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June 2017
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boatingonthehudson.com
I
was invited by our friends at Sandy Hook Yacht Sales to
join a demo ride aboard a new 2017 Sabre yacht 42 Salon
Express along with a couple of prospective buyers. One of
them, Chris Widdis, owns a 2006 38 Sabre Express and was
thinking of moving up to the 42. What an opportunity to
hear from someone who could give us some insight into a
decade of progress. We also had John Lembeck aboard, an
experienced boater who could give us a fresh view point
on the Sabre 42. Along with myself, Capt Carl Gerding,
Sandy Hook salesman Dave Kingdon and Sandy Hook Co-
owner, Hank Hartmann made up the rest of the crew. We
boarded the 42 Express at Navesink Marina, Sandy Hook
Yacht Sales home base for 34 years in Sea Bright, NJ. I was
looking forward to unvarnished questions and comments
on the 2017 42 from someone who used his Sabre 38
for everything from day trips in the backwaters of the
Navesink river in NJ to multi-week cruising up to the New
England coast.
We boarded through the transom door from the swim
platform into a generous cockpit with plenty of seating for
all of us and a table for cocktails or dining. From
there we moved up a step to the salon/bridge
deck, another space that felt open and spacious
as well. The salon offered plenty of sitting and
moving around room for all six of us, and was
open to the galley for easy access to food and
drink. With the glass bi-fold rear doors open
and the adjacent windows slid down into their
prospective bulkheads the entire space from
galley to transom became one open social space.
The six of us certainly had plenty of room and
wouldn’t have been tight for twice that number.
A few steps down from the well equipped galley
to the lower level is the forward stateroom with a
full island berth, to port is a head with a generous
enclosed shower, and to starboard another cabin
that could be a dinette, second stateroom or
office. I found it refreshing that they didn’t try
to jam too much into the space, everything was
open, airy and functional which follows their
design philosophy that “It’s a boat first”. I invite
you to go to sabreyachts.com for full details on
the accommodations, layouts and full list of the
standard equipment and amenities, I only wish we had the
space to do them justice. This particular 42 was powered
by twin Volvo-Penta IPS1 600 Dou-Prop pods w/D6-435 HP.
We left the Navesink Marina with six adult men aboard,
no owner gear, light fuel and water aboard and all the
standard equipment for the 42 Salon Express .. We had a
beautiful partly cloudy day with light and variable winds
which produced a light chop, ideal for the Sabre semi deep
vee hull. Leaving the dock and backing down the fairway
was quiet and positive, requiring only a light touch on the
Joystick by Capt. Carl Gerding. The IPS Duo-props grab the
water like a good pair of vise grip pliers and transfer as much
power to motion and direction as you want. Cruising in the
Navesink River gave us a variety of moderate conditions to
get a feel for boat’s handling. By the way, the handling is
superb. This was reinforced when we escaped the no wake
zone and jumped up on plane, smooth and quick, I had to
keep reminding myself this was a 42 foot two stateroom
yacht.
Chris was used to the high quality of Sabre yachts but
immediately got excited about the midlevel galley. That
change moved the cook from below decks up into the salon
conversation, and allows them clear views out of the salon
windows. Another big interior plus according to Chris was
the addition a of a second cabin below that can be fully
enclosed with sliding doors and used as a second stateroom.
Another major point for Chris was the low noise levels at
every speed from idle to running 35 knots at 3500 rpm. He
said that his current boat was quiet but this was spectacular.
We learned from Hank that the pod underwater exhaust
system was a major contributor to the comfortable sound
levels in the cabin and even in the cockpit at the usual mid
20 knot cruising speeds. We were able to converse at normal
vocal levels at all times. Chris also liked lockable bi-fold
glass doors and opening windows between the bridge deck
by
Jeff Sublett
One of the IPS Duo-props.