cruising DRAGONFLY
home on the seas
Our new home on the ocean is a Nordhavn 43, an ocean crossing passagemaker built in 2009 by PAE builders in Xiamen, China. She is a stout and mighty little ship, a definite change in direction for us after 20 years plying the world’s oceans by sail. We are excited to see what this new platform offers us in terms of comfort and capability.
why 'dragonfly'
Upon becoming her third owners in 2025 we christened her Dragonfly. Transitioning from a blue water sailboat to power, our aspirations still include crossing oceans, and the Nordhavn design has everything on our wish list. Hull number 37, Dragonfly is one of the last Nordhavn 43’s produced. She has three levels: the main salon, a step up to the pilot house, and from there down to the staterooms.
a proven ocean crossing trawler
The Nordhavn story has always been one of adventure and innovation. In 1999, PAE’s naval architect Jeff Leishman introduced the Nordhavn 40, a small yet capable vessel that gained acclaim after completing a 26,000-mile circumnavigation in under 26 weeks without issues. This achievement informed the development of the Nordhavn 43, which combines lessons from the journey and 25 years of boat-building expertise.
outriggers
Dragonfly is equipped with outriggers which allow us to deploy paravane stabilizers (aka “fish”) at sea to dampen her roll underway. These act as a backup for the ABT Trac hydraulic stabilizers. At anchor the outriggers can be deployed with “flopper-stoppers” to dampen the roll caused by ocean swell and wakes.
pilot house
The command center of Dragonfly does not disappoint. Here we can operate all systems necessary for making way and living aboard: engines, autopilots, radios, navigation systems and generator. All from the comfort of the Stidd helm chair.
cockpit and decks
Dragonfly has three watertight doors from which to access her interior – one from the aft cockpit to the main salon, and one on either side of the pilot house. Her top deck is outfitted with a boom crane and power winch for launching and retrieving the dinghy, while the chain locker and anchor windlass are accessed from the foredeck.
engine room
The heart of Dragonfly is our engine room. Equipped with a 165hp Lugger engine coupled with a 1,200 gal fuel capacity, Dragonfly has a range of over 3,000 nm. In addition, the engine room houses her 29hp Yanmar wing engine (the backup “get home” engine) and a Northern Lights 12kW generator.
down below
Dragonfly is a compact 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo on the ocean, complete with most creature comforts: a walk-around queen sized en-suite master, a full-sized pullman berth in the en-suite guest cabin, electric flush toilets, 2 refrigerators, a freezer, microwave, washer dryer, A/C, heat and a water maker.
