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Selene Yachts - opinions, experience?

Discussion in ' General Trawler Discussion ' started by bigbillys , May 23, 2011 .

bigbillys New Member

Looking at Selene Yachts. I think the 48 is the size for me. What do the forum members think about these boats? Good? Flaws? Experience with a Selene?

sunchaserv Member

Selene Same question, given the popularity of these vessels I'm surprised there are no replies from owners. I've looked at 3 in the past few weeks and talked at length with commissioning yards - it is difficult to get answers since in some cases the owners were not good boaters and let things pile up. Or is it the case that a few problems are out weighed by silent owners with no material problems??

Take Five New Member

The difficulty you have in trying to assess any vessel such as Selene or others is that owners are reluctant to tell the truth about their experiences for fear of effecting the value of their own vessels. I believe this is a major reason that boat manufactures get away with what they do with respect to backing their product and providing backup and good customer service. Owners may also be trying to get things done on their boats and not wish to rock the boat with manufacturer or dealer by telling a prospective buyer the truth about their experience. This was certainly the case with my experience with Symbol Yachts and I have been astounded at how many people I subsequently found out were also unhapy Symbol Owners when it was too late. I recently met a fellow who was trying to sell his boat, which he subsequently sold. It was interesting that only after he sold the boat did he tell me about all the problems he had with the manufacturer. Good luck!!

PropBet Senior Member

I'm in no way an authority on the manufacture, but we looked at them some years ago (4ish) and got very mixed reviews from on them. They did not make out short list after looking at Fleming, Grand Banks, Marlow, Offshore, and Outer Reef. Dig deep and pay attention to detail.

Prop Bet You are certainly right to say "dig deep." But the Selene is an entirely different cruising vessel than the Flemings, GBs etc you mentioned since the Selenes are a "hull speed" vessel only. With the Flemings et al, every trip is planned around locating the fuel docks unless you keep the RPMs way down, which then seems a waste of a good high HP engine setup. This is my quest: finding a quality newer 55' - 60' trawler that has modern systems, the right power package, good layout and high resale potential. The spinner keeps coming back to Nordhavn.

sunchaserv said: ↑ Prop Bet You are certainly right to say "dig deep." But the Selene is an entirely different cruising vessel than the Flemings, GBs etc you mentioned since the Selenes are a "hull speed" vessel only. With the Flemings et al, every trip is planned around locating the fuel docks unless you keep the RPMs way down, which then seems a waste of a good high HP engine setup. This is my quest: finding a quality newer 55' - 60' trawler that has modern systems, the right power package, good layout and high resale potential. The spinner keeps coming back to Nordhavn. Click to expand...

m2m Senior Member

I have dealt with the early Selenes and from my experience I would run away! It is one of those you get what you paid for boats. The price is attractive but the quallity is not there. The company backs their product but expect a lot of down time with warranty issues.

tirekicker11 Senior Member

m2m said: ↑ I have dealt with the early Selenes and from my experience I would run away! It is one of those you get what you paid for boats. The price is attractive but the quallity is not there. The company backs their product but expect a lot of down time with warranty issues. Click to expand...

Marmot Senior Member

Take Five said: ↑ The difficulty you have in trying to assess any vessel such as Selene or others is that owners are reluctant to tell the truth about their experiences for fear of effecting the value of their own vessels. I believe this is a major reason that boat manufactures get away with what they do with respect to backing their product and providing backup and good customer service. Owners may also be trying to get things done on their boats and not wish to rock the boat with manufacturer or dealer by telling a prospective buyer the truth about their experience. Click to expand...

