Malahide North Sea Trawler

Compare "Sovereign" with any new vessel.

Sovereign of Malahide is worthy of her own stunning calender, with the main challenge being deciding which 12 pictures to publish. Make no mistake, Sovereign is not just another pretty face....she is robust, comfortable, and stands ready to provide generations of cruising along with a warm and wonderful home to her next owners.

Those that enjoy being around yachts will generally admire the flash and the glitz of the current range of plastic offerings in the multi-million dollar price category. As the conversations continue, they almost all, without exception, include statements to the effect of " it seems like more of a condo than a boat". Those who see and board Sovereign of Malahide never make such observations in regard to her presence. Sovereign never has, nor ever will be compared to a floating condominium.

Sovereign of Malahide is a magnificent, globally capable vessel with the charm, elegance, seaworthiness and atmosphere that can only be borne from traditional lines and time proven materials. Her quality is absolutely unsurpassed, and the culmination of this commitment to excellence will most certainly provide an experience for her owners and guests that simply can not be attained aboard the current offerings and trends in the world marketplace. Trends are just that…”trends”; they come and go. When it comes to sea going vessels, the resounding desire from those who love boats is that regardless of size or design, we love to be on a vessel that feels like a ship.

In a quiet anchorage aboard Sovereign of Malahide, you do not hear the water lapping against the hull at night, as the worn out phrase goes. Those that have spent the night aboard an 80 ton plus wooden vessel know that the sheer mass of such a vessel delivers silent tranquility. The motion is gentle and predictable, conducive to the soundest sleep many have ever had. Her 60 fathoms of heavy high strength chain and her over sized ground tackle combine to ensure a sound rest for the captain as well as the guests.

Sovereign has been laid out in an elegant arrangement that is perfect for both staffed charter or private use. The surprising difference between her and other options available is that she is engineered so logically and simply, that she is very easily owner/operated. Maintenance has been reduced to the amount of annual attention that one would expect in a yacht much, much smaller. While her systems are commercial grade and the scale of her structure is without question ‘ship like”, the beauty in maintaining and operating her is in her simplicity. Even when she is prepared for charter, she only needs a crew of 2! A captain and chef/first mate, that’s it. Sovereign is a vessel that a knowledgeable owner can handle with family and friends, or with crew. One has the unique freedom to choose.

In this listing you will find several hundred pictures. It may seem overwhelming at first, but the beauty of Sovereign goes well beyond her stunning lines. Her beauty lies equally in her details. Please notice pictures of the cap rail at her bow, any picture of her sole, indoors or out. Have a look at her deck beams, wiring, and stanchion bases.
You only have to maintain or repair wood on a yacht if you let the paint go. It is with cracks in the paint and breaks in the varnish that fresh water enters and causes trouble. You are maintaining paint. Only when this maintenance is ignored do you find yourself repairing wood. One inspects the paint and other finishes on Sovereign as one would an antique sports car. If you find a flaw the size of a match, you will have worked hard to find it. She is dry and smells fresh, being ventilated 24/7.

Her owner has done many things with thorough care. In his commissioning of the vessel, he began by laying her out in a very fluid and interesting fashion. Two large owners’ staterooms are forward, with two heads at hand. The mass of the vessel separates this forward stateroom area from the aft quarters, with her engine/equipment room, tankage, etc. This layout promotes a great opportunity for a staffed charter scenario to work well as the crew would live in the opposite end of the yacht, providing complete privacy of sight and sound between the two groups on board. In the case where she is owner operated, family and friends are afforded convenient privacy by the gracious proportions of this lady's mass.

Those in the beam to beam aft stateroom are not slighted in terms of luxury, ambiance and quality. Her aft stateroom will be sought after by your guests. I find myself with the inclination to stay in that area on board. Nothing compares to being aboard Sovereign to feel the inviting ambiance of these aft quarters.

Quality of joinery aboard Sovereign of Malahide is “over the top” … far beyond “industry standards”, even for restored museum pieces and collector items. Quite often in life a dichotomy exists between concepts of elegance and inviting, but not aboard Sovereign. This stunning yacht is equally at home cruising through the ice bergs springing forth from glaciers in the north, and also the refined atmosphere of a cosmopolitan marina. In either location or environment, you and your guests will find yourselves spending time in her aft deck area which is fully enclosed and heated. Those who pull in to such places on 120 foot plastic boats inevitably will wander by and say hello to Sovereign.

You just can’t walk by this boat.

