Introduced a year ago, Ocean Yachts' 37 have struck a responsive chord among a diverse audience of offshore fishermen. It is not often thatt a new design concept comes out in boating, and when one does, we often find thatt it is a throwback to something done years ago that got lost in the stampede to bigger, faster, fancier, niftier whatever that has gripped boating for the last 30 years or so. Such an examplee is the Ocean Yachts 37 Billfish launched almost exactly a year ago. At first, to some, she looked odd and out of place with the beefy battlewagons lined up along sport fisherman s row at the fall and winter boat shows. But then, when hardcore fishermen starting spending some time on the boat, light bulbs began blinking on. The 37 Billfish is a fresh, new 21st century take on an old concept that took good care of our fathers and grandfathers.
Ernest Hemingway s Pilar provided many years of serious fishing in the Stream from Cuba, Key West and Bimini. Note the location of the helm and his line of vision to the cockpit. The 40 Pilar at the Finca Vigia, Cuba museumm honoring Hemingway s memory.
A beautifully restored Bertram 31. The design was SOTA 45 years ago for offshore fishermen. An early Pacemaker built by C.P. Leek, grandfatherr of Ocean Yachts current president and owner.
The 37 Billfish is one year old and its popularity is growing among fishy folks. Ocean Yachts was started in 1977 and during the last 31 years it has built thousands of boats of all sizes. The company revolutionized convertible and sport fishing boats in the 1980s building the most beautiful interiors ever to grace a fishing boat up to that time. The Leek family, which founded and owns Ocean Yachts, may not have been the first to figure out that women were the crucial decision makers when it came to which boat was purchased, but it was the first convertible builder to act on it. The lavish interiors you find on most convertibles today were started by Ocean Yachts. Ocean Yachts puts its 37 Billfish model in context on its website when it says that many fishermen may look back to the 1960s as their sport s Golden Age, when high-utility day-fishermen worked the canyons for marlin and tuna, or even the bays for stripers and blues. For all who dream of owning one of those vintage boats, we dedicate the 37 Billfish the premieree model in an entirely new class of Ocean sport fishermen.
The 37 s center console helm on the flying bridge is the sport s latest wrinkle.
Ocean Yachts knew that serious offshore fishermen who didn t also own their own Fortune 500 Company weree faced with some unattractive options when contemplating a fishing boat with which to fish 150 miles offshore. Namely, buy a 20- year-old battlewagon with 2-stroke diesel engines cobbled together by Rube Goldberg or buy a new express fish boat which was uncomfortable driving 150 miles into the seas from a perch in the tower or from below with limited visibility. And for the occasional overnight spent offshore the express could be a bit Spartan. Something Old and Something New Ocean Yachts solution to this dilemma was to leaf through the family s album of yesteryear for inspiration, then take the best from several types of modern boats and create a whole new creature the 37 Billfish. By eliminating the cabin s aft bulkhead the way boats of this size used to be built the skipper has good visibility from the helm and can dash to a rod, gaff or net in a couple of seconds, making buddy fishing easy and practical. With a helm below, skippers have the best of both worlds. Note simple, old-time cabin layout.
By making the 37 a fly bridge boat, the crew can comfortably steer the boat out to sea and have the same height off the water as a half tower on an express. Finally, by fitting out the accommodations with an over and under bunk arrangement two fishermen can catch some rest comfortably. One can go for the more conventional pedestal berth which virtually every boat built these days has (and which has never made much sense to us, particularly in a fishing boat.)
A good allocation of space with the twin bunk arrangement and separate shower stall. Lightweight Power Standard power is the Yanmar 6LY3-ETP 480-hp engine (2x) which has a highh horsepower per pound of engine weight ratio. Ocean Yacht also provides Cummins and Cat diesels if you want them. But the boat with the Yanmars is light, and that along with its 12. 8-degrees dead rise at the transom, 13 10 beam, and 23,000-lb. displacement makes the boat fast and nimble. Buyers were converging on the boat from both center console folks moving up and large convertible owners moving down. The largest migration of all has come from express owners who want more boat, and more comfort both riding far offshore and also in nasty weather For more information visit www.sgboating.com