She Was Built to Serve. Now She Is Yours to Command
A 1973 Danish naval patrol cutter, rebuilt for private expedition use. Cummins 750hp, VEEM gyro, Category 0 certified.
Another very interesting vessel popped up on my radar this week... She is 52 years old, she is 25.65 metres of Danish steel, and she spent the early part of her life in uniform, so to speak... She is called ‘Spirit of Ginette’, and I think she deserves an in-depth look.
I do not use the word “expedition-capable” lightly. It is a phrase that has been (almost) been stretched close to meaninglessness. But ‘Spirit of Ginette’ genuinely earns it. She carries a highly capable Category 0 / ICE-capable hull certification, a VEEM VG120 gyroscopic stabiliser, 25,000 litres of diesel, a 3,500nm range at 9 knots, and a Cummins QSK19-M commercial diesel producing 750 horsepower with 1,250 hours since a September 2024 overhaul. This is not a coastal cruiser ‘sexed up’ up for the brochure. She is a working vessel, rebuilt for private use, and the refit documentation tells a story that serious buyers will find very reassuring.
But first, before we go in to more details, lets have a look at a quick video that has been shared by the listing broker
Born on the Slipways of Svendborg
M/Y ‘Spirit of Ginette’ was built in 1973 at A/S Svendborg Skibsvaerft in Denmark, a yard with a long and well respected history in commercial vessel construction on the island of Funen. Danish commercial shipbuilding of this era had a reputation for over-engineering that served its clients well, building hulls intended to absorb decades of extremely hard service in the North Sea and Baltic rather than the gentler demands of occassional pleasure use. The steel scantlings from this period were substantial, the workmanship conservative, and the design philosophy unapologetically functional.
She was built as a naval patrol cutter. Her lines reflect that heritage plainly. At 25.65 metres with a 6.00-metre beam and a displacement hull form, she is not a narrow racehorse. She is wide-bodied for stability, deep-draughted at 3.20 metres for seakeeping, and built to push through weather rather than ride over it. Her gross tonnage of 78.80 GT tells you something about how seriously the builders took structural mass.
The naval architect credit on this refit goes to Talsma Marine, a Dutch firm that has worked extensively in the commercial and expedition vessel conversion sector. They are responsible for both the exterior design and the naval architecture review on this build, which is a meaningful credential. Talsma Marine are not a superyacht styling house; they are engineers, and their involvement here signals that the refit was approached with structural rigour rather than cosmetic ambition.
The Refit Story
What makes Spirit of Ginette genuinely interesting as a brokerage proposition is not the 1973 hull itself, it is what has been done to her since, and the overt transparency with which it has been documented.
The listing details no fewer than four distinct phases of refit work carried out between 2022 and 2025, each with named shipyards and clearly described scope. This level of documentation is unusual in the mid-market. Most listings at this price point offer sporadic claims about “recent refits” and leave buyers to excavate the truth during expensive surveys. Here, however, the sellers have laid it out.
In October 2022, she went to JFA Shipyard for a full exterior repaint, antifouling, anode replacement, and 3,500-hour VEEM gyro maintenance. JFA is a serious yard in Lorient, France, better known for high-performance sailing projects but fully capable of displacement vessel work at this scale.
The interior refit followed in January 2023: new floors and carpets throughout, overhauled cabins, living room, and bathrooms, new lighting, a new dining table on twin electric pedestals, and a new audio-visual installation.
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In August 2023, she went to Lürssen for shaft work. Lürssen. That is not a yard you send a boat to for cosmetic reasons. A new shaft break to reduce friction at anchor, new shaft bearings, a new main engine exhaust, new paint in the engine room, and a full overhaul of the seawater valves. Rudder maintenance was also completed.
2024 brought another round of practical upgrades: a refit of the steering room and hydraulic steering system, workshop creation for spare parts storage, increased battery capacity for overnight anchoring on house power, a full tank clean and installation of fuel gauges and an automatic transfer pump, new non-return valves on all bilge pipes, and a tender repaint with new Seadeck.
The 2025 maintenance cycle was completed before listing: full anodes, filters, and batteries replaced, antifouling renewed, and the VEEM gyro serviced again at the 3,500-hour interval.
This is not a boat that has been polished up for sale after a decade of neglect. The evidence suggests a dedicated owner who spent serious money consistently on exactly the right things.
The Engine Room
The heart of Spirit of Ginette is a Cummins QSK19-M marine diesel producing 750 horsepower. The QSK19 is a 19-litre, 6-cylinder in-line engine that Cummins developed specifically for demanding marine applications, workboats, passenger ferries, patrol vessels, and expedition craft. It is not a marinised truck engine. It was designed from the outset for continuous heavy-duty marine use, and the QSK series has built a solid reputation across the commercial sector for reliability, parts availability, and the kind of mechanical directness that makes field repairs feasible.
