Passion for precision
Virtually fault free, eerily quiet, exceptionally engineered and boasting amazing attention to detail, the Fleming 75 is quite clearly the product of an obsessive design team. Which just goes to show that characteristics unbearable in friends or colleagues are useful in a boatbuilder.
Tony Fleming can be a slightly unnerving chap at times. During my guided tour of the 75, he seemed genuinely alarmed at the thought that we'd photograph the heads compartment before the tiny gold finishing rings for the taps arrived. There's picky, and then there's obsessively picky-Tony is the latter. He'd insisted on accompanying me through the boat. "Unless I show you round, all we will end up with is a superficial report," he chided. "Perhaps you don't care?" Not wishing to seem uncaring, I followed Tony, making a mental note to apologise to readers for all our years of `superficial' reports.
Critical and exacting he maybe, but Tony's fastidious nature does explain why it's hard to find anything wrong with his new 75. There are few subjective details that an owner might want to change, but there's also much more to the Fleming 75 than a near absence of faults. Take the machinery installation, which will have professional engineers in raptures, and even if you only have mild hearing difficulties, you may need to check the tachometers to see whether the engines are running.
Accommodation
Owners will be glad that noise and vibration are two of Tons greatest obsessions. When you're wafting along at nine knots the engines are barely audible in the saloon and the pilothouse. Normal conversation measures around 65dB(A), yet the level of noise in the pilothouse is well below this at 62dB(A), and only slightly higher in the saloon and on the flybridge. Flat out at 22.3 knots, this rises to 73dB(A) v1 the pilothouse, but it's still possible to chat with the throttles wide open.
Several things contribute to the 75's peace and quiet. Expensive Aquadrive flexible couplings (between the gearbox and the propeller shaft) reduce noise and vibration directly by allowing Fleming to fit extra-soft engine mounts. The exhausts discharge under water, and the generator is kept quiet too by using an exhaust that separates the gas and water. And Tony appreciates that sound is like water- it only needs the tiniest gap to escape, so everything is comprehensively sealed. Only in the cockpit do you ever need to raise your voice, and Tony already has plans to improve this area with a more effective sound barrier.
Instead of having the galley at the same level as the pilothouse (as on the Grand Banks Aleutian 64, for instance), Fleming have partitioned off the pilothouse and incorporated the galley into the saloon. This trades some of the helmsman's view aft for greater privacy under way, especially if slumbering crew get up in the middle of a night passage to raid the fridge. It also makes for a larger saloon, with the added convenience of a dinette directly opposite the galley.
There's nothing unusual about the tri-cabin layout forward, but the size and plushness of the aft crew cabin is a surprise - there will be a queue to work on this boat. There is so much else to like inside the 75: the elevated quality of the teak interior, the good lighting, and the generous headroom, for instance. Another practical touch is the small day heads, almost invisibly incorporated into the pilothouse. Here, the enormous flat dash provides plenty of space for several large electronic aids, but for those with a fondness for lo-tech navigation there's a traditional full-sized table for paper charts. Numerous hinged panels provide excellent access to the wiring and the instruments - faultfinding or adding more instruments will be easy on the 75. I like the centralised helms that Fleming use. It's the logical place to be when you're docking a boat because there's no mental distance adjustment to make between port and starboard.
Other plus points in the pilothouse are the two side doors, the gentle steps to the flybridge, and being able to look aft through the saloon and see the transom - useful for mooring alongside. One thing prevents the 75's pilothouse from being perfect, however. Like so many trawler-yacht builders, Fleming have poor seated helm ergonomics. You have to stand to reach important items, like the windscreenwiper controls, which is curious in a boat that begs to be taken out in conditions that are far from ideal. You have to stand to reach the throttles too, and the VHF, and almost everything else. Drinks holders in this key area are another odd omission on what is almost everywhere else a defiantly practical boat.
Having provided such a wonderfully comfortable, leathercovered, fully adjustable and satisfyingly expensive Stidd seat, it's a shame that Fleming can't design a helm that puts the basic controls within reach of the seated helmsman as the likes of Fairline, Princess, and many other boatbuilders (as well as every car manufacturer) have been doing for years.