With respect to rave reviews in boating magazines, when was the last time you read a bad one? Boating magazines survive on the advertising dollars from the very industry they are supposed to be unbiasedly reviewing for their readers. Read boat reviews with the same scepticism as you would read the manufacturers brochure, what is the difference? I was aware a certain magazine in Australia was going to do a review of a Symbol Motor Yacht, I wrote to them and advised them of my website, Symbol Yachts Beware, and suggested they do some investigative journalism and for the benefit of their readers tell the real story about how the company and the dealer do business, regardless of how good the boat is. They wrote back telling me it was people like me who gave the marine industry a bad name and I should have kept quiet so as not to damage the marine industry!!!! The glowing review appeared along with a full page Symbol Yachts advertisement in another part of the magazine, join the dots or should I say join the $$$ signs! Boating magazines do not bite the hand that feeds them! The Australian Symbol Dealer has since been arrested and charged with dishonesty offences, you won’t find that reported in a boating magazine.

JWY Senior Member

I can vouch for YachtForums' selectivity in writing reviews. The reviews you don't see may be ones that Carl has made an active decision to not write based on quality of manufacture, builder ethics, dissatisfied customers, etc. You will also see realistic reviews on YF which include negative comments. I'm speaking up for YF and Carl because I know Carl values integrity over income. Judy Waldman YF Writer

Its what you don't know that will cost you JWY said: ↑ The reviews you don't see may be ones that Carl has made an active decision to not write based on quality of manufacture, builder ethics, dissatisfied customers, etc. Judy Waldman YF Writer Click to expand...

Betsemes New Member

Take Five said: ↑ With due respect to both you and Carl, in my opinion it's your sentence I quote above that is the reason why builders and dealers get away with it, it's what is not said that is the problem. Click to expand...

NYCAP123 Senior Member

Take Five, you absolutely can be sued for telling the truth, especially when you add opinion based on that truth. Sometimes (often) the winner of a lawsuit is simply the one who can afford to spend the most on lawyers. So even an internet host must be circumspect. It makes one suspicious of anything that's not said in the boating industry. So then, post a question about any boat on a forum like this one. If you get no answer, then stay away of that boat. That's the impression I'm getting. Click to expand...

It still seems that there must be a Selene owner that has an opinion of his boat. Are all these guys off the radar? I'm still looking at the 48. Maybe I should ask about Ocean Alexanders?

bigbillys said: ↑ It still seems that there must be a Selene owner that has an opinion of his boat. Are all these guys off the radar? I'm still looking at the 48. Maybe I should ask about Ocean Alexanders? Click to expand...

For detailed information on the Selene 48 read Brain Calvert's active blog regarding his trip from Seattle to Indonesia. I have talked with a Selene dealer and toured and examined several vessels new and used. The Selene group appears forhtright in discussing the boat's issues, but one best have some specific knowledge to get effective Q&A going. That said, in talking with OA and Nordhavn brokers and owners the same requirement for buyer knowledge seems to apply. I have been actively boat searching all 3 of these brands and have found no easy answers except do your homework and don't get mesmerized by the trappings and ignore the protein. In comparing a 60 OA to a 58 Selene, I found the layout, fit/finish and systems layout on the Selene better thought out. I have found that Nordhavn trumps them both for fit/finish and systems layout in this size range but at an approximate 25 - 30% price premium. In all 3 the get home systems trouble me. I talked with a Nordhavn 55 owner who was likewise troubled and went with wet exhaust twins thus having a quieter boat, no soot on the aft sections and a ready and running get home.

amuskett New Member

Selene opinions I am an early stage trawler shopper in the 48-55 range. I have concentrated my search on full displacement hulls. Going faster to me means unacceptable fuel consumption, so despite the fine products offered by Fleming, Grand Banks, OA, etc., I am looking mostly at Krogen, Nordhavn, and Selene. My strategy is to charter and evaluate. I have chartered now four Selenes, and have really liked them. The woodwork, fit/finish, general tightness and security were all good. The finishes weren't bubbled, the boats were quiet, they handled well. Bareboat charters aren't available on Nordhavn, there is one Krogen which I will try. Having chartered four Selenes I maintain my interest in them, to address your question. The Nordhavns and Krogens seem to me to be about 250-300,000 more for a model in the 53-55 range, and I'll need to evaluate these boats to determine if the premium is merited. The many Selene owners I have spoken to on the docks have been positive, as have the Nordhavn and Krogen owners.

