When Coecles Harbor launched their first Shelter Island 38 in 1996, it was an instant hit, drawing praise from across the boating world, everyone from Bob Johnstone to Billy Joel.
Johnstone later told me that it was one of the half a dozen boats that inspired the lines for his MJM boats, named after his wife Mary (Mary Johnstone’s Motorboat). He also hired Doug Zurn, the designer of the Shelter Island 38, to design the MJMs.
Joel, who wrote Uptown Girl after his then wife Christie Brinkley, told me that the Shelter Island 38 was one of the most beautiful boats he’d ever seen. He not only bought one, and said he was more than happy to support the workmen at Coecles Harbor, at the end of Long Island, but he also then hired Zurn to design his larger boat, a 57-foot commuter named Vendetta.
Coecles Harbor, now CH Marine, hasn’t been resting on their laurels. They’re now working on hull #63 and it’s a modern iteration of the original, called the Shelter Island 38FS, with lots of tweaking and updating and power options that now include diesel sterndrives and gas outboards.
CH Marine believes in tradition. Peter Needham, who produced the original Shelter Island 38 (and Joel’s earlier Downeaster Alexa) ran the company then. Now, his son Connor is running the Shelter Island 38FS program; Zurn designed the boat.
Conner wrote me that the 38FS keeps the same graceful lines as the original; the idea was to create a fresh perspective on a classic. In keeping with the times, the 38FS has protected, sunken seating for a group of passengers on the bow, as well as U-shaped seating around a teak table in the cockpit. Where the cockpit meets the pilothouse, there are individual back-facing seats on the port and starboard sides. The 38FS also has some new noise-abatement and vibration-reduction systems and state-of-the-art construction. The hull is laid up with vinylester resin and gelcoat with Kevlar and fiberglass cloth vacuum-bagged with a Corecell foam core.
That’s the part you don’t see. For the part you do see there’s more than enough teak to keep the purists happy. There are teak toerails, teak eyebrows, teak handrails in the cabin top, teak coaming cap. There’s a teak-and-white-striped varnished cabin sole. The teak is all hand-crafted, and it gets 12 coats of varnish.
The 38SF has a protected cabin with a V-berth below with varnished cherry ceiling panels, plus a head with a hand-held shower. The galley includes a built-in microwave, fridge, stainless sink, and optional wet bar and full counter-top.
Built for performance, the hull has a 15-degree deadrise at the transom. Standard power is twin 260-hp Yanmar diesels with Yanmar outdrives; 320-hp and 370-hp Yanmars are upgrades. You also can order the 38FS with twin gas outboards, with 300-hp to 450-hp per engine. Top speed is more than 50 knots.
Base price starts at $869,400 for the 38FS with inboards, and $809,400 with outboards. Whatever the cost, Connor wrote me, owning one “is akin to possessing a piece of maritime history.”
Specs.: LOA: 38’; Beam: 10’; Draft: 2’3”; Disp.: 11,800 lbs. Fuel: 200 gals.; Water 39 gals.; Power: 2×320-hp Yanmar diesels.
Read more: http://chmarineyachts.com
