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INTERNATIONAL
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the Sabre 45 Salon Express fills the gap between the
builder’s 42 and 48. Sabre’s design team, true to its Maine
roots, relied on traditional New England style outside
and inside. The team also set performance goals from the
start that drove the rest of the yacht’s naval architecture.
“The hull form drives everything else, not the size of
the forward berth at the shoulders,” says Kevin Burns,
vice president of design and product development. “So,
we don’t have to change the shape of the hull to accom-
modate the interior. We don’t have a CEO saying we
have to fit three more beds into this hull.”
Burns and his team gave the 45 a warped bottom—
the degree of V changes gradually from bow to tran-
som—that ends in a deadrise of 16 degrees. The goals
were comfort in a seaway, speed and fuel economy.
Computational fluid dynamics helped to achieve all
three, as did design engineering characteristics in the
after sections that came from Volvo Penta, to accom-
modate IPS drives.
Sabre builds the boat with E-glass over Corecellfoam that’s infused with vinylester resin and vacuum
bagged. The yard uses the Vacuum Infusion Process
(VIP) as opposed to the Seamann Composites Resin
Infusion Molding Process (SCRIMP). Sabre says the
VIP method provides an advantage over SCRIMP in
the fiber-to-resin ratio.
Not that building technique is the first thing that
comes to mind upon first sight of the 45; tied up at the
end of a finger float in Newport, Rhode Island, her tra-
ditional good looks stand out in a sea of trendy boats.
On board, her U-shaped settee hard against the
transom seems like a perfect spot for breakfast just
after sunrise in a favorite anchorage, or for a nightcap
under a full moon. A bench against the after bulkhead
to starboard ought to be the best perch for letting the
45’s wake mesmerize guests.
A polished stainless steel and glass door opens to
the salon and pilothouse. Natural light streams through
glass and sets the cherry joinery aglow. Settees, a
straight bench to port and an L-shaped one opposite
form a space for conversation, dining and entertain-
ment. A high-definition TV rises from a cabinet.
At the helm, two Stidd seats face the cherry dash-
board and teak-rimmed steering wheel. Two 17-inch
glass-bridge displays from Volvo Penta and GarminStoutly built, intelligently
designed and handsome,