Makaira 64
Ocean Yachts has launched what it is calling a “high-end semicustom sportfishing machine” — the Makaira 64.
“We already build sportfishing boats, of course, but we wanted to really dive in and carry out the custom work that many of our big-boat customers wanted,” says general manager John Leek IV.
Leek says the four-stateroom, three-head convertible excels in three areas: ride quality, construction and fishability. Steve French, owner of Applied Concepts Unleashed in Stuart, Florida, designed the boat with a narrow forefoot that transitions to a variable deadrise vee-hull that he calls the Waveform design. (It mimics the shape of a wave, with a mix of convexity and concavity.)
“This hull form is specifically tailored for handling large seas — meant to leave the inlet and run in chop, large swells, following seas, quartering seas — and do it in comfort,” says French. “She’s designed to stick to the water, rolling off the seas at the chines to avoid spray.”
Ocean builds the Makaira 64 using resin infusion construction, sandwiching a composite core between fiberglass skins. “We wanted super-strong construction, but we also wanted to be smart about weight,” says Leek. “And we were able to get the most significant weight reduction by coring the bottom.”
Accommodations include a crew suite with its own stairs, head/shower, laundry and forward engine-room access. The master stateroom sits amidships, with two guest staterooms forward. The port-side galley faces a starboard settee. A huge settee/dinette fills the area just abaft the blacked-out windshield, with stairs to starboard. The skipper drives from the flybridge center helm or the tuna tower. A lower helm, as well as other modifications, are available, says Leek.
Powered with twin 1,920-hp Caterpillar diesels, she tops out at 42 knots and cruises at 30 to 36 knots. Fuel capacity is nearly 2,000 gallons. “No question, she is fully equipped for long-range travel,” Leek says.
The development of the Makaira — Makaira is the genus to which marlin belong — began about eight years ago but was put on the back burner until the economy improved. “This was a hard-fought victory, getting this boat built,” says Leek. “It required a lot of patience and hard work.”
SPECIFICATIONS
LOA: 64 feet, 3 inches
BEAM: 18 feet, 9 inches
DISPLACEMENT: 85,000 pounds dry
HULL TYPE: Waveform variable deadrise
DRAFT: 5 feet, 2 inches
SPEED: 42 knots top, 35.5 knots cruise
TANKAGE: 1,800 gallons fuel, 250 gallons water, 75 gallons waste
PROPULSION: twin 1,920-hp Caterpillar C32A diesels
PRICE: $4.5 million fully equipped (tuna tower, electronics, teak cockpit and mezzanine, Release helm chairs and rocket launcher, interior upgrades, Sea Torque BOSS shaft)
CONTACT: Ocean Yachts, Egg Harbor, New Jersey
PHONE: (609) 965-4616.
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March 2015 issue