It's Something Different
LOBSTER BOATS are uncommon enough in Florida that they turn heads--which
is one reason why Alex Rogers likes them. "They're different," he says. Other
reasons are their seaworthiness and efficiency. Corka is Rogers' second lobster boat since
he moved to Florida from Massachusetts 20 years ago.
Corka is Maine slang for "beauty." It has a
35-foot Duffy & Duffy hull ("It was just a shell," says Rogers), and was
finished by JS Boatworks in Bailey
Island, Maine. It took a year of labor, love, commuting and "hundreds of phone
calls." Now Rogers, a yacht broker with Allied Marine in Ft. Lauderdale is ready to
cruise the Bahamas with his son, Michael (in the photo with his father, which was his goal
in moving up to a 35-footer. A 420-hp Cat delivers a top speed of 20 knots.
Despite her salty appearance, Corka is quite luxurious,
with a large forward berth a head to one side and a stall shower to the other, both with
sinks. Corka boasts an 8 1/2 - KW genset, air conditioning (10,000 BTUs forward and 20,000
in the pilothouse) and a booming Bose sound system. But the most impressive thing about
Corka is the quality of the construction, right down to the smallest details.
"Overbuilt" is an understatement. She's like a little ship.
