Headroom is limited, but generous work areas on both sides of the Cummins diesel engine provide good access to accessory
equipment and the engine. There are two entries, one via a hatch in the galley and the second through a doorway in the lazarette.
sound system is standard. Both staterooms have cedar-lined hanging lockers with automatic lighting and storage
beneath the beds. The heads are finished with Corian’s
Savannah countertops, stainless steel washbowls, and
VacuFlush toilets.
THE ENGINE SPACE
With the galley-area hatch lifted free and set aside, I
descended into the brightly lit engine room. Standing
up straight is not possible, but the 30-inch-wide aisles
on either side of the engine offer good working and
moving-about space. My first reaction: the Cummins
QSM11 is huge. But that’s what is required to drive
the boat to her top speed of 17 knots. It’s linked to a
Twin Disc 2.46: 1 reduction gear that drives a 3-inch
Aquamet shaft and a five-blade Hung Shen nibral
propeller. Designers planned space in the engine room
for the addition of active fin stabilizers.
On this first 49, there’s a Northern Lights generator in
the starboard corner of the engine room. An 11.5k W
Onan is standard, and, on subsequent boats, it will be
located amidships and the door to the lazarette will be
moved to starboard. The generator output is large
because the standard 49 will have four MarineAire units
for heating and cooling. This boat has an optional oil-
fired Espar hydronic diesel furnace. The engine room is
insulated with 1-1/2-inch Soundown insulation, which is
effective: a later trial run showed low sound levels
throughout the boat.
Six 6-volt AGM golf cart batteries form the house
bank and are stowed forward of the engine in Blue Seas
boxes. A fiberglass panel covers the 600Ah battery bank
and eases the hands-and-knees passage from one side of
the engine to the other. Engine starting batteries are in a
similarly covered area aft of the engine.
The NT 49 carries 800 gallons of fuel in two
aluminum tanks in the engine room and 300 gallons of
water in another pair of tanks, also aluminum. Gauges
in the pilothouse track liquid levels electronically. Sight
gauges in the engine room have quarter-turn valves
top and bottom and are protected by an aluminum-and-plastic enclosure.
Beneath the engine is something Nordic Tugs calls a
“stainless steel liquid containment area.” To me, it’s a
drip pan. Some builders don’t install drip pans, while
others build a fiberglass dam around the bilge pump to
reduce the chances that spilled liquids will be pumped
overboard. In either case, a spill results in a mess in the
boat, which can cause environmental damage if it’s
picked up by a bilge pump. Whatever you call it, there’s