Muskett In the considerable looking I have been doing it seems all owners and brokers tout their vessels, no matter what the brand and problems. Each boat has its own issues, either due to factory glitches, commissioning lapses or owner neglect. Not only is it shopping for a good deal, but it is knowing what gremlins to look for, never an easy task. I have good friends who commission Selenes, Nordhavns and OAs thus am able to get a bit of insight. The owner neglect I have seen on these high end trawlers is surprising, often rendering a very nice newer vessel unworthy. The systems and engines are at times puzzling - picture a new Selene ordered into the PNW with NO heat. Shop carefully.

Capt J Senior Member

PropBet said: ↑ I'm a big fan of OA, and I'd take their quality over Selene. Click to expand...

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• Trawler Builders Forums

Selene Quality

• Thread starter danderer
• Start date Oct 27, 2015
• Oct 27, 2015

• Avoid Selenes. The build/design quality is not there.
• When Selene was starting out in the states, they hired a local guy (not saying who) to help work out the bugs. The guys in the yard were saying that the boat had a lot of problems.
• We owned a Selene 48. if we got another trawler it would be a Nordhavn. There is a difference in price and a corresponding difference in quality (IMHO).

I don't know that I can give you specific examples, but I can give you a bit of history of Selene that contributed to some of their reputation, good and bad. I do not own one, have never owned one and have no desire to own one, but, for various reasons, had occasion to look into them some years ago. Selene is an interesting synopsis of the boatbuilding industry in the PRC. The Chen family, from Taiwan, have a long manufacturing history on the mainland of China producing flatware and cutlery, IKEA being their biggest customer. Howard, a son of Jet-Tern's founder, was more interested in boats. They set up manufacturing in southern Guangdong Province, in Dongguan, in 1998. At the time, there was virtually no infrastructure and no experienced workforce, so they were truly starting from scratch. From what I learned, there were two issues early on-first-what kind of boat to build, many of their early models were what they called a "Modified Displacement Hull" known to us all as semi-displacement, and a lot inconsistency in the build. Somewhere around 2003 or so, they did bring in a very experienced and pretty well-known builder from Maine as a consultant to help get the build process straightened out and to train their workforce. He also got them more focused on true, full displacement, long range trawlers (Apologies-Marin!). Up until about 2011 or so, they contracted out their pre-delivery work and their warranty work here in the PNW to Port Townsend Marine. I spent a fair amount of time talking to them about the Selene. The issues, to my knowledge, never revolved around the hull build or the basic seaworthiness of the boat. The issues revolved more around consistency of build and attention to detail. Things like sighting down a hull and being able to see mat print through the gelcoat. The electrical systems tended to be totally inconsistent from boat to boat, where wires ran in one boat, they ran somewhere else in the next boat. Plumbing tended to be the same way. A lot of ancillary and component stuff, mostly metalwork and parts, were substandard (compared to top quality competitors). The guys I know a Port Townsend would pretty much get a chuckle out of whatever they would find on the next Selene. At the time, Selenes ran about 30-35% cheaper than comparable Krogens and close to 50% less than comparable Nordhavns. At the time, a familiar business model for China produced goods. Slightly less quality produced by cheaper labor and sold at a lower price. Over the years, from what I have learned, many of those problems have gone by the wayside. I think Chen and Jet Tern learned that while price is a component for many buyers, it is often not the motivating factor in the large trawler market. In the intervening years, Jet Tern has improved quality and build consistency. The price difference has narrowed considerably and while still less expensive than Krogen or Nordhavn, they are not sold nearly as much on price as they used to be. Unfortunately for Selene owners, and fortunately for those interested in them used, that initial impression has stuck around and there used prices are generally not comparable to either Krogen or Nordhavn. All that said, if I were interested in another boat, would I categorically exclude them? No. like looking at any prospective boat purchase, I would do all the normal things, surveys, sea trials, etc. and if the boat passed those tests and met my needs at a cost acceptable to me, I would buy it.  

