Category: What’s on board…
That’s Craig Owings and he’s justifiably proud of what may be the world’s first trailerable cruising RHIB. But if you check out builder Rosborough Boats, you’ll see that it is not actually a custom boat, but rather a clever combination of its production 25′ sedan cruiser and the 29-foot deep vee inflatable it builds for marine professionals. I got a tantalizing glimpse of Conepatus early last week as it zipped around Mt. Desert island and was pleased to find her being used as the Rosborough exhibit at the Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors Show this weekend…
While Camden is being visited by lots of large yachts again this summer, as of yesterday afternoon this is the antenna mast that dominates all. And, no, it wasn’t dropped by aliens onto the...
Here’s hoping that everyone in the States had a fine holiday weekend. We had better weather here than you might think if you read that fog delayed two nights of fireworks, but I was busy with oodles of visiting family. Gizmo, however, is really ready to cruise, and numerous product reviews will ensue. Take a gander, for instance, at this seasons’s lower helm configuration…
I just had a fabulous two days exploring nature preserves on Isleboro Island while also fooling with Gizmo’s half installed electronics suite and generally enjoying a solo cruise. A SPOT track of yesterday’s ‘voyage’ can be seen here, a few electronics entries will ensue, and eventually so will another MBHH Adventures on the Coast of Maine. But the topper was getting a call from my old friend Joe McCarty about the very interesting sailor above, who is right now en route to Bermuda in a 36-foot sloop at the age of 95!…
Admittedly, that vessel immediately makes me think of Reese Witherspoon’s moderately immortal line in the moderately famous 1996 black comedy Freeway
: “Holy sh*t! Look who got beat with the ugly stick.” (Clip here, but do treat yourself to the whole warped take off on Little Red Riding Hood.) However, this entry is actually about the unquestionably immortal blog aptly titled The Marine Installer’s Rant. Which is where I learned about Seafair and her special duties as megayacht art gallery. Bill Bishop not only documents the travails of an installer, right down to the bloody wounds, but he notes and potographs perks like getting to see the weird boats that show up in his Sarasota, FL, home waters…
“Or how I gave up a boat load of electronics and learned to be happy sailing with just two gadgets!” is the subtitle of this guest entry by the good Sandy Daugherty. And while...
While at FLIBS, I had the pleasure of meeting Mike Spyros, Director of Service & Technical Development for Electronics Unlimited. Per usual, I invited Mike to send in details of a notable install (an open invitation, incidentally), and by golly he did, and she’s a corker. The 116-foot M/Y Moonraker might have been built in 1992, but is still claimed to be the world’s fastest mega-yacht, with a cruise speed of 28 knots. And I think the electronics makeover Mike and his team did last year is an interesting example of how familiar smaller boat brands and NMEA 2000 can be used to manage even a giant jetski…
This was my view from a borrowed mooring on Saturday night, and it was quite a nostalgic one as my one and only transatlantic was sailed aboard this very same Nautor Swan 59 from the Canary Islands to Martinique in December, 1984. It’s hard to believe how very techy the boat’s electronics seemed at the time, how much they’ve changed since, and yet how old school they look today…
My first impression of this just-launched Maine Cat P-47 last June was all about how well the flying bridge looked on what I’d only known previously (and almost bought) as an express style design, and how much useful space it added. But, my, what a mess I found when I went aboard. The poor owner — just about to embark on an already delayed delivery trip to his home waters on the Great Lakes — gamely listed all the not-yet-functioning parts of the boat’s elaborate Garmin networks while sitting in a main salon littered with bits and pieces of other unfinished systems. While delays for complex, semi-custom boats like this are nearly a cliche, and possibly worse in these tight times, this case seemed particularly egregious. However, I’ve stayed in touch with this gentleman and am relieved to report that he’s a pretty happy boat owner today…
, has been on the test bench for about 10 days, and it was joined last Friday by that 
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