Photos: Jeff Eaton | Walker Valley Media
It was just after 7 a.m. under streaked, iron ore skies. I stood on the dock, shielding my bespectacled eyes from the wind-driven rain at Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes, Wash. I had to step back twice, right to the water’s edge on the finger pier, to take in a full view of the imposing Northwest 55.
A high bow and an air draft north of 25 feet granted Hull No. 1 a pugnacious, powerful stance. She looked ready to punch a hole in Puget Sound. The John Deeres were purring, so I quickly boarded via the swim platform, headed up the molded fiberglass stairs and made my way through the cockpit into the salon.
The 55 is the debut model in the revamped Northwest Yachts line from founder Peter Whiting, who owns Seattle Yachts. Northwest has been inextricably linked to Whiting for more than two decades. It had some success in the early aughts before its Asia-based production facility was sold, leaving the line in the wind. The timing coincided with the economic downturn, so the brand was mothballed.
A few years ago, Whiting saw an opportunity to relaunch Northwest and called in some friends to assist. He first collaborated with yacht designer Steve Seaton to draft a line of semi-displacement power cruisers. The target market was coastal and near-coastal boaters who may take on bigger voyages like the Inside Passage. Whiting then leveraged his longtime relationship with Hampton and Endurance Yachts Managing Director Jeff Chen to build Northwest Yachts at that company’s Shanghai-based facility.
Northwest’s three models, which range from 52 to 58 feet, all share a 17-foot, 2-inch beam. Other commonalities include an asymmetrical layout with a wide, starboard side deck, a dedicated pilothouse with a Portuguese bridge, a roomy flybridge and a boat deck with a Steelhead davit. All have solid fiberglass hulls, with the option to add two layers of Kevlar from chine to chine.
The boats are the same from the galley forward. As they grow in LOA, they gain more space in the salon, aft deck and flybridge. There is room to personalize: Northwest offers a choice of two or three staterooms, interior finishes and John Deere power in single or twin configurations up to 750 hp apiece. Expanded tankage from the standard, 1,200-gallon fuel capacity is another option.
Hull No. 1 was delivered last fall to the builder’s headquarters in Anacortes for final commissioning and then made her way to the Seattle Boat Show before I saw her on this rainy morning. Entering the salon, I was immediately taken with her makore cherry interior. According to Seattle Yachts Managing Broker Martin Snyder, it’s finished with 12 coats of varnish and then a layer of satin to achieve its look. “We are very proud of our woodworking [and] getting the fit and finish that our artisans bring to the table,” Snyder says.
The captain made some final adjustments, so I warmed my feet on the galley’s heated Silestone soles and noted the commodious stowage, including a full-size refrigerator/freezer, part of the galley’s GE Profile appliance suite. Like the salon, the galley has large windows, extra volume from the asymmetrical hull and soaring headroom. The layout—an amidships galley that separates the pilothouse and salon—works well, allowing the natural gathering space to service both areas.
Snyder and I joined the captain in the pilothouse, five steps up from the salon. There was more than 8 feet of headroom above the single Pompanette helm seat (there’s a plate in the sole if a buyer wants a companion chair) and an L-shape settee against the after bulkhead that converts to an off-watch berth. The makore woodwork echoed the salon’s exquisite finish and was a nice contrast to the matte black mullions that frame the quintet of forward-facing windows. Pantograph doors lead to the side decks, with an internal staircase to the flybridge.
To starboard, down a curved companionway, is access belowdecks. Hull No. 1 is configured with three staterooms and two heads: an amidships, full-beam master and VIP forward, separated by a guest stateroom with bunks that can be arranged as an office with a desk and an upper berth. Both heads have the makore joinery and heated soles that are abovedeck.
Hull No. 1 is powered by twin 330-hp John Deere 6068s and tips the scales at 100,000 pounds when fully loaded. During our sea trial, we hopscotched among the San Juan Islands with confidence, unbothered by the sloppy conditions. The sound of the engines was just discernible at the helm: Decibel readings hovered in the mid-50s to the mid-60s throughout the rpm range. At its lowest level, this boat is Bosch dishwasher quiet.
Snyder says the Deeres on Hull No. 1 are the optimal match to the 55, giving the boat a coastal cruiser’s range that can also take on longer sorties. The numbers proved him right: 1,645 nautical miles at 5 knots; 1,000 nm at 6.1 knots; 731 nm at 7.5 knots; and 589 nm at 8.2 knots. She topped out at 10.1 knots, where she’ll make 500 nm on the nose.
With the steady rain, we spent the entirety of our time running her from the pilothouse. After we returned to port and tied her up—a textbook event simplified by a rear-facing camera, wide and protected side decks with high bulwarks, and large hawseholes with oversized cleats—I took a look at the outdoor spaces, starting with the flybridge. With a C-shape seating area under the hardtop and two Pompanette chairs at the helm, there’s room for about eight guests. The boat deck can accommodate a 13-foot tender up to 1,100 pounds.
The cockpit, fully protected by the boat deck, is flanked by boarding gates from the swim platform. It has a C-shape dinette on centerline. For entertaining, a wet bar and barbecue are built into a credenza on the forward port bulkhead, where there is also a wing station. A molded fiberglass stairwell to starboard leads to the flybridge. In the sole, the lazarette leads to her engine room, where there is plenty of space between the mains and 6 feet, 4 inches of headroom.
I found the Northwest 55 to be a comfortable, upmarket cruiser with a long list of standard equipment. Seattle Yachts smartly revived a formidable model line and partnered with the right builder to pull it off.
Northwest 55 Specifications:
LOA: 55ft. 7in.
Beam: 17ft. 2in.
Draft: 4ft. 6in.
Displacement: 61,800 lbs.
Fuel: 1,200 gal.
Water: 300 gal.
Power: 2x 330-hp John Deere 6068
Info: northwestyachts.com
This article originally appeared in the September 2025 issue of Passagemaker magazine.
