Norseman Yachts for Sale

Norseman is a name rather than a yard, and two different boats wear it. The one usually meant is the Norseman 447, a Robert Perry center cockpit cutter built from 1980 for Norseman Yachts, an American marketing company, by Ta Shing at Tainan in Taiwan, the yard behind Baba, Tashiba, Taswell and the early Nordhavns. It is hand laid GRP with Airex coring, an internal grid, encapsulated ballast and a skeg hung rudder, and about 55 were built. Separately, Voyage Yachts of Cape Town used the Norseman name on its early catamarans, the 400 and the 430, so a Norseman catamaran is a South African boat with nothing to do with Taiwan.

Taking the 447, which is what most Norseman listings are: they were built for American owners and sold through an American company, so boats here were normally delivered 120 volt 60 hertz with duty settled at the original import. Nobody supports the model today, although Ta Shing still trades and the Perkins and Yanmar machinery is ordinary to service. Survey what ages on a Taiwan boat of this era: the teak deck and its fastenings, the chainplates, the original black iron tanks, the wiring and the deck core. A well kept one is among the better value offshore cruisers of its generation.