johnnythefish;
To Tom - in my quest for the perfect boat, I do now remember coming across your website and thinking "wow - I like the sound of this"... better still is the fact that there are some boats built in your style that means there are some real world figures... so a couple of questions...
1) Do you think your boats would be happy far offshore? Operating as a sport fishing boat? They are certainly not designed with that as the primary goal. Bluejackets would handle offshore conditions similar to any boat with the same design ratios. If that were the goal I would raise the chine and drop the keel forward which would reduce accommodation (I assume not an issue) and ease entry into waves. Increased deadrise at 25% WL would be considerably greater than the current 25 degrees. I would seriously look at water ballast that can be easily taken on or let out to suit conditions.
2) Do you have some "real numbers" for fuel burn for some of these boats "trolling" at 8kts? Current Bluejackets have no high fuel burn issues at 8 to 10 knots as evidenced by the photos and my experience. Long term fuel burn at that speed is not certain but cruises of 100 miles or more always work out to less than 2 gal/hr or 6 to 8 mpg with varying speed over the course of the trip.
3) Could the plans be modified to be built as a Centre Console?[/QUOTE] Yes, the bull bottom is a torsion box and that would present no problems.
Of course, what we have here is a different boat but I think it could be a good one. North Carolina Sportfisherman boats have evolved over the years based on the original Rybovich model to go out to the Gulf Stream which is quite far off the Outer Banks in often notoriously difficult conditions. These boats must have trolling qualities as well as get out and back quickly to satisfy fishing customers. It would be difficult to better these designs for most people. The B&B 28 is a good example.
