First Back Cove 30 Delivered in Australia

 

Bruce Sutton is pictured here alongside his new Back Cove 30 Mojo which has just been delivered to him in McMahon's Point, New South Wales (aka Sydney Harbor) by our dealer Jed Elderkin of EMarine. There are two more Back Cove 30's in build for shipment to Australian clients over the next few months.

I hope to see Bruce and the other owners when I travel to the Sydney Boat Show next July. Meanwhile Bruce, have fun with the new boat. There are many envious people looking at this image and wishing that our Northern spring would come a little faster.

Best of the Year Award for the Back Cove 30

Anyone who has already seen or purchased the Back Cove 30 will not be surprised to learn that Motorboating Magazine has chosen the Back Cove 30 for it's Compact Cruiser, Best of the Year Award.

 

We are all very excited, honored and humbled by the award. In a very large and very competitive marketplace it's good to know that we are doing what the professionals feel are the right things with our product offerings.

I'll have an update for you after we go to the Miami Boat Show where the awards will be presented. Meanwhile we'll revel in the light while continuing to build the best, Compact Cruisers in the market.

Grin, grin, grin ! 

Infusion-Confusion?

Infusion, vacuum bagging, hand lay up, bla, bla, bla. It's all marketing-speak until the hull hits the water.

There's been plenty written lately about the new techniques employed in making fiberglass boat parts. To most consumers it's simply not that important. Performance, interior features and accommodations top the list of priorities for many. But, with the large monetary investments that we have in our boats, shouldn't we know that the integrity of the entire vessel is tied to the quality of the construction of the major fiberglass parts? The straight answer is yes and the best technique currently being employed to do this work is Back Cove's VIP Resin Infusion Technology.

The basics of the system follow herein but you are always welcome to come to either the Back Cove or Sabre facilities to witness this process for yourself. In the good old days we rolled out pieces of dry fiberglass woven roving and liberally applied resin to the cloth in order to create the stack of materials which became the fiberglass part. We then squeezed out the resin and air as best we could using rollers and brushes. Glass to resin ratios in these hand laid parts was typically in the 40/60 range.

Today's technique involves applying the gelcoat (exterior color) to the mold. Then all materials including the coring are applied dry, using an adhesive to temporarily hold the layers together. Then we insert supply lines and pull and large one-piece plastic cover over the entire part, sealing the edges against the mold so that air cannot escape. Once the part is ready we start the flow of resin which is drawn into the bag as pressure is applied to remove all of the air. Within an hour the resin flows from it's entry points to the dry fiberglass, wetting it out and removing air voids. Typical glass to resin ratios in this type of part are in the 60/40 range.

The process is far cleaner and emits fewer VOC's (Volatile Organic Compounds) into the environment so everyone benefits, not just the boat buyer. The parts are lighter and they are stronger because they have a better glass to resin ratio. Lighter powerboats burn less fuel too so the gains are ongoing.

When considering a new fiberglass boat or even if you are considering new versus used boats, think about the integrity of a resin infused part. It truly is better for you and for the environment that we live in.

Look for an upcoming article about Back Cove's VIP process written by boating expert Eric Sorensen who recently spent a day in our glass shop. He was most impressed with the process we employ.

Celebrating Christmas with The Folks That Get It Done

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting a new team member at Back Cove. Aaron Cormier is the latest addition to the skilled engineering staff and he joins us from Lyman Morse Boat Building in Thomaston, Maine. Aaron (on the right) is pictured here with Kevin Burns (left) who heads up the Sabre and Back Cove design teams and with fellow engineer Adam Carlson (center). Welcome aboard Aaron.

 

These guys really are the reason why our boats are good looking, rugged and so well equipped and put together. They work on every detail of our designs and are a very big part of the popularity of our boats. They make our jobs on Marketing and Sales pretty easy.

We celebrated Christmas yesterday with our crew in Rockland. "Sandy Claus" made an appearance and gave out presents to all of the good girls and boys. Their numbers have risen almost to pre-recession levels which is truly amazing given that many other boat builders are still running at less than 50% capacity.

This Holiday Season we are very thankful for all that we have and for all that the New Year has in store for us.

Happy Holidays

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.

Back Cove 30 Debuts in Australia

Jed Elderkin of EMarine Australia presented the new Back Cove 30 to an audience of Australian boaters last Saturday at Emarine's offices in MacMahons Point in the northern reaches of Sydney Harbour. The reception was very positive and a number of interested parties took advantage of a beautiful spring (yes it is spring time down under) day to do a sea trial on hull #2. Hull #10 is currently in build for shipment to Australia and the sentiment from last saturday's event would indicate that the 30 is a perfect boat for Australia's boating lifestyle

Also present for the Open House were a Back Cove 33 and a Back Cove 37 as you can see in these images.

 
 

 

40th Anniversary Sabre/Back Cove Rendezvous Images

We had 250 people join us in Boothbay a few weeks ago and I am just now getting around to putting some images up for folks to enjoy. I also placed these on our Facebook page so if you have images to add you can do it there.

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.

 

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