The experts at Ray Hunt Design discuss the benefits of evolution
At Hunt Yachts by DiMillo’s, we took a moment to reflect on the Hunt legacy as we bring the Hunt 56 to the fall boat shows, so we had a spirited discussion with the creative force at Ray Hunt Design. Our team sat down with Winn Willard, president of Ray Hunt Design, Peter Boyce, principal designer, and Ted Willard, general manager, to talk about how the yachting market has changed, the proving ground for the best hulls, and the role of technology in boating.
Hunt Yachts: How do you approach the market in terms of yacht design?
Peter Boyce: We’ve stayed with a fairly conservative style. We haven’t been following styling trends. You’ve talked about high volume forward and a relatively blunt topsides forward and rather full entries. We have done hulls for production builders where they’ve been volume-conscious and we’ve made them a bit fuller forward, but ours are nothing like some of the designs you see out there.
The trick is to make a boat like the 56 that has all the features that the market wants, but to do it in a package that is attractive and runs like a boat should, as opposed to a floating… condo, or something. I think that we’ve demonstrated that with Hunt Yachts: a combination of the right features, the right look, and the right hull. And always with that ride.
Winn Willard: If you drive a Hunt Yacht in lousy conditions, and, you know what you’re doing, it’s fun to go out in that because the hull copes with it in a very comfortable way. You’ll notice that you have a smile on your face, because it’s a lot of fun. You feel good about it, and it doesn’t scare you.
But when you hear stories about people going out on certain boats and they say, ‘Well, geez, I was halfway to Nantucket and it really started to blow up and we wanted to turn around and come back. But every time I tried to turn around, I scared myself half to death because the boat rolled over so far. I didn’t dare…. So I had to keep going.’
We design a lot of commercial boats, and I have been out on some of the pilot boats in some really bad weather and big seas, and you just don’t get the feeling like you’re in danger [on a Hunt], you know?
Hunt Yachts: How does design work for commercial clients dovetail with the ideas for yachts?
Winn Willard: We’ve certainly leaned on our commercial work in the past to promote the idea that, as with our pilot boats and patrol and police boats, our designs do a difficult job in any weather. To me, it’s the ultimate application of Ray Hunt’s genius in his hull designs. I mean, our hull designs today are different than the first ones he started with, but at the same time, they’re very similar. It would take a very discerning eye to see the differences.
But the basic concept is still the same and it works. And now, there’s a million variations of the V. Some are better than others. We think we do the best. We still apply that concept to everything we do. And it makes good sense.
The Coast Guard has bought some of our boats. Why? Because they really do the job. We have probably 80 or 90 percent of the pilot boat business in the United States. Because they work in crappy weather alongside ships. Not only do they cope with the seas, but when they come up alongside a big ship, they’re very stable, giving the pilots a stable platform to climb up that ladder.
The early boats had some reputation of not being very stable because they would rock from chine to chine. Today’s designs keep the chines in the water more, and they’re more stable. They’re not all like Moppie anymore. They’re a lot more advanced than that.
Hunt Yachts: Have advancements in stabilization technology including gyros and integrated interceptor systems changed how you think about design?
Peter Boyce: The gyros are heavy, and they end up in a lot of boats, but it’s not our first choice due to the weight.
Ted Willard: The interceptor is the direct connection to the pilot boat lineage. They’re on almost every boat now.
Winn Willard: People used to look at a boat and if it had trim tabs, they would say, ‘Oh, it must be a bad hull because they had to put trim tabs on it.’ To have a planing powerboat today that does not have trim tabs doesn’t make sense, because you want to be able to adjust the angle that the boat runs at for various sea conditions.
Back to pilot boats for a moment, the other thing about pilots is that they want something that’s going to be incredibly reliable. They don’t want anything that could break down and cause them any trouble. So until it’s really proven… Let’s just say that if you’ve got some kind of boat gadget that you want to test, give it to a pilot. They put 2,000 to 3,000 hours on those boats in a year.
Fifty or 60 years ago, you had to convince pilots that it was okay to build a steel pilot boat instead of wood, because if it came up alongside a steel ship, you might make a spark. And if that steel ship happened to be a gasoline tanker, you might blow the whole place up.
Hunt Yachts: Sounds like they’re pretty selective about their choices, perhaps even more than a yacht owner.
Yacht owners think a lot about what they choose, too. That new Hunt 56 has Volvo Penta IPS propulsion. Pod drives were not new and had been in use on ships, but they never caught on in yachts until the IPS, essentially a more efficient drive system than standard angled prop and shaft drives. It’s been a real home run for Volvo worldwide since the early 2000s.
We’ve even seen pilots get intrigued by IPS speed, maneuverability and efficiency. Because they operate 2,000 hours a year or more, fuel consumption is a big deal, and our pilot boat clients have seen 20 to 30 percent fuel savings. It’s a real winner when you take into account the increased maneuverability and 10 percent greater speed. One concern was whether IPS would hold up under that kind of use? After 10 to 20 years of service now in pilot boats from 50 to 70 feet the answer is that they do. And they have underwater exhaust so they are quieter, with no fumes and less vibration, which adds up to more comfort and less stress for crew and pilots.
And IPS also has a compact design, leaving more space for accommodations while delivering the same performance of a larger diesel on a shaft and propeller driveline.
Running in all conditions, with more speed and maneuverability? It sounds like a Hunt Yacht!