Overview
Greenline Yachts are the recognized leaders regarding innovative propulsion systems adapted to pleasure boats. Greenline vessels are crafted to very high standards in Slovenia, with vacuum infused laminates, top caliber systems choices, and exacting tolerances. A unique hybrid, diesel electric drive system enables Greenline hybrid yachts to operate with outstanding efficiency, reducing fuel anxiety as well as decreasing pollution. Greenline yachts are a game changing upgrade to the owner experience. Greenline hybrid yachts combine today’s cutting-edge technology with the finest traditions of traditional yacht building.
Greenline Hybrid Yachts are available in a variety of sizes, from 33-feet to an ocean class 68-footer. The Greenline 48 Fly Hybrid cruiser will appeal to experienced yachtsmen in search of extended cruising capabilities. Large enough to be a comfortable home away from home, yet still normally manageable by a cruising couple without reliance on a hired captain or crew. Want to cruise in style and elegance, with the capability of accommodating overnight guests or hosting a dozen friends for a party cruise? The Greenline 48 Flybridge hybrid yacht just might be the ideal boat. Additionally, Greenline offers the 48 model in a sleek Coupe design that features additional built in solar panels on the cabin top with an electric sliding sunroof.
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On Deck Review
Even a first glance, a review of the Greenline 48 Flybridge hybrid yacht inspires confidence that Greenline knows how to build a proper boat. Unlike some recreational vessels in similar sizes, there are adequately wide side decks with reassuring bulwarks and stainless rails. It’s possible to walk all the way around the Greenline 48 hybrid flybridge, safely and securely.
With an unusual and practical stroke of inspiration, Greenline left “see through” spaces in the bulwarks on the port and starboard sides, aligned with the cabin windows in the master stateroom, to permit a territorial view from below decks. Likewise, the aft support structures for the side deck overhang have been left open in the center to enhance stern quarter visibility when running from the lower helm.
There’s a boarding door on the starboard side, directly across the deck from a pilot door permitting quick access to the deck from the lower helm. The skipper can easily lend a hand with mooring lines, especially when docking to starboard. Three steps allow easy passage from the side decks to the foredeck.
Greenline takes a unique approach to ground tackle, freeing up space on the foredeck. Rather than deployed and hauled over a bow “pulpit”, the anchor emerges from the port side of the bow below the sheer line. A stainless “scuff plate” protects the hull from any potential damage as the anchor is released or retrieved. The windlass and chain are out of the way, under a hatch.
A sunpad, with available Bimini top creates a comfortable lounging area on the foredeck.
The aft portions of the side deck are protected from weather by wide overhangs.
The partially covered cockpit area offers a wide settee along the transom to create a natural social gathering area. A generously proportioned wooden table facilitates entertaining. There is boarding door access to the cockpit, via a submersible swim platform. An owner who chose to mount the dinghy on chocks on the swim platform would enjoy pushbutton launch and retrieval of the shore boat.
Access to the engine room is through a hatch in the cockpit, and there’s even a small “crew quarters” accessible through a molded hatch under the transom seat cushions. If not in use by, (for example), a captain taking out charter parties, the bunk area doubles as a versatile and high-capacity stowage area.
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Steps on the port side of the main cabin allow access to the well-conceived flybridge. The upper helm is to port, and with the lower helm to starboard a skipper never has to dock on the “blind side” of the boat. Both helms feature a full array of Simrad electronics for navigation, controls for bow and stern thrusters, along with controls and display to operate and monitor the hybrid diesel and electric drive system of the Greenline 48 Flybridge. Social seating is opposite the upper helm, with a clever convertible back rest on the most forward section that will allow perhaps five people to enjoy forward facing flybridge seating when the Greenline 48 hybrid is underway. A full complement of cooking and refrigeration gear on the flybridge allows a second deck party without any need to continuously climb up and down from the primary galley below.
The optional hard top is an especially good idea on the Greenline 48 hybrid flybridge. In climates where finding shade from the sun isn’t a paramount consideration, often there’s a greater potential for rain. Including the hard top creates space for four additional solar panels. A full array of solar panels permits the Greenline 48 hybrid flybridge to operate all the onboard DC systems and appliances at anchor without resorting to a generator. Most Greenline vessels are built without a separate generator, for reasons we’ll examine when we visit the engine room.
Interior Walkthrough
Light, modern, and impressively classy, the salon benefits from large window areas on both sides. Lockers and fixtures are crafted with premium hardwoods and feature “eased corners”. Every surface, texture, and appliance reflects a thoughtful upgrade bringing the interior to an exclusive standard
The galley is most aft in the main cabin. A modified U-shaped countertop to starboard of a central companionway is outfitted with an electric cooktop and microwave/convection oven. To maximize available counter space, the double sink and the refuse bin and concealed under flush fitting covers when not in actual use. One section of the countertop is designed to flip out through an opening window in the aft bulkhead to create a serving bar - certain to be handy when entertaining guests in the cockpit with food or beverages. On the port side of the galley, a vertical double door refrigerator/freezer and an ice maker are conveniently accessible to the chef.
Salon seating is forward of the galley on both sides of the boat. A hardwood table with fold-out leaves creates a U-shaped dining area to port. Behind the starboard settee, the Greenline 48 hybrid flybridge incorporates a lift for the video screen- permitting it to be stowed out of sight when not in use.
