Here's an item from an upcoming issue of a Pacific NW regional boating
mag...


Ocean Sport Boats


Location, location, location. It can make or break a business.
Depending entirely upon perspective, Islands Marine Center, (located at
Fisherman Bay on Lopez Island), has either one of the best or the worst
possible location among all of the boat dealers in the Pacific
Northwest. On one hand, Islands Marine Center is smack dab in the
middle of some of the best cruising waters in North America- but on the
other they aren't entirely easy for most people to get to. It's not the
sort of place one just puts on a long checklist of places to casually
drop by during a Saturday afternoon boat-shopping excursion, and the
population on Lopez isn't sufficient to sustain an active boat
dealership. It would probably be tough to sell many boats from a rural
village on Lopez Island, unless there were something unique and special
enough about them to inspire people to endure the ferry rides or
seaplane flights to Fisherman Bay. We visited Islands Marine Center
during our summer cruise of 2006 and discovered that the firm does
indeed have a an attractive and unique boat for sale- one that has
inspired prospects to travel for thousands of miles to inspect, sea
trial, and own.

Ron Meng and his wife Jennifer founded Islands Marine Center, (IMC),
almost 35 years ago. Ron can point to a small shack on an adjacent
property (now used as a bicycle rental office) and proclaim, "That's
where we got our start!" IMC now consists of several commodious, modern
buildings housing a boat sales business, a repair and rigging shop, a
marine supply and engine parts store, and a marina. A furnished
apartment on the second story of the main building was once home the
Meng family, but is now employed in a unique manner. "Whenever we sell
a boat," said Ron, "we spend a couple of days or more with the new
owners. We take the boat out every day to help our customers get used
to their boat and learn all about the systems, and we put them up at
night in the apartment at no charge."

Ron is a hands-on operator, extremely knowledgeable boater, avid
fisherman, and an expert marine electrician and mechanic. After years
of experience selling and servicing other brands of boats and building
a loyal clientele, Ron decided to apply what he had learned from
decades of personal experience (and the experiences of his customer
base) to develop a new boat line. Ron wanted a boat that would be
specifically suited for boaters hoping to combine a fishing boat with a
cruising and exploration vessel. Ron envisioned a boat that would be
ideally suited for use in the Pacific NW and easily adaptable to
coastal cruising conditions anywhere in North America.

Ron was lucky enough to find a highly respected builder who shared his
interest in creating a stout, versatile, and attractive boat. Camano
Island's Jim Lindell had been building boats for more than 40 years
when he and Ron Meng collaborated on the final design of the Ocean
Sport Roamer 30. They fine tuned a boat with a high, flared bow and
20-degrees deadrise at the transom that is can be used with confidence
in rough conditions, yet still make a good turn of speed. With a pair
of Volvo Penta D4 260 HP diesels it is said that an Ocean Sport Roamer
30 can achieve a top speed of 39 knots, or cruise comfortably at 30
knots while realizing better than 2nmpg fuel economy.

Vital Statistics:

LOA: (with anchor roller and swim step) 32'9"
Beam: 10'9"
Draft w drives down: 2'11"
Draft w drives up: 2'3"
Average dry weight: 12,500 lbs.
Fuel capacity: 330 gals
Water capacity: 80 gals
Holding tank: 35 gals


With a 10'9" beam and a dry weight of 12,500 lbs., the Ocean Sport
Roamer 30 will require a substantial tow vehicle (perhaps something
along the line of a one-ton diesel dually) and a wide load permit that
might restrict towing to daylight hours only. (Ron Meng said that he
believes the necessary permit costs about $250 per year.) Despite the
size of the boat, Ocean Sport Roamer 30's are towed all around the
country by boaters with a sufficient truck. A couple from Wyoming, for
example, own a Roamer 30 and live aboard it eight months each year as
they tow it through the mountains of Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho to fish
on their favorite lakes.

