Introducing Fly N Fish

[Ironworker]

Fly N Fish formerly known as the Carolina Reaper, AKA The Pepper! This thread is in conjunction with the Resurrection of the Pepper. Fly N Fish is still not complete. I still have some glass and wood work to do in the cabin and some Haws Pipes to add, etc. The electronics and electrical work still needs to be completed.

I have fished her a season and she is a great boat! I'll dig through some additional photos of details and add them hopefully over the holidays.

If anyone wants some specific photos of finish details or during construction, I'll be happy to upload or send them to you. The boat is dirty but I thought some of these photos might help Shannon. She still has the hurricane ropes on and has not been cleaned up from the last storm but hopefully you can see through the dirt and stuff.

Many thanks to those on this forum who helped us with this project. Especially those who allowed me to visit their boats, measure and take multiple photos. I am more than happy to oblige the same to anyone on this forum. If you find yourself in the N. Palm Beach area or Spanish Wells, Eleuthera you are welcome to take a tour. Just PM me with a couple of days notice.

A couple of notable changes to the structure of the boat.

1. The Flybridge was widened 17 to 18". I filled in the step down and added a higher gutter at the back. This is a game changer for these boats IMO as it gives a dry easy to access electrical closet, more room for electronics and in dash storage. I split the flybridge into three pieces and spliced it back together to increase the width. I can go into details regarding the process of widening or wiring if anyone is interested. Thanks Bang O Rang!

2. This boat has two aux fuel tanks that hold ~65 gallons each for a total fuel capacity of 350 gallons. The aux tanks gravity feed into the main tank. The tank fills are located under the engine box covers to keep the exposed gunnels clean.

3. I widened the outside chine 1 1/2" at the back and tapered to nothing about 18" from the bow to form a spray rail. I didn't have much experience in a B31 before this project but everyone who had, all warned me they were wet boats. The Fly N Fish is not a wet boat! Just the opposite. The spray rails work great! Thanks Reel Cowboy!

4. The boat has no generator. She has 1410 amphours of Lithium Iron Phosphate house batteries powered by a couple of 250 amp Balmar alternators coupled with Wakespeed voltage regulators. We use this boat as an weekender in the Bahamas and can spend several nights with no problem. The boat has built in Fridge/Freezer and Air Conditioning and holds 40 gallons of fresh water.

5. Virtually all the wood was removed (except a portion of some of the stringers) and everything that went back into the boat was Bluewater 26 Coosa and epoxy.

6. We built all the furniture, boxes and floors using B26 Coosa. This reduced the weight on these heavy components.

7. The forward and rear bulkheads were both moved. I have 9 feet clear in the cabin between the bulkheads. I'm 6'2"s and wanted the room to stretch out on the sofa. We have slept 6 people on the boat in the islands. two in the V berth, two in the main cabin and one on each of the engine boxes.

8. She is powered by Cummins QSB 5.9 enines with 380 hp each. She has ZF electronic gears using the Glenndinning controls system.

9. Storage was a big issue for me. There is rod storage under the sofa and cavernous storage under the cabin floor. On extended fishing trips we keep the fish in a Large fish bag. Generally we carry several hundred pounds of ice on these trips.

Regrets...my biggest regret was not basing the electrical structure around a 28 volt system. I had already ordered the motors/gears in 12 volt so for simplicitys sake, I stuck with the 12 VDC system otherwise I would recommend a complete refit going with a 28 VDC system.

[Ironworker]

A few more photos











[imghttps://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/dug6u3ylxtvw2v0w ... fosh&raw=1][/img]







More to come....

[Tony Meola]

Rick

I have to give it to you. She looks great and is a one of a kind.

Well, thought out and should serve you well.

[DanielM]

Rick

She looks great. The craftmanship that is shows up in these boats and on this board is impressive. Excellent work.

Glad you enjoyed the season on her.

[John F.]

Outstanding work. The flybridge modification is one of best mods I’ve seen to a B31. Beautiful boat. Congratulations

[Ironworker]

Rick

I have to give it to you. She looks great and is a one of a kind.

Well, thought out and should serve you well.

