FUEL EFFICIENT AND QUIET CRUISING IN THE EVERGLADES

Photo courtesy of Derek DeBoer. All rights reserved.

SCOUT’s owner came to us with a custom design in hand from Reuel Parker for a 43’, shoal draft, outboard-powered coastal cruiser, to be built efficiently and with uncompromising quality. An avid cruiser, SCOUT’s owner required the speed, comfort, range and reliability to enjoy everything from the Bahamas to the coast of Maine, and even the Great Lakes.  To this end, SCOUT employs the strength of sheathed marine plywood and the UV protection and durability of two-part paints and varnishes.

The owner also required that all systems be low-maintenance and capable of meeting the demands of extended cruising with all of the appliances you’d expect in a well-appointed liveaboard. We reached out to Don Eley of Yacht Engineering Systems, formerly professor of marine systems at Maine Maritime Academy, to develop a safe and robust system tailored to the owner’s vision. One defining requirement not common in our New England fleets was that the air conditioning be capable of quietly running throughout the night without use of the genset. This was accomplished with a large bank of Firefly carbon-foam batteries and a pair of Victron inverter/chargers.

Photo courtesy of Derek DeBoer. All rights reserved.

One of SCOUT’s owner’s favorite places to cruise is the Everglades, a place where one must tread lightly if it is to last for future generations.   Hylan & Brown, Reuel Parker, and our expert partners were proud to deliver a fuel-efficient classically-inspired vessel with which to enjoy such ecological wonders in a low impact way, and we wish SCOUT many years of comfortable cruising in the unspoiled quiet of such idyllic places.