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.

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.