Internal Boat Layout Diagram:
A True Gentleman
The Jarrett Bay 43 HTX can do anything you ask of her—fish, cruise, or simply wow everyone that steps onboard.
My boss isn’t going to like this.
See more photos of the Jarrett Bay 43 HTX, including that gorgeous sink, here ▶
This is our sportfishing issue, and as such I was tasked with testing the Jarrett Bay 43 HTX in Ft. Lauderdale. Keep it fishy I can hear him saying in my head. Write for the hardcore fisherman. I promise you he is hoping that’s what I’ll do. And I will, I’ll get to the teaser reels, and the livewells, and the nimble slow-speed maneuvering, but first I want to talk about something else.
Sorry George—it’s the sink in the head.
The sink in the 43’s sole head is carved from a single piece of African sapele and It. Is. Gorgeous. High-gloss, intricately burled. Really impressive. It’s not often you get to say you washed your hands inside a piece of art. (That’s a first for me, actually.)
But that sink is indicative of more onboard the Jarrett Bay 43. The woodwork throughout the boat is a true achievement. Indeed it’s the thing that stood out in my mind for months after I first stepped foot onboard her at the 2014 Ft. Lauderdale boat show.
In the saloon, the matte cherry (both ropey and quartered) is bookmatched, a staple of Jarrett Bay’s craftsmanship. That means that the wood is symmetrical down the boat’s centerline. So, for example, the grain of the wood on the electric saloon door’s frame one foot to port matches almost perfectly with the grain one foot to starboard, and so on and so forth throughout the entire area. The wood grain feels like a magic eye puzzle as you sit on the plush leather settee and drink it in. Patterns simply just keep emerging and matching. It’s a testament to a level of fit and finish that one might normally associate with a superyacht. The only thing is, this boat’s 43 feet long. Forty-six if you count the pulpit, with its single-piece stainless steel strikeplate.
VIDEO: Join Senior Editor Kevin Koenig
as he tests the Jarrett Bay 43 HTX. ▶
Those numbers proved to be a welcome challenge for Jarrett Bay. You see, the owner of this boat has, as you might imagine, owned plenty of other boats, most of them large sportfishermen, all the way up to 80 feet. He met Jarrett Bay’s Randy Ramsey at a North Carolina State football game a while back, and mentioned to him that he was a fan of Jarrett Bay, and had always wanted one. He was in luck. At the time Ramsey had two hulls ready to go, a 77 and a 43. The 77 would go on to become the much-ballyhooed Blank Check, and sold before this owner could call dibs on it. But the 43 was his for the taking. A bit smaller than he was used to, but nevertheless, a fully custom Jarrett Bay. He said he’d take it. With the stipulation that it would have all the fixin’s of a much larger boat.
Hence the hurdles.
Says Ramsey, “The 43 was one of our most challenging boats ever, simply because we incorporated everything you’d see on a 60-footer, except on a 43-foot package. Ice chippers, teaser reels, it has everything you could imagine. Our engineers had to work extra hard on systems management and space management to get everything to work properly. But they did it.”
One way they saved space on this boat was by opting for pods, twin 600-horsepower Cummins Zeus pods, to be accurate. That configuration allowed the builders to put in the necessary amidships stateroom where the boat’s captain sleeps. (He calls it his dungeon, and swears it’s better for sleeping than the forepeak master because it is so dark inside.) That master is passably large though, with an island queen and a large locker to starboard. Those staterooms make up the entirety of the sleeping accommodations, not counting an ingenious little quirk that shows just how thoroughly Jarrett Bay thinks through the details. A small settee just aft of the master and just forward of the starboard side head could fit one sitting adult easily and two cozily. But Jarrett Bay realized that the space just abaft the settee, under the head’s sink, was essentially wasted, so they made a small cutout in the bulkhead and extended the settee out of sight, underneath the sink. So in a pinch, that tiny settee can actually act as a daybed. Smart stuff.
Your engine room has good access to service points? That’s cute. The Jarrett Bay 43 brings new meaning to the phrase headroom in the ER
with a hydraulically actuated cockpit.
Another space that benefited from the pod arrangement was, quite logically, the engine room. The mantra there is access, access, access. There are three (count ’em) points of entry. One in the center of the mezzanine, one through a hatch in the cockpit, and thirdly, you can just hydraulically pop open the whole cockpit sole for major repairs. There’s 5 feet of headroom in the forward part of the compartment, which is saying something. And you can also scooch your way fully around the engines. You simply can’t do that in most 43-foot boats. The 500-gallon ice maker, a desalinator, two Racor fuel-water separators, and a 12.5-kW Cummins Onan generator are all also easy to reach. Clean and organized, this is an engine room any captain or owner/operator would approve of.
