2011 Seattle Boat Show Report
GALLERY | Click images to enlarge
The 2011 Seattle Boat Show has come and gone, without much of interest to report to Proafile readers, per usual. The sailing ghetto held its own and maybe even grew a bit over last year. Marine Servicecenter was displaying a Weta trimaran, my first look at the boat in the flesh. The Weta’s beams and mast are carbon fiber (mast is 6 lb.) making a pretty convincing argument for the judicious use of the black unobtanium. If the boat wasn’t made in China I’d like it twice as much. Would it also cost twice as much? I don’t know.
Powerboats continue to dominate the show, though the attrition has been terrible since the crash of 2008, with many former perennial brands opting out or simply out of business for good. The one place you’ll find (fake) carbon fiber on powerboats is at the helm - the panel holding the gauge cluster. Black is still the fashion for tow boats, which must give the builders fits.
There was one new boat on show that caught my eye: the Sea Glider 16 rowing catamaran. Originally the home boatbuilding project of teenaged Nick Graf, Larry Graf’s (Glacier Bay Catamarans, Aspen Power Cats) son, the boat is about as simple as a fiberglass boat can be: one hull mold, basecoat finish and a black vinyl gunwale. The bridge deck is the seating, and a place to mount a sliding seat if desired, no outriggers required because of the 51” BOA.
Now ten years later, Nick has been exhibiting the Sea Glider alongside his father’s boats at the shows, and getting plenty of interest. Locally designed and built, I love this little cat. Now if if only he’d make one out of carbon fiber.
