ZIG ZIG

Downeast ZIG ZIG

ZIG ZIG is a stand-out member of the Able 44 "Wolf" class of Downeast express cruisers designed by Chuck Paine and built by Able Marine of Northeast Harbor, Maine. As such, she is arguably one of the most stunning craft of this variety on the water today. Period. Her lines and quality of build are in the ‘take your breath away’ category and the comfortable ride and performance of the boat - which planes easily at 16 knots and runs effortlessly up to an honest fast cruise of 24 knots - is just amazing. Exterior varnished mahogany and teak abounds with toe rails, eyebrow, handrails, seats and seat backs - and most especially her windshield and transom - along with a gleaming Flag Blue hull all adding to her distinctive look. 

ZIG ZIG has been kept current with constant upgrading and improvements over the years including: a complete repower with larger engines to make the boat faster; removal of the original Herreshoff style interior and updated with beautiful cherry raised-panel joinery; a custom mahogany helm, and custom helm and passenger pedestal seats; low E-tinted pilothouse glass windows (port and stbd); custom accent carpeting for the interior; custom bed covers and sheets, exterior and interior soft goods, several generations of electronics etc., etc. 

The present owner received the baton several years ago and kept running with it by adding variable-speed bow and stern thrusters with the ‘side-hold’ feature along with a Garmin electronics package including GPS plotter with radar, VHF radio, autopilot and AIS. After a first summer cruising the South Coast out of Padanaram on Buzzards Bay he headed south and ended up wintering on the Florida panhandle exploring many new grounds. Come spring he ran ZIG ZIG back up the coast in record time with the engines never missing a beat. 

Winter of 2022 a refit was undertaken in Bristol, RI, with the entire deck house, foredeck and side decks and large areas in the cockpit and bridge deck being ground down, fiberglassed where necessary and RE-GELCOATED to as-new condition. The bottom was stripped and barrier coated. All the bronze opening ports were removed and re-chromed. The tall sailboat mast which looked good but made a racket at 20+ knots and was smack dab in the middle of the bridge deck seating and flow, was removed. A new bimini top and curtains were installed. Brand new custom carpets were made for the interior to match the existing - which are quite distinctive. And the custom Dyer sailing dinghy (which hangs from custom teak laminated davits), in disrepair when the vessel was purchased by the current owner, was also repaired and restored. Other work in 2022 included a new holding tank system, water heater and Lumishore underwater lights. 

Winter of 2024 major mechanical preventative services were performed on the Volvo engines prior to a flawless run up to the SouthCoast from Norfolk, VA. 

Thanks to her drop-dead gorgeous looks and handling, speed and available space/layout on deck ZIG ZIG excels as a dayboat with gobs of seating in a large cockpit and protected bridge deck with room aplenty for a gaggle of family and friends. At the same time, she boasts a very legitimate cruising interior- as perfect for a couple as for a family of six- complete with a ginormous stall shower, fantastic galley and salon with large convertible table. Bravo!