For many, Labor Day weekend marks the end – regretfully – of the cruising season. In the Seattle area, the end-of-the summer marker often is the floating boat show on the city’s Lake Union.
This year the mid-September broker-sponsored show attracted 340 sail and power boats crowded into a maze of temporary and permanent moorage on the south shore of the lake. As usual, I was one of the first through the gates. I was there to see industry people and to check out new boats. Others, invigorated by a summer of cruising, come looking for their next boat.
For some, the show is more of a beginning than an end. It’s a time to think about and to investigate “moving up” or buying that first boat. If you want to go cruising next season in a new boat, you almost need to make that purchase in the fall to allow time for commissioning and other preparation-for-cruising work.
I live in Anacortes, in Skagit County, in the northwest corner of Washington state. It was gratifying to see three new boats – built in my county by friends and neighbors – make it to the show.
Two are newcomers to the boating market place. The Fathom 40 is an introductory-level boat featuring sophisticated engineering and construction processes designed to reduce labor costs. The second is the Northwest 42, an elegant cruising yacht with a sophisticated interior and great design. .
They are not market competitors, so it’s easy to praise them both. Watch for stories about them in future issues of PassageMaker Magazine.
The third comes from a veteran builder, Northern Marine.
Both Fathom Yachts and Northwest Yachts promised long ago they would make the Lake Union show. Somewhat to my amazement, they did.
I visited the builders about10 days before the show opened and wondered how it would be possible to get everything done in time. I suspect shipwrights at both plants recorded some significant over- time pay in those last days of construction.
There were finishing crews on the boats as they made the run south from Anacortes to Seattle. Shipwrights continued working until the opening bell for the show. I know some additional final work will be needed when the boats go home, but it wasn’t apparent at the Seattle show.
The builders of the Northwest 42 will be working under another deadline. The company intends to enter its new boat in the Fubar Odyssey 2007, a group cruise from San Diego to LaPaz, Mexico, beginning November 7. To make the dash south in good weather and to be in San Diego in time for preliminary meetings, the yacht will need to be under way in October.
A little more home-town bragging: Northern Marine, which normally builds yachts properly classed in the mega category, was displaying a 64-foot, singled-engine cruiser that was built as a “spec” boat – it was launched from the builder’s Anacortes plant without a buyer in sight. PMM doesn’t feature large luxury yachts because they require crews and the magazine focuses on family-sized boats that can be operated easily and safely by a couple. The 64 fits our niche.
The craftsmanship was superior, from the perfectly fair fiberglass hull to the flawless teak interior. In simple terms, the interior was created by marine carpenters – but they really are artists. The sole was surfaced with teak planking of many subtle colors. Spectacular.
She has space for a generous saloon, a separate dining area and a galley, all on one level. I walked through the engine room standing tall – lots of headroom there.
Something else that caught my eye as I walked the floats: Few new boats today have exterior teak trim, for all the usual reasons. But some boats still feature teak and a few on display at the Seattle show displayed wood trim coated with satin varnish, rather than the usual high-gloss finish. I liked that.
A dramatic difference in treatment of exterior trim was seen on the Northwest 42 – her caprail was finished with a silvery AwlGrip paint bursting with sparkles.
I left the show after a couple of days to prepare my 42 GB for a couple of fall cruises – one into nearby British Columbia with a friend and a second in October “with the guys” and their boats.
End of the season? Nope.