What happened to Dettling Yachts?

[hayesdvm]

I was picking up my Back Cove 41 yesterday from Jarrett Bay and saw a lovely Dettling 71 in the water there. I was not familiar with the boat and a google search gave limited information. I see they were made in Maryland, but now out of business, and it looked like that occurred during the last recession.

I really liked the boat's lines, but wondered if anyone here had any other experience with them? Or background on the boat company?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[OldDan1943]

The hull form reminds of the old ChisCraft

 

[Porgy]

I don’t know but, I’ve seen several up and down the coast and like the looks of them.

 

[Nick14]

FWIW, I looked at one for sale in Virginia. It did indeed seem reminiscent of old Chris Crafts (in very good ways). The classic express cruiser layout, the hull form, accessible side decks, and construction quality were all exceptionally good IMHO.

The layout is a little odd, with the guest cabin jammed in under the pilothouse/helm area. The biggest design compromise was access to the helm seat. To fit the guest cabin, the helm seat is raised on a platform about 2-3 feet off the pilothouse floor. One needs to climb a step to get onto it (it's too tall to leap in a single bound). Once in the seat, headroom is very tight. 5'11" brushes up against the pilothouse roof, which I thought would get very interesting in any kind of seaway, with my head pounding a hole thorough the ceiling (or flattening the top of my head).

There also is no room to stand at the helm. The only choice for piloting is seated on the perch, with limited headroom. Despite all the other nice things about the design, the helm was a deal breaker for me. I wish it was different, but it didn't look like it could be easily modified.

YMMV