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New-boat articles oftentimes feature quick hits with high-level specs of what new builds are coming down the pipeline. Then, several months later, we see the boat test and learn how the boat actually performed. But rarely do we get a glimpse into the countless hours of brainstorming and discussions—from an owner and/or a captain and the design teams—that create the why behind many aspects within a new build.
I sat down with a handful of individuals who have builds splashing in the fall of 2024 and beyond to get their perspectives into the custom features within each of their builds. While each customization suits a certain preference, perhaps some of their thoughtful insights will give you some must-haves for your own build sheet, or even provide you with ideas for a refit project on your current rig.
Reel Tight, Merritt 88
Set to splash in 2027, the next Reel Tight will be the second 88-footer the team at Merritt’s Boat and Engine Works has built for the Lamberts—a fishing family with a rich history of Merritt boat ownership, which began in 1995.
- LOA: 88′
- Beam: 21’2″
- Draft: 5’6″
- Displ.: 153,000 LB.
- Fuel capacity: 3,900 GAL.
- Water capacity: 500 GAL.
Function Meets Comfort
“Why a sky bridge? Why not?” says owner Jimmy Lambert. And his reasons make perfect sense, given how Reel Tight chases blue marlin throughout the Atlantic. First and foremost, Lambert loves the advantages of a sky bridge for both fishing and day-to-day practical reasons, as it provides a stable platform to run the boat and allows for 360 degrees of visibility and fishability for the captain.
“The problem with most enclosed flybridges is that traditionally captains want to run them from a tuna tower, and it’s hard to stay connected and be as effective as possible. With all the electronics we’re using today—the sonar and all the multiple depth finders, the GPS units and everything else—you can’t be in the tower and operate those systems efficiently. A captain needs to be where he can have multiple displays and a stable platform to operate them from—that’s what the sky bridge offers,” Lambert adds, “and honestly, a tower would just be a $200,000 antenna platform for us.”
One interesting characteristic—and similarity with a tuna tower—is that they do not put any isinglass in the sky bridge. “It’s very comfortable for the captain with a breeze in his face all day long, and there’s no reason to have his view potentially obstructed in all directions. He doesn’t have to worry about salt building up on the isinglass when it gets wet and then dries, so we won’t have a problem seeing the bird out there when we’re fishing,” says Lambert.
Fishing Performance
Certainly not a dock queen, Reel Tight spends roughly nine months of the year traveling throughout the Atlantic with a combination of tournament and fun fishing between Mexico, North Carolina, the Dominican Republic and its home base of South Florida. Since Lambert travels with the boat almost the entire time, comfort needs to be matched, if not surpassed, by the boat’s overall fishing performance.
When asked about specifics he will incorporate into the new 88 from a fishing-performance standpoint, Lambert describes the addition of the fighting chair arrangement that he has on his current boat. “We will definitely have a custom battle station from BlueWater that allows my daughter to go from fighting in the chair to stand-up without ever changing gear.
“One other change we are adding from a fishing standpoint is that we are even putting two sonar systems on the next boat for redundancy and to ensure we never have any issues. We may even be able to run them simultaneously,” says Lambert as he walks through the plethora of different technology packages on the 88-footer. Nothing like an extra omni to help you sleep better.
The product of a trusting relationship between a knowledgeable owner and a renowned boatbuilder, Lambert’s new Merritt 88 will feature a purpose-built design that highlights the experience of both parties.
Lunatico, Titan 70
The recurring themes of simplicity and practicality resonate throughout the new Titan 70, Lunatico. “I call it keeping the money on the field where it matters,” says Capt. Cory Gillespie, who has been overseeing the new build. “I did not want any luxury items stepping on the everyday operation of the boat. If the downside when it fails is greater than the benefit of having it, it didn’t go on there.”
- LOA: 88′
- Beam: 21’2″
- Draft: 5’6″
- Displ.: 153,000 LB.
- Fuel capacity: 3,900 GAL.
- Water capacity: 500 GAL.
Room for Redundancy
Originally designed as a 68 and hopeful for the 2,200 hp MAN powerplants, the team decided to stretch the boat two extra feet to accommodate 2,635 hp MTU motors—leaving the original layout the same but giving them additional space within the engine room.
“Russ [Garufi of Titan] was real big on not squeezing anything anywhere within the engine room, and that’s one of the reasons we stretched her two extra feet,” adds Gillespie. “This is important because I’m real big on having space to work, as well as redundancy. So we have a primary, secondary and a tertiary pump for transferring fuel. The primary is a Reverso fuel-polishing system that allows us to polish the fuel within each tank or polish it as you transfer.”
The backups included a 220-V fuel transfer pump and then a 24-V transfer pump should something happen to the generators. Gillespie was insistent upon this configuration despite some of the newer technology in the market. “No effing way am I having a computer chip making it impossible to transfer fuel, you know what I mean? I want to be able to flip a switch, turn a manual valve, and that’s it; we’re still fishing!”
High and Dry
“We did a lot more on this boat with the ventilation to keep everything dry,” says Gillespie. “The new Lunatico will have fans mounted in the air boxes that will pump warm air into the gaff lockers to keep everything—power cord connections, brush heads and mops, gloves, belts and shoes—dry and ready for the next day. Now they will have a dedicated spot in the gaff lockers to put their wet shoes and everything else that’s wet after a day offshore—and not my engine room, which drives me insane!”
