“…One of the coolest boats I have had the pleasure to spend time on.”
-Bill Parlatore, Passagemaker Magazine
Let us take you on a tour of the FPB prototype, Wind Horse.
The fact that she put 25,000 miles under her keel in her first 17 months of cruising says more than anything we could write about how well she does her job.
We’ll take you through her interior,
as well as her systems, and explain what makes the FPB such an efficient and easy to cruise design. You could say cruising aboard Wind Horse is child’s play.
Cruising is, after all, what these designs are intended for (definitely not sitting in marinas). That’s why so many of our yachts have circumnavigated, and why all those miles have enjoyably passed under Wind Horse’s bottom in such a short period of time.
Click here to read more informative posts about the FPB 83.
For more information on FPB, contact Sue Grant: Sue.Grant@Berthon.co.uk.
Posted by Steve Dashew (November 15, 2012)
June 3rd, 2013 at 8:28 am
Among all the talk about the speed and great comfort where do I find speed vs RPM and fuel flow ? Data for calm water and no current is basic, and seas on bow would be interesting. In 18 videos i found only one point and that was surfing.
June 3rd, 2013 at 4:27 pm
There are various posts throughout SetSail which detail both theoretical and actual sea trial fuel burn data. For example https://setsail.com/fpb-64-3-sea-trial-runs-three-and-four/ for the FPB 64 during sea trials. We will have a post on fuel burn for a variety of passages on the 64 in a couple of weeks, as there have just been a variety of 1000 to 2200NM passages done.
November 14th, 2014 at 7:56 am
We are about to replace the engines in our 63ft 43 tonne motor yacht. We currently have 150 hp 580 Nm 6cylinder Volvos. We are considering 4 cylinder replacements with the same max output but only 450 Nm torque at low revs (1000). We noticed that you are offering the 6 cylinder John Deeres with the FPB78. Is this because the 4 cylinder models were inadequate in any way for the FPB83? We would be very grateful to receive your comments. We do not have an unlimited budget and are concerned that the 4 cylinder engines may be a problem for low speed manoeuvring.
Regards,
Gary Baker
November 16th, 2014 at 1:08 pm
Hi Gary:
The four cylinder John Deeres were more than enough for Wind Horse. We eventually derated them from 150 HP to 100 HP. However, she was very slippery and not a good comparison for the average motor yacht. As to low speed maneuvering, I don’t think this is a torque issue as the loads for maneuvering should be quite low. More important is the reduction gear ratio, prop size (and efficiency). Also, you want to be sure the props “walk” in reverse across the boat when maneuvering, so that the prop on the inside of the turning circle, in reverse pulls to the outside and the outside of the circle prop is used ahead. This normally means that when viewing from astern the starboard prop turns clockwise and the port counterclockwise when the props are in forward.