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that clients who used his services had zero claims in the preceding years.

Another thing you’ll hear from Bob is how lucky he was to get that call

to assist in sea trails for a boat Martha was brokering. To quote Bob,“we

met under the hull of a 55 foot yacht and as the hired help he was very

nervous about approaching such a beautiful woman for a date”. He did,

and as they say the rest is history. He continues to comment on how

fate and Martha were so kind to him that day.

I soon found out how “SIMPLICITY” came to be in the fairway that

January morning, a few days before they had cruised down from Essex,

Connecticut in gale force winds and three to four footers.

Cruising comfortably in their Stidd helm seats at 18 knots, in part due

the extra oomph of the optional 600 horsepower Cummins Diesel below

deck. Back Cove already a solid, well built and beautifully finished New

England boat with a long list of standard features and with the options

and accessories on “SIMPLICITY”, Bob suggested they were cruising

aboard“probably the best equipped Back Cove 37 out there today”. Bob

and Martha, both life long boaters, worked very closely with Back Cove

on the details to make this the very special yacht I saw that day. As a

result of a late addition to the auto pilot system, a Christmas gift, Bob,

Martha and “SIMPLICITY” left Essex, Connecticut January 2nd bound for

Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City which will be “SIMPLICITY’s”home

till spring. They left on the 2nd because winds were down to around 15

knots and the seas were reported to be a 1-2 foot chop, as boaters you

well know, things change. When they pulled into Glen Cove they had

seen winds of 20-25 knots and nasty 4-5 seas, which they described as a

“good test run”. After a short stop in Flushing Bay to assure good timing

transiting the East River Bob, Martha and “SIMPLICITY” arrived at liberty

Landing late afternoon on January 4th, all ship shape as expected. I

And as per his deal, he communicated regularly with, Jason Constantine,

Guy Seiberts, the Customer Relations point person at Back Cove in Maine

as well as the CEO as part of their Product Research and Modification

program.

Just another example of how a quality builder like Back Cove operates,

they saw this as an opportunity to possiblymake a great boat even better.

Being a systems expert, Bob chose equipment and brands based on

thousands of miles of yacht deliveries, cruising both oceans in some

of the worst conditions. Bob thought the only criteria for choosing

equipment should be “reliability, customer support, and ease of

use”. Based on his theory that the mind works in blocks of three, the

equipment was set up to need a maximum of three steps to operate,

believing that steps 4 and 5 are soon forgotten. As a result, some of Bob’s

findings and recommendations will find their way into future builds as

a way of increasing customer satisfaction. After a summer of in water

sea trials, in between time spent on the West Coast for business, Bob

began the installation and testing of the electronics in October 2016.

“The electronics and equipment was chosen was based on being able to

cruise at any time whether east coast or west coast or to the last frontier

of remote Alaska, safe and comfortable in any conditions the boat itself

can handle.

Now for an example of “Bob’s Way” when it comes to electronics.

“I chose to go with Furuno as the main backbone, I knew that every

component had to be Nemea 2000. This would allow for simplicity,

reliability, and ease of installation”.

“I started with the Furuno Nav Net 12” TZT2 as the central system for

GPS, Depth and Radar., as it is compatible with all other major component

manufacturers. This includes our Fusion AV 750 stereo, audio and visual,

Cummins Engine Instruments, Airmar ultrasonic Weather and the list

goes on. It also uses the Max C charts, not charts that are only proprietary

to one manufacturer”.

“The helm station console consists of The Nav Net TZT2 -12 inch and

the Stealth 15 inch Multipurpose monitor accompanied by a Furuno

FA50 AIS Transponder, Furuno DDS Radar, Airmar WX 220 Ultrasonic

weather station, Simrad AP44 autopilot with the new NAC3 Computer”.

“As an Airline Pilot and Captain of much larger and commercial

vessels, I felt it mandatory to also have a PC driven navigation system

on board in addition to the Furuno Nav Net. Not only as a backup but

to free up screen space that can get too crowded to share with all the

vital information required for safe cruising on one screen”.

“The PC is a miniature, high powered solid state hard drive with

Windows 7 for reliability, Nobeltec ProfessionalV 3 Navigation software,

and MS Office 365 installed and connected to the Stealth Monitor as

the primary navigation screen. All vessel manuals are also stored on

this computer along with a sophisticated custom maintenance log

book system custom designed by Alliant Marine Group of Seattle, WA.

Having this vessel information at your fingertips is a great advantage

to increased safety. In addition, this computer has Long range Wi-Fi

antenna system that allows for easy updates of navigation and vessel

system software. The long-range Wi-Fi antenna also enables the vessel

to have a router for all guests to access Wi-Fi. A network hub is also

installed to allow other manufacturer systems to talk to the Furuno Nav

-Net and the PC. Using NMEA 2000 allows all information including

data, depth, engine data and performance information, weather,

autopilot, radar to be shared AND viewed and overlaid onto the Stealth

monitor”.

“A carefully designed and well thought out system install, without

taking any shortcuts, pays off in zero downtime and reliability of all

systems, “Bob‘s Way”.

Many of the modifications to the boat were to accommodate the

electronics package and insure a clean wiring run up to the antenna

forest on the saloon roof. In some cases where additional holes were

needed to get antenna wiring in place, lights were installed, with

added advantage of having a brighter cabin. An idea to keep in mind

when you are adding equipment, wish I had met Bob a few months

earlier. After spending time with Bob and Martha I learned a lot and

have certainly adjusted my “To Do List”.

I can’t thank Bob and Martha enough for sharing their insights,

hospitality, and information in writing this profile. As always, have a

happy, healthy and safe boating season.

suspect due to excellent and thorough preparations, and following the

tenants of what they practice in their professional lives. According to

Back Cove documentation, 18knots would be 2200 RPMs and about

13.5 GPH, at 46% engine load. If speed is what you need, she tops out

at about 28 knots and 3000 RPM, but the max suggested continuous

cruise would be 2700 RPM, about 25 knots and 70% power with a range

of about 320 nautical miles at 18 gals/hour

During the back and forth of the purchase process, Back Cove

became aware of the depth of Bob’s knowledge and experience in

the marine industry and they made a deal. Bob would be allowed

to commission is own boat in exchange for a complete and detailed

report and evaluation of their delivery process, including any changes

or improvements that might be made in the boat. The boat, a Back

Cove 37 aptly named“SIMPLICITY”, was delivered to Pilots Point Marina

in Westbrook, Conn. Feb. 2016 for Bob to commission it his way. Bob’s

way, developed as core principles of his yacht management business, is

“riskmanagement and safety”, a holdover fromhis time as a commercial

pilot. With the boat on the hard at Pilots Point the commissioning

began. “SIMPLICITY” was polished several times to a well-protected

high luster; her bottom was soda blasted and several epoxy barrier

coats applied. The prop, though new, was removed and sent out for

a final tuning and polish, all through hulls, hoses and clamps, and wire

and plumbing runs were double checked and a few were modified to

make sure his Back Cove complied with all current standards before the

boat hit the water in April 2016 for sea trials. Keep in mind Back Cove is

a very high quality yacht builder and most owners will never find issues

with their boats but Bob is very detailed with an eye to dealing with

issues he thinks may have even the possibility of becoming problems.