True North 38
When the first True North 38 was introduced eight years ago, it was known as the SUV of the water. You could pack everything in (pulling the dink into the cockpit through its innovative wide-opening transom doors; strapping the kayaks onto the roof rack), run it up on a beach, hose it down when you were done and walk away happy. Built by Pearson Composites in Warren, Rhode Island, it promised easy, carefree boating with lots of performance and good looks to boot. Like the road-bound SUVs to which it was compared, that boat was popular, but time moves on. The newest True North 38, as I discovered recently, has moved uptown. No longer a plain-Jane, no-frills cruising boat, the new True North 38 has a more "yachty" look with lots of teak and custom touches on the outside and the inside. If this is an SUV on the water, it's a Porsche Cayenne, not a Ford Explorer.
"We found that our clients want to take it up a notch," says Scott Bryant, vice president of sale and marketing for the newly named Pearson Marine Group (True North and North Rip powerboats; Alerion Express sailboats). "They like the True North looks, but now they want everything to be high-end." Indeed, Bryant walked me through a new 38 at the New England Boat Works in Portsmouth and the new upscale move was impressive.
This boat was just completed for a couple who plan cruise a lot in Canada, and it is full of semi-custom touches ?elegant curved teak coaming in the cockpit, for example, or new Dutch doors leading from the cockpit into the salon] or two super-comfortable chairs in the salon, flanking a teak table and facing the new Corian-topped galley (with its drop-down TV). On the exterior, the most noticeable changes were the addition of heavy-duty yacht-quality stainless side and bow rails and an attractive radar mast on top of the cabin. The new feature you don't see immediately is the highly sophisticated mechanism that opens the gull-wing doors in the transom. Previously, they simply folded open on a hinge, so when they were open from the outside you were looking at the inside of the doors ? not necessarily the most elegant view from the dock. Now, the doors swing out flush so that even when they're open they lie perfectly flat against the transom with the outside still showing out, a nice touch. "The people who are buying in this market want this," Bryant explains. "And we have the talent to deliver it. Our long-term goal is to build and distribute premium niche brands with a heavy customization strategy."
Specifications
LOA: 41'6"
Beam: 13'6"
Draft: 3'6"
Disp.: 15,000 lbs.
Fuel: 226 gals.
Water: 98 gals.
Power: (1) 480 hp Yanmar diesel
Price: Upon request.
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