Every so often you step aboard a boat that makes you rethink what “built to last” actually means. The Nordlund 66 is one of them. She’s a 1995, hand-built motoryacht out of Tacoma, Washington, and after walking every inch of her, I gave her the highest score I’ve ever handed a boat. Thirty years old, and she still looks and feels a step ahead of most of what’s leaving the factory today.
The Nordlund 66 Is Built in a League of Its Own
Nordlund is a name serious boat people know. They’re primarily a shipyard now, but for decades this Tacoma builder turned out some of the most respected pleasure yachts on the water, most of them drawn by the legendary Edwin Monk & Sons design house. What sets a Nordlund apart is the engineering you don’t see. This is an overbuilt hull made to handle real sea states, not a showroom queen. Here’s the detail that stuck with me: instead of cutting giant windows down the sides the way builders do now—and giving up structural integrity to do it—Nordlund kept the hull solid and flooded the interior with natural light using prism skylights in every single room. On an overcast day, every cabin was still bright. That’s the kind of thinking that makes me tell people to take a hard look at whether a thirty-year-old boat is worth buying, because a boat built this well can outlast anything new.
Classic Lines That Still Turn Heads
Park the 66 next to a modern sport yacht and the differences jump out. She’s wider, she carries a subtle pointed bow, and instead of walls of glass she wears portholes—a genuine mid-90s touch you almost never see anymore. Yet in the B-roll she still reads as modern; the lines were simply ahead of their time. The little things show the care that went in. Teak runs across the entire rear cockpit and up the side decks, staples along the stern keep everyone aboard, and the bow windlass is tucked completely out of sight under a hatch, with the anchor locker dropping below to free up deck space. Up top, a radar tower—more tower than arch—anchors an open fly bridge with room for a 10-foot AB tender, an electric grill, a sink, and a fridge-and-ice-maker combo. It’s an open bridge, but a bimini still gives you shade when you want it.
An Interior That Might Be My Favorite Ever
This is where the 66 separates herself from most motoryachts I’ve stepped aboard. The interior, designed by Juan Carlos Espinosa, is honestly one of my favorite layouts of all time. Sliding glass doors open the salon right into the cockpit, a floating see-through sink anchors the wet bar, and curved wooden beams with recessed ceiling details give you a real upper-salon, lower-salon feel. The 1995 galley is a time capsule in the best way—raised oven, four-burner stove, a dishwasher and trash compactor combo, even a built-in toaster, all wrapped around custom plateware. The boat’s original name, John’s Rendezvous, is labeled throughout like a factory Easter egg. Below decks the theme continues: a V-berth you can stand fully upright in, a full-beam master with its own desk and closet, and natural light pouring into every room. If you like older yachts that have aged with grace, she reminds me a lot of a classic build I reviewed recently.
Power, Engineering, and the Numbers
Open the engine room—reachable from the lazarette or through a dedicated workshop off the master, complete with a full Craftsman tool set and a parts fridge—and the build quality gets even more obvious. She’s powered by twin MAN D2842LE402 engines putting out 1,100 horsepower each, 2,200 total, dressed in a full stainless steel package right down to the exhaust elbows. Nearly every hose in the room is braided in stainless from the factory to stop chafing. There’s updated Victron energy gear, two generators, a reverse osmosis system, and real space to service all of it. The specs back up the feel: 66 feet overall, an 18.5-foot beam, 84,000 pounds laden, 1,400 gallons of fuel, and a cruise of 31 mph that tops out around 35. All of it earned her 38 stars—the highest total I’ve given any boat—including a 9 for quality. The only real knock was practicality, because a 66-foot yacht that still receives its weather over a receipt printer is, at heart, a beautiful big toy.
If you’ve got boating needs here in Southern California, Newport Yachts is who lent me this one, though she’s already sold. And if you’d rather handle a sale yourself, you can list your own boat on Set Sale Marine. Watch the full walkthrough on the JakeSea YouTube channel, and let me know in the comments where you’d take a boat like the Nordlund 66.
