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By Larry Pearson The year 2004 was a watershed year for the passenger vessel industry. The first two American flagged fast passenger and vehicle ferries went into service and equally important was that business was up in all sectors of the marketplace. There is more variety as well. For the first time in several years, new casino boats are being built. One is for an opera- tor in Michigan City, Indiana, a vessel being built at Chicago Bridge & Iron as a replacement boat for a vessel now almost 10 years old. A second is for the Lake Charles, La. Subsidiary of Pinnacle Entertainment, a Las Vegas-based gaming company. This is a 330-ft. by 225-ft. pow- ered barge built by Leevac Shipyards, Jennings, La. "We see a definite improvement in our business over the past few years," said Andy Lebet, vice president of DeJong & Lebet, naval architects and marine engi- neers of Jacksonville, Fla. Lebet's firm is a major designer of passenger vessels. Lebet was discussing the passenger vessel market with this reporter at the WorkBoat Show held in New Orleans. Behind Lebet were photos and drawings of several recent passenger vessel projects punctuat- ing his upbeat feeling about this market. This article looks at five major cate- gories of passenger vessels: excursion boats under 149 passengers, known as Subchapter T vessels; excursion vessels over 149 passengers referred to as K boats and three classes of ferry boats, fast pas- senger only, fast passenger/vehicle and passenger; and vehicle carriers traveling under 20 knots. Excursion Boats-149 passenger (Subchapter T) The buzz in the excursion boat business is still the motor yacht designed more for the charter market than the scheduled cruise business and the Solaris was built as a luxury charter yacht charter that also runs scheduled cruises. Jim and Gail Murray have a rare-one- of-a-kind distinction with the Passenger Vessel Association. They are simultane- ously the oldest active Associate Mem- bers and one of the newest vessel mem- bers. For over 25 years, the Murray's built other peoples dreamboats in their Freeport, Fla. shipyard. Now they own and operate the 149-passenger, $2 million luxury yacht Solaris. The 125-ft. by 26-ft. vessel operates from the harbor at Sandestin, a luxury beachside development of condos and sin- gle-family residences in the Destin/Ft. Walton Beach area of the Florida Panhan- dle. The Murray's had their own ideas on what makes a luxury dining yacht suc- cessful, having built many such vessels including the Atlantica, a 400 passenger Subchapter K vessel delivered in 2003 to the demanding New York City market. We wanted a quiet vessel and one that did not break up the open space of the main dining salon," Jim Murray said. "Large picture windows are also impor- tant to the success of a dining yacht because it is the views on the water that people seem to love," Gail Murray added. One of the reasons the Solaris started with an evening schedule of cruises was to introduce the vessel to potential charter clients. "With nothing in the area quite as upscale as the Solaris, it had to be experi- enced to be believed," said Gwen Hall, directing of marketing. One look at the design of the Solaris shows that it was built for wedding char- ters. The main deck can hold 149 guests for the reception while the second deck has a huge U shaped bar and plenty of enclosed space for seating. The top deck is open and features a large raised alter area forward for the wedding ceremony. "All 149 guests and the crew can be pre- sent on the top deck at the same time," said Andy Lebet whose firm performed many of the stability calculations and other engineering services on the Solaris. "The Stability Letter for the vessel states that 174 people can be on any single deck at the same time," Lebet added. Power for the Solaris is via a pair of Caterpillar 3406 engines each rated at 340 hp. Twin Caterpillar 3056 engines are coupled to 63 kW generators for electric power. Excursion Vessels-Above 149 Passengers (Subchapter K) Excursion vessels that have more than January, 2005 • MarineNews 17 Passenger Vessel Annual Circle 217 on Reader Service Card A Market that has Rediscovered its Rudder MN JAN05 2 (17-24).qxd 1/4/2005 2:36 PM Page 17
