Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2023 i Soundings

I’ve used this column to ask Soundings readers to share their stories about their own boats and on-water experiences and I’ve received a lot of interesting responses. Recently, I got a note about an unusual classic design. Jan Moniz is a USCG-licensed captain in Warren, Rhode Island, who has a thing for Dyer Boats. She owned a 16-footer in the past, and then bought a 20-footer, which was fully restored by The Anchorage Inc., the builder of Dyer Boats, also located in Warren. In 2017, Tad Jones, president of The Anchorage, got wind of an old fiberglass 29 that was sitting in a field in upstate New York, in desperate need of repair. He contacted Moniz to find out if she had interest in buying another Dyer. He got her…

Following the release of the 387 Center Console Sport and the 387 Center Console Fish last year, Indiana-based builder Formula Boats announced plans to expand its line of open day boats. The 457 Center Console Sport and 457 Center Console Fish will make their debuts at the 2024 Miami International Boat Show. The new models will build off of the success of Formula’s two 387 models. Charlie Levine sea-trialed the 387 CCF in 2022. In a story published in Soundings, he called it a well-organized, solid and spacious vessel for fishing. Now, both of the 457 models are poised to offer similar benefits, with more length and features. With a LOA of 45 feet, 7 inches and a 13-foot, 9-inch beam, the 457 CCS and CCF models will be powered…

Brian Larkin knows there is a stigma attached to cold molding. It may be an unwarranted stigma, but he knows it’s out there. The president of Maine’s Brooklin Boat Yard says people may be afraid of cold-molded boats because the construction method includes wood. Buyers think that it will be more work to maintain a cold-molded boat, and that it may even rot. That’s not true, Larkin says, but getting people to understand that remains a challenge. “I don’t know how to overcome that perception,” Larkin says. “Buyers think cold-molded boats are a lot of work, but they are no more work than any fiberglass boat. The maintenance is the same as a fiberglass boat with the feeling of a wooden boat.” Cold molding is a building technique that laminates…

The biggest-ever owner-operated Doggersbank—a 77-foot Offshore—is being built at the Altena shipyard in the Netherlands for an American owner who plans to cruise in the Pacific Northwest. “It’s a very experienced owner. He’s comfortable with the size,” says Joost Mertens, sales manager at the Dutch design firm Vripack. “With today’s technology at the bridge, it makes life much easier. There are bow thrusters, stern thrusters, remote control units to steer and maneuver from literally everywhere. The bulwarks all have capstans, so if the wind is picking up, at every mooring point you have assistance, which is obviously pleasant. Everywhere you have to be, you have assistance from technology.” Inside Vripack, Mertens is known as “Mr. Doggersbank.” He’s been working for the past couple years on reviving the brand that came…

LOA: 50’1” Beam: 16’3” Draft: 5’0” Displ. (light): 45,000 lbs. Fuel: 800 gals. Water: 300 gals. Power: (1) 500-hp John Deere 6090SFM85 You might find a time when far-flung destinations beckon—when you’re compelled to make the shift from coastal cruising to longer-haul venues through more challenging waters. Such is the case with the owners of what will be the first 46 Pilothouse from Helmsman Trawlers. Hull No. 1 is on order from the owners of a 38E Pilothouse who wanted something a bit hardier and more spacious for extended cruising. Design work began prior to the pandemic and resumed in 2021. The owners have worked closely with Helmsman to tweak the design to their liking. Ivan Erdevicki did the naval architecture. “While clearly a sibling to our small 38- and…

LOA: 65’0” Beam: 29’0” Draft: 5’5” Fuel: 978 gals. Water: 224 gals. Power: (2) 600-hp Volvo D8-600s Before I was invited by Prestige to sea-trial a new boat and tour its Italian factory, I knew next to nothing about Trieste, a grand old port city in northwest Italy, or the nearby shipbuilding town of Monfalcone. But Trieste, set atop forested limestone outcroppings on a gin-clear sea, is really something. Trieste has existed in some form or another for over 2,000 years. It’s the center-piece of the Gulf of Trieste, a gale-protected stretch of the subtropical Adriatic. A few miles from Slovenia, 15 miles from northern Croatia and 50 miles from southern Austria, it’s a true cultural crossroads. Walking the delightful waterfront, you hear a mishmash of tongues: Slavic, Germanic and…

