Converting a Bertram 28 Flybridge Cruiser into a State-of-the-Art Center Console
In a project spanning several years, two experts in fiberglass lamination do a major rehab on an old Bertram.
By Jim Wells
Back in 2016, I was presented with the opportunity to buy my neighbor’s low hour Yamaha F250s. Sort of a backwards process, but now with engines I needed to figure out a boat to put them on. At the same time, I saw a forum post in which the owner had purchased a 28 Bertram open that was one of 40 ever built with outboards. He put Yamaha F250s on it and the performance was unreal! As a previous 28 Bertram owner I understood the hull ran great as it approached 30 mph, but the inboards were maxed to get it there. The boat mentioned above was running nearly 60 mph! I was sold. Within a couple weeks, I found my 1979 28 Bertram Flybridge Cruiser sitting in the front yard of a house in Tavernier, Florida.
Fortunately for me, the engines were out, which removed a significant first step in the demolition process. I knew that the final configuration would not include a flybridge but at that point I had no firm plan/layout. As my son began to engage in the process, we developed concepts that moved us away from the original open configuration, which I have always liked, to a center-console arrangement.
One of the things I like about the open configuration is the cockpit size. So many center-console boats have small aft-deck space and larger forward deck space. To me this is a waste for trolling and kite fishing. The walkaround configurations better solve this issue in my opinion, so I focused the design around that. The console is centered slightly forward of midship. To this day I really love it.
To get to our now planned center console/walkaround configuration, we took the hull down to the stringers. We knew a full transom bracketed configuration was an absolute must. As an engineer, I figured out what loads and forces would be imposed on the bracket, and we built our bracket to take twice the required loading. We didn’t count on the bracket being bolted to the transom to carry the load but instead extended the stringers into the bracket and built the bracket out of epoxy and glass. Many thought we were nuts, but this has been a key feature of the boat and facilitates optimal performance.
As we got toward the end of the project, we were planning our shade. Growing up in Palm Beach County I had watched the evolution of the center console. Working in marinas in Riviera Beach and North Palm Beach I was always a Mako fan. In late 80s the Mako 261 was introduced and there was one going in and out of Lake Worth inlet that I absolutely loved. One of the key features was the Birdsall Marine deck tower. The first of its kind that I had ever seen. It was sweet. The Poppy B was what I always wanted, and I was ready to replicate that tower on our Bertram. Bobby Birdsall designed and built a gap tower that has truly made the boat stand out. Most importantly, it makes it a sail-fishing machine!
When we launched our newly rebuilt Bertram, it never came up short. It is a performer. With the gap tower and full load, it would cruise 35 mph and deliver 1.8 mpg. At that point the F250s were almost 15 years old, so we decided to repower with 300 hp Mercury V8s. What a difference. Those engines combined with modern electric controls truly took the boat to the next level. Now we cruise at 40 mph burning 1.8 mpg and top out at 58 mph! The boat has made several trips to the Abacos and everywhere we show up there isn’t another one like it, which I take great pride in. That said she will soon go to another owner to make way for our third Bertram project, which is about to hit the water in North Palm Beach.
Click below to check out a video of the 28 Bertram center console running during its sea trial.
Learn more by logging onto WellsFiberglass.com
