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Out where the land disappears from the horizon, the water runs cobalt
blue and monster fish travel the thermoclines in a never-ending search
for food. This is a special place with a capricious and sometimes dangerous
nature.
It takes a certain kind of vessel to be out here: a fishing machine that
is a good sea boat in the heaviest of weather, offers the comfort and
range necessary to chase big fish, and is rigged with all the equipment
required to succeed. Among the few marques that have endured in the rarified
world of big-game fishing, the name Hatteras has become synonymous with
strength and dependability. Now with the addition of the completely redesigned
65 Convertible, this North Carolina-based builder offers one of the most
extensive lines of tournament-ready fishing boats available today. From
her distinctive sheerline to her sleek superstructure to the dizzying
top of her optional tower, the 65 is a no-nonsense, big-shouldered powerhouse.
And just so there’s no doubt as to what kind of muscle we’re
talking about, I’ll offer this bit of information: My test boat was
equipped with a pair of 1,800-hp DDC-MTU 16V2000s that after spooling
up to 2350 rpm, powered this 103,000-pounder over the placid waters of
New York’s upper Hudson River at a speed just a tick over 40 mph.
The 65’s toughness is a Hatteras tradition, for she’s built
with the kind of attention to detail that’s expected of a boat that
regularly plies the treacherous waters just beyond the company’s
New Bern facility. Chief among them is legendary Oregon Inlet, known for
its often roiling, hair-raising conditions. It’s no wonder that this
boat was built to withstand the rigors of the worldwide offshore tournament
circuit. To do so, Hatteras starts at the bottom. The hull is solid fiberglass
below the waterline, with nonabsorbent PVC foam coring instead of the
more permeable balsa coring used in the sides. The hull and deck are assembled
using a shoebox joint and a four-part bonding process: adhesive caulking,
Monel screws every three inches, fiberglass bonding on the inside, and
the reinforcement of a 1 1/4-inch 316L stainless steel rubrail.
The engine beds are steel plates encapsulated in fiberglass. Hatteras
prefers this instead of steel I-beam mounting because, according to the
company, it not only more evenly distributes the tremendous forces generated
by the big diesels, but also reduces the amount of vibration transferred
to the rest of boat. The remainder of the stringer system is composed
of all-fiberglass members injected with two pounds of nonstructural closed-cell
urethane foam per cubic foot, virtually eliminating a chance of water
intrusion. Athwartships stringers are of PVC encapsulated in fiberglass.
No structural plywood is used.
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