Ona Muni, a Sam Devlin designed and built 33′ Scarlet Macaw

It is frequently asked of me fairly how a new boat design comes to life and what were the steps involved in the evolution of each design and the answer is never a simple one.  The “Onamuni” project came up originally as an email inquiry from a Mr. Al Hatfield.  Al was looking for a launch to service his lodge on Lake Vermillion in Northern Minnesota. The boat would be used to run his friends and family the 26 odd miles up lake to the nearest watering hole and back again.  Lake Vermillion is a fairly large lake with lots of islands and hundreds of miles of waterfront, all of it interesting and sight worthy, but Al had it in his mind that the trip would be even more enjoyable if it were done with a ‘really classy launch’ as the hub of the whole experience.  So Al’s simple question of “Do I have a launch in my quiver of designs and what would I recommend?” morphed after a couple of weeks to the early preliminary drawing of the Onamuni.  We called that early design the “Scarlet Macaw” but soon after the building project commenced, the name morphed into the “Onamuni” which is the Indian name for Lake Vermillion.

Al had strong ideas of what he wanted and one day he made a statement. He said “Sam, some people have Ferraris as one of their cars and barely drive them. I have a Ferrari and I drive mine everyday.” He was trying to tell me that performance was really important and that he intended to extract as much performance as he could on a daily basis while using the new boat. I probably muttered something about why build a boat that can go 40 miles per hour and then run around at 15 mph every day babying the engines. But Al emphasized to me that he fully intended to drive the boat fast and enjoy that aspect of it.  I can report that the Onamuni can run really fast. In fact, for a boat of 33 ft. of length, she can really spit about on the water, and during the sea trials, I had enough time running her that I must report that I, too, enjoyed running her fast.  Her performance was so good that I couldn’t find a photo chase boat that could keep up with her and I had to hire a helicopter to accomplish the photography.

With her twin Yanmar 260 hp diesel engines, here’s how she performed during sea trials:

Diesel power was chosen for its fuel economy and with the maneuvering of the twin engines backed up by a bow and stern thruster, she can be put in and out of just about any area the owner wants to take her to.  There is seating for 8 either inside or outside and with inside and outside steering controls, she can accommodate just about anything the “ol’ weather gods” want to throw at her.  That is pretty good fuel economy for a boat that can haul 8 passengers safely and enjoyably across the lake.

As for the aesthetics of the Onamuni, I viewed and described her during the building process as a “Chopped Devlin”. She most certainly has our look about her but it’s all done in a slightly rakish manner with the scale of the Onamuni pegged for looking “just about right”!  When we did our photo shoot, Neil Rabinowitz reported her as “very good looking” and he has certainly seen a lot of boats in his lifetime of doing marine photography. Once I saw the galley of proofs on the photos, I was stunned. She is really a good looking boat, if I say so myself, and I am typically pretty hard on myself about looks and styling.  Onamuni looks like a boat that has a job to do and that she can do it without compromise.   Take a look at these fine photos Neil has produced and tell me if you agree that she looks just right!

Highlights of the build were the chance to work with an owner that knew just about almost smack dab on point what he wanted and what he expected of us to deliver on that vision.  While it has been several years since the last time we were tasked with this type of job, Al gave us a budget to put Northwest Indian art in her. It was a blast to ferret out proper art for display in the Onamuni and the extra touch of class it lent greatly added to the whole effect!  I hope you agree.   – Sam Devlin

The Scarlet Macaw 33 is available in study plans.