Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2024 i Soundings

Welcome aboard the diesel-powered version of the impressive MJM 4 performance day yacht. We recently tested the MJM 4, looking specifically at her performance and handling as powered by the new Volvo Penta DPI advanced drives. We begin our look out of the water, with Volvo Penta’s twin, counter-rotating Duoprop propellers. This next-generation design features a double hydraulic clutch pack that performed silky smooth and with zero clunking in our testing. With the trim and steering hydraulic, the control unit is mounted on the transom inside the engine compartment. The DPI is a fully integrated package with the drive paired with the latest \ computer-controlled version of the 440-horsepower Volvo Penta D-6 inline 5.5-liter diesel engine. MJM These drives are fly-by-wire and rigged with sensors and lots of anti-corrosion features…

So why do we fish? First there is the joy of being out on the water or in the surf. Then there is the excitement when we actually catch a fish. These are the obvious answers to the question, but they don’t get at the heart of the matter, or examine the compulsion. For me, fishing is about focus. I am locked into the hunt, the presentation and the expectation that at any moment I’m going to be battling the biggest fish of my life. This single-minded focus alters the normal passage of time. When the fishing is good, time passes by at warp speed and when it’s slow time crawls, but I’m still concentrating on how to find the fish. More importantly, at least for me anyway, fishing is…

LOA: 31’1” Beam: 10’2” Draft: 1’7” Weight: 7,200 lbs. Fuel: 220 gals. Water: 19 gals. Power: (2) 400-hp Mercury or 350-hp Yamaha outboards Tidewater Boats says that its 3100 Carolina Bay is the world’s largest bay boat. Having stepped aboard at February’s 2024 Miami International Boat Show, I can confirm that the 3100 is big and that she has the requisite low freeboard, casting platforms and fishing features that would qualify her as a bay boat. But the 3100 is more than just a really big bay boat. Tidewater loaded the 3100 up with lots of standard features and some cool options that would allow hardcore fishermen to cast lines to their hearts delight, but also take the family, or if need be, an entire Little League team out on…

Olivia Wyatt let go of the shore in the summer of 2019, a decision slow to arrive that was part obsession, part dare, and part promise to herself. She readied herself and her sailboat, a 34-foot Ta Shing Panda named Juniper, for a solo Pacific crossing from San Diego to Honolulu. She was a relatively new boatowner—the 30-year-old, full-keel cutter was her first (if you don’t count her Sunfish, which she named Queequeg) and remains her only. Back then she was a relatively experienced sailor as something one studies, less so as something one does. She had sailed alone before, but only a sum of 36 nautical miles and six hours. She was admittedly afraid to sail alone, which is in large part why she finally let go of that…

In the painting The Lobster Trap by Ed Parker, a Maine lobsterman lowers crates into the water while, unbeknownst to him, a large sea monster intertwines itself with the line. The calm water and blue skies suggest a peaceful and idyllic day, juxtaposed with the strange creature just below the surface. Parker’s piece was inspired by a story he read in The Boston Globe about the environmental impacts of climate change on lobster fisheries in the Gulf of Maine. It illustrates the impending dilemma that lobstermen face. The story he read reported that ocean temperatures off Maine have been steadily increasing, and more so than any other area on the globe. The Gulf of Maine stretches from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia, and recent research implies the accelerated warming can…

While scrolling through Instagram recently, I found some good posts by The Boat Mom, or Paula Sleiman. She’s the mother of 3-year-old Kai, and the owner of two 21-foot Nautiques. She drives the version with a direct-drive inboard; her husband, Dusty Able, prefers the 21 powered by a V-drive. Sleiman’s feed was in its infancy, but it appealed to me, as she was addressing hot topics for women trying to raise children and learn about boating simultaneously. I remember being in that position many years ago, and too often feeling like a Nervous Nellie, as I could get myself worked up about creating a safe environment for the kids. Sleiman, on the other hand, seemed completely comfortable in her own skin and at her own helm, in videos on everything…

One of the beefs against electric outboards is their limited range, but Newport—an electric outboard builder from Stockton, California—is challenging that perception with its lightweight lithium batteries. We clamped a Newport NT300 3-hp electric outboard with a standard-length shaft to the stern of an 11-foot, 7-inch fiberglass rowboat, added one of Newport’s LiFePO4 (lithium, iron and phosphate) batteries and loaded the boat up with more than 400 pounds of people to see what it could do. Unlike some other small electric outboard makers, Newport does not mount the battery on top of its motors. Instead, it sells lithium batteries in two voltages and multiple amperages (24V/50Ah, 36V/30Ah and 36V/40Ah) and connects them via a cable, which allows the weight on the stern to be reduced and a larger capacity battery…

