On The Fishy Side

Modern technology…WOW! We just finished building all the large molds for the 37, and I thought we would stick the plugs together to see how they look and fit. (Plugs are what the molds are built from, they are full scale replicas of the parts that will come out of the mold.) I stood there looking at the plugs for about five minutes and I think my exact words were, “Man, this is sweet.” Not only was it amazing to see my creation start to come to life, but the fit from part to part was so exact! I designed the entire boat using a program called Rhino 3-D. Ocean has been using Rhino to design parts of their boats for over 10 years now, but this is the first time using it on a new design project from start to finish. The old school way was to design the boat by hand on paper first, and then plug it all in to the computer later.

Designing this boat on the computer from scratch really forced me to think out every detail of assembly in advance, instead of just drawing a nice looking boat now and figuring out the details as we went. And what makes using this 3-D modeling program even more effective is the 5-axis CNC technology available for tooling. The design of each of our parts was emailed to a company in Florida called Marine Concepts where the plugs were carved out of a block of structural foam using a computerized router. And talk about having to make your design perfect, the router spits out exactly what you put in, so there’s zero room for error. The plugs were finished down there and then trucked up to Ocean’s R & D shop to build the molds. I’ve been in the marine tooling biz for 20+ years and I have to say I’m very much impressed. The exactness of the CNC milling was amazing. Designing this boat in 3-D was a real milestone for our company. I learned to tool boats using traditional lofting methods so I’m a bit old school myself. But I believe that with the diverse talent our company has and with the new technology we posses the doors are wide open for future designs. When I put those two plugs together out on the plant floor, and they fit perfectly, that was all the proof I needed.

As you can see, the Ocean 37 has a look all its own. No other production boat builder is making anything like it. With it’s open aft bulkhead/hard enclosure concept, this boat will be sure to please the express boat owners who are sick of leaky windshields and enclosures. The flybridge on the 37 adds another whole dimension beyond what an express boat offers. It affords the flexibility of commanding the action from the flybridge when you have a full crew on board, or the ability to run the boat from the lower steering station on the salon deck if you are just fishing with a buddy or two.

Throughout all of Ocean’s product line, with all the ruffles and frills, I sometimes wonder if we forget why we go boating. Somewhere between the automatic blinds, electric doors, and pop-up televisions we can forget that we own boats to be at sea! The 37 is designed to be a simple day boat built for exactly what people love about boating, being out on the water. On the 37, with its open aft bulkhead, side windows, and front windshield, the owner will be able to enjoy his or her surroundings on the water, breath in the open air, and take in the views from all around.

The design of the Ocean 37 has intentionally been kept simple. Ocean Yachts has always been proud that we build boats for owner-operators and we constantly hear that we manufacture the easiest boat to care for. The 37’ will be a shining example of that. Things like the molded gel-coat stringers that go from stem to stern (like our warranty) will be appreciated by our owners when they need to wipe away any debris that may fall into bilges or engine room. Simplified systems like the fuel system, head system, and water system will make the boat easy to care for, so you can spend more time actually enjoying your boat. The gel-coat finish throughout the salon deck will be simple and clean. The boat can be hosed and shammied, then forgotten about until you are ready to go boating again.

With this opportunity to add the smallest model to our fleet comes the ability to grow in manufacturing techniques, assembly processes, and built-in quality. Ocean Yachts is constantly testing new methods and materials that could enhance the way we build our boats. With this boat more than ever, we will be able to implement some new technologies and make them part of our normal production. The single biggest new technique we will be implementing is a fully-molded stringer system that will be bonded to the hull with Plexus, a fiberglass fusion material. We have been using Plexus for the past ten years with much success. We began experimenting with it on our demo boats in non-structural locations. Once it proved its strength and durability, we began using in more areas. Now we are so confident with it (and other manufacturers in the industry are too) that we will be bonding our stringer system into the 37 using it.

The stringer system is a feat of engineering in itself. This stringer system incorporates all longitudal and transverse members, all panel stiffeners, all floor supports, and all other hull structure. The beauty of this system, is that when it comes out of the mold, it is a shiny gel-coated part. The raw side goes down and gets bonded to the hull with Plexus, and the pretty side is up leaving a shiny white finish in the boat’s engine room, bilges, and lazarette. Although more difficult to build than a traditional stringer system, the new system will add quality to our product and provide a beautiful low maintenance product to the customer.

A traditional style boat with today’s building practices, thats one of the things that make this an interesting design project. We have been jokingly calling it “Old school style with new school technology”. Well that’s how our design started out anyway. I’m about four weeks and about 150 changes into the design and the 37 profile is starting to take shape. It now has a tasteful blend of traditional and modern style. It’s funny how boat designs can evolve. Sometimes it turns out to be nothing like your original thought, but ending up being exactly what you want. It’s amazing how subtle changes in the design can make such a big difference.

The arrangement plan for the 37 is another challenge. We always have to come up with a better layout than the other guy. That’s not always easy to do, especially in a 37 foot boat. So there we are, all sitting around the conference table, which you can’t see because there are many, many, and did I say many… sets of plans covering the top. We are looking for the best arrangement plan we can get that would be the most useful to a person who likes to fish. Well, we spent a great deal of time and of course a box of pencils and erasers. But when we were through, I can say we all left that room satisfied that we were on the right track to designing the best arrangement plan for this particular boat.

One of our important decisions in the development of this project was to create a hull form based off of Ocean’s successful rough water planing hulls. Every new Ocean model over the past 6 or 7 years has been designed with rough water performance in mind. Ocean’s new hulls have a deep-vee forward with a modified-vee at the transom. They also feature two down-angled lifting strakes (one on each side) and a tapered double chine. These features contribute to Ocean’s excellent hull efficiency, and the deep-vee forward keeps the ride smooth even in the roughest seas. After years and years of being an understudy to Dave Martin, Mike Hartline was the perfect choice of Naval Architect for this in-house project, and has stepped up and is doing a superb job designing the 37’ and it’s hull bottom. When you look at it’s lines you can see Dave Martin’s legacy with a Mike Hartline flair. From this new 37′ hull, we expect the same great speed and ride as the other Oceans without all the extra horses to push it!

John Leek III came into my office the other morning and stood in the doorway with his coffee. “Mike, you know those old Merritts? Nice fishing boats, that’s all you need, something comfortable just to get you out there. And if you need to stay over night, you can”, he says. “You hear this kind of dock talk quite a bit. When one goes by, everybody’s head turns. Even the guys on 60 footers”, he adds. “I think Johnny (John Leek IV or J4 as we call him) has an idea.” He’ll be over later to talk about it. A couple of hours later J4 and Terence Watson are sitting in my office saying they might have a little project for me. Then after about an hour of chit-chat and some what-ifs there was a moment of silence and then… “Well, do you want to do it?” Of course I did. “Yeah, but it has to be done right”, I can remember J4 saying. Then the three of us agreed to spend a couple of weeks jotting down any ideas we could come up with and gathering all the information we could possibly find. And I was to start some preliminary plans using some of J4’s thoughts and specifications. We would meet again in two weeks. After they left my office I can remember telling myself, “Finally, something different that no one else is doing”.