The Adventure Continues - Building an Outer Reef 63

A funny thing happened as we cruised along the Georgian Bay in August of last year.  I got a call from Mike Schlichtig from Outer Reef saying that the 63 CPMY that we had tried to buy in 2011 was up for sale. While it did not make sense to purchase this boat, due the price the owner wanted and the cost of shipping it from Seattle, it did trigger my interest in the possibilities of building one from scratch and hence started the process to which we are presently engaged.

Why an Outer Reef 63 LRMY?

We originally thought about buying a trawler in 1999.  I was, at the time, considering early retirement (in 2000 at age 57) and cruising the world.  During that time we considered three possible boats, a Nordhavn 50, a Cape Horn 55 and Krogen 48 Whaleback and ultimately settled on the Nordhavn.  Then, a favorable change in my job responsibilities coupled with Diana's lack of enthusiasm for the Nordhavn and not being really confident as to whether we could live on a boat long term caused me to reconsider retirement and the "dream" was abandoned. That effort, in retrospect, proved useful in that it helped us better define the boat that we would eventually decide to build.

Another key factor is helping us decide to build the Outer Reef 63 was the Great Loop, which we completed with our 2006 48 Sea Ray Sundancer.  Our 6,150 mile journey, which had us living on board for 442 days, helped us become comfortable with the cruising lifestyle and living on a boat.  It also helped us better define what we wanted in our next boat. 

48 Sundancer before we installed the camper canvas

As you can imagine, the living space on a 48 foot express cruiser does not begin to compare to that of a 60 foot trawler.  While functional, the space is somewhat limited.  The 48 had two staterooms.  A V-berth master and a fully enclosed aft cabin with two bunks.  Unfortunately, with only 4 feet of head room, the aft cabin was really only usable for children.  It was, however, great for storage, which then fully reduced its use for guests and hence we had none.

Salon looking aft

V-berth master stateroom

Aft cabin bunk beds with limited headroom

The Great Loop also proved something else, which is critical if you are thinking of buying a trawler.  This is ability to cruise at 8 to 9 MPH.  In our 6,150 mile trip we burned 5,792 gallons, which can only be achieved with a 48 Sundancer by going at trawler speeds most of the time.  We also learned that while trawler speeds work well with a planning hull on calm water, which was the case on the rivers and the ICW, they do not work well on the ocean, which even on calm days has considerable movement.  When there were swells or waves, we needed to run the 48 on a plane to stabilize the boat and thus we traded stability for fuel economy, which virtually disappeared at 30 to 40 gallons an hour (as compared to 5 to 9 GPH at trawler speeds).

The current acquisition started with a visit to the Miami boat show in February 2011 where we became seriously interested in a Fleming 55.

Fleming 55 at the Miami Beach Boat Show

There was much to like about the Fleming 55, a boat that has been in production for over 10 years.  The quality is spectacular and the attention to detail as reflected by constant improvement makes this a very desirable boat.  According to Bill Parlatore, former editor of Passagemaker, Fleming makes ten boats per year and makes about 8 to 10 improvements per boat.  So in 30 boats, there will be over 300 improvements, some big and some small. 

http://www.flemingyachts.com/fleming55.html

The Fleming was also desirable as it was a stabilized trawler capable of long distance cruising at slow speeds.  With a 1,000 gallons of fuel, the Fleming has a range of 1000 miles at 10 KTS and 2000 miles at 8 KTS.  At 6 KTS the Fleming can travel 3000 miles.   The boat was also capable of 18 KTS (20 MPH) but with that came greatly increased fuel consumption (just under 50 GPH).  There was much to like including a spectacular pilot house.

There were also a number of features that, quite frankly, left us uncomfortable and hence reluctant to move forward.  One feature was the beautiful teak rails and teak trim that give the boat its classic trawler look. Unfortunately, the varnished teak rails requires considerable maintenance to keep them looking perfect.  Imagine leaving your piano out in the rain.

Another feature we liked was the fact that the Fleming had a very low center of gravity, which in part, was achieved by reducing the head room in the engine room.  You could not stand up and the engine room felt cramped.  It was somewhat difficult to access through the hatches, one located in the galley and the other on the aft deck.  One feature we felt essential was a walk-in stand-up engine room.

