bertram31.com

Anyone going to the Bertram party on friday ?

Gerry,
I will be at the show on Friday afternoon, I plan on going to the Bertram party Friday night if my knee holds up. Cell 561-310-7179 Pete Fallon

To the Faithful,
I went to the kick off party for the 50th anniversary of Bertram Yachts last night. The old Buddy Boy now owned by Mr. Bibbo( I met him and his wife, they are really enjoying the boat) was displayed very prominently across the entire aft end of Bertram floating display barge.
I talked with Don Jones and his new right hand man Seth Flippen( son of long time Bertram salesman Don Flippen). Spent most of the night answering questions about the Old Buddy Boy( the name has been changed and I can't remember the new name). All kinds of rumors about how much the new owner paid and how much it cost to restore to it's present condition, what was it powered with, performance and handling questions. Patrick your workmanship still looks as good as it did when we delivered the boat to Jim Bailey back in 2003.
The Italian bosses were there and the facilities manager( one of the original enployees) who has been with Bertram for 50 years was introduced. It was an open bar with Hors'derves and a large cake and champaign was unveiled around 8:00PM.
A bit of trivia for you Bertram 31 history buffs, I was talking with David Napier(designer of the 28, 38 Special, 46'6 etc). He asked me if I knew who designed the superstructure on the 31, it turns out that Dick Bertram got Jack Hargraves to design the bridge,the overhangs and house top and sides. So when you look at the early 41 Hatterass' there are a lot of similarities with the early 31's, 35's and 38's.
Also any one that owns any model Bertram is welcome to join in a photo shoot on April 29, just outside Goverment Cut in Miami. They are going to have a semi Bimini start shot from a helicopter also a party at Sea Isle Marina Miami Beach around that same time. I will post exact date for the party later.

ugh, now I wish I went. too tired from work, I didn't want to face the traffic. thanks for the update Pete.

Steve,
I didn't see anyone else from the board, just alot of Bertram people and brokers that I've known for over 30 years.
You didn't miss a thing in respect to the traffic. I had to go to Ft Lauderdale for a doctors appointment, but it took me close to 2 hours to get to the show from Commercial Blvd in Lauderdale at 4:00PM to the Eden Roc Parking lot on Miami Beach at 6:00PM. One hour was spent siting on the I-195 causway trying to get onto the beach.
Thank God for the handicap parking placard, no charge to park($20 flat rate in that lot). I guess having knee problems does have a few perks, but I'd rather have 2 good knees.
How is your boat coming along, I keep trying to get down to see you but something always comes up.

Steve,
I got your PM, Very interesting. Talk soon.

what was it powered with, performance and handling questions

Are they talking about the original gas engines or did they remove the Yanmars?

Still powered with the Yanmars...

Talked with the current captain a few weeks ago about topside paint match and he said they're having a ball with the boat down in the Keys. Glad it's finally getting it's intended use as opposed to it sitting behind Bailey's house collecting barnicles.

I live 1/2 mile north of Commercial, between the ICW and Federal ... and I avoid the Miami show every year, because of the traffic. But I DO wish I had caught the Bertram party.

Bruce,
The questions about the power were from keel kickers that didn't know the bow from the stern. One guy asked why they put the noisey Yanmars in, another asked why they didn't put QSB series in(maybe because they were not availible in 2004) another asked genuis asked why it had 2 chairs in the cockpit,(you can't fix stupid), if these are the quality of lookers at Bertram they are in big trouble. On the other hand there were a lot of people that knew there boats and appreciated the 31. Also Don Jones told me he was trying to find an oriiginal 31 race boat to display at the show, but didn't have any luck. If anyone knows about a good 28 FBC for sale have them contact me, That's all folks.

Patrick,
The new owners are really enjoying the boat, they have made a few minor changes, the single helm chair on the FB has been replaced with a bench seat, a fold up bridge ladder over the starboard engine box, and a plastic pod of 4 rod holders on the aft rail of the bridge rail, the owner told me he forgot to remove them for the show( even he thinks they are ugly). They had the engines aligned and cleaned the intake screens of the bottom paint build-up, I tried to turn the cockpit lights on but they kept blowing the breaker at the panel, must have a short in the line somewhere. Other than those changes she still looks like it did when it left the Palm Beach Show in 2005, lots of people asking about who did the work and if you would be up for another project boat, even though your in Texas. I told them I'd check with you and asked them how deep their pockets were.

P.S. I found out that the original side windows and curved panels were made by a company called Bonnell in Pompano somewhere. I see if I can find them and if they are still in business.

the single helm chair on the FB has been replaced with a bench seat, a fold up bridge ladder over the starboard engine box

Pete,

Those are changes I made after initial delivery to Jim, but I don't think you saw it after then...

The Palm Beach Show, for Buddy Boy, was 2003, Jim took delivery and moved it to Ocean Reef around August. I changed out the helm chair for the bench seat January of 2004 down in Ocean Reef, and I moved back to Texas Feb 1, 2005.

They'd need deep pockets is right!

We were there on Friday all day but we were to tired to come back on Fri nite. We saw the 31 on the floating display. They had a real nice lunch just for Bertram and Ferretti owners on the barge. Don Jones got us introduced to all the key players. We were asked to be interviewed for a video on our Bertram experence over the years. Been a Bertram owner since 1984. 42, 31, 31, 38, 50. They treated us real nice. We stay at the marriott at Sea Isle Marina and take the bus back and forth to Collins ave. It was the best experence I have had with bertram in many years.

Capt Tom

At the Edens Roc until yesterday. Dragged the older kids with me through the boats. Ferretti had a nice set up. I don't like most of the new Hargraves, well I don't like most of the new boats period. God damned Euro styling really looks like crap. Reverse sheer, windows in the freeboard, who is designing these and who wants to go offshore in these things? Any way, Miami Beach was great as always, Bertrams did look good, although my kids were questioning quality on a few issues- but Bertram was not alone in that.

To the Faithfull,
After talking to a couple of old time Bertram employees about who made the original aluminum side window frames, they told me that a company called Bonnell made them. I found that Bonnell is still in business in Georgia, I called and talked to one of the sales reps.

They told me that they needed a sample of what the extrusion was like , then told me that they had a minium order of 1000 pounds and 5000 pounds per year for price break. I don't think there is enough 31's left to qualify for placing an order and they don't seem to want to deal with a small order. But, I'll take some measurements on how much material is needed for each side frame. I'll keep after them and see if I can get a reasonable price for the stock.

If anyone has a peice of the side frame window aluminum laying around send it to me and I'll see what I can come up with for the Bonnell Company rep. It might be worth a try, I can stock pile it in my garage in Florida if I am sucessful getting some.

My address in Florida is: Peter J. Fallon 858 SW Balmoral Trace Stuart, Florida 34997 Cell is 561-310-7179.

The 6LY 315's I put in Buddy Boy are better than the QSB's anyways.

And as far as noise, by the time the engine boxes got insulated along with everything else you could stand between the engine boxes at cruise speed and talk in normal voice inflection and hear perfect.

No stupid questions, just stupid people.