I will never forget the first time I saw her. It was a couple years ago when she was having her bottom painted. She was on the hard, and after admiring her lines, I walked up for a closer look and just stared at her 5 blade propeller for a while, which is an engineering and manufacturing masterpiece. It was very cold out, so I did not do it hard (did not want to hurt my hand), but I gave the big wheel a soft rap with my knuckle. The perfectly balanced creation rang with a tone for what seemed like minutes, all from an all but imperceptible tap. These big 5 blade wheels are efficient, and wood boats really love them. Prop wash and the associated effects of vibration are all but eliminated. Not an insignificant item when one considers the purchase price, tuning process, etc. This isolated, small example clearly begins to illustrate the quality that goes in where your guests will never see it.

The hundreds of detail shots show example after example illustrating the fact that Sovereign of Malahide is not just another pretty face. The Malahide series of vessels are limited in numbers. Crafted of Iroko planks on massive Teak ribs, she started life (pictured) in Portugal, where her keel was laid and her bare hull was launched. Her hull form is a traditional North Sea style which was specifically designed and constructed to operate reliably and safely in some of the roughest waters in the world.

Cruising the Mediterranean or the Northwest for Sovereign is child’s play. From Portugal, her hull was towed on her own bottom to Malahide, a suburb of Dublin, where she was completed and formally launched. Some of these Malahides were trimmed in living/yacht style fitments, as was this one. Sovereign however differentiates herself even from these yachts. Her current owner saw the value in her magnificent hull and took her to a level unmatched by the rest of this elite group.

The accompanying photos will give you a feel for this, but you have to step aboard to truly feel what can not be conveyed in descriptions, or even photographs. The photos may be a bit confusing or overwhelming to those not familiar at a structural level with yachts. It was important to include all of them though, to address those who are familiar with important areas such as her stanchion bases, Portuguese fly bridge which has not been boxed in (which traps moisture and causes issues with other vessels), with limber holes at all water trapping locations. A rain drop does not have a chance when it tries to cling to Sovereign. Fresh water is the enemy of all boats, even plastic ones, and great care has been taken to make sure that Sovereign sheds water very efficiently. Another benefit to her next owner is that her current owner is an avid aviator. This benefits Sovereign in that she is maintained in a manner that mirrors aircraft maintenance schedules.

Even her furnace has an hour meter!

Her last generator ran fine…..it was just “time”, so her smaller gen was replaced with a brand new Panda unit. Her 10 gel cell 8 D’s and her 4000 w inverter handle the loads that come up from time to time, but even they are backed up with 2 gen sets, and a heavy duty alternator. 80 tons of sheer mass ensure that even with equipment running, she will compare very favorably with fiberglass, as a ½ inch of fiberglass just can not compete with inches of Iroko Planking on huge teak timber ribs in regard to stability and sound absorption.

In addition to this mass, her engine and larger gen set have very heavy sound blankets on them to make sure a quiet conversation at anchor or underway can remain an intimate one. Rest assured that if you enter the engine room in spotless white clothes, you will exit the engine room exactly the same way. It is so cleanly labeled (aircraft style), that I did not have to ask her owner questions beyond tank capacities, etc. She really is that intuitive, logically and simply laid out. While you are there, give the auto timer on the fuel polishing system a spin. The system will run 15 or 30 minutes and polish the fuel. Polishing systems exist on other yachts, but on Sovereign, you don’t have to pay attention to a schedule or wait to have issues with fuel in order to prompt you to keep the fuel in top condition. You just give the timer a spin whenever you drop by and it makes conditioning the fuel an automatic action that just happens. The system is a very high quality and high capacity one, but what makes hers different is the thought that went in to it and a $100 dollar timer. You just cannot put a price on simplicity. It is this kind of thinking and simplicity that allows her owners to operate her and enjoy her. I have been in much more confusing and complicated engine bays in 50 foot recreational trawlers. Commercial grade wiring, junction boxes and systems equate to items that have very long service lives, delivering trouble free and predictable performance. You may anticipate a vessel inspection that will not disappoint you in terms of quality when you step aboard. You may also expect an exception free survey with Sovereign. If your search over the years has left you weary and disappointed with the quality available, and you appreciate the value of having everything done, tried and tested in terms of time, money and aggravation, then it may be time to reward yourself with an inspection of Sovereign of Malahide.

Please enjoy the pictures and descriptions. This system only allows us to control the order of the first 127 photos, so some may appear not to be in a logical order, I apologize, but it is a system designed for more limited presentations. I just wanted to make sure that those interested had enough information at hand to justify the trip to see her. If you would like to discuss any of the pictures, please send me an email and we can go over them on the phone together. Please enjoy the photo gallery and be sure not to miss the galley section under the "full specs" button. The galley aboard Sovereign is a very special place.

Sovereign is currently kept flawless in her custom built boathouse in British Columbia, and she also has a condo slip in Anacortes, Washington. Either or both of these are available separately, should you wish to keep her in the Pacific Northwest. We are also happy to arrange delivery on her own bottom on the Pacific Coast, in the United States or Mexico.