We spent a lot of time planning and discussing the project during the actual work. We didn't know enough to plan otherwise. We started with the project being a day boat but it transitioned to being weekender. Which brings up another regret in this project.

Regret #2. We spent a lot of time thinking about keeping the weight down. We trade off empty weight for more useful load which was a big plus, i.e. more fuel and fresh water. My regret was that we didn't use carbon fiber in the build. We could have lightened the boat even more. Also when we started this project my experience with fiberglass was ZERO. We watched a few Youtube videos and got some suggestions from folks on this board. By the time we had gone through 150 gallons of epoxy we started getting comfortable with the process.

[Ironworker]

Rick

She looks great. The craftmanship that is shows up in these boats and on this board is impressive. Excellent work.

Glad you enjoyed the season on her.

We over-glassed the boat somewhat. There is little to no flexing in the hull. I read carefully some of the old comments by Capt. Pat and others about flexing but in the end, my structural engineer self said to build stronger. Having a good Sanding and Faring dept paid off. The Sanding and Faring dept consisted of my bride and my Brother in law. We had a lot of volunteers along the way as well.

My boat was purpose built. Its a hard core fishing boat for the Bahamas. I get a lot of comments such as did I really need all the rod holders? The answer is we don't have enough!

[Ironworker]

Outstanding work. The flybridge modification is one of best mods I’ve seen to a B31. Beautiful boat. Congratulations

John,

I agree. I first saw this mod on DeWayne's boat the Bang O Rang in Pt. Pleasant. We actually made two trips to Point Pleasant to measure and photograph DeWayne's boat. We took a little different approach to the process. He split his in half and I split mine into three pieces with two spices.

This fiberglass mod can easily be done in a month over a winter layup. But once the glass work is completed one would want to rewire the boat.

[Ironworker]

Here are a few more photos of the cabin, spray rail and just having fun in a 31 Bertram especially for you guys up north.

[Ironworker]

A few more...

[Tony Meola]

Rick

What did you use to cover the deck in the cabin?

[Ironworker]

Rick

What did you use to cover the deck in the cabin?

I used SeaDek. It is the same product in the cockpit. It's super light, very comfortable and safe. Not slippery at all. Down side is it will get some small tears and nicks. The lifespan is 8 to 10 years. I hope to get 8 years.

[Tony Meola]

It should hold up longer in the cabin area. The deck itself takes a beating.

I am searching for something to put in my cabin to replace the Nautelex.

[Ironworker]

There must be 100 different flooring materials available these days. I went with SeaDek because it was the most comfortable on the feet and they made acquisition and installation easy. It was not the most durable product though. I've found the more durable the more uncomfortable.

[Carl]

Tony-

I bought cheap fake teak like product on eBay a couple years ago for cabin. My thought was quick n easy, see if I liked before buying something better.

A couple seasons and the stuff has held up to me, a person that stained a shirt before buying it.

Nautilex is a great product…but never looks better then ok in my opinion.

[Yannis]

I saw a 31 with fake teak that you could hardly distinguish from real teak. Especially the color was identical to real teak.
I think it was either easyteak or flexteak, look them up.

The problem with our boats is that they have a lot of sole hatches that require a lot of cutting around the curves, both on the hatch covers as well as the hatch periphery (my 28 has 3 hatches inside and 5 on the deck).

If you want to put fake teak outside, you might want to look into the declared temperatures that the material reaches. Some of them become un-walkable barefooted in the summer afternoon.

[Carl]

Rick- Fly N Fish looks amazing, top notch work done with a good eye in elevating the classic to the present.

[Ironworker]

Yannis,

I was able to eliminate all the hatches in the cockpit except for one which is the rear bilge hatch. It took a lot of planning but worth it.

[Ironworker]

Rick- Fly N Fish looks amazing, top notch work done with a good eye in elevating the classic to the present.

Carl,

Thanks! I appreciate the complement especially coming from you. Your advice to me regarding fiberglassing got me through the project. The pics I posted doesn't do the boat justice. I had been planning on holding off posting the pics until I got her completely finished and polished up, but between traveling, hurricanes and loosing both my dad and my wife's dad in one years we just haven't had time to make it happen.

