In his second visit to Jarrett Bay, NASCAR driver Jeff Burton talks about the progress of his 46′ custom sport fishing boat Tom O’ Connor of the Outer Banks Fishing Show. Jeff & Tom discuss the interior helm station, color choices & the decision making process as a whole:
Tom O’ Connor: Welcome back to Jarrett Bay Boatworks. We’re here to get a progress update on Jeff Burton’s new boat.
Last time we were here, the interior was mocked up. Now, the actual construction materials are being put in. Bear in mind, we’re taking a project that usually takes three years to complete, and we’re squeezing it into a one year time frame.
Jeff, good to see you again man. It’s been a few months since we’ve met up, and… wow…
I finally got a bit of a break in the season and snuck away to visit my boat under way at Jarrett Bay. Everything seems to be progressing nicely, and the guys have done a lot of work on the interior. All the walls down below are in place, so it’s really starting to look like something.
During our time up at the yard, my wife and I finalized all the wood and veneers (we went with a nice walnut), how we wanted to lay out the flybridge and mezzanine, and picked the best place and orientation for the ladder. Since we have a nice wide beam on this boat, we opted for a sideways-facing ladder to keep folks from stepping on the mezzanine and for an added bit safety (I know the kids will be flying up and down it before too long). Jarrett Bay also installed these really neat bucket seats up on the bridge so the guests can hang out in comfort without bouncing and sliding around like you would on a bench seat. Continue reading “Jeff Burton Blog: Interior & Electronics Decisions” »
For me the day was fantastic even with out a hook up. The Waste Knot is an incredible environment from which to fish. It’s not just the molded teak, fine finishes, and almost 4000 HP. Jarrett Bay has combined muscle and beauty into a single, organic fishing entity.
During the past couple of weeks, the boys down at Jarrett Bay have been busy working hard on all the little, less-than-exciting things that go into making a custom sport-fisher. Things like where to put the fuel and water fills, how to position the fuel tanks and making sure everything is easy to maintain and work on. Since I plan on doing a lot of the service work myself, I want to make sure I can get to everything.
This stage of the game comes with a lot of compromises – if you put this thing here, then you have to make room over there, etc. To be quite honest, most of the ideas are coming from the Jarrett Bay crew, and I just say yes or no; I really have no idea what’s the best call on some of these things, but I trust the guys working on the boat. They give me the pros and cons, but I lean on them pretty heavily.
We just got some veneer samples in, and I’m leaning on some mahogany colors – I like darker-colored woods with a satin finish. I don’t like a glossy look, and I think the satin finish gives the wood an aged look, like it’s been around for some time. Continue reading “Jeff Burton Blog: Details, Details” »
In four days of tournament fishing in SC we have been 1st back to the docks 3 times and 2nd once! Get Tate to tell you about our “NASCAR” race last Saturday to almost run down Rookie IV who had an 8 mile head start and hold off Major Motion who had it to the pins and were cutting on the outside of red markers to try and get ahead! We had a blast for 9 miles toying with those guys from inside the jetties to the docks and they were dumping water and ice try and catch us! Bobby said he still had about 200 turns of sweet feed to feed the ponies when we were running 40.9 knots… it was the talk of the docks for the evening! We are turning some heads and getting a lot of foot traffic!
We are comfy in the current Ravaganza. Getting to the dock from the back side of the Big Rock on Sunday in 65 minutes – from lines out to tied to the slip – will keep us happy for a while!
Tom O’ Connor: Welcome to Jarrett Bay Boatworks, happy to have you here with us. We’re expecting a very special visitor here in a short while. Mr. Jeff Burton, NASCAR legend, and future Jarrett Bay owner, is coming to check out his new boat!
Jeff, we followed you around Jarrett Bay here today and got an opportunity to look at your new baby – thanks for taking the moment to talk to me.
Jeff Burton: Yeah, it’s fun, I like talking about boats.
TO: Well what do you think, how’s it coming along?
I recently spent the whole day at Jarrett Bay to check up on the progress of the boat and found that the fellows already had the kitchen area and staterooms mocked up in the hull. It was pretty cool to see it all together in 3-D after only seeing it on paper. In the real world, you come across all the angles involved, and we just had to fine-tune things a little bit. But it was still pretty close to the paper – we got the fuel and water capacities just where we wanted them.
I’ve never been through the boatbuilding process before, but the boat seems to be coming along right on schedule. Maybe even a little ahead of schedule. The boys at Jarrett Bay are used to building great, big boats, and this one is coming together pretty quickly. Continue reading “Jeff Burton Blog: Things Coming Right Along” »
Day 2 of the Isla Mujeres Island Time fishing tournament, we took 2nd place overall, 46 fish released in two days. Day 2, the winds kicked up to 35 knots in the afternoon, good news, we were were only 7 miles off heading home in a following sea. We fished till the end with the fleet, took several waves into the cockpit, the boat performed very well, great fishing platform. Jarrett Bay should be very proud!
I will let you be the judge, if your boats fish 2 weeks straight in these conditions, then I think they can pass the test.
Watch the video from 1/29, especially you Mr. Gary Davis, this was pretty sporty, we filled the cockpit several times!! Nice rig….. We had 34 fish in two days, Keith caught 35 on Tuesday.