Long-distance cruising doesn’t have to mean bluewater passages to far-flung countries. For more than 6,000 adventurous souls with boats, the Great Loop—a 5,000- to 6,000-mile circumnavigation of the eastern half of the United States—has been a doable adventure filled with great scenery, fascinating history and lots of new friends along the way. These adventurous souls are known as Loopers. They’re boat owners, many of whom belong to America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association, one of the best sources of information and advice about preparing for and executing a Great Loop cruise. The association’s website has a free route-planning guide for boaters who are just beginning their research, with information about everything from the kinds of boats and equipment to have, to places for refueling, to spots for provisioning or storing the…

On the back deck of his summer house in Shelter Island, New York, I sit with Radenko Milakovic. He’s the owner of J Craft Boats, a manufacturer of classically styled motor cruisers based in Gotland, Sweden. Milakovic is animated as he recounts the rich nautical history of Gotland, an island in the Baltic Sea where weather conditions can be grim due to harsh winds, cold temperatures and roaring seas. Gotland was once inhabited by Viking ship builders and remains a focal point of Swedish boatbuilding today. When my colleagues Dan Harding and John Turner arrive at the house, we all head outside and down to the private dock, where a 42-foot, baby-blue J Craft Torpedo-R bobs in the water. Natalia, the product of 9,000 hours of human labor and 19…

Have you ever stopped to read the placard near the helm of your boat, the one that lists the vessel’s maximum capacities? It’s one of those things that’s easy to take for granted—just an afterthought—but overloading a boat comes with serious risks. One recent example comes to mind because it made national news. “Boy, 7, and Woman Dead After Boat Capsizes in Hudson River,” read the headline in one of the major newspapers near my home in New Jersey. The U.S. Coast Guard believed overloading was a contributing factor in the tragedy. The boat, rated for 11 passengers but carrying 13 plus gear, was out for a day of sightseeing in the congested waters of New York Harbor, where conditions can be treacherous due to strong currents and large wakes…

When R.M. “Tolly” Tollefson founded Tollycraft Boats in 1958 in Kelso, Washington, he could hardly have imagined that his name would become an icon in Pacific Northwest boatbuilding, or that his boats would be sought after as capable open-water cruising vessels on both coasts. From 1952 to 1967, Tollycraft built four models of wooden construction, ranging in size from 24 to 34 feet, which became the foundation of the company’s first fiberglass designs in 1967. The company thrived. Over the next 11 years, its most successful design, a 34 Sedan, sold 194 units. The Tollycraft 48 Motor Yacht was introduced in 1976. Noted Pacific Northwest naval architect Ed Monk, Jr. designed the semi-displacement hull with a springy sheer, upswept bow, sharp entry and a modestly raked stem with a deep…

To a novice, steam being introduced from the hot, wood-fired boiler to Dodo’s engine is an audiovisual treat. While Paul Hylton, the boat’s owner, turns valves and pulls levers in a choreographed sequence, the boiler room fills with creaks, moans, burbles and hisses as the US Navy Type K 1918 two-cylinder powerplant springs to life. Quickly the cacophony softens to a rhythmic purr that resembles a giant sewing machine, with rods, pistons, linkages, bearings and crankshaft doing their thing in plain sight. This ritual was at the heart of steamboats and ships of the Mosquito Fleet that dominated waterborne transportation on Puget Sound for a good century up to the 1930s, before being condemned to obsolescence by freeways, trucks and cars. Today, members of the Northwest Steam Society (NWSS) still…

Jimmy Buffett’s lifestyle is said to have epitomized “island escapism.” The musician took quickly to the habit of hanging around boats, especially sailboats. But sailing was more than just a muse for his music; it was his way of life. Buffett was enamored by the sea. The grandson of a captain, he was a boat aficionado in every sense. His first boat was the Cheoy Lee 33 ketch Euphoria, which he traded for a 26-foot Alerion sloop designed by Nathaniel Herreshoff named Savannah Jane in 1979. But when Buffett got aboard Ticonderoga (shown above) L. Francis Herreshoff’s famous 72-foot clipper-bowed ketch, he fell in love. In 1980, journalist Craig Davis was brought aboard Ticonderoga for the annual Fort Lauderdale to Key West race. Buffett had also been offered a spot…