Passagemaker
With lines and layout designed for long-range voyaging, the new Fleming 55 could easily become known as the cruiser's cruiser.
Few things in this world are suited to the job they are intended to perform: Joe Namath's passing arm was one; Jack Nicklaus' golf swing was another; Michael Jordan's airborne slam-dunk is a third. After a couple of days aboard in the Florida Keys, I'm convinced that no new production yacht I've encountered is as perfectly suited to fulfilling the requirements of extended-range, liveaboard cruising under power as the Fleming 55 from Falmouth Yachts.
First, at 55 feet LOA the vessel is an ideal size: small enough for a cruising couple to handle easily, yet large enough to carry all the fuel, water and stores required for extended cruising and still provide comfortable accommodations for occasional guests without having to bed the grandchildren down in the salon.
Second, most of today's builders of socalled cruising powerboats have eliminated many of the features I consider essential in a vessel truly suited to the demands of months-at-a-time cruising. They have. for example, abandoned pilothouses for the concept of "open living," have done away with protected walkaround side decks for the sake of ballroom-sized main salons, and have forsaken well- foredecks for some designer's idea of sleekness. The Fleming 55 happily preserves these and a host of other cruising necessities.
In the Fleming's case, the old saw that "any boat is a series of compromises" is called seriously into question. Its hardchine, semi-displacement hull, designed by San Diego naval architect Larry Drake and powered by a pair of 425 horsepower Caterpillar 3208TA diesels, for instance, is equally at home gliding along in a full-displacement mode at eight knots (which stretches the vessel's 1,000gallon fuel capacity to a range of almost 2,000 miles) or planing at a top speed of 18 knots if there's bad weather to beat into a safe harbor.
If sour weather can't be avoided, not to worry. The Fleming's high bulwarks and Portuguese bridge (another invaluable feature in a cruising powerboat that is all but extinct) combine to provide optimum protection for the pilothouse and any crew member who might have to go forward in a blow.
Its foredeck further reveals the cruising savvy of its deigners in a sturdy double-roller bow pulpit which is protected by high, stout 316-stainless rails. The vessel comes standard with a beef Lofrens anchor windlass which can be operated remotely from the pilothouse or the flying bridge or on deck with a hand-held control which allows the foredeck crew to lean out to make certain the anchor is coming up properly or even retrieve it safely sitting down if the anchorage is rough.
For a dedicated cruiser, the Fleming's focal point is its raised pilothouse which puts everything needed for the vessel's operation at the helmsman's fingertips-and keeps it well out of the way of the normal routine of life aboard. The console and overhead, arrayed around the captain's chair, provide more than ample space for all the navigation and communications electronics that must be aboard a yacht designed to run far offshore for days at a time and to explore the boondocks.
The flying bridge is sensibly set back behind the pilothouse rather than on top of it which gives the Fleming a rakishly low profile, reduces windage and provides even further protection for its occupants. Should it be necessary to go topside in a gale, access to the flying bridge is via a protected companionway, not by way of external steps exposed to the weather.
A knowledgeable appreciation of the realities of the cruising life is equally evident at the vessel's stern. No clambering down a ladder from a second-story aft deck here.
Instead, the Fleming's stern offers an expansive (over 100 square feet) cruising cockpit at water level with a transom door and optional swim platform which makes swimming, diving or unloading provisions from the dinghy a breeze instead of a balancing act. Beneath the cockpit is a virtual warehouse of a lazarette which provides the voluminous storage space required aboard a vessel that may go weeks or even months without putting in to port to reprovision.
The Fleming's accommodations are likewise well-suited to the cruising life. The salon is on the same level as the cockpit, which provides for more stability at anchor or under way. While a new Fleming can be finished to the buyer's specifications on a semi-custom basis, the standard salon configuration includes an L-shaped settee with hi-to table to port, an entertainment center, and a bar with icemaker. The U-shaped galley is j ust forward of the salon and opens to it for easy meal serving and conversation between the hostess and guests. It's also fitted with one of the neatest touches I've seen lately: One overhead cabinet is actually a vertical pass-through to the flying bridge-no more spilling drinks or having the tops fly off sandwiches on the way topside.
