Since it will be a while before we can start down the flooded river system, I’ll take a little time to tell about the boat itself. She is a 1999 Ocean Alexander Classico 48/51, meaning that it is an OA Classico 48 that was stretched to 51 ft. The original owner, who at the time owned the Ocean Alexander dealership in Sturgeon Bay ordered the boat and had her built to his specifications, adding about two feet in the master bedroom, and an additional foot in the salon. She was named Noble House, for the owner’s wife’s favorite book. We were to change her name to Legacy.
She is equipped with twin 370 hp Lugger Diesel engines, (detuned from 425 hp for reliability), and twin 8kw Northern Lights Generators. Top speed is around 12 knots, but cruising speed is roughly 9 knots. Stabilization was a must have on this boat, as my wife Kristin can be prone to sea sickness occasionally. Stabilizers are two hydraulically operated fins that protrude from both sides of the boat, rotating as needed to minimize the dreaded side to side roll. The starboard stabilizer is shown below during the out of water inspection.
The boat is also equipped with both bow and stern thrusters, making her not only the largest boat I’ve ever driven, but at the same time the easiest boat to dock. Between having two engines to help maneuver, adding the two thrusters to the mix almost makes it too easy! A HD DirecTV satellite system keeps cable TV at our beck and call, and a watermaker helps tremendously.
She carries 300 gallons of fresh water and a total of 760 gallons of diesel fuel.
For navigation, she has two totally separate sets of electronics for redundancy. One set is in the flybridge up top, the other is at the helm in the salon. Simrad chartplotters, Furuno radar, autopilot, Micro Commander electronic engine controls with auto engine sync, along with the usual array of depth finders, compasses, VHF radio, etc. I could go on, but this gives everyone but the extreme boat geeks such as myself a good overall idea of the vessel.