I'm getting my garage ready for the next round of fiberglass projects in a couple of weeks. Hopefully by early April she will be mostly finished.

[Yannis]

Rick, at first, sorry for your losses, one is already a lot, two is too much...

I cant think of a reasonable way one could eliminate any of the 5 deck hatches in a 28. The deck in the 28 is a one piece huge and heavy grp slab, not 3 separate surfaces as in the 31. So, unless all these 5 hatches open, one cannot check anything belowdecks, like pumps, tanks, shafts, rudders...besides, why would anyone want teak on a deck? Only for aesthetics I guess but the simplicity of the glass deck is overwhelming.

In the cabin it’s a different story, but there again I have three hatches that I need to open frequently - water pumps, bilge pump, water tank, plus numerous crates with provisions, mainly soft drinks and various bottles that i visit daily.

The only place I would finally consider applying teak, whether real or fake, is the flybridge sole, mainly for aesthetics, plus so that our footprints and dirt in general are not as visible.

[Carl]

My condolences on your families loss.

I enjoy going along on your journey of rebuilt, to perfection with this hiatus in between. A time to use and dial in the balance of the build. I can’t see how you can improve, but I’m sure you will.

What is the reason for wishing you had gone 24 volt over 12.

[Carl]

…why would anyone want teak on a deck?

The original reason is teak offers the best traction wet or dry. It also hold up well being hard with a good amount of oil.

Today traction aside a teak deck elevates a boats appearance.

Me I love a teak deck, but hate the work and care it needs demands…even when left natural.

The cheap stuff on a roll I bought would not be suitable for outside use in my opinion. The edges are not clean, smooth or tapered to last the scrubbings it will take. That said, there are many companies that will come down measure up the boat, hatches, cutouts n all…plug into a computer to design a layout that looks great to you taste. I’ve seen with trim around hatches, corner molding designs, really nice and they install. Teak color or whatever you like. In my mind, it’s not teak, doesn’t pass for it, but an alternative that can add something over a plain fiberglass deck.

[Ironworker]

What is the reason for wishing you had gone 24 volt over 12.

Had I gone with a 24 VDC, I could have significantly reduced the size of the wire and simplified the wiring somewhat. That would have offloaded the weight as well.

When I started this project 24 VDC was mostly used in high end cruisers and the devices were more expensive. Now 24 VDC devices are much more prevalent while many devices can use both 12 or 24 VDC. 24 VDC is also more efficient for items like the Fridge, freezer and AC.

I briefly entertained the idea of using both 12 VDC and 24 VDC but that would have complicated the trouble shooting for the next guy so I decided against it.

[Yannis]

Rick,

I was looking at your pics and couldn't grasp why would you want a huge glass bowl placed on top of the counter....wouldn't it fall with the slightest wave and brake?
Then I realized it's the kitchen sink! Wow, it reminds me of sinks in some Italian superyachts !!!

[Ironworker]

Rick,

I was looking at your pics and couldn't grasp why would you want a huge glass bowl placed on top of the counter....wouldn't it fall with the slightest wave and brake?
Then I realized it's the kitchen sink! Wow, it reminds me of sinks in some Italian superyachts !!!

I originally had a small bar sink installed. I removed that and added the blue round sink which only cost US$ 69.00 including the faucet! I too had concerns about it moving but that sink is anchored pretty well and has withstood some pretty big seas.

Regarding adding bling to the cabin, I had originally planed on adding mahogany sea rails and trim around the front of the cabin. The glass sea rails that you see in the photos were just the backer for the wood. I think now I'm just going to clean up the glass sea rails a little and do the rest of the trim in fiberglass with some back lighting.

What you don't see in the photos is the ceiling. I haven't installed the finish ceiling yet. Thats on my list of additional projects. I'm planning on using a 1/4" high density coosa with a single layer of mat glass for the ceiling and paint it a light blue. If someone else has a better idea for the ceiling, I would appreciate the input.

[Snipe]

Rick she looks great one day I will have to stop in and see her in person. Very nice job hope your enjoying her!

[Ironworker]

Rick she looks great one day I will have to stop in and see her in person. Very nice job hope your enjoying her!