THD said: I don't know that I can give you specific examples, but I can give you a bit of history of Selene that contributed to some of their reputation, good and bad. Click to expand...

Veteran Member

Understand this is like talking to people who are passionate about cars, very strong opinions. Given a choice I would take a Selene over a Nordhavn. Let me fine tune that... I ran a N47 two days and was very disappointed with the boat: glassy smooth day so i had the stabilizers on center. A passing small boat wake caused a death roll trying to tie the boat up you need to be a mountain goat, up and down... walk around deck can be blocked by a fender. Don't try to figure out the 4 battery switches, elect panels and sub panels and all the wiring the same color. I think it was a 'o4. Oh the get home motor is a joke. Try coming in St Augustine inlet on that at 2.5 knots. Selene was much more practical, not 25 feet high, comfortable to work and run. The selene was 13 years old and had some gel coat issues, cheap fuel manifold but otherwise nice on my 200 mile run.  

Crusty Chief

Might I recommend the Selene Owners Forum....seleneowners.org you can view a lot of it without being an owner. Jet Tern dosent market the Selene like Nordhavn or KK does. If they did, you would probably see more information on them. I spent many years searching for a Blue Water capable boat. During that search I looked at close to a hundred and fifty boats, All in the 40-55 foot range. They all have their plus and minus points. But the item we noticed the most on any boat was how well was it maintained by the owner. I think this is true of any boat. With the price of Blue water capable boats being what they are, you would think the owners would take better care of such a valuable asset. Not so! And we saw many boats from all manufactures to reflect this. We have no issues with the build quality of our Selene and for the most part, the previous owner took good care of her. Ours is now approaching ten years old and we have been spending the last six months getting her ready for extended cruising. We have found very few things that needed to be replaced or repaired that could be identified as a builder issue. Fit and finish is right up there with the best of them. She had very few items identified during the Survey. We would love to step up to a 55-60 foot Selene as our next boat, but I wouldn't pass on either a Nordy or KK if the right one came on the Market. Hope this info answers your question.  

Danderer Rather than praise or castigate on line, a trip into the ER of a 55 - 60 footer for both Selene and Nordhavn may prove helpful in your decision making. And yes, a full displacement hull will roll. Are you internet tire kicking or really wanting to buy into this arena?  

sunchaser said: Are you internet tire kicking or really wanting to buy into this arena? Click to expand...

Attachments

dbltime said: Understand this is like talking to people who are passionate about cars, very strong opinions. Given a choice I would take a Selene over a Nordhavn. Let me fine tune that... I ran a N47 two days and was very disappointed with the boat: glassy smooth day so i had the stabilizers on center. A passing small boat wake caused a death roll trying to tie the boat up you need to be a mountain goat, up and down... walk around deck can be blocked by a fender. Don't try to figure out the 4 battery switches, elect panels and sub panels and all the wiring the same color. I think it was a 'o4. Oh the get home motor is a joke. Try coming in St Augustine inlet on that at 2.5 knots. Selene was much more practical, not 25 feet high, comfortable to work and run. The selene was 13 years old and had some gel coat issues, cheap fuel manifold but otherwise nice on my 200 mile run. Click to expand...

As noted previously, the Selene owner's forum is the place to get into this discussion. That is what we did when we were negotiating on a new 58. Some real pros hang out there, with from what I have seen few punches held. But the Q and A there requires a bit more knowledge and relevant Selene experience than most dock or internet talk allows. For the curious, do a few Selene in depth walk throughs. Ditto KK and Nordhavn. Draw your own conclusions. If you are an experienced serious buyer the differences between the brands will become apparent.  