On deck
With a dozen different places to take mooring lines through its large fairleads and onto stout 15in (380mm) stainless steel cleats, Fleming have all the roping options covered for any stern-to or alongside situation. Although big, bulky trawler types like the Fleming 75 look daunting to handle, close-quarters manoeuvring is a doddle because, thanks to their keels and their immense weight, they behave like well-trained dogs that never do anything until you ask them to. They are still affected by currents, of course, but with four control positions to choose from on our boat (two of them optional extras) it was easy to find the perfect place for docking. Having a 60hp bow thruster helps too - and, because it's hydraulic rather than electric, it will never cut out when you need it most.
Unlike most conventional 30-knot planing powerboats around the same size, the 75's deck is broken up into smaller areas. Single big expanses of deck are ideal for taking boatloads of friends out for the day, but on boats designed for long-distance cruising, the cosier and more adaptable areas oil the Fleming 75 make more sense. The full complement of six can still get together in any of the four areas - the upper flybridge, lower flybridge, aft deck, and California deck-but it's also good to escape from time to time on long trips, however much you like your fellow guests.
Driving the Fleming 75
Below 1,800rpm the 75 is unassuming, sedate, unhurried, a sort of aquatic Clark Kent, plodding along serenely at speeds only just creeping into double figures. But between 1,800rpm and 2,100rpm, the 75 pays a visit to some unseen nautical phone box and emerges wearing its underpants on the outside. The bow drops, the boat surges forward, and in the space of 300rpm, its speed almost doubles to around 20 knots. It may sound dramatic, but the 75 undergoes this transformation with so little fuss that, like Clark Kent's mutation into Superman, if you blink it's easy to miss. There's no sudden, unacceptable rise in the noise levels, nor a change in the poise of the boat or the weight of the steering you simply end up travelling much faster than before.
Looking at the figures, it's clear what is happening. The engines don't produce any sudden surges in power or torque in fact, the peak torque is down around 1,700rpm. However, not only does the trim drop from 5.0° to 3.5°, but between 1,800rpm and 2,100rpm the fuel consumption also improves by a whopping 58% - typical characteristics of a planing boat climbing over the hump and into its planing zone. It's a semi-displacement boat that does not obey the archetypal law of everdecreasing fuel economy. So instead of wincing every time the throttles are opened, a Fleming 75 owner could, with careful evaluation of its particular consumption figures, find a fast cruising speed that is financially prudent, rather than financial suicide.
Our boat was tested with full tanks (over 11 tonnes) of fuel and water, 13 people, and the owner's stores on board, so our consumption and speed figures are likely to be among the worst an owner will experience. A more lightly laden 75 would probably experience the transformation at a lower speed, and this would open up the possibility of short-hop, high-speed cruising further still. The 1,400hp electronic Caterpillar 3412E diesels powered our 75 to 22.3 knots, and our test data suggests that the standard 800hp 3406E Caterpillars should push the 75 around 17 knots. That's still quick, but to see if the 75 has the same short-hop, high-speed, fuel-efficient characteristics, you would need to trial the boat fully with the smaller engines. I'm normally against fitting the monster engine option to boats like the Fleming 75 - but that's not the case this time. The Fleming 75 had another surprise in store: it's a lot of fun to drive. At 81ft (24.7m) overall, you could be forgiven for expecting a 65.5-tonne trawler (around 80 tonnes loaded when I drove it) to be ponderous beast. Instead, the steering is light, and the boat responds accurately to the wheel. It also turns quickly-far quicker than an 81ft planing boat would at 20 knots - and this surely adds an element of safety when you're driving through congested waters. I think that light, quick and precise steering is one of boating's most underrated features, and however unlikely you are to be weaving through a slalom course in your Fleming 75, it adds much to the enjoyment of a boat.