Adding to the unique ventilation system within the 70 Titan is an air circulation system that sucks the hot air out of the port side of the generator room and blows it into the lazarette. It then pushes the air back into the starboard side of the generator room—changing the air over to keep the moisture down. “Even just the condensation from the cold water in the hot air, you get moisture in the lazarette—and this should help it a lot,” continues Gillespie.
“The fans in the air boxes will also help suck the stagnant heat out of the engine room and into the gaff lockers. And that whole system I just mentioned uses fans that are 50 bucks and easy to replace while traveling. It’s not some astronomical computer system to perform a relatively simple task.” Practical and simple.
Tournament Time
Similar to its predecessors, the new Lunatico will be very active on the tournament circuit, and Gillespie took some unique approaches on the new build to address some of the common issues encountered in that high-stakes environment. “When you’re backing up in rough conditions and trying to get the leader, it’s inevitable that you’re going to take one over the back,” explains Gillespie. “So, we doubled the size of the scuppers in the back to help get the water out a little faster and also doubled the size of the pipe that takes it through the hull from an inch and a half to 3 inches.”
Another thing Gillespie raved about was the five-blade CJR props they put on their 63, touting their performance and easy maintenance. In addition to making sure CJR props were on the new 70 Titan, Gillespie opted for splined shafts rather than tapered shafts. “With the amount of horsepower these big boats have, the splined shaft eliminates anything getting key-locked with how much backing around we do. With a tapered shaft, the pressure of the whole boat rests on a 1-inch area where the taper starts. With the splined shafts, we will get full contact through the hub of the prop, and I’ll feel more confident when traveling away from home.”
Gillespie’s design philosophy—keep the money on the field where it matters—is apparent throughout the new 70-foot Titan, and it won’t be long before we hear about this on the tournament scene, as she is set to splash in late 2024.
Renegade, Jarrett Bay 68
Shortly after taking delivery of 56-foot Jarrett Bay hull number 67 in June 2022, Ron Glazer decided he wanted to move up to a larger boat with more creature comforts for the family when traveling through the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic. “We’re not a tournament group. We fun-fish with my family and my friends, and just have a good time,” adds Glazer.
- LOA: 68’6″
- Beam: 19’6″
- Draft: 5’4″
- Displ.: 80,000 LB.
- Fuel capacity: 2,250 GAL.
- Water capacity: 300 GAL.
Trading Up
The 56-foot Jarrett Bay Renegade was sent down to Costa Rica before the 2023-24 winter season and will remain in the fleet, serving more as a day boat for the family when fishing down there. After looking around, Glazer decided to buy Jarrett Bay hull number 64, which had stopped production, from the current owner to shave off a year in production time.
“We wanted something that would perform well in terms of speed and ride characteristics in rougher seas because, listen, the Atlantic can get rough. So we wanted a bigger boat that could carve itself through some pretty rough seas—and that’s a typical Jarrett Bay. They build a spectacular boat with a nice big flare and smooth ride.”
Purpose Built
With Renegade very similar in design to its sistership, Sea Wish, Glazer did make some changes with inspiration from some of the larger Jarrett Bay builds. “I put the forward dunnage locker in the brow of the boat like Reel Development.”
With a significant amount of traveling on the horizon, Glazer wanted to ensure his crew had easy access to fenders and necessary supplies without having to walk them up the side of the boat. “The electronically actuated door opens on the front brow, so everything will be stored up there—fenders, air, cleaning supplies, etc.—just to make things a bit easier and more convenient.”
Compared with Sea Wish, Glazer opted for the new Caterpillar C32B engines, “so it should be a haul-ass machine!” he comments. “The new 68, a foot longer than Sea Wish, will have three SeaKeeper 9s in it. That wasn’t ideally what I wanted to do, but we didn’t have the room to put two 18s, so we have three 9s…and Sea Wish only had two 9s.”
To provide Renegade with plenty of range, the 68-footer will hold a bit more fuel than Sea Wish with 2,250 gallons. “Most importantly, I put a huge 3,600-gallons-per-day watermaker in the boat because we want to use a lot of water for cleaning the boat and everything else, and sometimes it’s a challenge having water when you want it,” says Glazer.
Creature Comforts
Glazer and family do a lot of cooking on the boat, so it was important to him that they had a “significant” grill built into the mezzanine for use when at the dock or on the fishing grounds. “That was something I had to have!” says Glazer.
On the interior, in addition to the premium appliances throughout the galley, Glazer and the team at Jarrett Bay utilized some of the unused space just forward of the bulkhead in the galley to create a custom slide-out to store additional cooking appliances—an air fryer, a panini press, etc.—they may want to have access to while traveling to whip up some of their favorite meals.
“Overall, I wanted something high-quality and with all the right finishes,” Glazer says. “We put all Wainscot down through the companionway from the salon and forward through the whole boat downstairs. We wanted to step it up a little bit, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a slick-looking boat.”
Passion, pride and purpose ring true within each of these three new builds. Whether it’s a veteran tournament crew, or a family traveling together in the pursuit of making memories, a lot of thought, planning, dedication and hard work goes into crafting these beautiful boats well before they start chasing fish.
