If you asked anyone in boat building what the biggest moment in a boats' construction is, they would probably answer "when the deck goes on." Of course when she is launched and commissioned is a huge day too but decking day is that moment when everything comes together and we can see finally what she looks like in real life. Yesterday was that day at Back Cove when the deck went down on the Back Cove 37.

There were plenty of smiling faces from the design team who stood back long enough to admire their work. She is beautiful !

As most Back Cove 37 adherents who follow this blog know, this boat has a mid-level galley. It's different and like all things different, it has created a lot of buzz and quite a few questions. The benefit is that the crew working in the galley are part of the social scene in the salon while the galley confusion is out of sight of the guests. It also creates some great use of space which we have talked about in earlier posts. So today we wanted to blog about the galley itself.

The galley counter is made of solid surface material: easy to maintain and very durable. The sink is stainless steel and a convenient hand rail is located here for use when transiting the steps from level to level. Outboard are convenient storage cabinets, dish lockers and a built in coffee maker. On the forward end where depth is limited by the shower wall, there is a short cubby for cups or spices. For refrigeration there is drawer style, stainless steel Vitrifrigo unit with plenty of volume. On the forward face of the sink end of the galley there are several dovetailed drawers and for cooking appliances a microwave oven and a two burner cooktop are supplied.

The big surprise and somewhat unique is under the cabin sole at the helm. Here there is a lift-up section in the sole which exposes a large pantry below. A great place for bulk storage of goods you'll need for the long cruises you have planned.

As the assembly of the Back Cove 37 goes on, our production and engineering associates at the yard in Rockland are really showing their strengths. This week the two main deck parts (the deck and the wheelhouse) were mated and the fit is perfect. Again this may seem unimportantto the lay-person getting their head's around boatbuilding, but these parts, created from molds which were created from plugs and from drawings before that, have to fit together. They cannot be "adjusted or re-sized". An error here would mean months of setbacks. But no mistakes for this crew, everything is going according to plan.

To ensure that the deck part remains stable and does not twist until it is affixed to the hull, the back of the house remains in place. It will be cut away to allow for the installation of the folding doors, once everything is fitted and square.

Decking takes place next week so stay tuned.

If you have ever tried to ride your boat in rough water for an extended period of time, you can appreciate the quality of a good helm chair. The Back Cove 37 is going to have two Stidd 500N series seats at her helm and I'll explain that decision.

First of all, the Stidd decision was easy. Yes they are very expensive but the experience of driving a boat in big water for hours on end will prove to anyone that a good seat makes all the difference and that Stidd makes the best helm chairs in the marine marketplace. No fatigue, no distractions and no navigational errors brought on by discomfort.  But why two seats and not a double bench seat?

The simple answer is that the port or inside seat can be rotated to face the seating area in the salon and thus becomes part of the social seating of the Back Cove 37. Furthermore in rough seas the arm rests of each seat hold your body firmly in place and do not allow you to slide around on the seating surface, again reducing driver fatigue.

The 2nd of the two large fiberglass parts for the Back Cove 37 is the deck and this part for hull #1 was infused and de-molded here at the Back Cove yard in Rockland earlier this week. Allow me to digress. As I was writing that I thought, 'how many people know what our yard looks like anyway?" So I thought it would be cool to show you what our shop looks like from the air. This shot (not taken since the snow started flying) shows the T-shaped building that is North End Composites. This building has 240,000 square feet of manufacturing space of which 1/3 is occupied by Back Cove Yachts production. Another 1/3rd is occupied with Sabre Yacht FRP production and we lease the remaining 1/3.

Sorry about that I can never resists showing off this fabulous building. Any way back to decks. The finish on the deck part is incredible. The infusion process and the materials chosen by our engineering staff for the purpose have given us a wonderful surface profile. And now, too, we can see all of the beautiful architectural details that Kevin drew in 3D. Wow. This is exciting stuff,