You are most welcome to come anytime. How about bringing your family to Spanish Wells for Spring Break. We should be there about that time.

[JeremyD]

What you don't see in the photos is the ceiling. I haven't installed the finish ceiling yet. Thats on my list of additional projects. I'm planning on using a 1/4" high density coosa with a single layer of mat glass for the ceiling and paint it a light blue. If someone else has a better idea for the ceiling, I would appreciate the input.

I'm doing the cheap route -

Used the existing plywood and contact glued some https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.thehul ... 4fca5b.jpg
"Home Depot Polywall" easy to clean - has a texture

[Yannis]

Have you looked into "stretch ceilings"?
You can even have a printed version with your own theme.

Look up Stretch Ceilings to see video on its application.

[Ironworker]

Jeremey,

I actually bought a couple of sheets of a similar material to use for the ceiling but I used it in my off-grid camper for the shower walls.

I may have to rethink what I planning. That certainly would be a heckva lot less work.

[Ironworker]

Have you looked into "stretch ceilings"?
You can even have a printed version with your own theme.

Look up Stretch Ceilings to see video on its application.

Thanks, I'll check it out tonight.

[Tony Meola]

Yannis

Stretch ceilings looks like a thin covering that goes over the existing ceiling. Looks like it goes up pretty easily.

Carl and Rick

I did some searching and found an outfit about 30 minutes from the Boat that handles Antico and Lonaseal for interiors and PlasDeck and PermaTeak for decks. They say the Antico and Lonaseal is easy DIY or they can do the install. I will have to chase them down and have a conversation with them.

[Yannis]

Tony,

The stretch ceiling goes under a "not so perfect" existing ceiling, so as to cover the imperfections but also avoid all plastering and cable/tube hiding etc.
Additionally, it can also cover whole cavities such as the underside of the 31's fb.

I have seen it in a hotel bathroom, probably to cover ceiling flaking due to humidity.
One thing I remember though, is that as I was taking a shower under such a stretch ceiling, the water droplets were dripping because this material is not like a wall that retains and spreads humidity; there is absolutely no bonding of water with the ceiling and as the droplets get heavier, they drop.
Think of a stretched balloon.

In a dry boat cabin however, it should look perfect.

[Amberjack]

Hopefully by early April she will be mostly finished.

Nice work on the boat Rick, I’m impressed especially as you did almost all the work yourself with your wife assisting. It is appropriate that you used the qualifier “mostly” as we Bertram owners know they are never finished, only passed along at some point to a new usually younger caretaker.

[Ironworker]

I've mentioned several times that one of my regrets was not using more carbon fiber in my project.

Here is an article on a boat called the Skinny Witch. Its a big boat that does over 50kts. 0 to 40 kts in 13 seconds!!! Its a carbon fiber boat. Even if you're not interested in fast boats this is a great article on boat building.

https://www.proboat.com/2025/01/building-skinny-witch/

Maybe I might have one more boat project in me?

[Tony Meola]

Rick

Interesting article. They don't say how she handles in rough water. I would think the lite weight might work against her in a head sea.

[Ironworker]

Rick

Interesting article. They don't say how she handles in rough water. I would think the lite weight might work against her in a head sea.

True, but there are always compromises in boats. The draft of this boat was a tad over 3' which is pretty impressive for a big boat. I'm curious about the fuel efficiency.

[Tony Meola]

We will find out at some point. Someone will test her and write about it.

[Carl]

It's a nice read, the build is cutting edge using carbon fiber and vacuum bagging. But, in the end what I see is a 55' sedan powered by 4000 hp of MTU diesels. I'd guess it could go fast and with the weight being mostly motor n fuel...not much draft. An easy cruise should be not bad on the pocket...at least compared to outboards or a 55' sportfish in a configuration we are accustomed to seeing...bridge, saloon,cabin, staterooms.

How is this much different than a HBC 65' Center Console with 5 Seven 627 hp outboards that hit 55mph, hell that's only 3000hp. They should put 6 of them on...

Maybe I need to see some real life use articles that show what makes her stand out from the pack and shine.

