Pushing the Styling Envelope
Beating the Drum (sticks) For a New Concept
What you will read now is about a bold new design, which is the epitome of what a custom yacht should be – a vessel tailored to the owner’s exacting specifications. She was conceived for Mr. and Mrs. E. R. Haverstraw of Point Pleasant, New Jersey. The Haverstraws are turkey farmers who have done extremely well in the business. Mr. and Mrs. Haverstraw have been lifelong boaters (this is their 21st boat) and they have always dreamed of building a custom yacht that was a bit different.
Oscar Meyer Wienermobile Afloat
This exciting 70-footer (dubbed by the wise guys in our office the “Butterball 70”) is truly something different and exciting in the yacht market. When we first met with the Haverstraws, we thought they were joking but a substantial deposit check convinced us that this was real. Previously, yachts have paid homage to their owner’s professions simply by means of their names. We have seen vessels with names like “A Copy,” “Parts,” and “Airwaves”. These are names that cleverly describe the owner’s businesses – the very means for the creation of their magnificent vessels.
Mr. and Mrs. Haverstraw are unique individuals and wanted to go a step further by actually incorporating that which made them wealthy enough to build a yacht like this into the styling of the vessel. To my knowledge this is the first time anything like this has been done on a yacht – a sort of Oscar Meyer wienermobile afloat. This may be the start of a great new trend in yacht styling and as always, Tom Fexas Yacht Design is on the cusp of this development. I can foresee vessels styled as filling stations, high–rise apartments, ketchup dispensers, toothbrushes or feet to suit the owner’s business or profession. The Haverstraws expect beneficial tax ramifications since their boat will be a floating advertisement for Haverstraw Farms.
High Tech Turkey
This vessel will be named, fittingly, “Free Range.” She measures 70-feet 6 inches with an extremely wide beam of 22-feet and a draft of just 4-1/2. She displaces around 94,000# and is powered by twin Caterpillar 3412 engines of 1400 horse power each for projected speeds up to 30-knots. “Free Range’s” hull is of a new configuration developed in the test tank incorporating the benefits of a semi displacement hull (excellent low speed efficiency and seaworthiness) with the best attributes of a high-speed planing hull (high efficient speeds). Currently under construction at Palmer Johnson in Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin, her hull is high strength aluminum with a fiberglass main deck and superstructure.
Only a yard with extremely high skill levels could produce the lightweight hull and the desired effect of the superstructure. The “drumstick” radar arches were a particular challenge to the craftsman at the yard. Specialists who designed and built floats for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade were retained as consultants during superstructure fabrication. The superstructure is a “one off” piece developed on a male plug. Our office spent much time at the PJ yard where the plug was being built to ensure proper turkey like contours. Although exacting drawings were developed on our computers, only firsthand tweaking at the construction site could capture the desired effect.
Her hull is built of lightweight aluminum sheet – 3/16” on the bottom and 5/32” on the topsides with widely spaced transverse frames and closely spaced longitudinals (similar to the way aircraft fuselages are fabricated). Her very rounded superstructure utilizes Corecell foam and inner and outer skins of Brunswick Technologies Inc. 1603 Biaxial reinforcement. The variegated basted turkey color of the superstructure posed particular problems for the painters at the yard. Working with the good people at Awlgrip, small models were built and painters practiced with airbrushes to get the exact desired effect.
Thanksgiving on Board
The unusual superstructure opens up new possibilities for the vessel’s interior. The high, rounded pilothouse roof (turkey breast) produces a church-like space for the pilothouse/galley. The saloon just aft of the pilothouse is windowless except at its after section. It was deemed early on in the project that windows in this area would spoil the “drumstick effect” so they were deleted. This produced usable space at the sides of the saloon, which are lined with bookcases, and cabinets were windows might otherwise be. The elimination of large windows in this area also saved considerable weight.
The galley is fitted with a stainless steel commercial double oven capable of handling two 25-pound birds. The saloon is fitted with a huge dining table seating 12. As might be expected, Thanksgiving is the Haverstraw’s favorite holiday and they expect to celebrate many aboard. Down below, forward of the engine room are three large staterooms. A crew stateroom is located aft of the engine room.
The Haverstraws have gone to great lengths to appropriately detail and accessorize the vessel. An example, is the unique “gobble, gobble” computerized air horn developed at great expense by Kahlenberg specifically for this vessel. Of special note is the meat thermometer mast atop of the pilothouse skillfully fabricated at Palmer Johnson. The name board on the transom will be framed by beautifully carved turkey wattles.
“Free Range” will be launched this summer and will cruise the Northeast United States. She will then be shown at the Norwalk Boat Show, the Annapolis Boat Show and at Fort Lauderdale this October. The Haverstraws realize that “Free Range” may not be everybody’s cup of tea (or platter of turkey) but this is their dream vessel come true. They understand the resale market may be extremely limited but simply don’t care. With new boats today looking more and more like melted marshmallows or amoebas, “Free Range” presents a refreshing new perspective to yacht styling.
Tom Fexas Yacht Design is honored to be involved in this “once in a lifetime” project. After reading this piece, I’m sure you must think that ol’Fexas is rowing without oarlocks and has completely gone ‘round the bend.
But you must realize that it is (on or about) April 1st, and you have once again been fooled.
(Reprinted with permission of Regina Fexas.)
If you would like to read more of Tom's pearls of wisdom, tune in next Friday -- "Fexas Friday."
Better yet, why not get a full dose of infectious Fexas whenever you need it -- and buy one of the volumes below. Better yet, why not buy all of them -- we call them the "Fexas Five." They will provide many evenings of fun reading (better than Netflix), and you'll make the widow Regina very happy knowing that Tom will live on with you the way most of us remember him.
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Tom Fexas (1941-2006) was one of the most influential yacht designers of the last quarter of the 20th century. With the narrow Wall Street commuters that were built in the 1920s and '30s always on the back of his mind, he wanted to design boats that were at once fast, comfortable, seaworthy and economical to operate. Over the years, he and his firm designed over 1,000 yachts for some of the most prestigious boat builders in the world, including Choey Lee, Palmer Johnson, Grand Banks, Mikelson Yachts, Burger, Abeking & Rasmussen and many others.
Even though toward the end of his career he only designed megayachts and superyachts, including the remarkably influential PJ "Time" in 1987, he is best remembered for his first major vessel in 1978 -- Midnight Lace -- which became a series of 44-52-footers. They were light, narrow, and fast with relatively small engines. He was also influential in the boating community because of the monthly column he wrote for Power and Motoryacht, which began in its very first issue in January 1985.