Topside, the cockpit also feels much larger than it should be. You could very easily fit five guys in this space and have them work comfortably and efficiently in a tournament while the captain kept watch from high atop the beefy tuna tower. Double mezzanine seating is uncommon on a boat this size, and it serves double duty, providing seats with a view, and plenty of stowage for lures, line, and cold drinks, as well as a fishbox and a freezer. Lastly, a very cool pop-up command station is built into the mezzanine to port. It has everything you need and nothing you don’t: a SmartCraft joystick, VHF mic, underwater LED light and Fusion stereo controls, and a Furuno RD33 screen with wind, depth, and navigation information. The aforementioned teaser reels are in a hidden compartment in the overhead above the mezzanine seats. And a livewell in the transom can be plumbed as either an icebox or a fishbox. (The owner likes to use live bait for sails when he is fishing in South Florida, but also fishes the boat a lot up north, where live-bait fishing isn’t as prevalent.)
Wherever you fish, there are ways to make it better. Support local and national fishing and conservation groups, such as The Billfish Foundation (www.billfish.org), the Coastal Conservation Association (www.joincca.org), Stripers Forever (www.stripersforever.org), and the International Game Fish Association (www.igfa.org), which work to protect habitat and fish populations, as well as angler access.
The seas off Ft. Lauderdale that day, well, they weren’t quite angry, but they were a bit testy. (I’ve had sea trials called off in similar conditions on much larger boats, to Jarrett Bay’s credit.) Confused 4- and 5-footers slapped at the 43’s cold-molded hull with extra Carolina flare. And while she did take a few bumps, that’s to be expected, especially running in the low-30-knot range, as we were. And 95 percent of the landings were butter smooth. That flare kept her exceptionally dry, and man, this is one of the smoothest handling boats I’ve tested in a while. She felt like a PWC out there, slaloming through the peaks and turning with an easy grace (not to mention going hardover in super-tight circles thanks to those pods being so tuned in). At slow speeds she spun and backed down nimbly, and even in those conditions, very little water came over the stern as we rode her in reverse.
My overall impression of the Jarrett Bay 43 HTX is that she’s an exceptional gentleman’s angler. Perhaps a bit small for the hardcore tourney fisherman, or an owner with a large family, but absolutely perfect for an owner who appreciates sturdy, quality construction and exemplary fit and finish, and who is looking for a boat he can fish hard but just as easily take out for a stylish and plush cruise through the islands. She’s truly a heck of a boat, with a whole lot to like—whether it be her engine-room access, or just the bathroom sink.
Click here for Jarrett Bay’s contact information and index of articles ▶
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Our Boat Test of the Jarrett Bay 43 HTX
Our Boat Test of the Jarrett Bay 43 HTX.
With a sporty ride, serious fishing amenities, and onboard attention to detail that will impress, the Jarrett Bay 43 HTX is a boat you need to know about. Read all about her here.
Gallery Image:
Authors:
Kevin Koenig
Published In:
June 2015
Test Fields
Builder:
Jarrett Bay
Model:
Jarrett Bay 43 HTX
Type:
Sportfisherman
Year:
2015
Price Tested:
Upon request
Conditions:
Air temperature: 80°F; humidity 60%; seas: 4-5’
Test Engines:
2/600-HP Cummins Zeus pods
Load During Boat Test:
500 gal. fuel, 100 gal. water, 2 persons, 1,500 lb. gear.
Specs
Overall Length:
43'0"
Draft:
3'10"
Beam:
14'10"
Displacement:
36,750 lb.
Fuel Capacity:
630 GAL.
Water Capacity:
100 GAL.
Optional Equipment:
Noteworthy Options: Palm Beach tower; AME electronics package; maple and sapele soles; hidden baby gate between accommodations and saloon levels; teak toerail; teak transom; underwater LED lights; in-transom fishbox (Prices upon request).
Props:
Merucry M9 5-blade (forward), M8 4-blade (aft)
Spec Other:
Generator: 13.5-KW Cummins
Warranty: Standard 1 year on construction
LOA Computed:
43
Final Boat Test Numbers:
Jarrett Bay 43 HTX - Final Boat Test Numbers:
RPM
KNOTS
GPH
RANGE
dB(A)
600
4.6
1.5
1739
67
1000
8.1
4.5
1021
71
1500
10.1
8.1
707
77
2000
19.3
15.2
720
77
2300
24.3
20.2
682
81
2600
28.7
27.9
583
82
2920
33
31.7
590
83
3080
35.4*
*WOT speed provided by the builder.
Speeds are two-way averages measured w/ GPS display. GPH estimates taken via Cummins display. Range is based on 90% of advertised fuel capacity.
Sound levels measured at the helm. 65 dB(A) is the level of normal conversation.
First Letter:
J