Eastern 18 CC

20 Northeast Boating Magazine | September 2009 www.northeastboating.net

In 1981 Carmen Carbone of East

Rochester, New Hampshire, bought

the mold for an 18-foot skiff from a

company named Norton that was going

out of business. Despite the fact that

the United States was in a deep reces-

sion, the mold was a good buy because

the designer, Royal Lowell, was widely

considered the finest of his era. Lowell,

perhaps best known for the Bruno &

Stillman 35 and 42 and the Sisu 22, 26

and 30, was a third-generation designer

whose grandfather, Will Frost of Beals

Island, Maine, is credited with developing

the Down East powerboat hull.

Carbone named his new company

Eastern Boats and began turning out

his thoroughbred Eastern 18 as a work-

ing skiff. As the recession subsided,

the boat became an immediate suc-

cess—and no wonder. The 18 has lovely

lines, a sweet bottom that lets it perform

well with modest power and excellent

seakeeping ability for its size. From the

outset, inshore commercial fishermen

liked the boat’s fuel efficiency and open

layout, and recreational boaters found

it useful for assignments ranging from

fishing to cruising around the rivers,

bays and coves.

In 1989 Bob Bourdeau went to work

for Carbone. Bourdeau had started in

the boating business at age 14, work-

ing his way through marina operations,

customer service and retail sales. Based

on what he learned about construc-

tion over the next four years, he decided

to buy Eastern Boats from Carbone in

1993 and has run the company ever

since, recently joined by his son Jake

and daughter Ashlee.

Although Eastern builds over 100

boats per year at its new plant in Mil-

ton, New Hampshire, with models rang-

ing to 35 feet, its best seller is the 18.

Our test boat for this review was Firefly,

a two-year-old 18 that belongs to Wil-

liam Storck of Annapolis, Maryland.

Design and Construction The bow of the 18 is sharp enough to cleave waves, and the hull has enough freeboard and flare to turn them away. The transition from the entry aft is gradual enough to keep the hull from pounding, but full enough to provide buoyancy in heavy seas. Bolt-on rails keep spray from following the faired topsides into the cockpit.

The bottom begins to flatten about

a third of the way from the bow, and

features rounded chines whose radii

become tighter as they move aft. The

bottom narrows slightly at the tran-

som, allowing water to release easily

from the hull sides. The result is a hull

that lifts effortlessly to a semiplane for

efficiency at speeds in the teens and

twenties. A molded-in, full-length keel

aids tracking and absorbs the abuses of

grounding, intentional or otherwise.

Construction of the 18 has evolved

over time. Changes include a shift

by John Page Williams

Eastern LightWith its rugged Down East hull and efficient design, the Eastern 18 is right at home in Northeast waters.

John Bildahl Photos

Firefly, a 2007 Eastern 18 owned by William Storck, shows off her classic Royal Lowell design.

T R I E D & T R U E

www.northeastboating.net Northeast Boating Magazine | September 2009 21

from wood stringers encapsulated in

fiberglass to a foam-filled fiberglass

grid, from polyester to vinylester resin

and from marine-grade plywood to

Nida-Core for stiffening the self-bail-

ing cockpit sole. However, the main

hull materials remain fiberglass mat,

Coremat and woven roving. The big-

gest change in the 18 occurred three

years ago, when Bourdeau and his crew

began adding a full inner liner and

spraying foam into the space between

it and the hull to provide flotation,

strength and sound-deadening. The

liner gives the 18 a more finished look,

and customers have loved it.

On Deck The 18’s layout is intentionally simple

and adaptable. The bow deck covers

an anchor locker, with an access door

in the bulkhead. Immediately aft are

twin seat/storage boxes to port and

starboard. Following a longtime Down

East tradition, Eastern offers a folding

canvas dodger to cover the bow area,

with a drop-down curtain and a stor-

age boot.

The console is large enough to hold

a compass (standard), a seven- to eight-

inch GPS/plotter/sounder and a VHF

radio. A windshield and stainless-steel

grab rail are standard. Storage includes

a dry upper locker with door. Below

this is a deck-level area where the bat-

tery resides. It’s worth noting that this

hull runs best with most of the weight

centered around the console instead of

fore or aft. The standard helm seat is a

cushioned box with a swinging back,

but it would be easy enough to install

a leaning post with vertical rod hold-

ers and space for a cooler or livewell

below. Another popular option is to add

a cooler seat in front of the console. Two

gunwale-mounted vertical rod holders

come standard, but anglers will find it

easy to add more as needed, along with

horizontal rod racks under the gun-

wales, if desired.

