Thank you for your relevant and very important comment/question. This has been an ongoing and never ending conversation here at PAE as Lithium systems have entered the picture and have evolved and developed. I passed your question to PAE's engineering manager Mike Telleria. Here is Mike's response: "Great question! The main mission is to absolutely prevent the conditions for a battery fire to happen in the first place. This is done by (1) using lithium iron phosphate (LFP or LiFePO4) battery chemistry, which is much less volatile than other lithium battery chemistries routinely used in electronics and many electric cars; (2) using batteries with aluminum cases (even if there is an internal thermal event LFP should not get hot enough to melt the aluminum); and (3) using a battery management system (BMS) that continuously monitors every individual cell in every battery 24/7 for temperature and voltage and will automatically react to reduce or shut off charging to control voltage and temperature, or completely disconnect the batteries from the system if managing the charging sources does not reduce the voltage or temperature as designed. So in many ways these batteries are being much better pampered and looked after than we ever had with AGM batteries. So the bigger worry becomes the batteries somehow catching fire from an external fire (not started by the batteries). Protection here is primarily provided as we have always done with a fixed fire-suppression system in that machinery compartment that will automatically trigger at a certain elevated temperature. There are some portable products being marketed to combat actual lithium battery fires (e.g. LiCELL from Sea-Fire), which could be kept onboard for added protection. In the event of an actual battery fire the published guidance is to completely flood the battery (or battery compartment) with water to remove heat - not a terribly practical solution for a relatively small yacht, making prevention all the more important!"

I bet.

Well… pretty much every Nordhavn that I go aboard is my favorite at that moment. At the moment, my personal favorite is the N71. It truly is the perfect boat..

Yes and yes! And last week was heavy dose of what is best about my job. That being the boats, the factories and Nordhavn Buyers. I spent 4 days last week at the Ta Shing factory in Tainan Taiwan (they build the MS56, N68, N71 and N76) and South Coast Marine factory in Kaohsiung (they build the N625). The factories are absolutely magical. Yes, they are noisy and dirty but the smells of polystyrene and teak and epoxy are like aphrodisiacs for boat lovers. And the creativity and craftsmanship that is going on everywhere you look is something that a boat lover never tires of. I spent time with the German buyers of N6845 which is about 60% complete and met with a couple from Singapore who are deciding between the N71 and the N80.

Thanks for the compliment.. oh wait.. that wasn’t a compliment- LOL! But trust me, I already know that my videos are a bit cringe worthy. Still.. that is all that we have at the moment because the only N71s available to show are on the US West Coast… too far for Nick to travel. I spent time with Nick Burnham at the FLIBS last month when he reviewed the N51 and N59 and begged him to come to California. He very much wants to review the N71 but can’t fit the trip into his schedule. N71 #4 is scheduled to be delivered in Dana Point, so it will be 2026 at the earliest before we can get an N71 to the US East Coast or Europe or Australia.

Old timers??!! What?? Well.. thinking about it, yes, I guess that you are correct. It seems like yesterday that we were young, broke, naive and ambitious as we knocked on doors trying to be taken seriously. I so remember when we were introducing our first boat (the Mason 43) in 1978. Jim and I flew around the country in his Cessna 172 calling on potential dealers. In Maine, we met Bob Hinckley. We were “nobody” with an Asian built boat clearly in territory that was not friendly to us. That was the height of East Coast boat building dominance that had little respect for “California Boys” or “Surfer Boys” as we were called. Bob however saw something in us and our boat and was very friendly and welcoming. Bass Harbor Marine, the sister company to Hinckley, became our first dealer and placed an order. And the years flew by… The world changed, the boats evolved to near perfection and we became old timers. What a life… And THANK YOU!

The Masons were a bit before my time but i can say it's been a real pleasure following along on the nordhavn evolution part of the journey. Blink and you're an old timer, ask me how i know 😂🛥️

Noooooooooooo!! Please come back! We love dogs at PAE! On any given day, there are several dogs in the PAE Dana Point office and our carpet has the evidence to prove it. Dogs are a big part of the Nordhavn life style for many people. My dog (Champ) was a regular in the office for 16 years. He passed away in July…..

Thank you Sir for the comment and question and your concern. Yes, that was off topic as to the N71, but otherwise is not off topic at all for a group of boaters to read. Yes, the wound on my forearm was from a skin cancer surgery about a week before the video was taken. It was closed up with 5 stitches. Fortunately, this one wasn’t melanoma. I see the dermatologist twice a year and never fail to have some business for him. I suspect that most of this damage was done 50+ years ago while sailing in open cockpit sailboats…. especially the 9-month cruise on Malabar VII where we sizzled in the sun hand steering that beast. In those days, there was the odd use of “zinc oxide”, but that period of time was long before convenient spray sunscreens were introduced and there was no awareness of the damage that we were doing. Conversely, we actually tried to cook in the sun. So; word of warning… especially to the younger generation. Use your sunscreen and don’t cook in the sun. You will thank me later. Thanks! Dan PS: You just gave me another reason to choose a Nordhavn over a long distance sailboat… better protection from the sun. We will need to somehow work that into our marketing.