zero financial or direct personal involvement. I have personally never bought from Mirage and never would, especially after the due diligence I've done. I've never been paid by them. I'm completely independent even though my opinions are one sided, but those are based on facts. I looked at things objectively. You have absolutely zero objectivity. You have a financial relationship with Mirage. You were likely encouraged by them to come here as I doubt you just accidentally found Trawler Forum and decided now you should post here. That as a follow up perhaps to travm0n's failed effort.

I would respect an owner of a TT35 who loves their boat but I don't think there is one who loved it as delivered. I don't respect a mouthpiece of Mirage. You should have paid for your attempt to advertise in your post. When my day started I had no intention of discussing Mirage or Great Harbour or TT 35's. You opened this can of worms up again. Probably a big mistake on your part as TF has many people here who are educated on the issue including those who were once optimistic about the boat and others who considered buying one and owners of other Great Harbour boats. As I said earlier, most who bought used, love the boats. Those who dealt with Mirage directly, not always the same love.
 
Great boats, I guess, if you're in the NFL and like to party. After years of working in boating magazines, I just remember the self-censorship that had to occur when writing reviews of those POS because Brunswick or whoever owned them at the time was the biggest advertiser. But truth be told, I was just using SeaRay as my idea of a POS. To fully understand my analogy, pick any swoopie, go-fast boat that is top heavy and can barely go 100 miles between fill-ups and insert that brand in my text.

So, you're using SeaRay to show your prejudice and your lack of understanding of the greater industry. Not referencing the general satisfaction of their owners over the years. Now you say any fast boat is a POS. Guess all boats on lakes are by your definition even though your beloved Mirage won't sea trial the TT35 in the ocean, just in an oversized pond.

How many other brands of boats do you wish to label today. You have many more to go to hit what we all own. Why not go after center consoles next. Which brands of those do you label as POS?

Your analogy sucked as there's really only one POS boat in this discussion.

Oh, and I had no idea SeaRay was the preferred party boat of the NFL. They should advertise that.
 
What was that headline on the SeaRay 54 that we were not able to print. Oh yeah, I remember: TIPPY CANOE AND PRICEY TOO.
 
By the way if you are friends of BandB, I think an intervention is called for. His responses are way to long to achieve the impact that he aspires to. As Polonius liked to say, "Brevity is the soul of wit."
 
By the way if you are friends of BandB, I think an intervention is called for. His responses are way to long to achieve the impact that he aspires to. As Polonius liked to say, "Brevity is the soul of wit."

That's fine. My only desired impact is to get the family, friends, and employees of Mirage to stop trolling and trying to deny the facts. I would personally be fine if the moderators deleted all your posts and all my responses.
 
Wow! BandB, how anyone would construe what I wrote as an attack on Nordhavn I don't know, since it was merely an example of another good builder that nonetheless has a vocal minority of critical customers.

Methinks, based on this type of debating tactic, you are a lawyer. I'm right, no?


Peter, here's something that may be of use to you! :peace:
 
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So now your defense is to attack others. I know Nordhavn has had dissatisfied customers but I look at the majority and while I'd never buy a Nordhavn, I still regard them well. I read and looked at everything available on the 120 suit and I criticized Nordhavn for every aspect starting with the initial order, but I found the one suing them far more problematic and the courts did as well. I also do believe had he allowed Nordhavn, they would have continued to try to correct issues, as they often do I deplore their long commissioning periods and the time it takes to get all the issues resolved, but generally they continue until they do.

As to calling Sea Rays a POS, I've owned several and find they build a very good production boat. The only ones I'd criticize are the L Series and there they had execution problems but the design was incredible. They were reopening a plant and didn't have control of things. I looked and didn't buy after reading the lists of issues happy buyers had. However, I also know of the boats they took back to the plant and spent months getting right after the sale. Sea Ray stood up for their product even when some dealers didn't.

The preponderance of evidence is in favor of Nordhavn and Sea Ray and not of Mirage.

Now, I do think if you see an older GH on the market and it surveys well, it can be a good boat for you. I just wouldn't deal with the company or it's principals today nor get involved in any current build.

That's like Northern Marine. They built a good product their first time around, prior to the first failure. Still good on the used market. Just not in the last decade and more.

