31′ Alcaro Bay

Alcaro Bay is just around the corner from Cape Don up in The Northern Territory. While I’ve been past it plenty of times I haven’t had a chance to go in. I’ve heard from friends that it is a lovely little bay to wait for the tide to change to go south.

This design was commissioned by 2 friends that wanted something a bit bigger and faster than their 32’ diesel powered displacement cruiser, but thought the 11mt boat was too big for their needs. It had to cruise at 14 knots and have enough duration to stay out at the reef for up to a week without hardship. It also had to have the ability to flog back against 20/25 knots if necessary. Fitting into a standard marina berth was also essential.

Though they had initially wanted diesels, after looking at all the figures and really looking at how much they were using the current boat, 2 x 60hp high thrust outboards became the motors of choice (outboards up to 200kgs per side can fitted).

There are various layouts including:

• a full walk around cabin with 2 double bunks
• access down one side only with 2 doubles and a bigger galley and saloon (shown)
• a full cruising version with no side access and smaller cockpit but much bigger interior including a second cabin aft in one hull and a laundry and en-suite in the other

With sound planning this boat is quite capable of some long trips i.e. Cape York, Kimberly’s etc.

(Click on the image for .pdf version)