It’s the swooping, arcing, very considered trailing edge—a graceful, subtle curve that defines the aft border of the coach roof pillar on the arresting Hood 35 LM Express Cruiser. The initials represent the renowned Maine boatyard, Lyman-Morse, whose builders transferred a design by the naval architects at C.W. Hood Yachts from computer-screen renderings to buoyant reality. It’s an artful curve that establishes this sedan’s no-nonsense profile, and sets the tone for the craft’s entire, remarkable aesthetic.
And make no mistake, aesthetics played a central role in this vessel’s very creation. In fact, the story of precisely how that coach roof’s wavy teak accent came to be launches a grander tale of the collaboration between the 35-foot cruiser’s designers and builders, a very particular owner with a specific set of wants and needs who conspired with this posse of craftsmen to successfully address them all.
In other words, when assessing owner Rich Miner’s Hood 35LM, Shadow, it helps to begin with the elemental matters to understand the big picture.
The first element of course, is the pillar curve. When asked about it, Chris Hood, who teamed up with design partner Dave Robison on , had a good chuckle. “[We’ve