Take off your marketing hat and listen for a while. Read all that is available. Go back and look at the timelines. Then thing how you would feel had you been the purchaser, how you'd feel if it was promised to do the loop but delayed over a year and then at the time you might have considered it your wife was too ill to do it. It stole from you a bucket list item. That owner never posted about his issues and I guess still hoping Mirage will sell it for him (I don't know the status of that boat now), but he was hurt far more than financially. Others lost a couple of years of their boating life and just a large sum of money but have now made the most of it. Also, you do act like you know how the Ficketts talk to and treat customers. If you know that, how can you possibly excuse it. Does it at all match with your own personal values, with how you treat and feel others should be treated?


In the market for a 40' to 50' trawler . . . :popcorn:. . . . following . . . .
 
You might say that I really am a "troll" for Great Harbour since I help the company out with its marketing....
Stop right there. It`s enough for me to say: Please Go Away.
TF is no place for self confessed trolls and boat marketers. No good can come from combining the two. The death spiral of your subsequent posts put it beyond doubt.

Please Go Away.
 
Who is really the troll?

Stop right there. It`s enough for me to say: Please Go Away.
TF is no place for self confessed trolls and boat marketers. No good can come from combining the two. The death spiral of your subsequent posts put it beyond doubt.

Please Go Away.

When I identified myself as a "troll," I was being ironic. I gave my real first and last names and stated my agenda in full transparency, not a troll thing to do. Then I made some observations about the nature of the boat building industry that apply generally as well as specifically.

Several folks, especially someone who goes by the anonymous handle BandB, launched longwinded, heated attacks on me personally. All that a casual visitor can know about this guy is that he's spends A LOT of time posting to have achieved more than 18,000, that he likes SeaRays and really, really hates Great Harbor trawlers and its founder Ken Fickett.

So who is really the troll here?

The person whose name you know (and can Google) or the people with handles that hide both their true identities and whatever qualifications or lack thereof they have to make their comments?

I fear she is not "on my side," but at least we know who Miz Trom really is based on her handle and willingness to post her boat's name and a picture of her and her husband in her public profile. She is a rare critic here who is not skulking behind anonymity. Kudos. See you on the water, brave lady.

I challenge all you undercover critics who so venomously disdain Great Harbour to have the courage of your convictions. Tell the boating world who you are and your background, so others can assess your credibility.

You already know my name, though BandB has been pretty incurious about my background other than as a "paid troll," but here is some more for you.

1. I'm a New Englander from Cape Cod with 54 years of experience on the water.
2. I have a 50-ton master's license (in abeyance until my next test).
3. I was a 25-year, career newspaper reporter and editor of New Hampshire's statewide Sunday paper.
4. I cruised in a 30-foot sailboat from Nova Scotia to the Caribbean. I live aboard a bigger boat now.
5. For the past 20 years I have written for most of the major boating magazines, including Yachting, PassageMaker, Power & Motoryacht, SAIL, Soundings and Trade Only.
6. I have won most of the writing award categories in the boating niche.
7. I was editor-in-chief of PassageMaker, the trawler magazine.
8. I recently retired as seminar manager for Trawlerfest and was producer or co-producer of several courses on boatersuniversity.com.
9. I was onboard for the Oman-to-Suez leg of the Nordhavn Around the World voyage (Yes, great boats, great company, great people).
10. I was onboard for the Nordhavn Transatlantic Challenge, too.
11. As a sideline, I have made numerous deliveries under power and sail, the longest being 4,500 nautical miles from Florida to Ensenada, Mexico, (just south of San Diego) through the Panama Canal. Also two other Pacific deliveries: San Diego to San Francisco and Dana Point to Anacortes, Washington.

That's me. Who the heck are you, BandB? Are you Brandy or are you Benedictine? And why should a visitor to this page take you seriously?
The rest of you should come out of the shadows too. In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day:

Come out ye Black and Tans, come out and fight me like a man
Show your wife how you won your medals down in Flanders
Tell them how the IRA made you run like hell away
From the green and lovely lanes of Killashandra
 
When I identified myself as a "troll," I was being ironic. I gave my real first and last names and stated my agenda in full transparency, not a troll thing to do. Then I made some observations about the nature of the boat building industry that apply generally as well as specifically.

