Jay Perrotta. President of Rock Salt Boats (
www.rocksaltboats.com), invited myself and a couple other former customers to take a ride on his newest design the Rock Salt 34 while she is here in Yarmouth Maine. I am a charter boat captain and own a Pacific 23 which I purchased in 2005 from Black Lab Marine. My business is growing and I am considering a larger boat to accomodate both my customers needs and my desire to fish far offshore grounds. I am not a "professional boat reviewer" just a guy who wants a boat that offers safety, comfort, economy, and fishability.
The Rock Salt is made of welded 1/4" marine grade Plate Alloy (5086) with 1/2" on the transom, 34 feet long, 10 ft beam, weighs 11,500 lbs wet with 450 gal fuel and this hull (#1)is rigged with twin 350 Yamaha four stroke engines (she can also be rigged with triples).
The boat looks and is huge. The freeboard is so high that the gunwal's tops reached the upper part of my thighs when standing on deck and I am 6' tall. The fly by wire controls give instant response to any change in throttle or steering...something I had to get used to after driving my boat which does not have this. This boat was rigged for the Miami Boat Show and featured coffin box, 2 bait wells, tackle lockers, below deck fish boxes and numerous other amenities. The thing I liked most was a customer can design what he wants in the boat. Being an offshore fisherman I am already compiling a list of what I would want. People interested in cruising can do the same. These are not cookie cutter boats...they are designed for the customer.
The boat runs even more impressively than she looks. WOT gives you 55MPH, burning 64 GPH with a range of about 400 miles ( Jay believes with a little tweaking in the hull design he will have Hull #2 over 60 MPH) Back it down to cruise and your are running 38 MPH with a very modest 24.5 GPH which will give you a range of nearly 700 miles. Looking for a canyon runner...this boat was made for those long trips to the edge.
At WOT Jay put her through hard right/left rudder turns, tight circles and she tracked as though her stern was glued to the water...no slippage what so ever. We could only find a small 2-3 chop on the open water and that was no test for this hull as she cut through it as though it was a flat calm inland lake. Not a single drop of water spray entered the cockpit. My next ride will be in a NE blow with at least a 5 ft 4 second chop and I bet she will run just as well. On the drift I found her to be very stable which surprised me because of her 24 degree deadrise.
After driving her for about an hour I became very comfortable with the controls and I found her easier to run than my own 23' Pacific. At the end of the day, using just the left/right throttles I was able to slide her between two other boats and just kiss the dock...everyone including Jay (who has witnessed my notorious docking abilities) was impressed.
With this boat you get safety (nothing short of a sea mine is going to damage this hull), speed, comfort, lifetime warranty, and a deck layout that you design. Power options are unlimited including your choice of either outboards (twin or triples) or inboard single/twin diesels.
For myself this boat would meet all my needs and I hope to have a keel layed for me in the near future. I have found a new love but please dont tell the Lady D
Rock Salt 34 WOW!!! 
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