Overview
The Bestevaer range began when naval architect Gerard Dykstra designed a 53 ft aluminum expedition yacht for his own liveaboard cruising, a concept that grew into a full range built by KM Yachtbuilders in Makkum, the Netherlands. The 45ST Pure, introduced in 2016, is one of the smaller boats in that range, retaining the same lifting-keel, dual-rudder expedition approach as its larger siblings.
Design and Construction
At roughly 29,800 lb displacement with a 36 percent ballast ratio (the ballast is built into the lifting keel itself), the 45ST draws just 4.27 ft with the board up for shoal anchorages or ice-margin work, and 9.68 ft down for upwind performance and stability offshore. A fixed-keel variant was also offered, drawing a constant 7.05 ft with a single spade rudder rather than the lifting version’s twin rudders. Aluminum hull plating ranges from 5-7 mm in standard form up to 10 mm at the bow on ice-reinforced versions, a real, specified difference for anyone planning genuinely polar cruising rather than a marketing claim.
Under Sail
No named passage in a 45ST is on file yet. The builder’s own site documents Morning Haze, a named Bestevaer 55 (a larger sibling model in the same range) that has visited Greenland three times and crossed the Northwest Passage in 2018 with a crew of three, real and specific evidence of what this builder’s boats are capable of, but it concerns a different hull size, not this exact design.
Buyers Notes
As with any aluminum hull, electrolysis and stray-current corrosion are the main long-term maintenance concern, worth checking anode condition and history closely on survey. The lifting keel and dual-rudder arrangement (on the ST version) add real mechanical complexity beyond a simple fixed fin keel; buyers should confirm which keel configuration (lifting or fixed) a specific used hull carries, since the two meaningfully change draft, ballast, and steering arrangement.
