My new Boat:

Buying a new boat is a very tricky process if you want to get it right. Firstly you have to decide exactly what you want the boat to do. In my case I really wasn’t asking for much - I just wanted a boat big enough to catch marlin, kingfish, tuna, snapper, and flathead in the ocean – and small enough to efficiently catch bream, perch, bass, trout, barra and cod in estuaries and impoundments. Oh yeah, it had to give a good ride on rough days in the ocean and be nice and stable at rest for lure and fly fishing on the flat water. I also wanted a boat I could afford to tow and run in what I believe will be some tough economic times. To sum it up in one sentence, I wanted a recession busting, big, small, comfortable cheap boat with a power plant that would run quietly, smoothly and reliably with minimum fuel and maintenance costs.

I guess anyone who knows anything at all about boating has already realized what I wanted to put together is impossible to achieve, but that didn’t stop me trying. I went to boat shows in three states and looked at a lot of boats. I also talked to some very smart people who have been in the fishing and boating game for a long time.   

If you are into maths, two and two usually ends up as four and in boating circles if you add small to seaworthy at least one of the correct answers comes up as the old Haines 445 center console hull. This hull has been around for so long I am sure that Noah had a good look at one before he built the ark. Apparently he would have bought one but he needed a bigger boat.

There are various manufacturers still building versions of this hull and I saw one built by Adrian Clancy of Formula boats at the Melbourne boat show. I was impressed by the finish and the solid lay-up so after a ride in one I looked around and found my own  Formula 15 sitting in a boat yard at Phillip Island in Victoria. The folks from Phillip Island Marine are also Evinrude E tec dealers which meant they could fit the engine I wanted as well - and they also use Easy tow trailers, so it worked out that they could put the whole project together for me.

This boat is tiny but the fit-out is quite complex when you consider the quick release system and mount for the 80 pound Minn Kota electric motor, the hinging bow rail, the on-board charging system, and fitting the Furuno electronics so the colour sounder and GPS work perfectly. I am sure that I was a royal pain in the arse in explaining how well I wanted everything to work and I wasn’t backwards in pointing out any potential pitfalls that I thought might occur in the setup – all I can say is that they put up with my finicky concerns with a minimum of eye rolling and delivered in spades – I have owned the boat for over two months and I haven’t had a single teething problem with anything!  Okay, it is a boat so something will eventually stuff up, but so far it hasn’t, and I just love everything about the whole package.

Obviously this type of boat won’t suit everyone, but after fishing the hell out it for a couple of months and catching trout, bream, kingfish, snapper, flathead and jewfish as well as putting in a couple of unproductive marlin sessions I know this is the boat I have been looking for. I had high hopes for this fishing package but it has exceeded my expectations by a big margin.

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