N4712 said: I haven't had the death roll trouble. Click to expand...

• Oct 28, 2015

Liberty2015

Senior member.

Hey....... No Boats Perfect !!!! Have yet to find one that is. They all compromise somewhere. Cheers Chris D Liberty 2015  

twistedtree

sunchaser said: As noted previously, the Selene owner's forum is the place to get into this discussion. That is what we did when we were negotiating on a new 58. Some real pros hang out there, with from what I have seen few punches held. But the Q and A there requires a bit more knowledge and relevant Selene experience than most dock or internet talk allows. For the curious, do a few Selene in depth walk throughs. Ditto KK and Nordhavn. Draw your own conclusions. If you are an experienced serious buyer the differences between the brands will become apparent. Click to expand...

sunchaser said: Danderer Rather than praise or castigate on line, a trip into the ER of a 55 - 60 footer for both Selene and Nordhavn may prove helpful in your decision making. And yes, a full displacement hull will roll. Are you internet tire kicking or really wanting to buy into this arena? Click to expand...

Crusty Chief said: Might I recommend the Selene Owners Forum....seleneowners.org you can view a lot of it without being an owner. Click to expand...

Codger2 said: (Go ahead, guys, and let me have it! You can't piss me off as I don't own her anymore.) Click to expand...

Moonstruck said: Wanna bet? Click to expand...

danderer said: Haven't yet had a chance to see the ER on a Selene. Until I do, how about giving a preview of what one might find? Click to expand...

Engine room Sorry, having a problem posting multiple pictures.  

Fuel management  

Polisher  

Alaskan Sea-Duction

So are Selene's single or twin engines? We walked on one in the Seattle Boat show last year and was impressed. I think it had twin John Deere...  

Codger2 said: I have always liked the lines of the Selenes but other than being on a few at boat shows, I know very little abut them. I do, however, know a little about Jet Tern Marine as they are the ones that built my Halvorsen 32 Gourmet Cruiser that I cruised for about 8 years. I found the fit & finish well above average for this size boat & and its sea keeping attributes were admirable. Some of the members here at TF also had a ride or two on the boat and maybe they will chime in. There were 4 members in total that were on my boat at different times. (Go ahead, guys, and let me have it! You can't piss me off as I don't own her anymore.) Click to expand...

Alaskan Sea-Duction said: So are Selene's single or twin engines? For the most part they are singles, especially below 55 footers. I don't think I have seen one below 55 that ran twins. A few had small get home motors, but it gets a bit tight in the ER then. Click to expand...

• May 14, 2019

Crusty Chief said: Sorry, having a problem posting multiple pictures. Click to expand...

South of Heaven

Good thread bump Markic. Lol. But since we're in 2019 now what's the consensus. Is the N and KK still a better buy or has Selene rectified some of their issues?  