The conditions we had for the test - a 2ft chop and a gusty Force 2 to 4 would not have stretched a boat half the size of the 75, so ours was no real test for the hull. What little Biscayne Bay in Miami did dish up for us, the boat handled well in any direction, upwind, downwind and with the small seas on the beam. The motion of the boat through the water is extraordinarily gentle. My only surprise was the amount of spray that the bow kicked up. In these moderate conditions, I hadn't expected to have to use the pilothouse windscreen wipers, or to see water draining off the back end of the flybridge.
Engineering and construction
The 75's huge engineroom is engineering heaven. The quality of the installation and the attention to detail is outstanding. Bright, reflective alloy linings and an abundance of lighting mean that everything in the roughly 19ft-long (6m) space is highly visible. This makes checking and servicing much easier and safer, especially with so much room around all the machinery. One of the reasons for the engineroom's lack of clutter is that some of the machinery is housed in a second area beneath the aft cockpit, which is home to the Glendinning Cablemaster shorepower line and the steering gear.
More surprisingly, there's a third 29ft-long (9m) space that runs under the forward accommodation. This area houses the hydraulic bow thruster, the black and grey water tanks, numerous batteries, and the air-conditioning plant, and although it (unsurprisingly) only obliges with comfortable crouching or kneeling height, it would not be difficult to work on any of the well-laid-out machinery.
A lot of production boatbuilders have improved their engineering installations in the past few years. On this size of boat you would expect to find, for instance, an oil-exchange system plumbed into the engines and the generators, and 24V electrics. But Fleming's 75 quickly leaves the accepted standards way behind in a lot of areas. It sports variable displacement hydraulic pumps on both engines, not the usual one, so either engine/pump can power the bow thruster, the Maxwell windlasses, the emergency bilge pump and the stabilisers. It also has two extra alternators dedicated to a pair of 4,OOOW inverters, so under way there's 8kW of 240V power on tap, something that will greatly reduce generator use if the air-con is not being used.
There are two 27.5kW generators, two colour-coded shore-power inlets aft and another pair forward, and two clean and two dirty 83gal (380-litre) oil tanks for mid-passage changes. So not only is the quality of the components first class, Fleming also fit items you would not expect to see on many similar-sized boats - and then they often fit two instead of one.
Verdict
Who would part with £2.4 million for a 75-footer when there are such good mainstream production boats available for less? Somebody who is prepared to trade around ten knots of speed for long-distance cruising ability, and flashy looks for traditional elegance. But there is much more to ponder with the Fleming 75. What at first appears to be a lot of dosh for a 75-footer turns out to be surprisingly reasonable when you add up the cost of the standard features, which would form a huge extras list on most boats. And irrespective of how much you're prepared to pay, the extras, build quality and attention to detail might not be available on another boat. So speed, range and looks aside, the 75 will attract those who long for the finest production engineering and construction they can buy.
The 75 is not completely without fault. Quite why buyers of such boats accept poor helm ergonomics is a mystery to me. But this is my only real complaint. What comes as a surprise is the 75's sharp handling, which makes it a lot of fun to drive. Also a big plus is the 75's ability to partly escape from the fuel-consumption straightjacket of its semi-displacement hull. This is something I've only ever seen once before, on the Grand Banks Aleutian 64, for which Grand Banks utilised a complex Tom Fexas-designed hull form. Fleming have accomplished it with their simple hard-chine shape.
What sticks in the mind most, though, is the 75's gentle motion through the water, and the extraordinary peace and quiet on board. You can chat without shouting, sleep under way, and cook, eat and wash up without lurching around. Here is a boat where cruising from A to B can be attractive in itself, not just as a means to an end. MBY
The Rivals
With the Fleming 75 starting at £2.4 million inc UK VAT, buyers with this sort of money to spend could also look around the Dutch yards building custom steel or alloy boats. Another more radical alternative would be to look at the big semi-custom European boats. Most of the European yards build boats that look very different to the traditionally styled Fleming 75. However, once you step up to this size of boat, many of the 75's appealing qualities - deep bulwarks and secure side decks, peace and quiet, and a spacious internal layout - can also be found in a sleeker package. But I've yet to find a boat with an engineering installation superior to that of the Fleming 75.
Reprinted Motor Boat & Yachting - June 2002