The Fleming was perfect in that it was a three stateroom boat, but, unfortunately, the master stateroom was located in the V-berth.  The 48 also had its master in the V-berth and thus we had "years" of experience living with this location.  We found it less than desirable.

The Fleming has a very large mostly (70%) uncovered aft deck.  Great if you're a sun worshiper but not good if you prefer to stay out of the direct sun.  We covered the 48 Sundancer's cockpit with a camper canvas as shown in the photo below.  While it was possible to add a canvas shade to the Flemings aft deck, it still would not cover the entire area.  A "camper canvas" would be not be practical and would effect the boat's extraordinarily beautiful lines (as it did somewhat with the Sea Ray's).

We also looked at many other boats including a Marlow 57 (a planing hull with too much brightwork), an Ocean Alexander 60 (two staterooms), a Grand Banks 59 Aleutian Class (another planning hull with brightwork) and a Krogen 58 (no stairs to the flybridge - a Kodi problem).  Lovely boats but all had features and trade-offs that eliminated them for us.

Then we discovered the Outer Reef 63.  There was a new (untitled) 2010 CPMY (Cockpit Motor Yacht) with 100 hours for sale in Seattle that the builder had built on spec to promote the boat on the west coast.  There was much to like:

• Great lines
• Covered aft deck (although a bit small)
• Walk-in engine room with 6 feet of headroom
• Master stateroom located amid ship with walk-around bed
• Three staterooms with a large V-berth VIP guest stateroom
• Brightwork limited to the aft cockpit (still not 100% to our liking)
• Stairs from the pilothouse to the flybridge
• Walk-around decks
• Fiberglass hardtop
• Open layout

63 Outer Reef CPMY

The performance specifications also compared favorably to the Fleming.  At 10 KTS, the 63 burns 11 GPH yielding a range of 1,118 nautical miles (1,359 statute miles), At 8 KTS, the burn is 5.2 GPH yielding a 2,000 nautical mile range. (2,300 statute miles).  Running at just over idle, around 6.5 KTS produces, conservatively, a range of over 3,000 nautical miles (3,450 miles).  The 63' top speed is around 14 KTS.

Use the link below for more photos and a virtual tour.

http://www.outerreefyachts.com/index.cfm?p=yachts/yacht&x=24&h=01

The living space was really the high point with three features standing out.  The first was the open layout.  Traditional trawlers have three rooms on the main deck.  A salon, a galley and a pilot house all separated by bulkheads (walls).  The 63 had no walls.

63 open layout looking forward

The second feature was the fact that the 63 has a large galley and a full size side by side refrigerator.  In fact all the appliances are GE full size and included a diswasher and trash compactor. Storage is considerable.

The third feature was the master stateroom which is located just forward of the engine room.  This room featured a real king size bed, two large hanging lockers (closets), cabinets with drawers and shelving, end tables with drawers and a large master head.

There were also a few things we did not like but none of these were enough to rule the 63 out.  We did not like the cockpit or that fact that it was trimmed with beautiful varnished teak (read as high maintenance).  We viewed the cockpit as six feet of space that we would not use.  Why drag it around?  The boat also had limited electronics although that problem was easily remedied.

I surveyed the 63 in Seattle in June of 2011 and had the opportunity to see first hand the quality of the boat's construction and the utility of its layout.

Now to the new boat.  Because we were building we now had choices.  We could build a 63 CPMY or a 63 Long Range Motor Yacht (LRMY), which is what we chose.  The LRMY addressed our two minor disappointments.  It eliminated the cockpit and the associated brightwork.

Starboard side view of the 63 LRMY

The trade-odd was spectacular. Both the salon and the aft deck became larger.  Notice that the LRMY has three salon windows as compared to two on the CPMY.  We are opting for a layout with the TV aft in an enlosed cabinet with a power lift.

Salon layout  which will be similar to the Outer Reef 70

In addition to being longer, the aft deck now contained an uninterrupted settee, room for deck chairs and enough space for a cabinet containg a small refrigerator, sink and a trash container.  The boat deck (above the salon and aft deck) also became larger as did the lazarette below the aft deck.

Otherwise, all the basic specifications remained the same:

63' 1" overall length

17' 2" beam

5' draft

Twin 503 HP Caterpillar C9 ACERT (electronic diesels)

1300 gallon fuel capacity

300 gallon water capacity

100 gallon black water capacity

73,000 lbs displacement

Talk about having your cake and eating it too.

Written by Les