Browsing: Jim Ewing

Cruising Life
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Reliant Launches New X40, a Creative 40-Knot Cruiser

Reliant Yachts just launched its new X40, the first in its express series, a creative 40-knot cruiser with a clean aesthetic and a Turkish cold-molded build. It is the latest entry from the Reliant team under industry veterans David MacFarlane and Jim Ewing, based in Newport, Rhode Island. The X40 is designed to make a statement, with its raked wraparound windshield, plumb bow, straight lines and low profile. One nice touch: the cap rail is painted the same metallic sliver as the hull. And the new express is a true convertible; you can remove the carbon-fiber hardtop if the weather’s…

Cruising Life
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Reliant’s Latest: A Super-Modern Megayacht Tender that’s also a Proper Yacht

Reliant Yachts started a year ago with a traditional Downeast boat. The Reliant Commuter 40 had it all: A gorgeous tumblehome, wide teak decks, low profile and long sheer line. Then Reliant, the brainchild of industry veterans David MacFarlane and Jim Ewing, built a carbon-fiber, 40-knot Reliant X40, a super-modern design that would be more at home in the French Riviera than in Maine. Now they’re expanding on that X platform, with what they call a limousine tender that will be completed early next year. There’s no doubt that MacFarlane and Ewing know what they’re doing. MacFarlane is the former…

Boat Reviews
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New Reliant X40: A Striking New Take on a Classic

You certainly can’t say that Reliant Yachts, the brainchild of industry veterans Jim Ewing and David MacFarlane, is stuck in a rut. The first boat they produced, the Commuter 40, was about as traditional a classic Downeast boat as you could get, with its beautiful tumblehome, wide teak decks, low profile and long sheerline. Although it was made in Turkey, its heart and soul clearly were in New England. The next two boats were different iterations of the first. Now the company has announced the contract for a fourth boat, the Reliant X40, that redefines the genre. The X40, says…

Boat Reviews
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Reliant 40: A Classic Downeast Newcomer with a Rich Heritage

The Reliant 40 is the first boat launched by two familiar faces in Newport and two of the most respected names in the business: David MacFarlane, the former president and CEO of Alden, plus Cal, Ranger and Rampage, and Jim Ewing, the former executive VP of Alden and president of Trumpy. Their new Reliant Yachts company is based in Newport, although the boats are made by Su Marine in Turkey. They know that things have changed in their 40 or so years in business, but MacFarlane says that “What hasn’t changed is the boating public’s passion for a beautiful boat.”…

Cruising Life
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Reliant 40: New Downeast Beauty

It’s made in Turkey, but the new Reliant 40 Commuter, with its gorgeous tumblehome, long sheer, low profile and wide teak decks is just about as Downeast as they come. It also is developed by two of the most respected names in the U.S. marine industry: David MacFarlane, the former president and CEO of Alden and head of Cal, Ranger and Rampage, and Jim Ewing, the former president of Trumpy and executive VP of Alden (and now also an illustrator for Soundings). Together they formed Reliant Yachts, based in Newport, Rhode Island, to develop the new line of semi-custom boats.…