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Port Everglades pass was heavily trafficked when I got there, but not with recreational craft. There were ships and pilotboats mostly, some inbound, some outbound. As I made the turn at the landward end of the jetties, I could see the slate-gray mass of the Atlantic, veritably aleap with white horses. "Better switch to the lower station," I told McCurdy.
The ride was a honker. I throttled up the Yanmars about the same time I throttled up the windshield wipers, and in no time we were bopping past a pilotboat at about 25 mph in four- to six-foot rollers. "Little rough out here," I commented, heading south out of the channel between the tip of the southern jetty and the first green flasher.
Visibility in open water was excellent, if I ignored the spray and kept some tab on. The 40's got electric Lencos with stout, custom-made trim planes, and I had to deploy them to see over the bow, not only coming out of the hole but also upon those few occasions when I could run down-wind at top speed or fairly close to it. Nevertheless the boat put in a solid offshore performance. She tracked well and cornered broadly, with a turning radius of approximately four boat lengths. She also kept her head up in following seas, tossed six- to eight-foot head seas off with aloofness, and evinced no tendency to wallow in the troughs. For the most part I kept our speed at 25 mph or less, consistent with the conviction I formed while running oilfield boats years ago: It makes no sense snapping antennas off and overstressing a vessel when "the hawk's out," especially if said vessel retails for a pile of money. I sought calmer conditions to collect speeds, acceleration curves, and other data.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
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"Yeehaw!" I yelled while measuring an average top hop of 40.9 mph. As I'd expected the 40's wheel rotated effortlessly and precipitated near-instantaneous response even at slower velocities. There was only one negative: The position of the two Stidds on the bridge combined with the relatively limited space there made ingress and egress pretty tight. Getting into a seat or out of one often meant hopping over its back.
Thoughts of my friend Don came up one more time while I was finishing up my walk-through of the 40. "The Betty Jane's like a little jewel box, you know," Don had added during that dinner long ago in Panacea. "Being inside that cool little cabin of yours...it's just wonderful!"
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Great sightlines. |
I looked around. I was seated on the end of the queen-size island berth in the forward cabin. The notebook on my knee bulged with details I'd collected earlier during a stem-to-stern tour: arch-top doors with floating panels and dadoed, splined joints; Epifanes varnish on below-decks teak and Sterling urethane above, lots of it; a custom-crafted, holding-plate-type, stainless steel reefer from California's Glacier Refrigeration in the galley; and shaft brushes on the propeller shafts with heavy bonding wires secured to transom zincs.
A clock ticked beyond the bulkhead. McCurdy dragged a hose somewhere on the foredeck, cranking up an end-of-day freshwater washdown.
"Whew," I said to myself. "This boat's not exactly the Betty Jane, but her cabin's just as cool, and she's quite simply a work of art. Wonder if ol' Don's got an extra million bucks kickin' around somewheres. Maybe I oughta take the poor devil a brochure."
For more information on San Juan Yachts, including contact information, click here.
SPOTLIGHT ON: Yanmar Start/Emergency Stop Switch
Our test boat had four Yanmar engine start/ emergency stop switches, one for each engine, both topside and below. They're a snap to use. Just slightly push the left toggle for about 30 seconds to warm its main, then push fully to start.
The right toggle? Should an engine-room fire or other engine-related emergency occur, you push it to stop its engine by cutting off the fuel supply. Moreover, should one of the two Teleflex Morse electronic engine controls onboard fail for some reason, the Yanmar switches will sense the failure and transfer throttle control to the rheostat-type dial between the toggle switches.
When the dial kicks in, the LED light above shows yellow and a notation arises on the Yanmar engine readouts on the dashboard. All you have to do is dial up the rpm you need.—B.P.
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This article originally appeared in the June 2008
issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
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