Back Cove 37 for Sale, a Buyer's Guide to Maine's Single-Engine Cruiser

Why the Back Cove 37 for sale listings move so fast

Brokers on the Maine coast and in Annapolis will tell you the same thing: a clean Back Cove 37 for sale rarely sits through a full season. The reason is simple arithmetic. It is a boat with a 38-foot hull that a couple can run alone, that burns one engine's worth of fuel, and that still looks right on a mooring in Northeast Harbor next to a hand-built lobster yacht costing twice as much.

Back Cove Yachts began in 2003 when a group of Sabre dealers asked for a smaller Downeast-style cruiser to sit below the Sabre range. The first boat was the Back Cove 29. The company now shares management and engineering with Sabre, builds in a 240,000-square-foot plant in Rockland, Maine, and says more than 1,000 Back Coves are in service worldwide. The 37 first splashed in 2009, and more than 200 were built before worn production molds led Back Cove to retire it in 2020. It was the model that turned the brand from a pleasant small-boat builder into a serious coastal cruiser company, and it is still the boat most people mean when they say Back Cove.

In 2014 Power and Motoryacht tested a 37 with a single 600 hp Cummins QSC 8.3 and saw 29.6 knots at wide open throttle and a comfortable 23.5 knot cruise burning 20.1 gallons per hour. That combination of a real 20-plus-knot gait on one diesel is the heart of the boat's appeal, and it is why Back Cove kept the formula when it retired the 37 and replaced it with the 372.

The case for one diesel on a 22,000-pound boat

Every Back Cove inboard has a single engine on a conventional shaft, and new buyers coming from twin-engine express cruisers often treat that as a compromise. In practice it is the best decision Back Cove made. One engine means one set of filters, one exhaust elbow, one heat exchanger and one cooling system to service. It also means a center-line engine room with genuine walk-around access, something that is impossible on a 13-foot beam with two diesels and a generator crammed side by side.

Redundancy comes from the thrusters rather than a second engine. Most 37s carry both bow and stern thrusters, and with a little practice an owner can walk the boat sideways into a slip on the thrusters alone. Get-home insurance is a sea tow membership and a meticulous maintenance log. For a boat that spends most of its life within 30 miles of a harbor, that trade has proven sound.

The economy story is real. At 1,000 rpm the test boat was making 8 knots on 1.6 gallons per hour, which is trawler territory. Run at 9 knots and you sip around 4 gallons per hour, open it up to 18 knots and the burn is roughly 14 gallons per hour. Few twin-engine 38-footers come close at displacement speed, and none at cruise.

Hard chines in a Downeast suit

Look at a 37 out of the water and it is less traditional than the sheer suggests. The forefoot is fine, the chines are crisp and the hull runs flatter aft than a true lobster-boat derivative. The chines do two jobs. They throw spray down and away, which keeps the windshield dry in a quartering chop, and they add lift so the boat planes cleanly at modest rpm on one engine.

The testers found the boat would complete a full 360-degree turn at 2,400 rpm and 19 knots in about 30 seconds while losing very little speed, where comparable inboards commonly shed 4 to 6 knots in a hard turn. That speaks to a hull that carries its weight well and a single propeller that stays bitten in the water. In a steep head sea the 37 is drier than its size suggests, but at 22,000 pounds it is not a heavy-weather boat in the way a 50-foot Downeast cruiser is. Trim the bow down, ease off to the high teens and it is comfortable in the 3- to 4-foot chop typical of Buzzards Bay on a summer afternoon.

A helm deck built for two people and a dog

The bridgedeck sits under a hardtop with large side windows and opening sunroof panels, and the builder describes it as giving 360-degree visibility. That is close to true. The helm is to starboard with a companion seat opposite, and behind them a settee that converts for guests. Swing bi-fold doors link the helm deck to the cockpit, so in good weather the whole aft half of the boat becomes one room.

The cockpit is sized for sitting with drinks rather than fishing, with a transom door to the swim platform and enough space for a pair of folding chairs or a small table. Side decks are narrow but usable, protected by proper rails, and the foredeck has a working anchor setup rather than a sunpad. Owners who go into Maine fog and need to tend the anchor will appreciate that priority.

