The Eastport 32 is a distinctive sight on the water, with its Chesapeake deadrise profile atop a Carolina sportfish underbody. Twin diesels have powered all of the Eastports launched thus far, but company owners Tom Weaver and Mick Price are now offering outboard power.
Twin 250-hp 4-strokes are mounted to an Armstrong bracket on the new Eastport 32 OBX. Without the inboard boat’s engine boxes, there’s more space in the cockpit. “We can get very creative with all the room,” says Price. “Of course, we offer a standard layout, or we can put in a four-person dinette, and recently we had a request for a passenger-ferry style with seating for 16, plus luggage.”
“Standing in the cockpit, the boat feels like a 40-footer,” adds Weaver.
The 32 OBX carries more fuel and runs 8 knots faster at wide-open throttle than the inboard boat, says Weaver, who founded Annapolis, Maryland-based Eastport Yacht Co. in 2006 with Price. (Both are naval architects who also own the design firm Weaver-Price Design and Construction.) The outboard boat holds 300 gallons of fuel, compared to 170 gallons for the inboard. The 32 OBX tops out at 40 knots, compared to 32 knots with a pair of 260-hp diesels.
With a shallow draft of 22 inches, the outboard boat is a versatile platform for cruising, fishing and exploring, says Weaver. The cabin has a single stateroom with a V-berth and a head with a shower. Abaft the two-person raised helm and to starboard is the galley. A dinette is abaft the companion seat.
The boat’s profile says Chesapeake, but below the waterline she’s all Carolina, with a narrow forefoot, hard chines and a modified-vee bottom that flattens to 12 degrees of deadrise at the transom, as well as plenty of bow flare.
Mathews Bros. builds the Eastport 32 and 32 OBX. The Denton, Maryland, builder uses PVC foam to core the hull and decks, constructing the boat in a traditional hand-layup method. The centerline of the hull and the chines are solid glass.
“With this new boat, we are not abandoning our roots, just capitalizing on the advantages that outboards can bring to a boat,” says Weaver.
This article originally appeared in the February 2016 issue.
