As most of you know, I'm a huge fan of the work of Philip C. Bolger who was easily one of the brightest lights around in boat design. Of course, being a man with an open mind who spent a lot of time outside the box (and most people's comfort zones), he had as many detractors as fans...
I liked Phil's work because it made sense and worked. Some of his designs are as beautiful as anything you'll ever come across on the water and some of them were elegant in their simplicity and as functional as a WW2 jeep or a VW bug...
Both our Loose Moose's were designed by Phil and the fact that he is no longer with us is something that saddens me to this day. The man left a void simply too big to fill...
But, the thing is, great minds sow seeds, and while it might take some time for those seeds to grow, a lot of Phil's ideas and influence are beginning to crop up here and there in everything from mega-yachts to boats designed for real world people with real world budgets. As someone who has seen this slow growth it is just a little funny how certain design aspects on our Loose Moose 2 which scandalized various so called experts on design are now pointed to as cutting edge and vast improvements when found on super luxe boats as the Wally's (just as an aside, can you imagine naming a luxury boat series a "Wally"... was "Dork", "Doofus", or "Dweeb" already in use?) and other boats.
Another designer I have long followed and admired is Roberto Barros (now known as B&G Yacht Design) who has always showed a design sensibility that made all kinds of sense. While you can trace a lot of influences in the design catalog, all of the designs are very much a Barros.
The newest design from B&G the POP 25 is something of a head turner as it contains about as much livable space in a 25-foot envelope as is possible in a pretty nice looking exterior that will sail and keep you safe.
Designed from the get go as an easy to build, affordable and livable cruising boat, it sports a lot of thought and brains. How many cruising boat designs do you know that have electric propulsion designed in from the start and make use of the weight of batteries as a percentage of ballast?
Something other designers should take note of is this design is affordable... something very important in these hard times.
I've been looking at this design for a couple of months now and I have yet to find a flaw in the thinking that went into it... This really is an awesome boat.
The only thing that's missing is (it seems to me) that the POP 25 could use a big brother... Say a POP 35 (I'd certainly buy a POP 35 design and build one).
Not everyone will understand what makes this boat so exceptional... Bolger certainly would have, and I like to think that a lot of Boat Bits readers will as well.
Listening to Ashford and Simpson
So it goes...
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