At 1,250 hours since a full service in September 2024, the engine is fresh. Cummins QSK19 units are typically overhauled on a cycle of 10,000 to 12,000 hours in commercial service, which means the current owner has years of running time ahead before the next major intervention is required.
She runs on a single screw, which is the configuration that always divides opinion most sharply among serious passagemaking buyers. I will address the single-engine question fully in The Wardroom section below, along with the practical redundancy options available for a vessel of this type.
Fuel capacity stands at 25,000 litres across three tanks, giving her a stated range of 3,500 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 9 knots. Fuel consumption at that speed is listed at 45 litres per hour. The two Beta Marine generators, an 80kVA unit at 3,800 hours and a 27kVA unit at 4,200 hours, both dated September 2024, provide independent power generation for extended passages and extended anchoring.
The Stabilisers
The VEEM VG120 gyroscopic stabiliser is worth an entire section of its own, because it is one of the more significant practical investments an owner can make in a displacement motor yacht of this size, and it is a piece of equipment that genuinely changes what a boat is like to live aboard at sea.
Unlike active fin stabilisers, which require forward motion to function, a gyro stabiliser works at anchor and at low speeds as well as underway. At 3,500 hours, recently serviced by VEEM themselves, the VG120 is well within its operational life. VEEM are an Australian engineering firm, and the VG120 is a serious commercial-grade unit, not the smallest gyro in their range. Its presence on a 78 GT vessel is a meaningful comfort upgrade, particularly for anyone planning extended ocean passages where motion fatigue over weeks and months, maybe even years, becomes a real factor.
On Deck and Below
Spirit of Ginette accommodates up to 8 guests across 4 cabins: a full-beam master cabin on the main deck, two queen cabins, and a double, plus 3 crew cabins. The interior refit carried out in 2023 by the current owner replaced floors and carpets throughout, overhauled all cabins and bathrooms, and installed new lighting and entertainment systems. The domestic equipment list reads like a private charter yacht rather than a converted workboat: Miele induction hob, Miele ProfiLine dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, plate warmer, Rational iCombi Pro oven, twin 350-litre refrigerators and freezers, a Thermomix, a Liebherr wine cellar, and a Nespresso machine. The kitchen has been fitted out to a professional standard.
Navigation equipment centres on Furuno throughout: two radar units (25kW and 12kW), twin Furuno TZ2 chart plotters, a Furuno SC-70 satellite compass, AIS, GPS, and a Simrad AP70 autopilot. She carries Starlink alongside an Intellian VSAT system and an 85cm Ku-band TV antenna. The communication fit is comprehensive.
Safety equipment includes 2 x 6-person Category A life rafts, EPIRB, AIS SART, searchlights, and a Medaire offshore medical kit. She is MCA compliant, Malta-flagged, and carries 150 metres of chain per anchor, with two 375kg anchors.
The tender is a 5.5-metre Humber RIB with a 90hp Suzuki at 200 hours. Deck toys include two two-seat kayaks, two paddleboards, snorkelling equipment, four foldable bicycles, and wingfoil equipment.
The Numbers That Matter
The questions that remain, annual running costs, berth requirements, survey priorities, the single-engine question, insurance realities, and the practical case for bringing her to the United States (as I know that is where many of my readers are based), are the ones I want to address for Wardroom members below.
What I can say in the free section is this: for a buyer seeking an expedition-capable displacement motor yacht with a documented refit history, commercial-grade machinery, a fresh engine, a functioning gyro, and Category 0 certification at under €2.5 million with VAT cleared, Spirit of Ginette represents a proposition that the market does not offer frequently. Vessels of this build quality, this refit standard, and this documentation transparency at this price are uncommon. That does not mean she is without considerations, it means the considerations are worth understanding clearly before making any decision.
Those are exactly the questions I want to answer for Wardroom members.
If this type of vessel catches your eye, I filmed a tour of a similar boat on my YouTube channel back in 2023, a 23-metre steel explorer called Astra, a former Swedish Sea Rescue vessel that had just completed a full circumnavigation via both southern capes. That video has had nearly 750,000 views, which tells you something about the appetite for this kind of boat. Spirit of Ginette is a different vessel with a different story, but she belongs to the same incredible nautical world.
She is currently asking €2,200,000 (9th June, 2026), VAT cleared, with Blair MacLeod through Ocean Independence as central agency. VAT cleared is a meaningful distinction at this price point, removing an €380,000-plus question mark that would otherwise sit over every transaction involving a European-flagged vessel.
The Wardroom
She Is Not Just a Refit. She Is HDMS Rømø.
The listing describes Spirit of Ginette as a “former navy patrol cutter”, which is accurate, but I think it undersells the story considerably. Let me explain why.
