Osprey a New Era: By Michael McAuliffe A biting wind off the North Sea, bitterly cold with rain that off and on lashed into our faces. Just the right conditions for taking a strange boat out on the water you might say? On the other hand I knew this day to be something different... It threatened to be an exhausting experience! Gone are the days when any old hull can be pressed into service as a sea angler's craft. As the quality of our sea fishing has diminished, the distances travelled to find fish have increased, so new thinking about hull conformation and speed on the water have come into play. Alas, the modernisation of the sport fishing boat comes not so much from Europe but from over the Atlantic. It isn't hard to see why! The American market is enormous, far bigger than anything we can imagine. Their expertise in the use of glass, carbon and other fibres together with the latest in epoxy resins is taken from the aircraft industry. Boeing and people like them have made huge strides in development of reinforced fibre forms, so it was a short stride from aircraft and car bodies to boat hulls. Initially we had the problems of longitudinal twist, insufficient bulkheads and weak bottoms causing boats to snake through the wave pattern, putting a fantastic stress on the laminated junctions such as are found between the hull and deck. That's all been cured with the latest in-built stringer grid, a pre-constructed form of longitudinal stringers combined with lateral mini-bulkheads that give hull strength, an amazing anti-twist factor and built-in bottom buoyancy at the same time. Most of the above comments were made by the importer of a new sea angling craft. Eugene McKiernan, from Dublin, who bent my ears with an explanation of his new boat and then offered a trial to back up his words! Seeing his Osprey 26 for the first time didn't overawe me! She looked solid and workmanlike, nothing jazzy about her. Where is the difference from all the other boats, I asked myself...? Five minutes on the water settled that for me! We set out to find sea conditions, wave pattern and following sea build up that make handling difficult and the ride uncomfortable. Speed alone is not the answer in the modern sea angler's boat, sea kindly on the move and a fishing platform, either at anchor or on the drift that is stable are absolute necessities. We pay a lot of good money these days, so let's have some design was one of my first thoughts! How does the Osprey 26 differ? Well, like all fibreglass boats construction materials are almost the same. Where there is a remarkable change is in the craft below the waterline. Here the hull is 100% fibreglass, no wood...and that means no rot! The internal stringer grid is made of fibreglass of about twice the thickness of conventional glassed-in wooden stringers. The transom, which can have an opening door for hauling in large fish, is made of Klegecell, a material stronger than wood and totally impervious to water and consequent rot! Deck and working cockpit areas are simple, well thought out. The Osprey 26 has eleven feet of open length for anglers. Couple that with a beam of 8ft 6in and you have real space! I found a dream of a wheelhouse with 360 degree vision, even the corners have windows. Gone are the days of leaving the door open to see what the hell is happening aft? Inside the wheelhouse is laid out in a practical manner. Steering, on the right hand side, took getting used to though the helmsman's adjusting seat and functional instrument panel makes life easy. On the left was a dining or chart table with seating on the sides. The table/settee drops to form a double bunk. Coachroof grab handles are a boon and I found them in practical positions. Low-to-floor lighting guides your feet at night without destroying night. A smart idea? Headroom, 6ft 2in in the wheelhouse and Sft 10 in the forward cabin. The toilet is set into the left side of the forward cabin, which also contains a huge double bunk. Also in the wheelhouse, behind the steering console is a sink with optional hot and cold water and a small cooker with a refrigerator under. Out in the working area I found an intelligent layout. at the bow, reached via true walk-round deck space, a dolphin is fitted below the stainless pulpit, (that's a bow roller and automatic closure fitting that locks an anchor projecting out from the bow - saves the anchor slamming against the hull when motoring a bit uptide). In the fishing area, with its self-bailing deck there are four fish boxes set into the deck. Neat, but for me not so necessary. The aft-mounted engine cowling, which rises above deck level, can provide a seat or a place to set the gear while fishing. Our test boat had stern and side mounted stainless steel rails, ideal to grab against motion from a rogue wave and not so high as to interfere with a fish pumping action. The transom door can be useful. It gives access to a boarding platform containing a live fish well. One thing I found unnecessary was a fitted, but optional, second steering position on the right-hand side of the wheelhouse bulkhead. Probably useful when the boat is being used commercially but...? Now the engine really got to me. This boat was fitted with a 240 Yamaha Turbo diesel sterndrive, the leg of which could be raised and lowered hydraulically. Clutch engagement was also hydraulic, so gone was that almighty cluck as the drive was engaged. From ticking over to maximum revs, I heard little of the engine noise one normally associates with high revving diesels. Boat levellers (trim tabs) are fitted as standard, though not essential with a hull of such good design. Our testing remit was to load the boat...that meant having eight blokes aboard. There is little point in carrying dead-weight, which often aids stability. A moving, swaying weight mass soon tells more about a boats capabilities! Up to cruising, a speed of around 22 knots at a little over 2500 revs, put us planing level and cutting pleasantly through a quartering wave. The effect of a true deep vee hull tells immediately, Ospreys, of which there are four different lengths in the range of both cruising and serious sea angling boats, enjoy a 22° constant deadrise to the planing bottom. A broad, reverse chine helps to prevent roll, again a boon to anglers who fish with a boat that should sit still in the water throughout most of a fishing day! Punching harder into the blustery wind a roughening sea produced a pleasant surprise. This boat hardly slammed at all...riding more like a much longer hull. We cut across wakes from other boats, zipped the hull round in tight turns noting the degree of heel, slowed to low revs with a high following sea on the stern and generally played around like kids let out in the snow. ..! Incidentally Ospreys have a heater-demister built in as standard. For greater rigidity, silence & comfort an inch of foam or balsa insulation is built into the hull cab and roof. What do I think? If I had the money, this boat would be for me, She is not jazzy or has sexy lines...Just looking functional and this is well proven when out there in the wet stuff. I have learned that Ospreys are a chosen boat for men that fish off the Alaskan Coast. Apparently, they drive these boats from Seattle and Vancouver to get there...! Simply put, the Osprey 26 is sturdy and extremely well fitted producing a sea angling boat for all seasons! Important Specifications Length: 26ft Beam 8ft 6in Draft: 37in (drive shaft down) 17in (drive shaft raised) Displacement: 55OOlb with motor Aft deck length: 11 ft Fuel capacity: 150 galls (American) Fuel usage: 2 gallons diesel per hour at cruising Water capacity: 30 galls (American) Osprey boats can be fitted with an unbelievable array of electronic, safety and comfort equipment. Much of which comes as standard. One feature I found particularly appealing was a high radar arch enabling carriage of an inflated dinghy on the wheelhouse roof.

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