By John Brownlee
Over the past 30 years, Bob Sparks and various partners have produced iconic brands like Venture Marine and Bahama Boat Works, both still considered milestones of center-console development. Sparks has been the driving force behind the creation of some of the most sought-after, hard-core center-console brands ever built, making him a legend among knowledgeable South Florida fishermen.
Sparks has put his decades of expertise to use and designed this new state-of-the-art hull, and he’s constantly thinking about how to make the next one better. His knowledge and mastery of manufacturing using composite materials to build his vessels has led him to bring his ultimate manifestation of the large center-console boat to the marine market.
His unique sense of design, engineering and production has yielded a highly versatile and durable platform with both long distance fishing and cruising capabilities. With its easy-planing and highly stable hydrodynamic properties, the new Sparks 46 can be customized to accommodate whatever an owner might demand in a high-performance boat.
Using only the finest materials and components money can buy, the new 46 features a super-high level of fit and finish. They start with 100 percent vinylester resin in the hull and stringers, with all hand-laid glass construction. The stringers and the hull bottom are both solid glass, and the fuel tanks get fully foamed and glassed in. The hull sides are vacuumed with one-inch medium density PVC foam core, and the transom gets built using layers of two-inch 28-pound core.
The console is 100 percent integrated into the liner, which is installed while the boat is still in the mold, making a truly rigid, straight product. Every boat that comes off the line is semi-custom built, meaning a buyer has a great deal of flexibility in fine tuning the design of his or her boat. Sparks can accommodate your boating and fishing needs in many ways, including top/tower options ranging from a hardtop to a full gap tower. The sky is the limit.
Sparks oversees and manages all production phases himself, including lamination, assembly, wiring, plumbing, finish work, engine rigging, electronics, and custom accessories, to make sure the boats produced at Sparks Boat Works are of impeccable quality. Sparks Boat Works; sparksboatworks.com
Specifications: Sparks 46
LOA: 46′ 3″
Beam: 13′ 4″
Fuel: 800 gal.
Water: 120 gal.
Power: Quad Mercury V10s
