While Your Survival Guy was walking the docks at the Newport International Boat Show, admiring downeast style yachts, which were far outnumbered by center consoles, what’s interesting is the trend of downeast yachts (imagine a lobster boat with a cabin and enclosed salon, adding outboard engines).
When you think about a center console with single, double, triple, or more engines hanging off the stern, that is your typical configuration for that class of boat. But you can step aboard a Hinckley and be startled by the outboards. They’re huge. This takes away from the classic lines of the Hinckley Picnic boat.
The advantage of an outboard is plenty. It can offer speed and easy access for maintenance, but if you want a dinghy to get ashore, that becomes an engineering issue involving davits or cranes to store topside. No, thank you. As a rule of thumb, if you can’t get your dinghy in and out of the water in 30 seconds, forget it. If you thought you annoyed your spouse before, imagine the two of you trying to launch a dinghy in less-than-ideal weather conditions. Not that Hinckley Picnic boaters spend the night on the water. Surely, you’re joking, dear.
Which brings me to this new class of downeast cruisers with outboards. They’re beautiful boats. You can spend the night at a dock (or mooring if there’s a launch service to get you ashore). But you are not going to go cruising to that one particular harbor without said amenities, which takes the adventure out of it.
Action Line: With all the choices out there for boaters, keeping it simple is always a good place to begin your search. When you’re ready to talk about simplifying your investments so you have more time to “spend” on the water, email me at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com.
Here is an example of a beautiful downeast yacht with outboards.
