Making Lemonade out of Lemons

I admire people that I meet along the way who, when faced with adversity, make their life and the lives of others better by turning their problems into a cure so that others may not have to deal with the same "lemons".

Bob Preston is like that. Bob, already a Back Cove 33 owner, came to me at a show a few years back and said that he wanted to purchase a Back Cove 37 but really needed to have a way to stow a dinghy on the transom of the boat so that he could keep his access to the transom door. He went on to explain that he was going to be facing "some mobility issues" in the near future. My father contracted Parkinson's Disease when he was 55 and I lived with Parkinson's for a very long time after that. I know the difficulties that PD patients face, I recognize the signs and the symptoms. So it is that I asked Bob if he was suffering from PD and told him that I had a lot of personal experience. Once that bond had been made we were off and running.

Bob has set off on his very own voyage for a cure. While he is at it, he is fund raising for the Parkinson's Society. Last summer he left his homeport in Rhode Island and headed East as far as the Maine port of Eastport. He then did an about face and began the southerly cruise of a lifetime from Eastport to Key West. We spoke yesterday and they were tied up in Georgetown, South Carolina. The trip has been a dream and everything has gone very well. Bob and crew are having a blast.

When I asked how his fund raising is going he replied that he has raised $70,000.00 to date. That's an amazing feat and an even better piece of news is that one of Michael J Fox's supporters has agreed to match dollar for dollar everything that Bob raises.

If you want to follow the cruise and the cause you can "Friend" Bob Preston Cure PD on Facebook. Bob has made a lot of lemonade since he was diagnosed. My hat is off to him. 

The Back Cove 34 is launched

I know, I have not been as good as I should have been about updating the Back Cove 34 as it went through the various stages of construction. Time got away from me and boat show season started before I could say "new model".

The 34 is sensational. Every change that was made from the swim platform to the new island berth, just works so well. The boat was shown in a local show in Rockland two weeks ago and the response was outstanding. Next we are off to Newport, RI, Norwalk, CT and Annapolis, MD on the East Coast and to Seattle - Lake Union in the West. Our boat show calendar will give you the dates of these shows.

 
 

 

See you at the shows !

Open Boat Yard Days

As an active member of Maine Built Boats, Sabre Yachts wants to be sure you are aware of Maine's Open Boatyard Days coming up in August. Many of Maine's boat builders who will participate in the event. If you love boats you will love this inside look at our yards.
The 2nd Annual "Open Boatyard Days" will be held August 15 & 16, 2011, in boatyards and boat building companies across the state. The public is invited to tour the insides of companies which include boat builders, boatyards, and affiliated businesses across the state of Maine. This is a unique opportunity to learn more about boat building in Maine, and to see first hand the passion that boat builders have for their art. The dates will build upon the Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors Show, held in Rockland, August 12th-14th. People can visit the show and see a very broad array of boats, then go on to visit the boatbuilders, boatyards, and affiliated businesses at their location. More details will be posted as they become available.

Fuel Economy; the Back Cove 37

We recently had a report from John and Jane Linscott who ran their beautiful Claret colored Back Cove 37 Maine Event, from Ft Myers, Florida up to Portland, Maine. The distance was 1946 miles and the fuel consumption was an astoundingly low 1255 US gallons. They averaged 20 knots of boat speed.

Back Coves are very reasonable on fuel and with fuel prices where they are today, many boaters are considering a change to a single diesel engine vessel like the Back Cove 37. When we calculate fuel consumption for this boat at those rates of speed, we come up with a 1.3 mpg burn rate for the Cummins 600 hp QSC 8.3 engine. However, fuel rate on these engines is calculated by the internal computer and not by a flow meter. John and Jane's actual fuel rate was 1.55mpg so they burned 242 gallons less that we would have predicted for this voyage.

Do the math and you'll see what they saved. I loooked up fuel consumption rates for a boat of the same size built by another US manufacturer with twin diesel inboards. Their boat burns 30 GPH where as the Back Cove burned 13 GPH ! That's half the fuel and every bit as much fun! 

Boating with a Purpose

My own father contracted Parkinsons when he was 55 years old and I always wished for him that he could have done more once he was afflicted. But at the time drug therapies and treatments were not what they are today. Bob Preston is the owner of a Back Cove 37 and he too has Parkinsons. But Bob has made it his mission to do as much as he can as long as he can. I found this article from the Providence newspaper very inspiring and I hope you do as well.

