Northern Bay Yachts story is an interesting one. It is not unlike any other business that starts out to build a better mouse trap, and fill a need that wasn't being fulfilled. After logging well over 1000 days at sea all over North America in over 53 boats from 18' grady up to 105' Broward I've either owned or captained, I've developed a sense of what works and what doesn't and even when a boat works what are its downsides or compromises. We set out to find the no compromises boat. We wanted a luxurious yacht between 36 and 40 feet in length that was safe, fast, (25kt) cruise, comfortable in heavy seas and fuel efficient (at least 2 knmg) and long legs at least 800 miles at 25kt cruise so we could easily cruise to Bermuda from almost anywhere on the east coast.

As you can imagine our “dreamyacht” didn't exist. So we went a mission to determine why not. What we discovered was enough to fill a book, (which we are in the process of writing) but in a nutshell the deep V concept that was introduced during WW2 in P.T boats and then popularized by early offshore racers like Dick Bertram would become the recognized hull shape for the next 60 plus years throughout much of the world.

What our Navy and the sponsored offshore boat racers didn't care about however was fuel efficiency and ride comfort. If they did they would have done what I did and search out to find someone who had a better mouse trap already in existence. They would have found not just one guy or company but they would have discovered an entire industry located in Maine where they were already building fast AND fuel efficient, and stable at rest or trolling (while looking for enemy subs to depth charge a lot of crewman would literally get pitched out of the boat due to a quick rolling motion).

Mainstream yachting media and yacht designers and magazines (with the exception of Bill Parlatore of Passagemaker Magazine) just don't know about the existence of these fantastic boats.

So I went up to Maine and talked to every commercial lobsterman I could find after interviewing 43 of these fellows I discovered what most every lobsterman knows that nothing beats a Northern Bay in safety, stability, speed and fuel efficiency. When on further research I discovered that Northern Bays are not coincidently also the most widely sold lobster boats for the last 11 years straight.

Downeast Boats (the builder of the Northern Bay line) was founded in 1994 by John F. Hutchins. John's background is 3 years in the U.S Army Corps of Engineers, 2 years as a cabinet maker and 20 years at Morris Yachts, holding several positions from lead carpenter to 10 years as production manager of the fiberglass shop.

John had a passion for Maine lobster boats and had a dream to build a better, more seaworthy, and easily driven hull.

In 1974, John and Spencer Lincoln designed the NB36, of which 135 were built.

The first year of production, one of DE Boats lobster boats, "Uncle's UFO", set the record as the "World's Fastest Lobster Boat". That record of 53.5 mph . stood until 2005 when it was broken by another NB, "Starlight Express".

One of our proudest achievements, The NB38 has been a joint effort, designed by John himself with the original tooling done in the Netherlands by "Coastal Motor Boats". NB38 hull #1 went into service in the Spring of 2004, "Mystery Machine".

"Mystery Machine" is powered by a relatively small 410 hp. Sisu deisel and shocked many locals by hitting 36.5 mph. as a working lobster boat. In racing trim, she has hit 41.5 mph.

What has contributed to the popularity of the NB38 has been the amazing fuel economy. A 30 mph cruise at 14 gph. fuel burn. Better than 2 mpg. in an 18,000 lb . work boat with only 410 hp. The NB38 combines an unsurpassed comfortable ride with the best fuel economy in it's class. Some of the new owners had stepped down from 42' models to save fuel.

The features of the NBY38 that make it so successful as a commercial lobster boat contribute to it's practicality as a sport fisherman or a cruiser.

After spending a few days with John Hutchins, the builder of the Northern Bays we both concluded the same thing. In order to get the most luxurious, finely detailed craftsmanship wrapped within a Northern Bay Hull that we could deliver at a price point well below our closest competitors like Hinckley, Vicem, Santa Cruz and Avalon yachts we would have to move our production overseas to China.

After weeks of China boatyard visits, we finally found a home. It's a small, custom yard with an uncompromising commitment to quality and the single goal of producing world-class yachts of traditional and proven designs.

The decision didn't take long and Red Dragon Yacht Building Co., Ltd. was our choice.

Communications are in English, which is a major hurdle with other builders and the owner, David Winter, has twenty years of successful Asian yacht production behind him. After cutting his teeth in the U.S. with such names as Aquasport, Topaz and Donzi, he single handedly brought Passport Yachts (one of the world's best built sailboats) to world-class with Taiwan production in the early 1990's.

When he told us the reason he'd started his own yard was because “it's the only way to guarantee quality,” we listened. He continued, “Our goal is perfection and it's a continuing challenge. We've trained our staff with the single goal of excellence and that's the standard they know. It's taken two years and major investment to reach this level, and we're there.”

He continued with something even more surprising: “We're not a cheap Chinese builder and we aren't interested in building cheap boats. Instead, our direction is world-class quality that uses highly-skilled workers at realistic wage levels available in China . We don't take every project that come through the door and price is not an issue.”

We ere relieved when he said he welcomed a Northern Bay partnership. David's goals and our goals were, and are the same: world-class execution of exceptional yachts.”

The Fact that Dave's yard is located in Xiamen China , the home of The finest built yachts outside of our category like Marlow, Nordhavn and Passport was a good sign that similar minds think the same.

We hope that you will join us in the quest for excellence in yachting by becoming a proud owner on a Northern Bay Yacht.

Sincerely,
Capt. W.A. Riley
Northern Bay Yachts