A settee is built into the Portuguese bridge, turning the high-bulwarked and railed foredeck into a pleasant lounge area
at anchor.
When Outer Reef president, Jeff Druek, found that
many of his customers loved a particular boat but
“wanted it a bit longer,” he made the decision that all
of his hull molds would be longer than initially needed.
The mold for the Outer Reef 65, for example, can be
used to build a boat as long as 72 feet. “I refuse to just
tack on an extension to an Outer Reef,” he says. “Every
hull is monolithic one-piece construction.”
At first, the requests for longer hulls were because
people wanted cockpits added, either for fishing or just
as water-level access for diving or boarding a tender.
But when the opportunity came to stretch the 18-foot,
6-inch beam hull to create a non-cockpit 70 (actually 71
feet 6 inches), the die was cast.
The accommodations forward of amidship remain
essentially unchanged by the extra length, leaving the
full-beam master suite and the two guest cabins as
they are on the 65. One optional layout on the 65 was
to turn the lazarette into a two-bunk crew cabin with
access either through a transom door or via a door
in the hanging locker of the master stateroom. The
transom door is less than ideal at sea or in bad weather,
and no owner wants the crew trudging through his
private quarters.
With the 70, however, the added length contributes
3 feet to the saloon and 2 feet to the cockpit (and
lazarette), thus solving both problems. While there
is still direct access to the crew quarters and engine
room through the transom for use in port, a much
more civilized stairwell in the aft corner of the saloon
provides all-weather secure entry to the crew area.
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
One look around the crew area on the 70 and it’s
clear that Druek and the Outer Reef designers clearly
understand the adage, “A happy captain makes a happy
ship.” Aboard Good Times, the 70 shown on these pages,
the crew quarters should make for a very happy captain
and crew, indeed. A private captain’s cabin with a
queen-size berth and direct access to a large head with
shower is to port, and a comfortably sized crew cabin
with bunks is to starboard, sharing the single head. The
area also has a mini-galley to make it self-sufficient, and
even if you don’t want to carry a crew, this area makes
perfect sense for teenagers (and their loud music) to
have some independence.
At this point, I need to point out that there is no
such creature as a “standard” Outer Reef. Each and
every one is tailored to the needs and desires of the
owner, so the area aft of the engine room is really a
blank sheet of paper waiting to be customized. One 70
under construction will have the beautifully finished
captain’s cabin, but since the owners plan to carry
only a husband/wife crew, the rest of the lazarette will
be fitted with a workbench and storage, plus scuba
compressors and an extra freezer.
I don’t want to jump around into different areas, but
the added 5 feet also make an immense difference in
the boat deck aft of the flybridge. This now allows a
tender as large as 20 feet to be chocked easily on the
boat deck, which should be measured in acres, rather
than square feet. With the tender launched and the
chocks removed, you can host your high school
reunion here.
Druek also took advantage of the stretched deck
to move the crane from the portside location on the
65 to a point in the aft starboard corner. This greatly
improves the flexibility for launching the tender if the
yacht is moored portside to a dock. The crane can
launch or retrieve the tender over the stern or over the
starboard side, so it is never blocked.
And then there is the saloon. An extra 3 feet allowed
Druek and his design team to rethink the layout as
well as add the crew stairs, and they turned the seating
arrangement around from the one found on the 65.