[Ironworker]

Carl,

There is a heckva lot of difference in any outboard powered boat both ride and handling vs a mid ship inboard powered boat. I live in S. Florida where its hard to give away a sportsfisherman that cruises at 20kts. Everyone wants a 50Kt boat. No doubt Outboards will generally be more efficient at the prop vs a fixed shaft inboard. However, I'm mostly interested in the composite hull construction techniques than the actual boat itself.

I think there is some real advantages to a guy rebuilding a 31 and using Carbon Fiber/composite coring in areas like the decking and engine boxes. Throw in new bulkheads and one could lighten up the boat 500 to 700 pounds which could go to more useful load.

I have a friend that had a 72' sailing cat built out of Carbon Fiber. Its an incredible boat and very fast. His boat is called "Pennmanship". They did a number of panel lay up tests for the hull prior to construction. The test was weight and its ability to withstand a close range shot from a 45 Auto without complete penetration.

[Carl]

I would take Skinny Witch over the outboards any day of the week and twice on Sundays. I'm not partial to the sedan style for visibility reasons and the top going back so far it has a downeaster look. Wonder why they are calling sportfish...whatever their boat, their build they do whatever. I like mid-ship diesel, big open cockpit. I dislike aluminum chunks on the transom cutting my view and space.

My point is a 55' hull with no superstructure going 50knots isn't all that impressive, especially with a pair of 1940hp MTU's. We hit 60mph in a customers 92' Sportfish 30 years ago...a true sportfish with huge bridge, 60' tower and 20' beam...yeah it had twice the hp, but almost twice the size plus the superstructure.

Carbon Fiber...yes, cutting edge and can be super light or super strong, hopefully just the right combination for very light and extremely very strong. Always nice if your hull can stop a .45. But in truth I've never been so mad at a boat to want to shoot it...especially when on it out at sea.

I can see where a 31 can be put on a good diet with carbon fiber. I do like how the 31 runs when light over the tops of the waves...down side being light is rolling more on a beam drift. The extra weight seems to mello the roll a bit.

Bertram Carbon Fiber, diet...diet has been discussed before. Are you familiar with the 32 Nassau? A 31 Bertram copycat made from cored vinylester resin. The guy that built or repped the build got slammed hard here for coring and for using a few of the sandbox members pictures in their website sales. He answered some questions but finally parted ways. Think a couple may have been built but never really took off...40 knots, strong and light.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3524

[Tony Meola]

Supposedly the best riding 31 is Fred Hasse's and it has or had the 3128 Cats in it.

At one of the Rendezvous down in AC, it was docked next to Harv's Bahia Mar, and it sat at least Two inches lower in the water.

[Carl]

"Best" is one of those arbitrary words based on someones opinion and as we all know everyone has one of their own...well most do others borrow other peoples...but that's a discussion for another day.

We have heard Bob Lico's words of how to balance and need for the weight and torque of the Cummins and pretty sure he would not be on board with the heavier Cats and not a fan of the lighter Yanmars. We know UV and Fred Hasse said the 31 with Cats is a tank that did not go over but through Sea's. Lighter Yanmars like in Brewsters boat...anyone know who has put more miles and hours on a boat? I'm sure if he didn't think they were the best he'd have swapped. Going real real light Bob put 350 small blocks in his Frayed Knot and thought they were the cats meow with the boat flying over seas being light. Dick Bertram seemed to like the boat light when he made that crossing race to Nassua with big block gassers with the helm at the transom. I bet Dick would like the outboard setup we are seeing done today. Performance wise they seem ok...but I am not a fan of losing the transom and I think I prefer more weight mid ship.

Funny, its the same boat we are all in but they are setup differently and used differently. It would be fun to take a ride on all the different setups in the same conditions to really compare.

Bringing the hijack back to Ricks link. I think Rick is attributing the Skinny Witch performance to being so light, having used carbon fiber extensively. I look at the boat configuration and power thinking those numbers are about right for a cold molded boat, even fiberglass.

I'd love to see the same boat in glass, cold mold and carbon fiber in same configuration to truly compare apples to apples.