Below decks are two guest staterooms, a guest head, a master stateroom with walkaround double berth in the bow, and a master head. Elsewhere I've criticized builders forputting the master stateroom in the bow, because on overnight passages in heavy seas, pounding would make it impossible for the offwatch to get a decent night's sleep. In the case of the Fleming, I have to eat my words. Its motion in a seaway is so easy that sleeping in the bow stateroom simply isn't a problem.
Even a design as well conceived as the Fleming would be worthless if it were not built with more than enough toughness to withstand the rigors of the open sea-or an accidental grounding. Here again, no problem.
Its hull is laid up by hand with 13 layers of fiberglass mat and woven roving laminated with blister-resistant epoxy. Its frames and stringers-eight layers thick and up to 16 inches deep-create a stout grid system that virtually eliminates hull flexing. Its full-length keel helps it track smoothly and provides protection for rudders and wheels in the event of a grounding.
One of the most surprising aspects of the Fleming is how quiet she is. At her normal 16-knot cruising speed it's possible to carry on a conversation in a normal voice anywhere on board - including in the salon which is directly over the engine room.
The reason is a unique combination of three techniques which keeps engine noise to a minimum. A lot of thought has gone into solving the age-old problem of keeping noise confined where it belongs - in the engine room.
Built to handle rough water, the Fleming 55 will take you almost anywhere in style.
In a standard marine installation, in order to maintain the critical alignment of the engine and its propeller shaft within about two one-thousandths of an inch, the engine must be rigidly bolted to both the hull and the shaft. Rigid mounting transmits engine vibration and noise directly to the hull.
The Fleming, however, comes standard with Aquadrive transmission assemblies which use constant velocity joints and thrust bearings to permit a shaft misalignment of up to eight degrees. Since alignment is no longer critical, the engines can be mounted on extremely soft mounts, therefore isolating engine vibrations from the hull.
What noise the engines and shafts still make is largely contained in the engine room through the use of thick lead and foam insulation on its bulkheads and overhead. To further prevent noise and vibration from leaking into the vessel's interior through loose engine room hatches, they are all gasketed and can be dogged down tight.
The Fleming 55 I tested was superbly set up as a demonstrator by Falmouth Yachts' east coast distributor Arthur Burr, president of Burr Yacht Sales in Edgewater, Md. Aside from the full complement of navigational and communication electronics one would normally expect to see on a long-range power cruiser, two pieces of equipment he had installed were especially interesting to a longtime skipper like me.
One was a Twin Prop bow thruster by Shipwrights, Inc. which makes docking and undocking the boat easier than parking a car. Because of their cost, you don't normally see bow thrusters on yachts much under 100 feet. But this 25-horsepower hydraulic unit, listed as an $18,000 option, makes available to owners of cruising boats well below the megayacht class the maneuverability and control for which bow thrusters are famous.
The other piece of gear which makes marvelous sense for a cruising vessel is the Seapower cruising alternator from Power Technology, Inc. While underway at any speed over 900 rpm, this compact unit-which is belt-driven off the port engine-provides up to 5 kW of continuous 115-volt, three-phase a.c. electrical power, eliminates the need for running the vessel's 15-kW genset when the main engine is operating, and does away with the necessity of installing a backup generator. A monitor in the pilothouse continually indicates the percentage of available power which is being consumed.
The Fleming 55 is the brainchild of Britishers Tony Fleming and Anton Emmerton who in the early 1970s developed the respected Alaskan cruising boats for American Marine, the same company that builds Grand Banks cruisers. After leaving American Marine and going their separate ways for a few years, the pair reunited in 1986 to refine the Alaskan concept and build boats themselves under the name Falmouth Yachts. Tony Fleming now lives in Taiwan and oversees construction at the Tung Hwha yard while Anton Emmerton handles marketing from the company's headquarters in Newport Beach, California.
In short, the Fleming 55 is a cruiser's cruiser which is superbly suited to the job she is designed to perform.
Motorboating and Sailing, August 1992