Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2023 i Soundings

Fifty years ago Kiekhaefer Mercury created the Mercury Hi-Performance division as a complete marine racing center. As the business evolved, the name was changed to Mercury Racing, and ironically its focus shifted from racing to high-performance pleasure boat power, a category where it presently rules the roost. Today Mercury Racing is to mainline Mercury Marine as AMG-Mercedes is to Mercedes, a mostly independent subsidiary charged with creating outboard and sterndrive power for demanding performance boat enthusiasts. It is also an aspirational brand, which explains the appearance of Mercury Racing power on pontoons, for example. Besting thy neighbor, after all, is still fun. Mercury Racing outboards are based on a mainline Mercury engine, and its latest offering, the V10 400R model introduced in February, is similar to the Mercury V10 Verado…

Stepping into the main salon of the new Aquila 42 Yacht at the recent Palm Beach International Boat Show, my first impression was one of abundant space—it felt more like a condo than a boat. The interior living, cooking and dining area was far larger than it would have been on a 42-foot monohull. That volume is a major reason why power catamarans have been gaining market share at a rapid pace in recent years. In fact, in the rolling 12-month period from February 28, 2022 through February 28, 2023, MarineMax reported that Aquila Power Catamarans was third in new boat registrations across all brands of inboard cruisers and yachts, including catamarans, and first in the 44- to 45-foot category. “The volume is key. We want to take the kids…

The Viking Marine Group has been a big player on the powerboat scene for decades, particularly the luxury sportfishing market. A world leader in semicustom yachts with 4,000 boats delivered to date, few competitors can match its pace of innovation. And now, with the growth of the company’s line of center consoles, Valhalla Boatworks, some industry watchers continue to contemplate how the New Jersey-based builder reached this level of success. It wasn’t by accident. The drive to build the business probably began around the dinner table of the company’s cofounder, a strong-willed entrepreneur who raised his son to work harder than he did, and to make the time to find joy in boats. And that son, in turn, raised his children to do the same. As a result, three generations…

Dayboats are in big demand as more people realize they really don’t have the time to pack up the kids and an overnight cruiser for a whole weekend away from the dock. Active families have learned how to cram a lot of fun and adventure into a single afternoon on the water, provided they have the right ride. Dayboats vary greatly in size, power and price, but if you’re looking for one that’s more mainstream, this trio of new open designs from popular production builders sized near 30 feet are worth consideration. SEA RAY 280 SLX OUTBOARD The general layout of this model from the Tennessee-based builder resembles a traditional bowrider, but the 280 is quite modern when it comes to performance, technology, comfort and style. And when it’s equipped…

Once a Canadian anti-submarine and convoy escort during World War II’s Battle of the Atlantic, Christina O would become a private yacht and wedding destination for a number of internationally famous couples. After the war, the 325-foot surplus navy vessel was purchased by Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis who named it after his daughter. Following a conversion that cost 4 million dollars and included bar stools upholstered with the foreskins of whales (Onassis loved to tell his guests about the leather), it became one of the largest private yachts in the world, with a master suite, 18 staterooms and several indoor and outdoor entertaining areas. On her aft main deck, a mosaic pool could be drained and then raised as a dance floor. In 1956, the yacht was used for…

A BOAT FOR THE BAY I read with great interest several articles in the April issue of Soundings. My favorite was “A Chesapeake Classic,” by George Sass Sr. It’s a wonderful story about the buy boats of Chesapeake Bay. I have owned the buy boat P.E. Pruitt for about 30 years. As Mr. Sass notes, buy boats are ideally suited for conversion to pleasure craft as “they certainly turn heads.” I’ve had some wonderful trips on my boat. Several years ago, I attended the Chesapeake Bay Buy Boat Association’s annual summer cruise, during which we went to Tangier Island, Virginia. Most of us stayed at Park’s Marina in Tangier, although Mr. Park has since died. If you have never been there, it’s definitely worth seeing. If your readers want to…

Scott Smith, co-founder and CEO of Boston Boatworks, says it was an interesting moment when the team at his 27-year-old shipyard realized they could do whatever they darn well pleased. “When we were given the opportunity to build a boat for ourselves, we thought, okay, what do we want to do?” Smith says. The Massachusetts yard got its start building custom grand prix racing sailboats, and went on to build more than 300 express cruisers that were sold with another brand name. Given that history, the team decided to create the Boston Boatworks 52 Offshore Express Cruiser: the first-ever model under the yard’s own name, designed with a laser focus on purpose. “This is an offshore vessel,” Smith says. “There’s a helm door that gets you to a side deck…