Lindell and Company constructs the Roamer using Vinylester resin with a
urethane corecell ™ core and knitted, bi-directional e-glass. The
layup is completed with an infusion injection vacuum bagging
construction system- and the technique is said to produce a boat that
is 30 percent lighter and 150 percent stronger than less exacting or
more "old fashioned" layup processes.

Engine options include twin gasoline 5.7L, 280 HP Volvos, twin Volvo D4
diesels each rated at either 225 or 260 HP, twin Volvo D6 diesels rated
at 310 HP @, or a single Volvo D6 diesel rated at 350 HP. The Ocean
Sport Roamer 30 is propelled by Volvo duo-prop outdrives.

On deck:

Boarding the Roamer 30 is most easily accomplished through a starboard
transom door. The center of the transom can be rigged with a live bait
well, or set up with a sink over a storage locker depending upon
individual customer preference. Anglers wrestling with a large gamefish
will appreciate the 26" high gunwales surrounding the cockpit, as well
as the footwells below. "You can get your toes planted in the lower
footwell, lean your thighs against the gunwale, and be fairly stable
even if the boat is rocking while you fish," remarked Ron. The cockpit
is flush with the sole of the main cabin, so there is no awkward step
up or down when transitioning from the cabin to the cockpit. The engine
room is below the cockpit, so there is no intruding motor box. With
nearly 11-feet of beam to work with, the twin engine installations are
easily accessible for service and space around the single D6 Volvo
diesel is nothing short of enormous. An inspection of the engine room
enables a complete appreciation of the thoughtful design and top
quality workmanship evident in the rigging and systems installed at
IMC.

The cockpit is large enough so that two fishboxes, each 35" long, 18"
wide, and 22" deep are accommodated immediately forward of the engine
hatches. The fish box inserts can be removed is additional access room
is desired for servicing the engines or other systems below decks.
Tackle stowage can be built into the port forequarter of the cockpit,
or into the stowage area under the transom sink. The port and starboard
fuel tanks are molded into the hull, providing additional lateral
strength as well as eliminating any possibility of leakage or corrosion
of metal tanks.

Going forward on the Ocean Sport Roamer 30 is easy to do, as one would
expect of any vessel designed to enable some serious fishing. If
playing the trophy catch of the day takes the angler to the foredeck
there are wide side decks with high stainless rails as well as cabin
top handrails to help maintain balance and assure solid footing.

A secondary helm station in the starboard forequarter of the cockpit
allows the skipper to be on deck while the fish are biting, or can
serve as a fresh air helm when cruising during warm and sunny weather.


Interior:

It would be perfectly natural to assume that a 30-foot boat capable of
fishing a half dozen serious offshore anglers might be a fairly spartan
affair on the interior. Such an assumption would be absolutely wrong if
applied to an Ocean Sport Roamer 30. Not only does the boat have a
deluxe, yachtsman's teak interior- but this 30 footer has two
staterooms! Headroom in the main cabin is 6'4" aft and 6'6" forward, so
all boaters except those much taller than average will be able to stand
without crouching. Ron Meng can name a number of his customers who own
Ocean Sport Roamer 30's strictly for cruising boats and who "have never
had a line in the water."

The teak galley features drawers that are very well constructed and
that use premium guides. A two -burner stove is mounted above a
refrigerator in the aft starboard quarter of the main cabin, Next
forward is a sink, and a microwave or microwave convection oven is
mounted approximately opposite, (under the aft settee for the dinette
on the port side of the main cabin). The dinette will easily seat four,
and will convert to a berth. A footwell and chart table in the port
forequarter of the main cabin allow the forward allow the forward
settee to be set up as a forward facing seat when the seatback is
shifted toward the table top.

The guest stateroom, (with limited headroom), is positioned under the
dinette and accessed down some steps in the aft port quarter of the
main cabin. While most boaters would tend to use this as a "kid's"
stateroom, several kids can be bunked down simultaneously on the 7'5" X
4'6" mattress, and it isn't inconceivable that some adults might prefer
the larger mattress "down under" to the 6'3" X 2'6" V-berths in the
forward cabin.

