The Turkey Point Marina is on a river that leads into the Chesapeake and this is boating country - big time. Loads of house with boats of all shapes and sizes at the bottom of the garden. A Carolina Classic 35, and the object of the trip the Carolina Classic 28, were ‘moored’ on airdocks which appear to be very common here.
’ve seen many pictures of a CC28 but obviously not one in the flesh and my first impression was that it was much bigger than I had imagined it to be. This is a big 28 footer and in particular was a lot beamier than I had visualised. The cockpit is big but most of this volume is from the beam – it is not as long as I thought it would be.
I’ve been looking forward to today for months and it has not been a disappointment. The only situation I could imagine that would see me in a Hyundai Accent was if had just picked it up from Hertz. And so it was that I found myself sitting on the wrong side of a perfectly serviceable but extremely dull piece of Korean automotive engineering. Bound for Turkey Point Marina, directions courtesy of Google Earth printed out in Milford.
The Turkey Point Marina is on a river that leads into the Chesapeake and this is boating country - big time. Loads of house with boats of all shapes and sizes at the bottom of the garden. A Carolina Classic 35, and the object of the trip the Carolina Classic 28, were ‘moored’ on airdocks which appear to be very common here.
I’ve seen many pictures of a CC28 but obviously not one in the flesh and my first impression was that it was much bigger than I had imagined it to be. This is a big 28 footer and in particular was a lot beamier than I had visualised. The cockpit is big but most of this volume is from the beam – it is not as long as I thought it would be.
I was first drawn to the express concept by my perception that it would give a very large and easily accessible fishing platform and I was pleased to be proved right. Moving up (and you do) to the bridge deck and you in the midst of a huge area for fishing that stretches from the transom past the capacious bridge deck with seating for four easily to the steering station. This is exactly what I had imagined and this is the sort of area I am looking for. The accommodation is also as I had imagined. Adequate to sleep three, have a shower and a dump and do a bit of cooking. Microwave, 12v fridge, fresh water sink etc. etc.
After about half an hour of crawling all over it we were off for my first taste of American boating. This boat was powered by a couple of Volvo 260HP common rail diesels that I thought was a pleasant surprise. I was expecting 300HP a side given the Yanks love of tooling around the ocean at 45 knots, I mean miles per hour.
These puppies gave about 30 knots at WOT (this was a new boat and had no electronics on it) and cruising was at about 3200 rpm giving 24ish knots –quite enough for me thank you very much. Using 20 gph per side at this speed into a pretty flat sea inside the inlet. I thought the motors sounded a bit rough to start with but I think it was just that, they weren’t warmed up and they sounded OK later. The Volvos are all electronic everything – gauges, fly by wire single level throttles/gear levers, synchroniser and very comprehensive electronic gauges. We appeared to have a quick turn of acceleration but not much was being learned in a sheltered inlet. Came round a corner and into the Chesapeake proper and this is more like it. A 22knot nor’wester raised a decent chop but there was no swell at all. The performance into the sea was great. Handled it without any trouble and the grossly flared Carolina bow kept any suggestion of spray away – a dry boat and the windscreen wipers could come off easily. Driving this was oh so different from driving Surprise Surprise. For starters at 6500 kg it weighs three times as much. Rudders and shafts (plural) steer very differently from a (single) outboard. The use of trim tabs is just as important though. Turn away from the sea and trim the bow up and the motion downhill and down a quartering sea seemed flawless. The bum seemed stay exactly where you put it but I wish we had been in a bit of a following swell as well as the chop. Powered up to Annapolis and the Naval Academy passing all the buoys on the wrong side (why do the Septics have to do everything different from the rest of the world?) and then back to Turkey Point.
Once back out of the wind I backed off and tried driving from up stairs. A Scott Esq. is right, it can get a bit parky up there. Plenty of room for two and the tower (welded aluminium with anodised welds) was as solid as a rock. Engine controls (more fly by wire and these take a bit of getting used to – very sensitive with no tactile feedback), engine alarms, a compass, trim tab switches and a horn control are up here. And the S/S Edson wheel has a knob on it like what you get on a combine – Driver Paul likes these. I like driving from up here and it is hard to come down, I’m sure poor weather or a bit of lumpiness would soon make up your mind for you. A tower it is, a flybridge it most definitely is not. I tried a bit of furious backing down but I could get neither black smoke, water over the transom or keep the boat straight. Practice required.
Will it plane on one engine? Yes, but you wouldn’t want to do it for fun. Tracked surprising straight as well and running on the starboard engine I could still put in a reasonable turn to starboard.
Conclusions? None yet. Off to see the Henriques boys tomorrow so will try and keep as open a mind as possible. Very easy to like the first thing you see. I read in my Bluewater magazine that the Deep Vee 31 is now being put out as an express and I will need to see that. But I can conclude that I like heavy deep V hulls and I like the express boat concept. The Carolina Classic 28 impressed but gently, gently catchee monkey.
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