North Pacific 49 Yacht Review

Upon their 10th anniversary, North Pacific Yachts introduced their newest yacht – North Pacific 49 at the Seattle Boat Show. A company that started from a father and son partnership, building their own cruising yacht, has turned into a major success with over 100 boats ranging from 28 to 52 feet. The ATM Media Marine Group has recognized the efforts of North Pacific by awarding the 49 with an Editors’ Choice Award for excellence. Its full beam saloon with finely finished teak joinery is extremely impressive.

LOA: 52’0″
BEAM: 15’5″
DRAFT: 4’10”
DISPL.: 48,000 lb.
FUEL: 500 gal. (optional to 930 gal.)
WATER: 350 gal.
TEST POWER: 1/355-hp Cummins QSB diesel
TRANSMISSION: ZF85A, 2.5:1 gear ratio
PROPELLERS: Hungshen 737RH571 MN-BR
BASE PRICE: $715,000

RPM	KNOTS	GPH	RANGE	dB(A)
600	3.5	0.3	5250	55
1000	5.3	0.9	2650	62
1250	6.4	1.4	2570	62
1500	6.9	2.2	1411	63
1750	7.9	3.9	912	68
2000	9.0	6.3	643	68
2250	10.0	9.1	495	73

Hull No. 1

Offers a dinette to port and a pair of freestanding chairs to starboard. Between the two is a separate cabinet.

Hull No, 2

Offers an L-shaped settee to port, along with an array of other layouts at no extra cost. The port-side galley has room for a full-size household refrigerator, but has a Nova Kool marine unit on the forward bulkhead. Next to the refrigerator sits a Seward electric range and a mounted microwave above.

An impressively, large bar and prep area separates the galley from the saloon. Four steps up will bring you to the pilothouse.

The helm is upgraded with dual adjustable seats, perfect sight-lines at every angle and enough space to mount two 15 inch multifunctional displays (MFD). The engine gauges are mounted on the horizontal dash. There is more than adequate level working surface for charts and plenty of room in the panel just above the helm for more instrumentation.

The helm offers a large L-shaped settee and table which can be converted to a berth or an area for children to sleep. Large, heavy duty sliding doors open out to the side decks and steps on either side that lead up to the flying bridge. The railing is high with plenty of support and a center-line companion way leads to four steps down from the saloon to the staterooms.

Starboard offers a guest/day head, along with a to port with a guest stateroom and forward is the master stateroom is en suite with a head.

The heads are reasonably good sizes and nicely finished. The guest stateroom is equipped with two single berths, which slide together to form a queen-size. There is a fold-down bunk along the inboard wall.

The master stateroom forward features a center-line queen berth surrounded by two hanging lockers and a stack of large drawers to starboard.

The berth has drawers underneath and on a lift to access storage. On the flying bridge, the center-line helm has a double-wide seat which sits high and you might need a footrest due to the height.

A camera on the brow of the pilothouse solves any problems from the seat style that limits some view. An L-shaped settee surrounding a table to starboard aft, bench seating across to port and ample seating provided forward. The boat deck bridge is expansive with room for optional davit to port and large tender.

Construction

The hull is hand-laminated with solid fiberglass and uses vinyl-ester resin in two outer layers. All stringers are fiberglass with no wood coring. All decks and superstructure are cored with synthetic honeycomb material. Fiberglass is the material for the fuel tanks as well.

Performance

In a Puget Sound sea trial, with 5 knot winds and little to no chop made it impossible to see how the NP49 handles in adverse conditions. At 1750 rpm, and 7.9 knots,burning 3.9 gph and reading just 68 decibels. She was placed on cruise speed and the vessel made a full turn in two to three boat lengths. Offering few degrees to lean to the outside of the turn.

She pushed through her wake with minimal pitch and minimal roll as the waves hit her beam. She handles very well and offered low fuel consumption.