Robert H. Perry Yacht Designers - Currently in Design

Currently in Design - A Carbon Power Cruiser

I have a friend who likes long and skinny boats. He has one of my custom long and skinny sailboats now but he thinks it might be time to do a powerboat.

This will be an all carbon fiber build at the Jim Betts yard where they are building my carbon fiber cutters. The idea is for a highly efficient boat for cruising the PNW. We have chosen a 150 HP Volvo diesel with a variable pitch prop, probably a Hundested, to optimize performance. The goal is a top speed of 14 knot and a 12 knot cruise speed with an abundant range. The tender will be the PT nester 12’ dinghy. Accommodations are for two couples and every effort has been made to keep this boat very simple. Note the mini flying bridge for better visibility docking and maneuvering in close quarters.

I am more excited about this project than any I have done for a long time. It’s stimulating to do something very new.
We are still in the formative stages of this design and many changes will certainly come. I’ll keep you up to speed as it progresses.

Bob P.

Currently in Design - Quail

My friend Keith has a lovely boat now. It’s a Hinckley 42, QUILL. Keith loves his boat. But Keith was getting the urge to do a custom boat. Not because he needed a new boat but because he wanted the experience of doing a boat that would reflect a unique image of his approach to life on the water. To me that’s what custom designs are all about. There are lots of nice new and used boats out there that will do the job just fine. But, a custom boat can be wrapped around the personality and experiences of the client to project a unique and very personal image. The owner may have a picture in his head of exactly how he sees himself under sail. It’s my job to bring that mental image to life. I am pretty confident that I am very good at that job.

First off the new Quail had some pragmatic considerations that were not options. There was a nearby bridge that limited our “air draft”. There was Chesapeake Bay with its shallow water that limited our draft. With rig height limited by the bridge boat size also was limited. I could not simply put a big boat under a small rig. I chose an LOA of 46.2’ with a DWL of 39.72’ and that’s substantially more waterline than Keith has on his Present QUILL. Beam was kept on the low side at 12.6’ and displacement is moderate at a bit over 25,000 lbs..

The challenge with this design was to make it conform to the pragmatic conditions imposed by the area of operation while making sure that performance would be better than the current Hinckley. At the same time Keith wanted a boat in the Hinckley style. It was clear after looking at the newest offering by Hinckley that they were moving off in a very different styling direction. This did not suit Keith. Keith wanted a boat with a NE aesthetic, i.e. a boat with ties to traditional American yacht styling. Of course this had to be done while elevating the performance to today’s standards. I chose a short overhang bow, not quite plumb but almost and modest overhang aft. I really like the look of this boat with its low freeboard and delicate but functional ends.

As far as the deck and interior layout was concerned I had it easy. My job was to make subtle improvements to exactly what Keith currently owns. That was easy. I’m a whizz at interior layouts. On deck I incorporated a fold down transom gate much like the one on JAKATAN to give easy access to the dinghy. The rest of the deck is very straight forward.

I think this is one of the nicest looking boats I have ever designed. I enlisted the extensive help of my pal Jody Culbert III. Jody is the master of the 3D modeling process. Jody takes my 2D acad drawings and turns them into virtual photographs of the finished yacht. This is extremely helpful to the client who is not totally comfortable reading 2D drawings. We can massage shapes and spaces until the client sees exactly what he wants. Jody can read my mind and knows almost exactly how I like shape issues resolved. I truly love working with Jody. He makes me look good.

So now we sit and wait for Keith to finish his major residence remodeling job and hopefully after that his thoughts will turn back to QUAIL and we can get this project underway.

Currently in Design - Pacific Seacraft South Sea 61