Countdown to Palm Beach Boat Show: Grand Banks GB85

Grand Banks has come a long way since the days of its salty, trawler-style 36 and 42-footers favored by the eight-knot go-slow crowd, as this new Grand Banks GB85 proves…

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These days, with accomplished Aussie yachtsman and designer Mark Richards at the company helm, the latest Grand Banks 54 and 60 models are sleek, sexy, high-speed luxury cruisers built using the latest tech and most advanced materials.

The Malaysian builder’s latest offering is this mighty GB85 flagship, Grand Banks‘ biggest yacht to date. It’s making its global debut at the Palm Beach boat show.

With it comes a pretty impressive claim that it’ll use half the fuel of any other 85-footer out there, and require half the horsepower to achieve the same performance of any rival.

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Much of this is down to impressive weight-saving, courtesy of the entire deck and superstructure being formed using lightweight carbon fiber. That, and the builder’s patented V-Warp semi-displacement, carbon-rich hull design.

Power comes from either twin 1,000-horsepower Volvo D13s with IPS pods, or optional 1,300-hp MANs with shaft drives. Max speed with either is an impressive 30 knots and at her 21-knot cruise speed, the Grand Banks GB85 has a range of up to 1,000 miles.

Measuring 87 feet bow to stern, and boasting a 22-foot beam, there’s massive space throughout the boat. Below decks, there are beds for up to nine, with the full-beam owner’s cabin as big as you’d get in most apartments. The full-beam crew’s quarters has two sleeping cabins, a living space and galley.

The Grand Banks GB85 is available as either an open flybridge design, or an enclosed, fully air-conditioned Sky Lounge version. Naturally this Hull #1 has been sold.