Unique boat to winter in Grand Haven
Oct. 16—It's not unusual for people to give Mike Johnson's boat a second look — wor a third.
The boat, an FPB-64, is extremely rare. According to Johnson, only 11 of them were made.
And while most touring boats of that size are made of fiberglass, Johnson's craft is a much-more utilitarian aluminum, giving it a military gun-metal appearance.
The boat is currently parked at the Grand Haven Municipal Marina as Johnson prepares to winter the vessel at North Shore Marina.
"A lot of people ask, 'What did it used to be?' or 'Did you build it?'" he said.
The boat was built in New Zealand, and is designed specifically for long voyages and to handle rough seas. The ship encountered both on its trip from New Zealand to its current homeport of Stuart, Florida.
"We brought the boat back from New Zealand, so the Pacific, the trade winds, there were big waves, so they're far apart," Johnson said. "We went to French Polynesia, which is about 1,000 miles long from one end to the other. Then the Galapagos, Panama, Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas. We left in the middle of June and were home by the middle of December.
"We had a lot of fun, and it was something we never would have done had we not bought a boat over there," he added.
The boat's designer has a history of building sailboats, so the FPB-64 narrower than a standard boat. It also features a unique set of booms — long arms on the back third of the boat that are used to stabilize the vessel in rough seas.
"You can swing them out on both sides, and they have mechanical stabilizers that you hang on them," Johnson said. "That's in addition to the active stabilization, the hydraulic stabilizing fins on the side of the hull. We also have flopper stoppers when we're at anchor. We put those out to keep the boat from rolling."
Johnson explained that the boat's aluminum design has several advantages.
"It's strong, it's light, and it's pretty much maintenance-free because it's unpainted," he said. "The other advantage, on deck, everything is welded, so you don't have any penetrations through the deck. There just isn't a place for water to get in.
"The boat is narrower in the forepeak and the aft, and it's designed that way so waves don't raise it way up," he added. "It tends to punch through the waves rather than ride up on top of them."
That came in handy when the Johnsons piloted their boat up the Atlantic coast, up the Hudson River, through the Erie Canal and through all the Great Lakes before eventually ending up in Grand Haven.
Johnson decided to winter the boat in Grand Haven due to its close proximity to Grand Rapids, making it easier to fly back and forth to work on the boat during the winter months.
Next summer, the plan is to travel back to Florida, this time following the St. Lawrence River. That route was unavailable this year due to the Canadian border being closed.
The boat is powered by a single 236-horsepower John Deere engine, which pushes the boat at approximately 10 knots (11.5 mph). The boat consumes approximately 4 gallons of fuel per hour, and its 3,400-gallon fuel tank gives it a range of nearly 7,000 miles.
With a water filtration system and an on-board generator, the boat, according to Johnson, can take someone entirely off the grid for six months.
