There are times you get to work with dynamic and energetic clients. There are times you get to work with boat yards that you have wanted to for years. There are times when the boat is truly unusual but without the quirky pitfalls that usually accompany such a statement. There are times when the end product turns out better than the sum of its parts. Black Douglas was such a once in a career project.
Like most projects it began with an intense prelim-inary design effort. The boat started out smaller and grew as it had to as we incorporated the var-ious elements that the owner required. The daily conversations with the owner were intense, but not that unusual.
Because of scheduling issues for the owner and the boat yard, however, the time required to develop the
plans was collapsed into an tight and demanding schedule. The decision to start the design process was a bit like like pulling the pin on a grenade. Our involvement proceeded throughout the build
Particulars:
LOA
94'-04"
LWL
87'-06"
Beam:
23'- 00"
Draft:
6'- 06"
Weight:
325,500 lbs
Fuel:
6200 gal.
Water:
1075 gal.
Power:
5000 hp x 2
Hull/House:
Steel /Alum
Profile
Arrangement 1
Arrangement 1
Arrangement 3
Black Douglas looks very much unlike most of the trawlers you see in the pages of boating magazines. That does not mean quirky or unusual for its own sake. She just has a straightforward businesslike sensibility. The first boat had a shorter deckhouse than that shown above. You can see pictures of her in our Dreams Coming True section. The reason for that choice was the 21-foot aluminum fishing boat that she carried on deck. To handle that sizable load a hefty reel-winch style crane was incorporated as part of the aluminum stack system. For the more yacht
oriented owner for whom we developed the version above, a simpler conventional crane was incorporated for handling the deck boat. Even so we kept the dominant twin stack which was such a striking feature of the initial design.
Beyond the powerful look, the stack system also offers great advantages. It provides an ideal place for antennas, radars etc. Beyond that, the catwalk between the stacks is a great observation point from which the boat can actually be run during shallow water or other operations. There are complete operating controls up on the stack including throttles, jog stick, thrusters and more.
While the first owner was looking for an adventure platform that he could take hunting and fishing, the second client, who requested the above modifications, was looking for more of a family friendly boat. More staterooms, playroom, a larger salon and comfor-table seating area on the aft deck were among the many changes such requirements suggested. In each case we also kept the large engine room and utility room aft. Black Douglas was all steel, with an aluminum stack system with a welded attachment using the Detacouple material.
Having gone through the design exercise for very divergent kinds of cruisers, it became clearly evident that the Black Douglas class offers a lot of space that can readily be tailored to a host of differing requirements. It is ideally suitable for a full time live aboard or a few weeks afloat each season. It can handle serious offshore cruising with it's efficient stabilizers and safety gear or comfortable coastwise work. The choice is yours.