With an estimated 56,000 boats built, the International 420 is one of the most popular centerboard dinghies in the world. The Sunfish, with more than 300,000 built, and the Laser, with over 200,000 built, have sold in higher numbers, but the International 420 is an animal of a different stripe. All three boats are small and light enough to plane, but the Sunfish and the Laser are designed for one-person sailing with a single sail, while the 420 is a two-person boat with a mainsail, jib and spinnaker. The 420 was born in 1959 when Christian Maury, a French engineer and sailing enthusiast, joined forces with Lucien Lanaverre, owner of the Lanaverre boat building company that manufactured cold-molded 505 dinghies. Maury was keenly interested in fiberglass as a building material…

Spring has sprung, but even though it’s almost 6 a.m. it’s still dark when I park in front of the machine shop at Billings Diesel and Marine in Stonington, Maine. Two cars pull up next to me and I ask the drivers where I might find Greg Sanborn. “He’ll be here in a few minutes,” one of them tells me. “He’ll park right there in front of the door.” Like clockwork, at 6 a.m., Sanborn’s Chevrolet Silverado pulls up to the door. The truck is barely parked when the yard’s longtime service manager hops out and marches into the shop. Sanborn says hello to the workers as he crosses the shop floor, drops his bag in his office and sits down at his computer. He takes a quick look at…

In calm waters near Cape Ann in Massachusetts, four youths in straw hats row their boat in the 1873 painting “Boys in a Dory” by Winslow Homer. The watercolor is simple, a direct reflection of the ease and joy of childhood. Light shines brightly off the rippling water, and boats in Gloucester Harbor cruise by smoothly in the background. Born in 1836 in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Cambridge, Homer came from a long line of New Englanders. His art skills were evident from an early age—he was self-taught for the most part, with some teaching from his mother, who was a skilled amateur watercolorist. As a young man, Homer secured an apprenticeship with J.H. Bufford, a commercial lithographer in Boston, and then opted for freelance work. His early work…

It’s the largest gathering of wooden boats in New England, and it takes place at one of the most popular summer ports in the Northeast. The Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut, will host the 31st annual WoodenBoat Show from June 23 to 25. More than 100 boats built by amateurs and professionals will be on display, from mahogany runabouts to daysailers and schooners, luring those who appreciate the shine of varnished wood and the lines of classic craft. Recent events have drawn up to 12,000 attendees, making the WoodenBoat Show one of the most successful of its kind in the nation. Artisan Boatworks of Rockport, Maine, will display a Herreshoff daysailer and Gannon & Benjamin will exhibit the 100th sailboat designed by Nat Benjamin. Sea Rebel—a 44-foot sportfish built…

It took a lot of years for Geoff Stone to get where he was on that day in mid-March: aboard his 45-foot Leopard sailing catamaran, Rolling Stones, more than halfway through the 3,150-mile Pacific Ocean crossing from the Galapagos Islands to the Marquesas. The Wisconsinite had boated all his life, having fun on ski boats since he was about 5, and getting good enough that he participated in waterski shows around the world. During his travels, he made a friend who suggested completing the U.K.’s Royal Yachting Association sailing class. “I took it as far as the Offshore Yachtmaster,” he says. The rest of his boating skills were self-taught. He purchased a 25-foot monohull to sail around Lake Michigan. Then, in March 2021, he bought Rolling Stones on the brokerage…

Originally built in 1894 as a workhorse of commerce, she spent years moving cargo and crew to the fishing grounds of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland in search of cod, haddock, hake and halibut. The official vessel of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, this 156-footer also voyaged within 600 miles of the North Pole on research expeditions, conducted hydrographic surveys for the U.S. government during World War II, and transported Cape Verdean immigrants across the Atlantic to the U.S., where they found new homes. In 1986, she began a career as a sailing school ship, living history museum and cultural ambassador. Now Ernestina-Morrissey begins her next chapter. It’s rare for a vessel of this age and type to survive. Her longevity is in part due to the care and expertise of…

When your boat is plugged into shore power or running a generator, the battery charger(s) will keep your bank charged up. When conditions don’t require that you run the genset, the alternator provides the charge. How do you know if the alternator properly charges the batteries? What can you look for to monitor the alternator’s condition and anticipate problems before a failure occurs? LOOKING FOR TROUBLE Let’s begin with the alternator belt(s). An improperly tensioned belt can slip in the pulley, preventing the alternator from reaching the required rpm. For conventional V-belts, a good rule is an eighth of an inch of deflection for every inch of span. For serpentine (grooved) belts, you can use a plastic gauge to test for tension, and to make sure the tensioner on…