Sabreline Offers Flexibility and Choices

By Vincent Daniello

Test Captain

“People can have the Model T in any color - so long as it is black.” Henry Ford’s famous quotation came to symbolize both the good and not-so-good of assembly line manufacturing. Fortunately, automobiles have come a long way from Ford’s basic black, unwavering production line approach. Today the company offers five different Sport Utility Vehicles alone, with multiple versions of some, about a dozen colors of paint, numerous interior choices, and well over a hundred standard or optional features for purchasers to select.

Like many people, I prefer to buy new cars (Chevrolet’s usually) not off the lot, but “ordering” the colors and features I want, and waiting for “my” car to be delivered. While I certainly don’t believe General Motors is custom-building Vincent Daniello’s automobile, the ability to personalize my vehicle enhances both the buying experience and satisfaction of owning something I helped create, and higher satisfaction is a very good thing considering the cost of new cars today.

Personalizing Your Boat

Sabreline offers similar choices to purchasers of their 42 Sedan Cruiser. For example, the 42 is offered with the galley up in the salon, enhancing overnight accommodations, or with the galley further forward and down a half flight of stairs, which eliminates the second head and relocates the washer-dryer but increases salon space. While this is a fairly standard choice offered by many production boat builders, Sabreline’s personalizations go beyond what I typically see from production yards. For instance, while a flying bridge is certainly the most popular configuration, the 42 can also be ordered without the bridge, creating the classic lines of a true sedan cruiser. Similarly, the boat comes either with or without the hardtop extension covering the cockpit, and most amazingly for a production yard, Sabreline can completely customize the layout and furnishings in the salon and significantly alter the starboard stateroom.

Plenty of Power

While purchasers may have some choices in design, one thing Sabreline insists on is speed, with five engine choices for the 42 from 440 to 500 horsepower, providing cruising speeds from over 20 to about 30 miles-per-hour. While the boat is capable of puttering along at 8 or 9 miles-per-hour at nearly two miles per gallon like many trawlers, Sabreline’s design philosophy has always been to provide enough speed to get out of the way of approaching weather or be able to cruise a considerable distance from home port with just a weekend vacation. Our test boat’s 500 horsepower Yanmar diesels provided a top speed of 36.9 miles-per-hour, and good economy around 25 miles-per-hour, traveling about one mile-per-gallon for a 400 mile range.

Handling and Performance

Speed is only useful if the combination of conditions and hull allow it. Modified "V" hull design increases seakeeping ability by steepening the angle of the boat’s bottom (called deadrise) to cut through the water, or favors top-end speed by flattening the bottom to provide more lift to help the boat plane. With a twenty degree deadrise amidships and sixteen degree at the transom Sabreline emphasizes seakindliness over performance.

The 42 handled well both underway and at the dock where the Teleflex electronic engine controls proved their worth. Often with electronic controls it is tricky to feel when the engines are in gear or in neutral, and small throttle adjustments can be touchy, but Teleflex did an outstanding job creating a smooth yet positive feel that helps make boat handling second nature, much like properly adjusted Morse cable controls that were the industry standard for decades, but without the finicky maintenance. Though, one thing surprised me, the electronic synchronizers not only controlled the throttles, but shifts as well. With the synchronizer engaged and both levers in neutral, moving one lever into gear engages both engines. Personally, I prefer synchronizers that disengage when the throttles are brought back to idle, or certainly to neutral, and for emergency maneuvering I would prefer not to have to turn off a switch before regaining individual engine control.

Attention to Detail

While good visibility from the helm and smooth, crisp electronic controls appeal to the skipper, the wide walkaround side decks, comfortable steps down to the cockpit, and numerous handrails will be appreciated by line handlers. Anchoring is made easy with an electric windlass installed at the factory, along with hardware to handle two anchors. As on all Sabrelines, all deck hardware is brightly polished, adding a clean, modern touch to the 42’s traditional Down East lines.

The warm American Cherry interior also accentuates the Down East flavor of the boat, but again with clean, modern lines and an open, well lighted interior. As I alluded to earlier, the basic interior layout is fixed, master stateroom forward, head and shower to port, and guest stateroom to starboard, but Sabreline offers several significant choices within this framework, and virtually limitless customizations within the salon and starboard stateroom. But what is truly interesting is that they can do this because of the technology that traditionally hinders such alterations on production boats.

Customize Your Design

If an owner wants a particular design, say port and starboard settees facing the center, or an office in place of the guest stateroom, Sabreline’s design team “builds” it in the computer where they can “see” the whole boat, including electrical systems, plumbing, even stability information. Once the virtual part is built, it is sent to the carpentry shop’s computer controlled router which cuts each part to exact dimensions, and then carpenters assemble an interior specific to each individual boat.

What can’t be done are alterations to ships systems or major fiberglass parts. Don’t ask for a day head in the salon, or to have the lower helm and sliding door relocated from the starboard side to port. These types of changes generally require a true custom builder. Another limitation is that all alterations must be set very early in the production cycle. (Once your new car arrives on the lot, it’s too late to decide the beige interior would be better than charcoal, or you really did want seat heaters.) Also, not all Sabrelines have this flexibility, owing to the rate of each model’s production line.

Solid Construction

Something else which is completely rigid in all Sabrelines, the hull is built with Divinycell core, vacuum bagged to ensure a uniform bond for strong, stiff, light boats. The deck and other structures use encapsulated end-grain balsa core, with vinylester resign and biaxial and unidirectional fiberglass laminate, and all boats benefit from Sabre’s experience, building 2500 hulls since the company’s inception in 1970.

It is refreshing to see the technology that once limited consumer’s choices now being used to augment those choices. Henry Ford said, “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.” Ironically, considering this quote, while Ford’s vision created the production line that has become an integral part of manufacturing, it was Ford’s tunnel vision, refusing to change his product to meet demand that allowed General Motors to gain a foothold. By offering customers several models and even a few choices within each model, GM appealed to a market that Ford stubbornly refused to acknowledge. While Sabreline clearly does not intend to build custom boats, they see the value in personalizing their product. Bentley Collins of Sabreline laments that the company often has to turn down owners’ requests for modifications that are too complex or time consuming for production boatbuilding, but adds, “Compared to our competitors, we’re able to say yes a little more often.”

• Top speed for the Sabre Yachts 42 Sedan is 36.9 mph (59.4 kph), burning 54.7 gallons per hour (gph) or 207.04 liters per hour (lph).


• Best cruise for the Sabre Yachts 42 Sedan is 26.2 mph (42.2 kph), and the boat gets .97 miles per gallon (mpg) or 0.41 kilometers per liter (kpl), giving the boat a cruising range of 394 miles (634.08 kilometers).


• Tested power is 2 x 500-hp Yanmar 6 CXM GTE - Diesel.