There was something familiar looking about the Albemarle 31 DC when I got my first look during the United States Powerboat Show in Annapolis, Maryland. Maybe it was the dramatic wraparound windshield, which reminded me of Albemarle’s original 32 Express. Or, perhaps it was the almost-broken sheerline, another slice of Albemarle design DNA.
Whatever it was that caught my eye, the North Carolina builder’s biggest dual console to date proved to be a different kind of Albemarle. The second and largest dual console the builder has launched in a year, the 31 DC ushers in more dual-console utility for the Albemarle lineup, joining its smaller sister ship, the Albemarle 27 DC.
Video | Have a closer look at the Albemarle 31 Dual Console below:
Inside the gunwales, the cockpit is transformable. Seats flip down from the transom and from the port side or flip out of the way when fishing is underway. A fixed, aft-facing, two-person bench is ready for socializing and also allows anglers to keep an eye on a trolling spread. An electric sunshade can be deployed from the hardtop, and an electric grill and pullout fridge are in the cockpit’s forward starboard corner.
Additional hangout space is in the 31 DC’s bow, where dual, forward-facing chaise-style lounges are on either side of a forward drop-in table.
Under the fiberglass hardtop, abaft the wraparound windshield, are a two-person bench to port and a swiveling captain’s chair to starboard, both by Llebroc. The portside console houses an enclosed head compartment with a sink and fresh-water mixer, a solid-surface counter and an electric head. Beneath the starboard console are a V-berth, stowage, a microwave, rod holders and the electrical panel.
A pair of bracket-mounted 300-hp Yamaha F300 or 350 4-stroke outboards are available. The standard F300s launch the 31 DC to a top end of 42 knots, according to Albemarle; the boat cruises in the mid-20-knot range.
The 31 DC rides on a solid, handlaid fiberglass hull with a 24-degree transom deadrise that should cut through a snotty chop easily, no matter whether you’re heading offshore for the tuna bite or hanging out with the family.
This article originally appeared in the January 2020 issue.
