Hudson 32

A Cape Cod couple transforms a custom Carolina sportsfisherman into a comfortable cruiser

By John Wooldridge

August 14, 2023

Bo and Kara Delaney are smitten with their boat. Their ice blue Swan has all the classic characteristics of boats built along the mid-Atlantic coast, including a sharp entry forward, classic big-water flare at the bow, a clean foredeck cambered for instant runoff, a beautiful sheer and a roomy cockpit. The boat was designed to thrive in the open waters around Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

The Delaneys have been boating out of Marstons Mills, Massachusetts, on the south side of Cape Cod since 1996. They’ve cruised the coast and ventured to the nearby islands hundreds of times on a 21-foot Contender that’s still in the family, passed down from Bo’s parents. Bo grew up on the water around Virginia Beach and Annapolis, Maryland. Kara had lots of experiences on sailboats while growing up, but really took to the boating lifestyle after she and Bo married.

“After 20 years of running a small boat and enduring the effects of saltwater exposure in an open design, Kara and I decided we wanted a bigger boat,” Bo says. “We were looking at building or buying a Tides 27 but then started looking for a custom Carolina build. That’s when I spotted the Hudson 32 in a brokerage listing in October of 2021. It was a little bigger than we were looking for, but it had a single diesel and a bow thruster—two items we wanted.”

Their broker, Daniel Smith of Middle Sound Boatworks in Wilmington, North Carolina, arranged an inspection, a sea trial and a meeting with the boat’s owner, Victor Hudson. “I knew immediately it was the boat for us,” says Bo. “We bought it in November of the same year.”

Built in 2014-15 by the owner and his father, James Hudson, the 32-footer is a hand-built, Carolina fishing boat with naval architecture from Steve French and associates at Applied Concepts Unleashed in Stuart, Florida. It was manufactured with cold-molded wooden construction techniques.

“My dad started building Knot Fancy, as we called her, for himself while he was building a 58-footer,” Victor says. “It was the right size for him at that stage in his life, and similar to a 32-footer I had built in 1999, when I had a custom shop of my own.”

The boat was built on a precision jig, with two layers of wood temporarily fashioned diagonally to the jig and each other. The layers were then bonded together with West System adhesives. On the bottom surfaces and in some parts of the structure, fir planks were used for their strength and rot resistance. For the topsides and the decks, okume planks were employed because their fine grain seldom shows through the final painted finish. To form a cohesive outer protective finish ready for coating, fiberglass cloth was applied and set with West System resins.

The interior of Knot Fancy was utilitarian and fisherman-friendly, but the Delaneys wanted a boat with a higher level of finish. For that reason, Smith introduced the couple to Steve Brodie, the owner of Pacific Seacraft, who transformed the interior for them. “We updated the enclosures, added new cushions and updated the V-berth so we could sleep aboard comfortably,” Kara says. “Steve trimmed out the cabin with paint and teak and stainless steel lighting, and made it look awesome.” With a sparkling yacht-level interior, the boat was renamed Swan. They brought her to the Cape Cod area in May 2023. The Delaneys have nothing but the highest praise for all of the pre-delivery modifications made to the boat.

“Our delivery was flawless,” Bo says. “The CAT C9, at 23 knots, sipped 11 gph, but I love running at 24 knots [1800 rpm] and 12 gph, for a 50 percent load on the engine. The builders told me it would easily do 28 knots at 80 percent load all day, and called 26 knots her sweet spot. I haven’t done that, nor have I pushed her to wide-open throttle. But at 24 knots, we can get to the Vineyard for breakfast at the Black Dog, or Nantucket for an overnight, with tremendous fuel efficiency and comfort.”

Keep a lookout for Swan in New England waters this fall, and in coming seasons. Her distinctive shape is hard to miss, and her owners have a great story to tell about finding her, as well as their experience with the boating community of Wilmington, North Carolina.

WALKTHROUGH

Swan is a custom-built Carolina express with a deep fishing cockpit that measures approximately 100 square feet. It has a well-padded Pompanette fighting chair made of teak and stainless; stowage for rods and gaffs; saltwater washdown hoses; and stowage for equipment abaft tilting locker doors in the gunwale that offer toe clearance for anglers who need a stable stance when fighting fish from the side of the boat.

There’s more stowage in two lockers that flank the steps at centerline. Beneath the steps are ice boxes that drain directly overboard. The steps lead to the bridge deck, which is almost as large as the cockpit. It’s covered with GatorStep marine decking that resembles teak planking for slip resistance. The helm, which faces a Pompanette captain’s chair, has a dash large enough to accommodate a Garmin 1040 multifunction display, a pair of digital information repeaters, the Caterpillar engine readout screen, and a stainless wheel. There’s room left for a VHF radio, single-lever binnacle and bow thruster joystick. To port, there’s a long bench seat with stowage beneath. The entire bridge deck is protected by a hardtop.

Down below, the cabin is a blend of white fiberglass and warm teak accents. There are carpeted sidewalls, more GatorStep decking, and two stowage cabinets, one topped with a solid teak top. A settee to port converts to a queen-size berth. There is no galley on board; the Delaneys chose to go without one because they plan to use Swan as a dayboat.