My most recent yacht sale took me to Oriental,N.C. on behalf of buyers Burt and Prudence Preston of Mansfield, Ohio. I met the Prestons in the time frame of the Annapolis Boat Show of 2008 when they were initiating their search for a "six months of the year" boat. Prior to making an offer on the Hylas we inspected numerous boats such as an Oyster 43, Cambria 44/46, and the Taswell 43 from Newport,R.I. to North Carolina. The Preston's were careful and rigorous inspectors of boats and by the time we found the Hylas they had developed a very efficient system organised to look through a prospective boat! The upside of this type of preliminary inspection is fewer surprises on survey day.....
Queen Long Marine is the builder of record, the majority of the 44's having been built for the Caribbean Charter Trades. We were fortunate to track down a boat that was for sale by her original owner and never chartered. The Preston's liked the fact that the hull was hand laid without the use of core materials. Decks are reported to be foam rather than wood cored. The accessibility to the boats systems is excellent, the over all fit and finish is pleasing given a production boat, and the moderate displacement is in contrast with the full-keel cruising boats. Sure enough a sea trial on the Neuse River in 17 knots true indicated that this boat sails extremely well given the genre of a center-cockpit cruising platform. The lines were drawn by Argentinian German Frers and to my eye could easily have come from the S&S offices on Madison Avenue...
I am confident that the Prestons have made a good choice and wish them all the best in their delivery of the boat to Lake Erie, its home for the time being.
Queen Long Marine is the builder of record, the majority of the 44's having been built for the Caribbean Charter Trades. We were fortunate to track down a boat that was for sale by her original owner and never chartered. The Preston's liked the fact that the hull was hand laid without the use of core materials. Decks are reported to be foam rather than wood cored. The accessibility to the boats systems is excellent, the over all fit and finish is pleasing given a production boat, and the moderate displacement is in contrast with the full-keel cruising boats. Sure enough a sea trial on the Neuse River in 17 knots true indicated that this boat sails extremely well given the genre of a center-cockpit cruising platform. The lines were drawn by Argentinian German Frers and to my eye could easily have come from the S&S offices on Madison Avenue...
I am confident that the Prestons have made a good choice and wish them all the best in their delivery of the boat to Lake Erie, its home for the time being.
