In early December, Next Gen Fab in Bellingham, Wash., started building its latest commercial fishing boat, a 34’ x 11’ 6” aluminum combination crab and geoduck dive boat that might also be longlining.
The boat is for a fisherman in Port Angeles, Wash., on the Olympic Peninsula. The 34-footer is designed to be very similar to another Next Gen Fab boat, the 33’ x 12’ Arctic Blonde that longlines out of Valdez, Alaska, for halibut in Prince William Sound.
“It’s basically the same hull, used for a different fishery,” said Next Gen Fab’s Hayden Pitsch. The new boat is one foot longer with six inches less beam. It will have twin 300-hp Suzuki outboards that should get the 34-footer up to 42 knots, says Hayden.
The new boat is narrower than the Arctic Blonde because its owner intends to haul it along the highway, “and in Washington state, technically a boat can’t be wider than 8’ 6”, said Pitsch, but because “the owner has a commercial driver’s license, he can haul 11’ 6” wide.”
The Arctic Blonde’s wheelhouse had a dinette and small kitchen, a head and a bunk down below, “but this one,” said Pitsch, “is a dedicated workboat, for getting out there, turning some gear and getting back.” Thus, accommodations are limited to a bunk down below and “just a bench and pilot seat in the cabin.”
On the 17’ long deck there will be an articulating hydraulically controlled boom, powered by a small, portable Honda unit to lift bags of clams off the ocean floor and bring them on deck. “It’s built to have as much deck space as possible to hold as many pots as possible, as well as get up on step and run as efficiently as possible, and still have room up front to stay warm in the winter.”
The below deck area is designed for a 200-gal. fuel tank and an 8’ x 4’ x 30” deep fish hold.
Pitsch says the underwater lines of the 34-footer differ from other boats the same size. “It’s our unique hull shape. Something we’ve designed from scratch.” The entry has been revised and “cuts water very well.” The hull has a 6-inch reversed chine that “goes around the entire hull and makes it very stable.”