THD said: I don't know that I can give you specific examples, but I can give you a bit of history of Selene that contributed to some of their reputation, good and bad. I do not own one, have never owned one and have no desire to own one, but, for various reasons, had occasion to look into them some years ago. Selene is an interesting synopsis of the boatbuilding industry in the PRC. The Chen family, from Taiwan, have a long manufacturing history on the mainland of China producing flatware and cutlery, IKEA being their biggest customer. Howard, a son of Jet-Tern's founder, was more interested in boats. They set up manufacturing in southern Guangdong Province, in Dongguan, in 1998. At the time, there was virtually no infrastructure and no experienced workforce, so they were truly starting from scratch. From what I learned, there were two issues early on-first-what kind of boat to build, many of their early models were what they called a "Modified Displacement Hull" known to us all as semi-displacement, and a lot inconsistency in the build. Somewhere around 2003 or so, they did bring in a very experienced and pretty well-known builder from Maine as a consultant to help get the build process straightened out and to train their workforce. He also got them more focused on true, full displacement, long range trawlers (Apologies-Marin!). Up until about 2011 or so, they contracted out their pre-delivery work and their warranty work here in the PNW to Port Townsend Marine. I spent a fair amount of time talking to them about the Selene. The issues, to my knowledge, never revolved around the hull build or the basic seaworthiness of the boat. The issues revolved more around consistency of build and attention to detail. Things like sighting down a hull and being able to see mat print through the gelcoat. The electrical systems tended to be totally inconsistent from boat to boat, where wires ran in one boat, they ran somewhere else in the next boat. Plumbing tended to be the same way. A lot of ancillary and component stuff, mostly metalwork and parts, were substandard (compared to top quality competitors). The guys I know a Port Townsend would pretty much get a chuckle out of whatever they would find on the next Selene. At the time, Selenes ran about 30-35% cheaper than comparable Krogens and close to 50% less than comparable Nordhavns. At the time, a familiar business model for China produced goods. Slightly less quality produced by cheaper labor and sold at a lower price. Over the years, from what I have learned, many of those problems have gone by the wayside. I think Chen and Jet Tern learned that while price is a component for many buyers, it is often not the motivating factor in the large trawler market. In the intervening years, Jet Tern has improved quality and build consistency. The price difference has narrowed considerably and while still less expensive than Krogen or Nordhavn, they are not sold nearly as much on price as they used to be. Unfortunately for Selene owners, and fortunately for those interested in them used, that initial impression has stuck around and there used prices are generally not comparable to either Krogen or Nordhavn. All that said, if I were interested in another boat, would I categorically exclude them? No. like looking at any prospective boat purchase, I would do all the normal things, surveys, sea trials, etc. and if the boat passed those tests and met my needs at a cost acceptable to me, I would buy it. Click to expand...

menzies said: How does Solo play into the story? Click to expand...

I never figured out where the original OP, all those years ago, was finding such information and opinions as he was. I've talked to many Selene owners and all were impressed with it's seaworthiness and ride, in various sizes. Compared to Nordhavn, more livable, less salty. Now I did read some stories of issues in the past, really rather distant past, but can find the same type stories on Nordhavn, not so far in the past, but on one or two specific boats. Probably less expensive materials used in some areas of the interior of Selene but better quality than one might expect for the price. While price can provide quality, part of Nordhavn's price goes to a very large sales, general and administrative group including 19 sales representatives.  

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• THE PRINCESS PASSPORT
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• By Dennis Caprio
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I had to laugh.

Maneuvering the Selene 53 in tight quarters is laughably easy because the design team had the sense to specify a bow thruster and a stern thruster as standard. These two features are part of the scheme to market the Selene models as “mini-megayachts”. An almost obsessive attention to the details tells me the company is on the right course.

This particular example of the 53 was packed to the rafters with cruising stores and gear and was scheduled to head south for the winter the day after my visit. A final tweak of the Naiad stabilizers added a day to the preparations and opened the door for my sea trial.

The Selene 53 is a displacement motoryacht meant for long-range cruising. She’s big for her length-beamy and tall-but her shape below the waterline and single engine create a fuel-efficient package. The big slow-turning prop that goes with this combination bites substantial chunks of water with each revolution, so the yacht responds instantly to increases in throttle. I’ll wager a good helmsman could back and fill this little ship into (or out of) nearly any space that’s able to accommodate her dimensions.

We snuggled right up to the boats opposite our slip, stopped her dead, then spun her around to face the exit channel. Piece of cake. Motoring past the astonishing variety of yachts tied up at the Hinckley yard in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the Selene’s robust Cummins 6CTA8.3M3 rumbled under its breath somewhere in the bowels of the yacht. It radiated a tactile sense of its presence more than an auditory one. Indeed, the sound in the wheelhouse at idle speed struggled to reach 60 decibels, and that was due more to the occupants’ moving around (our crew numbered seven) than the engine.