Power and PerformanceOriginally, preferred power for the East-

ern 18 was a three-cylinder Evinrude/

Johnson 60/70 two-stroke outboard.

These engines were about as efficient

as carbureted two-strokes ever got and

offered good power for this hull because

their oversized lower units with low

gearing allowed them to swing 13- to

14-inch propellers.

As new emissions regulations trig-

gered the phase-out of those engines,

the outboard of choice became Honda’s

light, three-cylinder, 50-horsepower

four-stroke, which provides quiet opera-

tion, outstanding fuel efficiency and

enough power for most uses. This is the

engine that drives Firefly.

It was instructive to run beside Fire-

fly in another boat during the photo

shoot, then to ride in her with the

owner, taking performance data both

times. With a stock aluminum 111/4-

inch by 14-inch, three-blade propeller,

Firefly climbed seamlessly onto plane

at 9.5 mph (3200 rpm) and topped out

at 26.5 mph (5800 rpm). With two of

us aboard, however, planing required

another 200 rpm, and wide-open

throttle produced only 25 mph (5600

rpm). The hull did, however, follow

a well-established Down East linear

standard of efficiency: 4000 rpm pro-

duced 15 mph, 4200 produced 16.1

mph, 4400 produced 17.5 mph and

so on. Unlike many popular fiberglass

hulls, this one is efficient at these very

useful speeds, and the Honda will run

all day at midrange rpm levels.

If there is any knock against the

Honda 50 on the Eastern 18, it’s that

heavier loads slow it down a lot. The

company has freshened this engine’s

design with fuel injection and other

Firefly sports a level deck and a no-frills layout. The standard helm seat unit features a fore-and-aft swinging back and a roomy storage compartment.

22 Northeast Boating Magazine | September 2009 www.northeastboating.net

magic, and fine-tuning the propel-

ler choice, probably with a four-blade,

will help, but the Honda now has com-

petition. For example, Bourdeau has

been rigging many 18s with Evinrude’s

60-horsepower, two-cylinder, direct-

injected E-Tec two-stroke lately. Like

its Evinrude 60/70 predecessors, this

engine has an oversized gearcase with

2.67:1 reduction, which allows it to

swing a 131/2-inch propeller with a

15- or 17-inch pitch. It is a clean, fuel-

efficient engine that offers 10 more

horsepower and 6 percent more piston

displacement than the Honda, with

only about 30 pounds more weight,

much of it in the lower unit. On the

Eastern 18 it should offer a top speed of

near 30 mph and increased load-car-

rying capacity, with no increase in fuel

consumption.

By the way, both Honda and Suzuki

have new 60-horse engines coming

out this summer, although the specif-

ics were not available at press time.

Also, Mercury and Yamaha offer four-

stroke 60s that they developed together,

and both are available with oversized

gearcases. The Eastern 18 can carry

up to 90 horsepower, but 60 appears to

be plenty for the uses for which Lowell

designed the hull.

Price and AvailabilityPeople who buy Eastern 18s tend to hold

on to them, for good reason. An Inter-

net search turned up no used boats for

sale, but several new ones are available

through Eastern’s dealer network in the

Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. The prices

vary based on power and equipment,

but the range is $24,000 to $28,000.

The Eastern 18 is a thoroughbred,

a timeless design that can handle the

multiple assignments of a water-loving

family for a long, long time. Firefly and

her sisters are very good boats in an era

when efficiency and value are becom-

ing ever more important.

Honda’s 50-hp four-stroke will push the 18 to a top speed of 26 mph, with opti-mal cruise in the mid- to upper teens.

Frequent Northeast Boating contributor

John Page Williams is senior naturalist at

the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Annapo-

lis, Maryland.

Firefly’s bow features a cushioned cooler seat in front of the console and port and starboard bench seats with storage below. A canvas dodger keeps occupants dry on rough days.

at a glanceEastErn 18Manufacturer: Eastern Boats, Inc.11 Industrial WayMilton, NH 03851603-652-9213www.easternboats.com

Designer: Royal Lowell

Details

Production .........................................................1981–present

LOA ....................................................................................... 18’ 3”

Beam ...................................................................................... 6’ 8”

Draft ..........................................................................................12”

Weight ......................................................................... 1,225 lbs.

Max. hp ...................................................................................... 90

Fuel ....................................................................................28 gals.

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