Quiet Luxury
Practicality, seamanship, reliability and purpose
are the essence of the alluring Grand Banks 62.
The year 1965 was brimming with future classics. Billboard’s Hot 100 music chart had two up-and-coming British Invasion acts in the top 10: The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. It was also the first full model year of the Ford Mustang, and the Stuttgart stalwart, also known as the Porsche 911, had just arrived on our shores.
The following six decades of unbroken relevance from these musicians and sports cars are astounding. All have retained an enduring spirit and an oversize gravitational pull through constant refinement. They not only dug the foundation for the goalposts, but they also kept moving them to exceed expectations.
The same can be said about Grand Banks Yachts. Its future classic, the Grand Banks 36, splashed in Hong Kong harbor in 1965. Since then, the company has continued to evolve its model line to appeal to a growing audience, a methodology embraced and advanced by longtime CEO and chief designer Mark Richards.
One would be challenged to see a GB 36 Classic’s lines in the builder’s latest launch, the Grand Banks 62. This thought was in my head when I was aboard the 62 in June. I gathered lines and pulled fenders as the boat exited Rhode Island’s Newport Harbor and hopscotched through the thousands of vessels on moorings. We passed a GB 36 just off our port side. It also had a handsome, faux planked hull and lots of teak.
Twenty minutes later, at the flybridge helm’s destroyer wheel, I had forgotten any thoughts of comparison to the Grand Banks models of yore. I pushed the throttles, and in seconds, she jumped from 11 knots to just under 26 knots and 2000 rpm. Conditions were calm, so I chased the wakes of commercial boats as they returned from sea. Her hull made mincemeat of them. I made sudden, fast turns and simply could not unnerve the boat. The response was effortless, agile and confident. I firewalled the Twin Disc Quick Shift transmission, and the 62 topped out at 30 knots, with her power plants—twin 1,000-hp Volvo Penta D13s— hitting 2400 rpm, their max output, on the nose.
The performance numbers were right on brief, an exact match to the estimates the builder gave us when the boat was under construction in Malaysia. Credit can be attributed to a number of factors: perfectly tuned Veem props, Dometic hydraulic steering, Humphree interceptors and the ideal power match of Swedish iron. However, I would ascribe the lion’s share of the performance attributes to the hull.
Richards has made his slippery V-Warp hull the foundation of the model line since 2017. With a fine entry, some amidships curvature and minimal deadrise at the transom, this hull is a product of the performance-obsessed, former Sydney Hobart Yacht Race champion’s restless mind. Utilizing construction techniques that reduce weight and add strength, and topped with a carbon fiber superstructure, she’s light and lithe. This yacht tips the scales at just over 72,000 pounds, and the significant shedding of pounds is apparent.
Not only can the 62 outrun other boats in her class, but she is also a marathoner with a range of 2,531 nautical miles at 9 knots; 1,728 nm at 11.3 knots; and 907 nm at 17 knots. Even at 26 knots, with the engines at just under 70 percent load, the boat has a 637-nm range. For Richards, who prides himself on attention to detail and a strict adherence to performance-based results, the proof is in the distances.
Once we returned to the dock and tied up at Casey’s Marina at Spring Wharf (the builder acquired the marina and service center earlier this year), I took in the boat’s lines. Like her sisterships, the 62 is an example of refined engineering, with a streamlined, purposeful profile and long waterline. The arc of the hardtop on the flybridge echoes the raked, forward-facing windows in the pilothouse. It gracefully curves outward as it goes aft, both to protect the side decks and to shade the cockpit completely.
Hull No. 1 is an open flybridge model. Like the rest of the lineup from 60 to 85 feet, it’s also available with a fully enclosed skylounge (the 54 is does not offer this option). As I learned earlier in the year in a visit to the builder’s Malaysia boatbuilding facility, Grand Banks offers clients a semicustom build process, most notably in the salon and galley configuration. Owners can choose among a number of layout options for the galley and dinette, and even forgo a lower helm station. To me, the galley aft is the Goldilocks option, ideally located to service the cockpit via an electric, aft-facing window and the salon. The galley also has generous stowage, a Miele appliance suite, a full-size refrigerator and freezer, and additional fridge/freezer drawers.
Refinement and an understated elegance define the interior spaces. As is true on nearly all Grand Banks models, the book-matched teak is exquisite and used liberally above and belowdecks. The wide-plank soles are manufactured wood. They provide a fine contrast to the soft goods and slightly darker, satin-finished teak.
The 62 was developed from the 60 for those that wanted roomier accommodations. The boat retains the full-beam, amidships master with an athwartship king berth, and there’s a VIP forward with a walkaround queen berth. The boat’s extra length also allows for the third stateroom to have two berths: a single and, two steps down, a double berth with an en suite head. A day head in the companionway shares duties with the VIP.
The mechanical spaces should serve the owner-operator well. There is significant length in the lazarette for paddleboards and kayaks to be stowed during offshore passages. That space leads forward to the well-organized engine room, where I found crouching headroom and easy access to all service points.
For 60 years, Grand Banks Yachts has held fast to its roots in seamanship and reliability. The cruising cognoscenti have dubbed a number of its models classics. Under the steady hand of Richards, the brand has undergone a reinvention while retaining its place as a standard-bearer in the power cruising market. The attention to detail and craftsmanship are as present as they were in 1965 in this refined, built-to-last package.
Grand Banks 62 Specifications:
LOA: 68ft. 10in.
Beam: 19ft. 2in.
Draft: 4ft. 7in.
Displacement: 72,091 lbs.
Fuel: 1,532 gal.
Water: 317 gal.
Engine: 2x 1,000-hp Volvo Penta D13
Info: grandbanks.com
This article originally appeared in the October 2025 issue of Passagemaker magazine.