After clearing the breakwater, we turned south and headed toward the Jamestown Bridge, wind on the nose. A wind speed of about 20 knots stacked up short, steep seas of 2 to 3 feet, but the 53 treated these conditions as nothing more than a routine annoyance. Below DWL, the 53 has a fine entry and some hollow in her waterlines above the bulb. The transition to maximum beam is relatively abrupt, but the bulb fools the water into believing otherwise.

Soft chines forward sharpen to hard chines near amidships, and from there to the transom, the run stays flat, much like that of a ship. It sweeps up to let solid water flow to the prop and rudder. A keel of barely discernable drag (becoming deeper aft than forward) provides directional stability, helps damp roll and protects the prop and rudder during grounding. This flat bottom also damps roll, especially when the boat’s at rest, but it also should do so in relatively big seas taken on the beam.

Active stabilizers, such as the Naiad with Datum Controller on the Selene, take most of the drama out of heavy-weather cruising. I noticed their effect as soon as we left the harbor. The 53 heeled the tiniest bit from taking the wind on the beam, but the seas didn’t disturb her composure. The skipper made a series of long turns to port and starboard, letting the system check roll. A small display on the Naiad’s control head graphically showed the fins (71/2 square feet of surface area in each) at work, pivoting like flippers on a pinball game. All of us were surprised at how quickly they responded. When we disengaged the stabilizers, the 53 heeled outboard predictably and gently with each turn. The adaptive mode of the Naiad system lets the computer learn the boat’s characteristics in a variety of sea states. Neat.

Meticulous detail in the design and construction often spells the difference between a good cruising yacht and a great one. You’ll never want for a convenient and solid handhold aboard the Selene. I found them on the overheads, above the companionways, in the heads. Three handholds were stacked high, medium and low on the overhead in the companionway from the wheelhouse down to the galley for crew members of varying heights.

Fiddles are high, and the ones on the galley counters are molded into the Corian to prevent the inevitable leaks and damage caused to wood fiddles attached to flat Corian countertops. A lovely wooden railing guards the inboard, open side of the stairs leading from the wheelhouse to the flying bridge. The wood in this case is icing; it hides a real railing made of stainless steel. This steel core lets the railing exceed international standards for breaking strength.

In the galley, which is sensibly arranged for cooking offshore in a seaway, I found slide-out shelves behind the stove. No need to stretch over the stove. A dedicated jar/spice rack occupies a space above the counter. A Grunert holding-plate freezer drives off the engine and should provide sub-freezing temperatures when you need them, even in the tropics.

Like any intelligently designed offshore cruising yacht, the Selene 53 has its master stateroom amidships, the area of least pitching. This is a fabulous space for anyone who likes to relax in privacy, reading in bed or lounging on the settee along the port side. Two reasonably large hanging lockers, lined with cedar, should hold all the dressy clothing a cruising couple will need. I counted 12 drawers scattered about the master-under the berth and in cabinets around the perimeter. I don’t own enough clothing to fill these.

One of my favorite design elements was the foyer outside the master stateroom. Although I didn’t like the spiral staircase leading down to it (I think small spiral staircases aren’t safe), I loved having the door to the engineroom at the foot of the stairs to my immediate left. It provides ready access to the machinery from the stateroom for the owner and allows the engineer to come and go without disturbing the owner’s privacy.

The wheelhouse rekindled my case of wanderlust. Something about those reverse-rake windows makes me assume the role of “ship’s captain. The fat teak rim of the steering wheel reinforced the notion.

Even though I was piloting the Selene on Narragansett Bay, my imagination sent me offshore on a passage to the Bahamas. I watched the sky lighten on the horizon, trumpeting the arrival of Old Sol.

Contact: Ted Hood’s Portsmouth Marine Co., LLC, One Little Harbor Landing, Portsmouth, RI 02871. Ph.: 401-682-1712. www.portsmouthmarine.com .

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