If it wasn’t for fishing, some people wouldn’t even own a boat. For others, the relationship between boating and fishing is more casual. Yet we can all appreciate the accomplishments of the exceptional anglers profiled here. Some gained recognition by excelling as tournament competitors and record setters; others distinguished themselves by working tirelessly for conservation or sharing the sport with future generations. The criterion for our list is broad, but the number of prominent anglers is modest when you consider so many deserve accolades for their achievements. If you have thoughts on anglers we missed, please weigh in with a letter to the editor. LARRY DAHLBERG “I had the pleasure of guiding Larry in the Florida Keys in the 1970s. He caught his first tarpon with me,” says Capt. Jake…

Chris-Craft, one of America’s oldest and best-known boat builders, celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. Stephen F. Heese has served as the company’s president for more than 23 years. We asked Heese to share his insights on the company’s trajectory from wooden boat builder to modern legacy brand. SOUNDINGS: Can you take us through the highlights of the Chris-Craft origin story? STEPHEN HEESE: In 1874, a young man, Christopher Columbus Smith, started making wooden duck boats. This was in Algonac, Michigan, a waterfront suburb of Detroit. The first evidence of incorporation of the company was in 1910, and it was called the Smith Ryan Boat Company. [The name was changed to Chris Smith & Sons in 1922.] Chris got to know Henry Ford and started marinizing car engines in the…

LOA: 25’0”  Beam: 8’6” Draft: 1’8” Fuel: 100 gals. Power: (2) 300-hp Mercury Racing Motors Rob Judge was an avid high-performance boat enthusiast who ran his Cigarette 38 all summer long on Lake Erie. But then he decided he wanted to be on the water for most of the year, so he set his sights on a vessel better suited for the tough winter months near his home in Ohio. His choice was a little extreme: a Defender 25 by Safe Boats. Safe Boats is based out of Seattle and best known for producing exceptionally strong and seaworthy craft used by professional maritime agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard, the Drug Enforcement Administration and TowBoatUS, among others. Judge did not go direct to the builder to buy a boat. Instead,…

LOA: 43’o” Beam: 14’10” Draft: 2’9” Displ.: 32,000 lbs Power: (2) 550-hp Cummins QSB6.7 diesels Back in the day, when a much younger Jim Turner was learning the ways of business at his family’s jam-packed Ritz Bakery in Manasquan on the Jersey Shore, there was a hub of sportfish boat-building activity absolutely booming about an hour to the south. “In my mind, the three hotbeds for builders of sportfish boats is South Florida, the Carolinas and New Jersey,” he says. “All the influence in South Florida came from Rybovich and Merritt, but the most skill, I feel, came from New Jersey.” South Jersey was home to Pacemaker, which was owned by the same family that created Ocean Yachts. “Then you had Egg Harbor, that was known as the Rybovich of the…

LOA: 36’6” Beam: 12’0” Draft: 2’7” Displ: (dry): 17,603 lbs. Power (standard): (3) 400-hp Mercury outboards I felt like a fish swimming upstream as I tried to get aboard the Boston Whaler 365 Conquest. Hours earlier, it had won an Innovation Award from the National Marine Manufacturer’s Association for best new boat in the cabin cruiser category. Now, the 36-footer was drawing foot traffic from all around the Miami Beach Convention Center, where she was on display for the international boat show. Bobbing and weaving, I was able to flit past big schools of spectators and up the ladder that climbed to her boarding gate. There, I collided with another wave of passengers, but the energy on the boat was so upbeat, the jostling in the cockpit produced only good-natured…

Boating is often better with a tender, a jack-of-all-trades dinghy that serves as a gofer for the mothership. But there are dozens of high-quality dinghies from reputable manufacturers, so how do you choose the best one? I consulted several experts for advice. First thing they all asked was, “How are you going to use it?” That’s easy: Everyone uses their tender in much the same way—to ferry guests and crew from anchor to beach or dock, to take the garbage ashore and bring groceries aboard, to explore a new harbor, to scrub the waterline, maybe just to ride around. Any tender must be able to handle these chores; finding the one that fits your boat the best can be complicated. Do you want a hard dinghy, an inflatable, or a…

This Boeing 307 Stratoliner served as a commercial aircraft before it was purchased for personal use by American billionaire Howard Hughes in 1939 for around $315,000 (around $6.5 million today). Just 10 years later, Hughes sold the Boeing, but not before giving it a remodel that included a bar, lounge, bunk beds and a bathroom worthy of a mansion. Dubbed The Flying Penthouse, it was severely damaged during Hurricane Cleo in 1964 in Florida, and was deemed no longer flight-worthy. With her tail and wings cut off, the Boeing’s transformation to a motor yacht began. Under the new name Londonaire, the Stratoliner became seaworthy. She was purchased by Ken London, who oversaw her metamorphosis. To be capable of actually cruising, the bottom fuselage was removed and a custom-built, fiberglass boat…