Electra, Lyman-Morse on a roll

Despite indications that I only think about AIS, I do have some other subjects! A big one recently has been Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding. This morning I just finished up a PMY Sept. feature about the company’s woodworking department—now 50 crafts-people strong, and doing phenomenal work—and I’m researching an eventual electronics column about Electra, which began with an early June trail run. What a boat! You can actually feel her lightness (carbon laminates, cored panels, etc.) as she gets up and cruises in the mid 20 knot range with a relatively minor wake. And what a helm! It’s unfinished and undressed in this shot, bigger here, but you can sense the excellent sight lines, both outside and to the various screens.

And note the jog stick steering, which means you can hunker in that chair and stick your feet up on that little shelf. I tried it; I like it. The little drawer above it, by the way, stores a wireless keyboard you can use with Electra’s dual VEI PCs. You can also see controls for Furuno black-box radar, Class A AIS, and fishfinder, as well as a Northstar 6000i backup radar/plotter and one of the first Quantum rotary (Magnus effect) stabilizer systems. What you don’t see on the mast below is the sat domes, as they’re neatly tucked away at the end of flying bridge (visible here, along with dope on LM’s new, green mega shop). On the mast, bigger here, note the FLIR thermal camera and Maretron Weather sensor, not to mention the fine metal fabrication details done by Lyman-Morse (the mast itself was subbed to a company with a tapering machine). More to come on Electra’s electronics and especially its unusual distributed power system.