 

Cockpit awning dilema

I am often asked how to rig a cockpit awning on both our Sabre and Back Cove boats and when I think I can get away with it I give my pat answer. "You have three ways to go and one is inexpensive, one is modest and one is higher priced (but very reasonable." Of course that confuses everyone even more but hey, that's boating. Always choices to be made.

 
 
I have seen simple tarps supported by poles inserted in the hawse pipes at the transom and tightened with line running down to the swim platform. I have seen versions like this one which I think are very elegant and in keeping with the look and overall profile of the boat as drawn by the designer. This one folds away against the aft end of the hard top when the crew wants to get a little sun and deploys when shade from sun or shelter from rain is required. I spotted this one this past weekend and thought I would pass it along. Any good canvas shop could design and install this style.

The high end of the three choices is a little company called Sure Shade. They do a great job on an awning that can be deployed manually or by electric drive motors mounted to actuators below or on top of the hard top. This is a terrific company and I love their work. We have seen units installed on boats as small as the Back Cove 29 and as large as the Sabre 52 Salon Express. Great folks and a great product.

So there you have it; shade at last!

Cockpit seating is King

As you know Back Cove Yachts is associated with Sabre Yachts. Sabre Yachts started life in 1970 building sailing yachts and continues to build sailboats from 36 to 45 feet in length to this day. And so, I have plenty of opportunities to speak with sailors about power boating and power boaters about sailing. In my most simple explanation of the differences I say that "sailing is all about the journey and power boating is about the destination." Of course there's more to it than that but it's a good start wouldn't you agree?

So as the Back Cove 34 comes to life one of our priorities has been the comfort of the cockpit seating because when one reaches the destination one is going to be sitting around in the cockpit enjoying what boating has to offer. Pictured here is the new aft cockpit seat. For 33 connoisseurs you will know that the 33 seat was straight across the beam of the cockpit from the transom door to the port side coaming. This new seat as seen here on the designers computer screen is an L-shaped seat with storage below. This cozy corner is one that I know that I would try to grab before anyone else gets a bright idea about sitting there.

 

Almost there on the IGU

In our world IGU stands for Internal glass unit. What that is on a Back Cove is the white fiberglass hull liner into which furniture and systems are fitted as the boat building assembly process takes place. The big change from the Back Cove33 over to the new 34 is her IGU. The liner mold had to be changed to create the island berth and to move the L-settee aft to accommodate the new berth dimension. The plug for the new liner is now complete as shown here. From here there is one additional step to create the actual mold then production can begin.

 

 

We're really excited about the new design and look forward to showing her to you in July

Back Cove 34 Build Begins

 
The first Back Cove 34 will ship in July so the work that needs to be done to create her new IGU (Internal Glass Unit) has begun in our tooling shop. In tooling work you either start from square one or you make a glass master of another part and modify that to give you what you want for the new design. The 34 is, as we have explained before, an updated Back Cove 33 and most of the changes are inside the cabin where the Vee-berth changes over to a pedestal berth. Were this an entirely new hull mold we would be doing all of these new tools from scratch but in this case the work can be accomplished much more quickly. Still there are plenty of details to be built into the plug and that is what you see here.

 

This new interior pan is being built from a splash part (white gelcoat) and the modifications can be seen in wood. The change has already been made to the vee-berth and the hanging locker which was built of timber in the 33 has now become part of the mold and will be built in FRP and then be faced with a cherry wood door. New steps are now built in to provide easier egress into and out of the berth.

Look for more updates over the weeks to come as hull #1 goes into production and flows through the assembly process.

Stop the Snow

When you live in Maine you get used to people from away saying, "my God you guys are getting buried this winter." Even people from New York assume that since they are getting hammered that we in Maine must be getting "double hammered." This week there are people from Oklahoma, Kansas City, Chicago, Detroit and everywhere in between who are sharing in the "joys" of winter. So for all of you who have asked me this winter if I can still find my car just suck it up and enjoy what nature is dropping on your roads and roofs.

Rarely does a day go by when someone does not try to rub it in and today's culprit is from the Gold Coast in Australia where this trio of Back Cove owners is spending a warm afternoon anchored together in this beautiful setting. "Thanks a lot" to the Hogans, Byrnes and McKeerings.

Time to go and shovel some more snow. Grrrrr !