Browsing: Down East boats

Boat Reviews
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Coming: True North 39 Outboard Express

True North is building a 39 Outboard Express, just after introducing its new 34 Outboard Express at the Annapolis power boat show last fall. The 34 is powered by twin 300-hp outboards; the 39 will have twin 350-hp outboards. The new 39 will have all the Down East looks and family resemblance of earlier True North models, with a plumb bow, reverse transom, long shear line, protected helm deck, and large cockpit that can adapt to fishing, diving, cruising, or entertaining. The 39, like the 34, is designed as a versatile all-weather boat that will be comfortable as everything from…

Charter
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Ellis Boat Charters: Cruise Down East This Summer

Even though the Fourth of July is in the rear-view mirror, there’s still plenty of time left for cruising vacations and charters this summer. And it would be hard to find a more appealing or inviting cruising area than Down East in Maine, particularly in the iconic Southwest Harbor area, the gateway to Somes Sound and Acadia National Park. You can enjoy all this on the water, by chartering a Maine-built boat from Ellis Boat Charters, a branch of the Ellis Boat Company in Southwest Harbor. Then you can cruise the area on your own, or with a local captain,…

Boat Reviews
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Lyman-Morse Building New Hood 35 Down East Cruiser

Lyman-Morse is building a new Hood 35, named the Hood 35 LM Express Cruiser, and it’s bound to be an instant classic, with simple, elegant, Down East lines and contemporary 38-knot performance from twin 440-hp Yanmar diesels paired with Hamilton waterjets for sporty maneuvering and skinny-water exploring. The 35 is the second collaboration between Lyman-Morse, in Thomaston, Maine, and C.W. Hood, in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Just this fall the companies launched the first C.W. Hood 57, also with Down East lines; it was designed by Chris Hood and Stephens Waring Yacht Design in Belfast, Maine. Hood designed the new 35. Designed…

Boat Reviews
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New 43-Knot Back Cove 39O Down-East Cruiser

Back Cove just launched its new 39O, and it’s the fastest and quietest Back Cove yet. Indeed, powered by three 400-hp Mercury Verado outboards, the new Maine-built cruiser tops out at 43 knots, and it’s so efficient it has a range of 300 nm at 30 knots, a remarkable performance. It also registers a sound level of just 73 dB(a) at the helm, which means you can talk and listen to your playlist and generally enjoy yourself on a long day’s cruise. (See the boat’s performance numbers at the end of this story.) The 39O is Back Cove’s second outboard…

Boat Reviews
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New True North 34OE: Outboard Performance, Down East Lines

The first True North 34 Outboard Express under the ownership of Catalina Yachts just made its debut at the Miami boat show, and it had a new hydraulic Porta Bracket to lift its 300-hp outboards up vertically on the transom. The idea is to let captains adjust the outboards for running in shallow water, and to lift the lower units completely out of the water when they’re not running, to help eliminate growth and corrosion. Catalina bought True North from US Watercraft in Rhode Island more than a year ago and moved the molds for the 34 and a 38…

On Watch
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New Sabre 58: A Big and Quiet Down East Cruiser

After following its launch and super-extended break-in cruise from Portland, Maine, down to Miami in time for the yacht show there, I had been looking forward to seeing the new Sabre 58 Salon Express in person. And once I climbed on board the boat at the show, it was more than worth the wait. I already knew the boat’s lines. It is a contemporary classic with a clean Down East look, fitting well into Sabre’s made-in-Maine heritage. But once I was on board, I realized how big this new cruiser really is; it has lots of usable room to make…

Charter
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Ellis Boat Charters: Iconic Down East Boats for a Maine Cruise

If you’re starting to think about where to cruise next summer, you might want to look at Ellis Boat Charters in Southwest Harbor, Maine, right in the heart of some of the best cruising grounds in the U.S. Ellis has a series of Down East boats for day or week (or longer) charters there, and they have all the local knowledge you’ll need to make sure your charter is a success. The charter operation is a branch of the Ellis Boat Company, one of Maine’s iconic builders. The charter fleet, naturally enough, has five Ellis 36s (see picture at…

On Watch
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New Quiet and Fuel-Efficient Sabre 58 Cruising to Miami

Hull number one of the new Sabre 58 Salon Express is scheduled to leave Portland, Maine, on Monday and cruise south. The latest Down East cruiser from Sabre, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, will make its public debut at the Miami yacht show, starting Feb. 13, and then appear again at the Palm Beach show, starting March 26. The new 58, with a low profile and clean, classic lines, arrived at DiMillo’s in Portland just before Christmas and has been undergoing sea trials with Sabre’s design and engineering staff. The trials, on Casco Bay, showed that the…

Boat Reviews
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Back Cove Building New 390 with Twin 425-hp Yamaha Outboards

Back Cove just announced that it’s building a new 390 Down East cruiser with twin 425-hp Yamaha outboards. The boat is expected to have a top speed of 37 knots, and a cruising range of more than 300 nm at its cruising speed. The Maine company says that it will offer optional outboard power that will push the Back Cove 390 up to the 40-knot range. The announcement came on the opening day of the Newport International Boat Show, where Back Cove is displaying, among other boats, its popular Back Cove 340, its first outboard-powered boat. That boat was named…

Cruising Life
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New Legacy 36: A Classic Cruiser with Down East Lines

Legacy is ready to launch a new 36 in a few weeks, and it has three others in various stages of construction. With classic Down East lines and economical 26-knot performance, the Legacy 36 is an attractive cruising boat for a couple or a small family. When Tartan Yachts, in Fairport Harbor, Ohio, bought Legacy two years ago, it relaunched the Mark Ellis-designed Legacy 42 with IPS pod drives. Then it turned to the 36 and the 32 in the Legacy portfolio, with the 36 getting a lot of interest recently. The Legacy 36 comes with three layout options, involving…

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