Newport Boat Show - Meeting with Andy Page of Albin

[JackK]

I paid a visit to the Newport (RI) boat show on Sunday and got to put a face to the name of Albin's national sales manager, Andy Page .

We talked a bit about the group and his desire to advance Albin through all of us. Let's face it, united we are a big sales tool. I cannot tell you how many times I've shown my boat to prospective Albin customers and tire kickers.

Albin had their 40 NSC, the new Newport edition of the 28 and the new center console 26. They were represented by two dealers, Standish Boat Yard (RI) and Seacoast Marine (MA).

On a lighter note, we talked of possibly putting together a Spring Rendezvous here in Rhode Island. If we tried for something early before things get too crazy, Block Island might be a good central location. Interested ? Thoughts ?

Andy will need to get through the boat show season before turning any attention to next spring. I'm sure he'll chime in here though.

Jack

[DougSea]

Hey Jack,

My wife and I would consider a trip up to Block for a Spring Rendezvous. It would be nice to see the New England and Long Island Sound contingent get together.

Keep us posted and thanks for the show report, I'll do the same after the Norwalk show this weekend.

Doug

[Mariner]

I was disappointed that I didn't see Albin at the Seattle Lake Union show this weekend. Their local dealer, Bellingham Yachts is usually there with Albins and Sabrelines, but I couldn't find them this year.

I was quite anxious to see the 26' Center Console, though I know better than to expect to ever see it here. Lets face it, Fall in the Northwest is not exactly the time or place to be pitching a center console fishing boat.

[SpaceCoaster]

Jackk,

What was your impression of the Newport Edition? The pictures I've seen of it are fairly interesting. From what I can tell there is a lot of seating. Quite an engineering feat to cram so much in a relatively small space. It looks great from the pictures, but was wondering how it looks in "real life?" Any thoughts?

Jorge

[JackK]

The Newport edition is pretty sharp. I spent over an hour sitting on the new bench seating talking with the owner of Standish Boat Yard.

The seating does allow for more crew to sit in the pilothouse. It really is a slick feat to re-engineer the layout as they have done. My only problem with the wraparound bench is the loss of another set of eyes looking out for lobster pots or even better schools of fish. From the bench the view forward is limited at best. A big plus though is that you could easily sleep one more on the bench (a filler cushion similar to VeeBye's would be required).

In talking with Andy and Jack from Standish, they mentioned that the factory is building a boat with a hard rear enclosure for the pilothouse. That would be nice to have in the fall and early spring.

Little things I noticed - they beefed up the wipers and made them 2 speed. The instrument cluster is now nicely housed overhead leaving the entire helm plate open for instruments and radios. The speakers are now house up there as well. They have also added a nice bench seat along the back transom. It is nicely designed and very comfortable.

Below deck things haven't really changed that I could see.

My opinion - All in all, a nicely done boat that targets the cruising couple rather than the fisherman who occasionally cruises.

Jack

[Richard]

I have one of the first 28TE Newports (built in July) and have now had a chance to use it for awhile. I purchased the option for the removable companion seat (you can see this on the Albin Website) and highly recommend this. This allows use of the full L-shaped seat if you have a lot of passengers or you can install the companion seat when your partner wants better visibility forward. (You still have room to seat one or two people behind the compaqnion seat) The companion seat can be moved to the center of th rear deck facing aft. The versatility is great and the seat is easy to move around.

Inside the cabin the quarter berth has more headrom and getting into the berth is a little easier than on the prvious model.

I am very happy with this layout.

[Denis]

Jack, I know it is a little early for plans next year but I would like to join in when the time comes for a trip to Block. We went there last weekend for probably the last time this year and it was beautiful!

On a different note, I bought my boat from Seacoast Marine and I can't say enough about how well they treated me. I would buy another boat or I would recommend them to someone else in a second. Don Peacock of Seacoast runs a very good dealership. Glad that you got to meet Andy and see the new Albins on the market.
Denis