Nimbus 495 Flybridge Yacht Review

Midsummer days are memorable in Sweden’s Gothenburg archipelago aboard the Nimbus 495 Flybridge.

We stood shoulder to shoulder in a semicircle just outside the barn doors of the brightly-colored fish shack. Our small group chatted as we downed lagers and prosecco underneath the early-evening Scandinavian sun, still high in the mid-June sky. I sipped an ice-cold Carlsberg, a bit nervous about disappointing my hosts if I didn’t join in on what was about to happen next.

My mantra in this place: Be like a Swede.

I had told myself this a few times since arriving in Sweden two days before. It began with the cuisine. I’m one who generally avoids the seafood side of the menu, but my newfound epicurious streak was paying dividends. I had enjoyed exquisitely-prepared ling and char, and I was eyeballing crayfish harvested that same day, prepared with lemon and butter for our kräftskiva, or crayfish party. While I didn’t indluge in the tender parts from their antennae-laden heads, I did enjoy the delicious meat from the tails. I was making progress.

This was how they do things in Donsö, an island in Sweden’s Gothenburg archipelago where I’d arrived for the premiere of the Nimbus 495 Flybridge. The model marks a shift for the brand whose svelte dayboats splashed in the United States less than a decade ago. With the new 495 flagship, Nimbus is looking to enter the fast-trawler market.

The 495 is also the first Nimbus powered by Volvo Penta IPS drives. That came as a surprise, considering that the companies are linked back to the yacht builder’s inception in 1968. The yard tapped Volvo Penta designer Pelle Petterson, who created the Volvo P1800, to design the first Nimbus model, a 26-footer. Five decades later, Petterson is an Olympic medalist and world-champion sailor, and Nimbus has launched more than 12,000 boats spread over 86 models.

Chief Designer Joacim Gustavsson joined Nimbus in 2007 and has imbued the builder’s Commuter, Day Cruiser and Coupé models with the same design language seen in the 495. A defining feature on this flagship is the asymmetrical layout: The superstructure is offset, leaving a wider starboard side deck. The house sits so seamlessly on the 495 that the asymmetry wasn’t clear to me until I stood on the wide swim platform and studied her stance. The other giveaway was the boarding gate to starboard that aligns with the wider side’s deck.

Up a few steps, the cockpit shows how the Swedes use their vessels all over Scandinavia, where the weather can turn quickly. The flybridge overhang shades the entire space, and a wall of glass occupies the after section. It is electronically actuated with a built-in shade, ­allowing complete protection from the elements. It also can be open to the salon and to the swim platform, where there’s a wet bar and grill.

With the salon’s glass door folded away and the top half of the glass bulkhead open, the indoor and outdoor spaces flow together, with the folded bulkhead creating a perfect bar top. Inside the single-level salon, the galley is split in the after section, with a centerline walkway framing a portside, C-shape dinette for six and a two-seat settee to starboard.

Just forward, the helm area shines to starboard. Sightlines are excellent in three directions, and a pair of rounded glass windows aft flank a slider.

A centerline companionway leads belowdecks to three staterooms. The amidships, full-beam master and the VIP in the bow are separated by a twin-bunk stateroom to starboard, with the latter two sharing a head.

At sea, with eight of us onboard, the 495 never felt crowded. With our crew split between the pilothouse and cockpit, there was room for more people on the flybridge and foredeck. The sun was shining, so the skipper opened the electric roof above the helm. That, plus the side windows, open rear glass and wide sliding door next to the helm station (another Nimbus mainstay), made the pilothouse open and airy.

We hopscotched amid the hundred or so tiny, granite islands, and I took the co-pilot’s position. The L-shape seating here is part bench that faces forward, part comfortable settee that faces aft. Gustavsson calls this the “passenger sofa” for good reason. With the Midsummer holiday tourists not yet crowding the waters, we had our run of the place, so I settled in to enjoy the view. The experience was eminently relaxing.

Twenty or so minutes later, the skipper kindly woke me up for our speed runs, telling me that a few people from the Nimbus team had napped in that same spot since the 495 splashed. Just like a Swede, I thought.

The 480-hp Volvo Penta IPS drives are an ideal match. We cruised effortlessly at 21 knots on the way to her top speed of just under 29 knots. Running at displacement speeds, she showed coastal cruising prowess, achieving a 677-nautical-mile range at 8 knots and 1500 rpm. As we increased speed, the average range never dipped below 300 nautical miles, up to 15.3 knots and 2750 rpm.

Returning to Donsö, I hung a few fenders via the wide starboard-side deck and watched as the skipper effortlessly docked her with the joystick. There was no need to use the optional Assisted Docking feature—the 495 can be easily handled by a cruising couple.

At our late dinner, the Nimbus team showed us how to ring in the Midsummer holiday with Aquavit, songs and four types of herring. At midnight, I steeled myself against the 55-degree seawater and then went back into the sauna for a sweat. The Nimbus crew deemed me an honorary Swede, baptized in the Baltic Sea.

Nimbus 495 Flybridge Specifications:

LOA: 49 7”
Beam: 14’9”
Draft: 3’9”
Displ.: 38,720 lb.
Fuel: 449 gal.
Water: 137 gal.
Power: 2/480-hp Volvo Penta IPS650

This article originally appeared in the November 2024 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.

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Source: https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/cruisers/nimbus-495-flybridge-yacht-review