The Jessi 26 is the culmination of over thirty years of fiberglass boat building experience. The evolution of the Jessi 26 is a story in itself…
Charlie Lalta of C & A Boatworks, Inc. in Pompano started his career at Blackfin Yachts laying fiberglass. He soon moved into the prototype department and was responsible for creating plugs and molds for some of the most admired boats of their time. This experience gave him an inside look into the design and engineering features that made a Blackfin perform so superbly.
In his later years at Blackfin, he supervised the finishing department. Blackfin boats were finished with DCDP resin based gelcoat, the same finish used on Bertram Yachts at that time. Blackfins and Bertrams from this era are legendary for having finishes that still polish like new after 20 years or more. He perfected this gelcoat finishing technique. From his experience at Blackfin, he began his mastery of the art of building the perfect fiberglass boat.
Next at Denison Marine, he further honed his skills as part of the painting and fairing team working on big yacht superstructures. This experience was invaluable at learning how to achieve the superior finishes found on luxury yachts.
He next worked for Strike Yachts, where he supervised the construction of these semi-custom center consoles, from start to finish. Though not as well-known as Blackfin, the solid glass hull Strike 26/29 and 35 are famous for their fantastic ride in rough seas. He gained invaluable experience in the design and production of the perfect center console fishing boat.
For the past fifteen years, He has owned and operated C&A, rigging boats for Strike Yachts and working with R&R Boatworks on their Conch 33 and Conch 27.
C&A has been commissioned to do custom work on many tournament fishing boats, and has worked on some great boats such as Viking, Hatteras, Yellowfin, SeeVee, Contender, Seacraft, Mako, Everglades, Oceanmaster and many others. He has worked on everything from small center consoles to super yachts, completing countless total rebuilds of 21’ and 23’ SeaCraft boats, taking them down to bare hull and restoring them to better than new. Additionally, C&A completed a major restoration and customization of an 85 Pacific Mariner Yacht.
As he was working on all of these boats, he was studying them, identifying the strongest, most efficient and reliable techniques of boat building – he has seen what it takes to survive the punishment of serious fishermen. He has also studied hull designs – what rides smooth and dry, comes on plane easily, remains stable in all seas and is fuel efficient. In his head for years, he has thought about, designed and redesigned the perfect center console, based on everything he has learned over the past thirty years.
His dream was to build the perfect fishing center console for the South Florida fishermen. A boat with a legendary ride, stable on the drift, lots of fishing room, uncluttered, lots of storage but still easy to trailer with beautiful lines and most of all, to build it strong and yet affordable. One boat he always loved and admired was the 23 Seacraft. He always knew that this would be the perfect platform to build a great South Florida fishing boat. Nearly 2 years ago his dream was finally realized with the completion of the first 26 Jessi prototype.