• Hardtop with large side glass and opening overhead hatches
• Bi-fold doors between helm deck and cockpit
• Bow and stern thrusters on nearly every boat
• Air draft of 12 feet 6 inches with the mast, a big plus on rivers and canals

Island berth forward, mid-galley, one big head

Below, the 37 is laid out for a couple who occasionally host another couple. The master stateroom forward has an island berth with walk-around space on both sides. A guest cabin tucks under the helm deck, workable for a weekend but tight for adults over several nights. The galley sits amidships with overhead windows that bring in daylight, and the single head is generously sized with a separate stall shower.

Back Cove finishes the interior in satin-varnished cherry or a lighter wood option, with flat-panel joinery that ages well. Compared with production express cruisers of the same era the joinery is a notch better, but it is not Hinckley. You pay for that difference and it is honest about it.

Picking between Yanmar, Cummins and Volvo packages

On the brokerage market you will see three engine choices. Early boats from 2009 came with a 480 hp Cummins QSB 6.7 as standard, although Back Cove says more than 95 percent of owners ordered a bigger engine. By 2014 the standard engine was a 530 hp Yanmar 6CX, with the 480 hp QSB and a 600 hp Cummins QSC 8.3 as alternatives. The QSC is the one to want. It gives the boat the 29-knot top end and lets you cruise at 23 to 24 knots without leaning on the engine, and the 8.3-liter block has a long service record in commercial use.

The refreshed 372 offers either a 600 hp Volvo Penta D8 or the 600 hp Cummins QSC 8.3 and moves to a 24-volt electrical system. A boat with the QSB will cruise a couple of knots slower and is perfectly adequate for a couple who cruise at 18 to 20 knots, which is where most owners settle anyway. Any older boat with a smaller engine should be priced accordingly, by $20,000 to $40,000 against a comparable QSC boat.

What changed when the 37 became the 372

The 37 is out of production, and the Back Cove 372 is its direct successor in a lineup that now runs 372, 412, 34O and 39O. Back Cove calls the 372 a reimagined evolution rather than a new boat, and that is accurate. The first 372 came out of the new mold in 2021 and debuted at the Annapolis powerboat show that October. Overall length grew slightly to 42 feet 8 inches with revised cockpit seating, but beam, draft, air draft and the 300 gallons of fuel and 120 gallons of water are unchanged. The visible differences are improved helm ergonomics, sightlines with reduced glare, a redesigned shower and more storage in the head. The 24-volt system cuts cable weight and makes lithium house banks and modern electronics easier to integrate.

For a used buyer, the 372 matters in two ways. It puts a ceiling on prices for late 37s, because a new 372 is only a phone call away, and it confirms that parts, support and know-how for the hull will be around for decades.

Running a 37 for a season

Plan on $28,000 to $52,000 a year to keep a 37 in good shape, excluding depreciation and financing. Slip fees are the swing factor: a seasonal slip in Newport or on Long Island Sound can top $15,000 on its own, while a Maine mooring and winter storage cost a fraction of that. Insurance for an experienced owner typically runs 1 to 1.5 percent of hull value.

Fuel is where the single engine pays off. A couple putting 150 hours a season on the boat, mostly at 18 to 22 knots, will burn roughly 2,000 to 2,500 gallons. A twin-engine 38-foot express doing the same mileage will burn far more. Routine maintenance on the engine, the generator and the thrusters is straightforward for any competent yard.

Resale and what the market rewards

Back Cove resale is among the strongest in production power boats. Boats lose value slowly because demand from couples downsizing from bigger yachts and sailors crossing over to power has been steady for a decade, and because the Rockland plant cannot flood the market. Expect a well-kept 37 to retain a higher share of its original price after ten years than most twin-engine express boats of the same size.

The market rewards the QSC engine, a hardtop with good canvas, a generator with air conditioning, updated Garmin or Raymarine electronics and, increasingly, a gyro stabilizer. It punishes deferred varnish, tired canvas, a missing service history and smaller engines. Boats that have spent their lives in fresh water on the Great Lakes or Lake Champlain often trade at a premium.