A hatch in the central companionway enables ladder access to a laundry and stowage hold below. A combination washer/dryer is found here, and there is space left over for an optional additional freezer if desired. The washer/dryer can also be installed in a cabinet in the starboard guest stateroom depending on the owner’s preference.
The seat for the lower helm, to starboard has a flip up lower bolster. This feature permits the person at the helm to stand, and additionally creates a path for unobstructed passage through the pilot door to the starboard side deck and boarding door.
There is a lot going on at the helm of a Greenline 48 hybrid flybridge. As expected on a yacht of this caliber, there is a full suite of Simrad electronics for navigation, ship management, and engine control. Levers control the bow and stern thrusters. In addition, there are switches and readouts associated with the hybrid electrical drive system. The good news is that Greenline figured out how to arrange everything in a logical layout, framed with flat black surfaces to reduce glare.
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Following the companionway forward, there are four doors on the lower deck. The first two doors, one port and one starboard, open into almost identical guest staterooms. A pair of twin side by side single berths in each stateroom will accommodate a total of four overnight guests. These berths also slide together to convert to doubles for couples. Each stateroom has full standing headroom immediately inside the door and at the hanging locker. At the aft end of the stateroom, (the “head” of each bunk) there is more than adequate headroom to sit up in bed and read. Plenty of stowage is built into each stateroom, and Greenline took care to ensure that there is plenty of light, both natural and electrical, on the 48 hybrid flybridge.
The guest stateroom to starboard enjoys ensuite access to the day head, (located behind the second starboard door in the companionway). The day head includes a top tier marine toilet, hand basin, and a shower stall. Each of the two doors into the day head may be locked to ensure privacy, no matter whether accessed from the stateroom or the companionway.
The fourth door at the forward end of the companionway accesses the master stateroom. A queen bed with good access to both the port and starboard side is on centerline. Greenline additionally offers a convertible “V-scissor berth” as standard or an optional “fixed comfort berth” that is a centerline queen for the master to create one large bed.
Lockers, bookshelves, and other stowage line both sides of the master stateroom. The well-conceived see-through sections in the bulwarks permit an excellent territorial view from upper-level windows in the stateroom. The ensuite head, to port, is fully appointed even if not enormous, with marine toilet, hand basin, and shower stall.
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Engine Room and Hybrid Drive Review
Access to the engine room is through a hatch in the cockpit. The Greenline 48 hybrid flybridge uses V drives, keeping most of the machinery well aft in the boat and facilitating the use of recovered space for features like the laundry room below the salon. The hybrid drive system, in conjunction with an array of solar panels and lithium batteries will sustain all normal house functions, including heating and air conditioning, at anchor or underway without any need for an auxiliary generator.
The engine room is well laid out, but as with many yachts in this size range engines and drive systems are serviced from a kneeling or crouching position.
Electric drive motors, mounted in-line along the output shaft from the diesel engines, are powered by high-capacity lithium-polymer batteries. At slower speeds, such as when docking or idling through a “no wake” zone, the Greenline 48 hybrid flybridge can operate strictly on the electric drive system. In fact, battery capacity is sufficient to propel the Greenline 48 hybrid flybridge for as far 20 nautical miles at 5 or 6 knots. Gliding along in mechanical silence for a sunset cocktail cruise is an achievable reality aboard a Greenline hybrid yacht. A pre-dawn departure from an overnight anchorage won’t wake (and annoy) the neighbors. Slow speed trolling while salmon fishing is quietly accomplished without burning even a single drop of fuel.
When higher speeds are desired, (or when the batteries are eventually depleted), the diesel engines can be engaged with the simple flip of a selector switch. Cruising speeds in the middle to upper teens, with top speeds of about 24 knots are achievable depending on the diesel options selected. When the diesels are running, the electric drive motors become generators instead - and will fast charge the lithium-polymer batteries in a little over an hour and a half.
In addition to the obvious fuel savings, other benefits of the hybrid drive system include greater intervals between engine-hour determined services for the diesels. Idling and low speed operation is typically harder on a diesel engine than running at higher RPM, and with the Greenline 48 hybrid flybridge drive system the diesels are relieved of most, if not all, of that duty.
While it’s difficult to guarantee (or even forecast) resale values, “engine hours” on a yacht have long been considered like the odometer reading on an automobile. Two yachts identical in every other respect will likely sell for different prices if one has “low hours” and the other does not. Use of the Greenline 48 hybrid flybridge electrical drive system will reduce engine hours and potentially enhance resale.
Conclusions
Most boat builders claim to manufacture a superior vessel, and particularly among likely competitors for a Greenline 48 hybrid flybridge it would be difficult to find a poorly built boat. In some respects, it’s equally difficult to find a uniquely built boat; one with obvious and apparent features creating a well-considered choice in its favor.
With hundreds upon hundreds of Greenline hybrid yachts in service around the world, the concept long ago advanced from the “drawing board” to a tested and proven practical application. The Greenline 48 hybrid will check all the boxes for many prospects. It’s stylish, spacious, comfortable, seaworthy, and uniquely outfitted with an eco-friendly and technologically advanced hybrid system.
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