And I thought Spam was just mystery meat

As I child I remember eating Spam sandwiches. I actually liked them. Then, the mystery meat in a can became scorned at by millions and it was a "bad thing" as Martha might say. (I wonder if she has ever tasted it?) But there is hope for Spam. Young adults are drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon beer like it's something really special. In case you have ever had a PBR and cannot possibly understand the new popularity, you are not alone.

My thought when that cruise ship started drifting around last week off the Mexican coast was that the Marines should have flown in some PBR in addition to the Spam. Poor Spam got a bad wrap and the PBR might have helped them out. At least those who were lost at sea would have had a good buzz on.

Anyway what prompted me to write about Spam and PBR is that a group of individuals have been thinking it is cool to "spam" my blogs and undoubtedly many of you have gotten a lot of postings of late that were generated by these guys. I have no idea what their goal is and I hope you have not been discouraged by all the junk. Do not despair I have lots to write about and I am planning to show you a lot of what we are working on here at Sabre over the next few weeks.

I think I'll stop and pickup some PBR on the way home tonight. I'm thirsty.

Technology and Back Cove Design

I am often asked how we can be so sure of the designs that we develop and the simple answer to that question is "technology." Years ago it was not uncommon for a builder to design a boat, test it in the real world and then have to go back to the drawing board to modify the design entirely in order to make it run correctly. That is certainly not the case today. As we are proving out the design with the first hull, we are already underway with the next several hulls and the serial production of the model.

Our computer technology is state-of-the-art and that is what sets us apart. We can virtually test evey part of the boat to see how it will fit inside the envelope and we can virtually test the boat to see how fast she will be and how she sits on her lines.

Our design office was recently featured in an article about one of the software products we utilize and I thought you might like to read about it.

http://www.pddnet.com/news-siemens-plm-software-catching-customers-preferences-072110/

I hope you all have a great weekend and please, get out in your boat !

And away we go !

The Back Cove 30 is off and running; literally. And boy does she run.

Last week as may know, I spent two days on the water with the Back Cove 30. Along for the cruise were Peter Janssen, Editor Emeritus of Motorboating Magazine, Billy Black, famous yachting photographer and our Head Designer, Kevin Burns. Along the way Billy shot some video footage that I thought sure you would enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GmS6_deOh8

And of course he also shot hundreds of great running shots which I will share with you in the days ahead. Here's a sample to whet your whistle.

 

Back Cove 30 Sea Trial Data

We have never been shy about showing our sea trial data in public forums and there is a very good reason for that. The Back Cove 30 is a very fuel efficient hull that uses considerably fuel than gasoline powered vessels of similar size and displacement weight. I wont get too specific here but when compared to a production boat with twin gas engines she will consume about 1/3 less fuel.

That's significant during ownership but where the the diesel really pays off is when the boat is traded or sold. See for yourself by going on line and verifying resale prices of gas versus diesel engine boats. We think you'll like what you find.

 

Download BC30_Yanmar_6LPA_STP_315mHp_E001

Wow. The Back Cove 30 does not disappoint

I have been away from the keyboard for a week. The first few days were spent in Boothbay Harbor with 250 of our closest friends at the Sabre/Back Cove Rendezvous, an event that marked and celebrated the 40th Anniversary of Sabre Yachts. I'll get to that in my next post but today I am so excited to tell you about the sea trials of the Back Cove 30.

I spent Sunday afternoon, Monday and part of Tuesday doing a sea trial with Peter Jannsen of Motorboating Magazine. World-class photographer Billy Black was along to shoot the boat and the story. Also with us Designer Kevin Burns whose work on the 30 has been exceptionally well received by the public and the press alike. I used my own boat as the photo boat and Kevin and Peter spent their time on board the Back Cove 30. You'll read about our trip in an upcoming issue of Motorboating. Today I want to show you some images and tell you the facts about her performance.

Underway she had a top speed of 26 knots and a very comfortable cruise speed of 20 knots. At cruise she had a sound level (without aft enclosures) of 83 Dba and she consumed an estimated 11 gallons per hour. Over an extended period of use in Rockland then again during our sea trials with Motorboating she averaged a miserly 4 gallons per hour when combining slow speed cruising and full throttle testing.

The most common comment was that "she is a huge 30 footer" and "she feels like a 35 footer underway". Her windshield remained dry in some very tough ave conditions and her running angles remained below 4 degrees of bow rise. Conversation on the helm deck was very easy with sound levels well below older designs.

All in all a great success and a model that we feel confident will propel the Back Cove brand for the years to come

 
 
 

Images are worth a thousand words

I got to Rockland early this morning in order to experience the Back Cove 30 for the first time. In a word she is magnificent. Underway she is elegant yet powerful. Her lines are beautiful and graceful. Very sweet lines. And I could use a thousand more adjectives, all as glowing and all as complimentary. But let the pictures tell you the story. 
 
 

 

Interior shots and test results in the days to come
 
 
 
   

 

Back Cove 30 first launch today

The launch of the Back Cove 30 was delayed yesterday due to very poor weather conditions and the possibility of lightning and hail but the intrepid crew at Back Cove engineering were at it early this morning and as I write she is doing her first tests. More on those later as the results come in. For now here are some images of the proud Back Cove crew loading the boat and sending her off to the harbor.

Finishing touches

Yesterday I was able to spend the morning with two of my best dealers drooling over the new Back Cove 30. It's been hard for many of our dealers of late what with the economy keeping buyers hands in their pockets. So when I saw six faces light up like it was Christmas morning, well, I just knew we had hit a home run.

Here are a couple more images taken with the cushions installed on the helm deck. I especially wanted to show you the beautifully sculpted transom. Monday is launch day so stand by for test results.

When you get to the boat shows just look for the brokers with the smiles on their faces. They're the ones selling the Back Cove 30 !

Isn't she lovely?

The deck of Back Cove 30 hull #1 is now firmly affixed to the hull and finish work has begun to get her ready for her debut on June 28th. In this image you can get a few hints at some of the styling cues. Specifically the style of the column that supports the hard top at the aft end of the house where Kevin has really dialed it up and created some very elegant lines.

One more place where the style has changed significantly from previous Back Cove models is her transom where there is a lot more camber in the coaming and a lot more curvature of the transom surface. I can't wait to see her in her water world. I think she'll be lovely.

 

Decking the Back Cove 30

There's a moment in the development of a boat when the deck goes down permanently and the long development process seems to finally be coming to an end. It's the same in home building. When the roof of a new home goes on one can stroll around the interior and get a sense of the spaces and, from the outside the home takes shape and begins to show it's style and design to passers by.  This week the Back Cove 30 "got it's roof" and she is every bit as beautiful as we imagined she would be from her drawings.

Before the real deal happens a couple of dry runs are performed to ensure that the interior bulkheads are trimmed to fit precisely the the curvatures of the underside of the deck.

Once the deck is dropped into it's final position, the crew makes the last tests and then lifts slightly to apply a generous amount of marine sealant that will keep the hull to deck joint dry. (By the way this is what we refer to as a shoe box joint with the deck overlapping the hull by a couple of inches.) Once in place with the sealant in the joint, the deck is mechanically fastened to the hull using stainless steel fasteners.

 
Over the next couple of weeks final work will be performed to the interior and by the 28th of June we'll be taking her down to the water for sea-trials. Stay tuned it won't be long now