2010 Vicem Windsor Craft 36

SWEET CAROLINE: Golden Age Mahogany, Modern Diesel Power

The Windsor Craft story starts in Minnesota. In the late 1980s, Irwin Jacobs, the man behind Genmar, designed a line of fiberglass day cruisers with mahogany decks and interiors, built about a hundred of them in Little Falls, and then retired the name. In 2007 he brought it back with a much bolder idea: a boat built of wood from stem to stern, in the spirit of the mahogany cruisers from the golden age of American boating. Labor at home was too expensive and there were too few craftsmen left who could work wood at that level, so Jacobs took the project to Vicem in Turkey, a yard already known for its cold molded mahogany yachts. The 36 was the model Genmar chose to introduce the new line, and the company put the hull alone at about 3,800 hours of labor.

SWEET CAROLINE, a 2010 Windsor Craft 36 Hardtop, is a beautiful example of what that partnership produced. Her deep burgundy hull is set off by a varnished mahogany sheer, a cream hardtop, polished stainless rails and bright portlights. The part you can’t see matters just as much: three layers of mahogany planking laid in opposing directions and sealed in WEST System epoxy, for a hull more than an inch thick. The hardtop shelters a starboard helm with Simrad electronics set into a gleaming wood dash, a dinette to port and a galley that disappears beneath a hinged lid until it’s needed. Aft, cream cushions wrap around a table inlaid with a compass rose. Below, the cabin is varnished mahogany over a teak and holly sole, with a V berth for two and an enclosed head with a shower.

Twin 370 hp Volvo Penta D6 diesels with Duoprop sterndrives show only 450 hours each. The drives keep her draft to three feet, and joystick control makes a tight marina far less of a worry. With an Onan generator, laid teak underfoot and an opening sunroof overhead, she is just as happy on an evening cruise up the Severn as on a weekend run across the Bay to St. Michaels.

Key Features:

• Cold molded mahogany hull built by Vicem: three layers of mahogany planking in opposing directions, encapsulated in WEST System epoxy
• Twin Volvo Penta D6 370 hp diesels with Duoprop sterndrives, 450 hours each; 3' 0" draft
• Simrad navigation suite with NSS multifunction display, radar, autopilot, depth sounder and VHF
• Joystick control for close quarters maneuvering
• Onan 5 kW diesel generator
• Hardtop with opening sunroof over the helm, dinette and outdoor galley
• Outdoor galley with Kenyon electric cooktop and sink under a hinged mahogany lid, plus refrigerator, wine cooler and microwave
• Varnished mahogany joinery, teak and holly cabin sole and laid teak cockpit decking
• Forward V berth for two and enclosed head with electric toilet and shower
• Aft cockpit with wraparound cream seating around a mahogany table inlaid with a compass rose
• Fixed fire suppression system in the engine room