BLACKFIN 32
by Charles Jannace
After a visit from three gentlemen with machine guns, who informed us that only Communists can teach workmen, we realized we had made a mistake and left the country on the next plane, while we still could. The flight was to Panama, so we went to Panama, and then to Honduras, and then to Miami. We had to bounce three nuns off the plane to get us the seats, but I figured the guys with machine guns were not after them. I was wrong.
In 1976, my partners in the Salvadorian venture, Irv Resnick and Sheldon Bernstein, decided to try again with a 31-foot fly bridge sportfisherman here in the good ole U.S.A—a little less gunfire, and a little less arson. We started RAJ Yachts in Hollywood, Florida. RAJ means Resnick And Jannace. Sheldon didn’t want his name on a boat company in South Florida.
My so-called business plan was to create a boat that would capture 10 percent of the Bertram 31’s sales. We figured if we could sell one boat per large Florida city per year, we could make a good profit. Eventually, as the Blackfin 32, she knocked the Bertram 31 right out of the marketplace.
I designed a true 31-foot LOA (the Bertram 31 may be somewhat shorter than 31) engine boxes, deep-vee hull, 11-foot, 8-inch beam (hull out of the mold), with lots of flare, and a huge flying bridge. I tried to correct some of Bertram’s shortcomings, such as a hard, wet ride, very small flying bridge. She was to have 22 degrees of deadrise at the transom, but the boatbuilder, Pete Snider, and I may have had a wee bit too much St. Pauli’s Girl beer for lunch one day, and she came out with 21 degrees. But she still ran beautifully.
There are two ways to design a new boat; the first way is to decide what you want to put into the boat, and then fit a hull around it. This is what you do if you want to sell the boat to Americans. The second way is to design the best hull for the sea conditions, then put into it what fits. This is the way I built the boat.
Pete built the hull plug, while I built the deck/deckhouse/flying bridge plug. The superstructure was unusual in that it was all one piece. The house and bridge were NOT add-ons. The hull plug was actually a boat. This was my idea, and I was wrong!
The eyebrow was a donut, and was glued on to the housetop. The control console was an island, and sat on the aft end of the fly bridge, with three seats forward, and three seats aft of it. Sheldon was annoyed at the RAJ’s fly bridge, because it had more room than the bridge on his Bertram 46. Access to the bridge was by two ladders on top of the engine boxes. Two ladders help with traffic control when you have those panic parties involving screaming, and running up and down the ladders.
In 1976, my partners in the Salvadorian venture, Irv Resnick and Sheldon Bernstein, decided to try again with a 31-foot fly bridge sportfisherman here in the good ole U.S.A—a little less gunfire, and a little less arson. We started RAJ Yachts in Hollywood, Florida. RAJ means Resnick And Jannace. Sheldon didn’t want his name on a boat company in South Florida.
My so-called business plan was to create a boat that would capture 10 percent of the Bertram 31’s sales. We figured if we could sell one boat per large Florida city per year, we could make a good profit. Eventually, as the Blackfin 32, she knocked the Bertram 31 right out of the marketplace.
I designed a true 31-foot LOA (the Bertram 31 may be somewhat shorter than 31) engine boxes, deep-vee hull, 11-foot, 8-inch beam (hull out of the mold), with lots of flare, and a huge flying bridge. I tried to correct some of Bertram’s shortcomings, such as a hard, wet ride, very small flying bridge. She was to have 22 degrees of deadrise at the transom, but the boatbuilder, Pete Snider, and I may have had a wee bit too much St. Pauli’s Girl beer for lunch one day, and she came out with 21 degrees. But she still ran beautifully.
There are two ways to design a new boat; the first way is to decide what you want to put into the boat, and then fit a hull around it. This is what you do if you want to sell the boat to Americans. The second way is to design the best hull for the sea conditions, then put into it what fits. This is the way I built the boat.
Pete built the hull plug, while I built the deck/deckhouse/flying bridge plug. The superstructure was unusual in that it was all one piece. The house and bridge were NOT add-ons. The hull plug was actually a boat. This was my idea, and I was wrong!
The eyebrow was a donut, and was glued on to the housetop. The control console was an island, and sat on the aft end of the fly bridge, with three seats forward, and three seats aft of it. Sheldon was annoyed at the RAJ’s fly bridge, because it had more room than the bridge on his Bertram 46. Access to the bridge was by two ladders on top of the engine boxes. Two ladders help with traffic control when you have those panic parties involving screaming, and running up and down the ladders.
