We recently spent a perfect (but brief) Labor Day cruise between Branford and Guilford, CT and the girls had a blast. I shadowed them as they walked about exploring every inch of the boat, waddling around in their sternsman's vests, learning their sea legs, and generally having a blast.
The 40 Cutter seems very stout to me - granted the conditions were flat as a millpond, but I've no question that this hull would take a real pounding, shrugging off considerable sea conditons with relative ease. Lovely finish work aside, there's no hiding the fact that the hull was initially designed as a search and rescue platform for the Canadian coast guard. Cruising at 10 knots she is very quiet, and she pounces to a stately 18 in almost no time flat. Apart from the the fact that she rides quite steep initially, once trimmed out, the bow came down nicely and I had no concerns about letting my little ones continue to walk every inch of her.
Despite the sound hull design, there are some things I found troubling - a lack of a grab rail along the cabinhouse above the salon entries for one. Given the narrow walkways along the cabinhouse, these would have been a welcome addition, especially when loading and offloading gear. The air horns mounted on the cabinhouse are of poor quality; certainly they shouldn't show extensive corrosion after only 2 years. But, the boat was a demonstration boat Albin used at shows prior to purchase, with some 1000 hours on the engines, and in light of the companies' financial troubles, it's not too surprising that this and numerous other things were not attended to prior to the sale of the boat to my folks.
That being said, the old man is a true salt, and has shaken out most of the minor cosmetic and some not so minor mechanical and electrical problems, and Morning's Light is nearly ready for the kind of lengthy cruising I'm certain they'll use her for. I look forward to sharing some of these cruises with my family and in turn with this community.
Fun and safe boating to all!
P.S.:
if you'd like a glance at "Morning's Ligt", RobS took some nice snapshots of her when my folks had her short hauled at Essex Island Marina for some *ulp* LEAKAGE problems. See the shots here:
http://albinowners.net/aog/viewtopic.ph ... and+marina