[Ironworker]

Interesting conversation. Alot of my thoughts regarding weight and performance are dictated by roughly 14,000 hours of flying with a sizable portion flying at Max Gross Weight. Boats that are porky are real pigs in performance especially outboard CC's. My thought about reducing net weight is primarily about increasing the useful load (fuel, ice, fish, people or equipment). I have been pleasantly surprised by how well my 31 rides especially just out of the barn.

Carbon Fiber cloth is about twice as expensive as regular 1708. Of course the glass is pretty cheap component relatively speaking in the cost of a boat project. The ratio of the resin to glass in the Skinny Witch project is and how they achieved that very interesting to me.

[JeremyD]

I think the 19,400 HP helps.

A Bertram 31 @ 14,000 lbs and two 330 Cummins is at 21 lbs per HP

Skinny witch @ 55,400 lbs and 19,400 HP is at 2.78 lbs per HP

[Ironworker]

I think the 19,400 HP helps.

A Bertram 31 @ 14,000 lbs and two 330 Cummins is at 21 lbs per HP

Skinny witch @ 55,400 lbs and 19,400 HP is at 2.78 lbs per HP

Interesting thought. The math is not quite correct, you added an extra digit.

55400/3880= 14.3 lbs per HP

My 31 with two 380 hp cummins is 18.42 lbs per HP

The same 31 could have two 425hp cummins which would make the ratio 16.47 lbs per HP

Probably a better equation would be something along the lines of weight of the boat divided by HP then some factor of fuel used per nautical mile. Building a more efficient boat is what I'm ultimately after within reasonable parameters.

To take the thought further, when I built my floors, Engine boxes and bulkheads, I used Coosa BW26 and 1708 glass. I'm SWAGing that each one of the floor sections weighed in at 75 #s and each engine box was about the same. The bulkheads were probably about 30#s each. I suspect had I used Carbon Fiber for just those components I may have been able to save about 20% of the weight. Which is a 100# savings. If I have used a lighter coring with carbon fiber, I may have been able to double the weight savings to 200#s. The cost benefit ratio would be pretty low, IMO.

However, had I started the project with the intent on building a lighter boat while still using the original Bertram hull, If I pushed the limits, I bet I could have saved between 800# and 1,000#s which puts my boat at 17.1 lbs per HP

Using the Cummins 425s that would make it 15.2 lbs per HP.

Having said all that, I probably just talked myself out of restoring another boat.

[Tony Meola]

Rick

I am sure the Admiral would agree with your not taking on another boat project.

[Carl]

More hp does change the ratio, but also gives a different burn number per hour and per mile. Want to really toss the ratio on it's head, put a turbine kicker in boat, super light with tons of power...maybe a tad bit thirsty.

I agree putting boat on a diet does give better efficiency, but were does it stop. Want to pick up a knot or so for for free, cut tower off, lose the enclosure. Aside from weight its a big non-aerodynamic block to be pushing at speed.

Also more efficient...cut the speed down to hull speed and go with smaller, lighter motors and watch that range increase.

I guess its all trade off's, speed costs as my customer used to tell me.

[Ironworker]

You'll have to pry my tower out of my cold dead hands!

Yep, its a efficiency Killer, but as I said my boat was designed and built as a fishing machine for the Bahamas! We fish in some very deep water but we have to travel over some very shallow water filled with rocks and reefs to get there.

We also sight cast to alot of fish. Nothing like standing in the tower looking down on 100 or so really hungry fish. If you guys could see where I have taken my boat it would likely shock you. If you have some charts handy when I took the boat over to Spanish Wells the first time, I checked in Customs at West End. I cut between Grand Bahama and Sandy Island. Traveled east just north of Grand Bahama and cut between Grand Bahama and Abaco a hundred feet or so east of Cave Cay. Then south east through the Bight of Abaco and back offshore just west of Sandy Point. There I made a beeline for Spanish Wells cutting through the reef at Ridley Head at dark thirty. If you don't have Bahamas charts check out the route on Google Earth.

[Tony Meola]

Towers, Bimini tops all create drag. Just running with the Bimini down I can see a difference in speed.

Carl is right all tradeoffs, and if you make the boat too light, you will get beat up in a head sea.

Weight is both your enemy and friend.