A story of American innovation at its best
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]wealthy sportsman with knowledge of the skiff builders in Florida sought out Mark Castlow of Dragonfly Boatworks LLC. He had a big problem and wanted Mark to solve it, the only one who could.
The customer had a 65-foot sport-fishing yacht with a relatively narrow beam at the transom of only 13-foot, 5-inches. He wanted three almost impossible things. One, he wanted the 16-foot Emerger. Two, he wanted a 16-foot skiif to fit in a 13-foot slot – less than his sport fisher yacht’s beam. Three, he wanted a transom cradle that was both removable and ably hand-crank the skiff up and down – ride-on feature. So, how do you make a fixed lift system removeable? You pass that one on to T.J. Kiefer at T-N-T, an aluminum fabrication company in Fort Pierce, Florida. They specialize in impossible marine demands. And make good things happen.
No one in the skiff business, that we know of, would have taken the first part on, and would never have even addressed the cradle issue. But not Mark, he embraced the task, and walla, it came to be. Mark says he relied heavily on his talented crew and TNT to come up with resolutions.
The first trick was to hinge the bow section, and the second was to design a removable cradle, one that would also allow for lazarette storage when bill-fishing, which meant it would have to be in parts, not a solid welded cradle. Too, it had to have an up down hand-crank so the skiff could both be lowered, and driven onto and hoisted back into position.
One of the sidebar advantages to the Transformer Emerger is garage storage. A 13-footer is exponentially easier to fit in an average garage than a 16-footer. However, a trailer would have to be designed and specially fabricated.
We evidenced the Transformer Emerger at the recent Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, but not the transom cradle, which was built by T & T Fabricators in Fort Pierce, Florida.
Here’s the Transformer Emerger stats:
Speed – The Transformer Emerger will do 31MPH powered by a 30HP ETEC Evinrude – tiller steer with one aboard.
Weight – 500-pounds, add 30HP ETEC Evinrude – tiller steer 175-pounds, add 32 gallons of fuel, 225-pounds.
Draft – 6 to 7-inches with two anglers and normal gear.
Cost – Transformer Emerger was $40,000 and removable transom cradle was $8,000.
[information]Dragonfly’s website / click here […]
Email is dragonflyboats@bellsouth.net
Phone / Fax / (772) 567-8835 / 8836
Address / 3475 Aviation Blvd Vero Beach FL 32960
[/information]