Several folks, especially someone who goes by the anonymous handle BandB, launched longwinded, heated attacks on me personally. All that a casual visitor can know about this guy is that he's spends A LOT of time posting to have achieved more than 18,000, that he likes SeaRays and really, really hates Great Harbor trawlers and its founder Ken Fickett.

So who is really the troll here?

The person whose name you know (and can Google) or the people with handles that hide both their true identities and whatever qualifications or lack thereof they have to make their comments?

I fear she is not "on my side," but at least we know who Miz Trom really is based on her handle and willingness to post her boat's name and a picture of her and her husband in her public profile. She is a rare critic here who is not skulking behind anonymity. Kudos. See you on the water, brave lady.

I challenge all you undercover critics who so venomously disdain Great Harbour to have the courage of your convictions. Tell the boating world who you are and your background, so others can assess your credibility.

You already know my name, though BandB has been pretty incurious about my background other than as a "paid troll," but here is some more for you.

1. I'm a New Englander from Cape Cod with 54 years of experience on the water.
2. I have a 50-ton master's license (in abeyance until my next test).
3. I was a 25-year, career newspaper reporter and editor of New Hampshire's statewide Sunday paper.
4. I cruised in a 30-foot sailboat from Nova Scotia to the Caribbean. I live aboard a bigger boat now.
5. For the past 20 years I have written for most of the major boating magazines, including Yachting, PassageMaker, Power & Motoryacht, SAIL, Soundings and Trade Only.
6. I have won most of the writing award categories in the boating niche.
7. I was editor-in-chief of PassageMaker, the trawler magazine.
8. I recently retired as seminar manager for Trawlerfest and was producer or co-producer of several courses on boatersuniversity.com.
9. I was onboard for the Oman-to-Suez leg of the Nordhavn Around the World voyage (Yes, great boats, great company, great people).
10. I was onboard for the Nordhavn Transatlantic Challenge, too.
11. As a sideline, I have made numerous deliveries under power and sail, the longest being 4,500 nautical miles from Florida to Ensenada, Mexico, (just south of San Diego) through the Panama Canal. Also two other Pacific deliveries: San Diego to San Francisco and Dana Point to Anacortes, Washington.

That's me. Who the heck are you, BandB? Are you Brandy or are you Benedictine? And why should a visitor to this page take you seriously?
The rest of you should come out of the shadows too. In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day:

Come out ye Black and Tans, come out and fight me like a man
Show your wife how you won your medals down in Flanders
Tell them how the IRA made you run like hell away
From the green and lovely lanes of Killashandra

Both your resume and your writing elegance is impressive. However, the fact you chose to divulge your name on an otherwise anonymous internet forum is not valid grounds for the rest of us to do so. Most of us choose to speak our minds freely without fear of personal attribution. Others may make the decision to disclose their identity. It is a voluntary choice. I have to assume you disclosed your identity with the main objective of impressing as a great source of wisdom. Your challenge to BandB is utterly uncalled for as has been your justification for the behavior of the boat builder you represent. For my own 2 cents, I have always found BandB to be a straight shooter and when he gets it wrong, he corrects himself.

So, is your mission to do marketing or public relations (spin)?
 
My name is Ken Fickett. I have never tried to obscure my identity in any way. I am the owner and founder of Mirage Manufacturing. I do have the user name “Rockbottom” an old childhood nickname. I have only posted to this forum on a few occasions. I expect they are still up. I was taught that to engage in the kind of vitriol that is often posted here is pretty much a waste of time but here I am. I am amazed that people that otherwise seem intelligent and well meaning can become so obsessed with true hatred when they are so ignorant of the facts. Several of you fall into that category. A few brave souls have talked about their own positive experiences with Mirage and myself but alas that impact is small compared to the true haters.
What motivates you to attempt to ruin a 50 year old family company that has a reputation for building not only trawlers but sailboats and sportfishing boats that have significant followings in each category? You hide behind your anonymity and it is impossible to determine what your true agenda might be. Many of the assumptions I see made by the so called “Gurus” on the forum prove them to be not such Gurus after all.
 
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