Boaters hoping to avoid very pleasantly finished staterooms with
hanging lockers, spectacular teak accents, and one step access to a
deluxe head with sink, basin and shower won't be happy at all with the
Ocean Sport Roamer 30's forward cabin. Everyone else, however, will
find a lot to like about the open, airy, comfortable, and elegantly
appointed forward cabin.


Performance:

We didn't get underway in an Ocean Sport Roamer 30, but the following
performance data was supplied by Islands Marine Center:

In test runs with 2 persons aboard, 300 gallons of fuel, and full water
tanks, the Roamer 30 ran 6.1 knots at 1000 RPM, burning 1.05 gallons
per hour and allowing a 2000 mile range with a 10% fuel reserve. 1500
RPM turned 8.3 knots a 2.5 gallons per hour, for a range of 1,164
miles. At 2600 RPM speeds are just under 20 knots, fuel burn is 10.5
gallons per hour, and range is 643 miles. 3000 RPM provides 25.4 knots,
uses 12.6 gallons per hour, and will allow a range of 690 miles.
Wide-open throttle, 3650 RPM, will propel the Roamer 30 at over 34
knots, burning 19.7 gallons per hour and still providing a range of 602
miles.

Twin 4-cylinder Volvo diesels will produce greater speed than the
single 6-cylinder diesel. At 3000 RPM, the twin 4's will push the
Roamer 30 at 31.9 knots, (vs. the 25.4 for the single 6-cylinder
diesel). The trade-off, of course, is in fuel economy and range. The
combined fuel burn for the 4-cylinders at 3000 RPM is 17.2 gph, but the
greater speed allows the range to remain competitive, listed at 603
miles vs. the 690-mile range of the six cylinder at the same engine
speed.

Conclusion:

Ron Meng opened a photo album, pointed out a particular customer, and
related an account of that customer's cruise to Alaska with his newly
delivered Ocean Sport Roamer 30.

"He was running well offshore, and the weather suddenly turned nasty.
The boat would rise up on a swell, and then fall off into the trough.
Seas were the worst our customer had even encountered, and he tells us
that he was pretty concerned. Suddenly it seemed like the conditions
moderated just slightly, and the Roamer 30 was in the lee of a large
oil tanker. The oil tanker's master hailed our customer and advised him
to abandon his boat, saying that there was no possible way he would
make it safely to port in a boat of that size under the prevailing
weather conditions. The tanker's master offered to 'rescue' our
customer, and take him aboard the tanker after he abandoned the
Roamer."

"Our customer," continued Ron, "wasn't about to abandon his brand new
boat. He felt like he had finally obtained that ultimate boat he had
always wanted, and couldn't imagine just relinquishing this boat to the
mercy of the wind and waves. He refused the tanker's offer and carried
on."

Ron's story concluded with the Roamer 30 arriving in port about 30
minutes after the tanker did. "Later that day, the master of the tanker
came over to take a look at the Ocean Sport. He was pretty impressed.
The tanker captain told our customer that he also owned a 30-foot boat,
built by a highly respected national manufacturer, and that he had
advised our customer to abandon ship because he was absolutely certain
that his own 30-foot boat wouldn't have been able to survive the
conditions that the Roamer 30 had just endured."

Most boaters will never experience Gulf of Alaska conditions capable of
sinking a typical 30-foot boat, but many boaters would find it
reassuring to own a boat that could. Boaters seeking a stoutly built
boat that can fish, cruise, or both should consider logging onto
www.islandsmarinecenter.com or www.oceansportboats.com to learn more
about the Ocean Sport Roamer 30. Despite a slightly inconvenient
location, location, location- a fair number of such boaters will then
want to arrange a visit to Fisherman Bay.