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By Capt. Rick Franke
ow that the New Year is well under way, it looks a lot like the old one. Covid is still around in one form or another, supply problems have become chronic, and “help wanted” signs continue to dot the landscape. One bright spot is that the long waiting times new boat purchasers are stoically enduring seem to indicate that the pandemic-fueled boom in boating will be with us for a while. We get lots of interesting news releases from all over, and this month we’ll start with one from a far-off corner of Canada. ercury Marine, a division of Brunswick Corporation, and EagleCraft Custom Boats in British Columbia jointly announced the first installation of twin Mercury 7.6-liter V12 600-hp Verado outboards on a boat by a Canadian manufacturer. At a customer’s request, the boat builder equipped its 38-foot Cruiser model with the new outboards. “We are thrilled to be the first Canadian company to install this impressive propulsion system,” said EagleCraft managing director Torry Wannenwetsch. “EagleCraft transoms are designed for superior horsepower. With these twins
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generating 1200 hp, they’re a perfect fit. Our Pacific Northwest waters can be extremely demanding, and the Mercury platform is up to the challenge. The Mercury 600-hp Verado outboard features a naturally aspirated, large-displacement, quad-cam powerhead that generates impressive torque to launch heavy boats out of the hole and get them on plane quickly, and to accelerate them up to rated speed rapidly. In sea trials, the twin 600-hp Verado outboards powerfully accelerated the EagleCraft 38 Cruiser and propelled it to a top speed of over 60 mph. The new engines deliver outstanding performance while also setting new benchmarks in fuel efficiency, giving boaters greater range for their outings on the water.” Learn more at mercurymarine.com. lex Schlegel of Hartge Yacht Yard sends us the following story. “Traditional Chesapeake Bay boats such as log canoes, skipjacks, bugeyes, and buyboats always catch my eye. We hear about buyboats mostly in the oyster trade, but they were used to haul other cargo and were called deck boats. Built in 1926 in Virginia to haul grain, Muriel Eileen, a 65-foot deck
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##Boatshop manager Andrew Schroeder with the newly constructed custom Candlefish skiff at Chesapeake Light Craft in Annapolis, MD.
48 February 2022 PropTalk.com
##The curved front of the pilot house on Muriel Eileen, taped and ready for paint and varnish at Hartge Yacht Yard in Galesville, MD.
boat whose home berth is Georgetown on the Sassafras River, will be in our yard throughout this fall and winter for a variety of work including: carpentry, painting, new electronics, and mechanical work. Her hull is painted white, and with her honey and blonde wheelhouse highlights, she’ll be more of a head-turner and showstopper than ever. An interesting task at the top of Hartge Yacht Yard’s in-house carpentry team’s list is making four new curved windows for Muriel Eileen’s rounded front wheelhouse. The existing window frames are mahogany and are probably not original. Additionally, they may be the only mahogany on the boat. The wheelhouse itself was rebuilt a number of years ago with the interior entirely of varnished oak and long leaf yellow pine, also known as Georgia pine. It’s stunning. With that in mind, Ernie Stuermer is crafting the new replacement windows out of pine to match the rest of the cabin house. All of Muriel Eileen’s eight windows open by dropping down inside the cabin sides into copper boxes fitted with drains. Once lifted and moved from their closed
