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Ean,
Basically I am after a boat between the 4.2m - 4.8m mark that is rated for 4 - 5 people.
Both the Blue Fin and the Sea Jay can be had in either a 4.55 or 4.85 which would suit my needs well.
There are a couple of reasons for choosing that size,
- It will fit in the garage
- It should be relatively easy to tow with the D2 wherever I want to go.
Mate of mine bought one of these early march.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...012/04/396.jpg
We went down to Lake Tyers for the (extra) long weekend. Maiden voyage and all he was pretty impressed with the Suzuki 30 HP electric start. Plenty of power with two big blokes aboard even though he didn't get past 2/3 throttle for most of the weekend whilst running in with a slightly oily mixture.
The weather might have been a bit miserable at times but we did better than this poor bloke :( :wasntme:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...012/04/397.jpg
Could be a cheap Evinrude here, only used once. Swap you for a couple of bungs!!:o
Deano:)
We had 2 quintrex 4.55 mtr topenders 1 with 40 hp and 1 with 50 hp both Yamaha's , our D2 towed them easy and were our most sort after tinnies, along with the Burmuda viper at 4.6mtrs, but sadly had a 40 hp injected Mariner outboard.Quote:
Originally Posted by CJT
Our 4.55 mtr sea jay with a 40 hp honda was our worst, but that was more the outboard rather than the tinnie.
As our tinnies were in survey, off the shelf the quintrex were the best according to the surveyors.
Again I am only relating our expierience with our boat hire business, which was mostly top end rivers, sure not rough , but plenty of tide, upto 7 mtrs movement over the spring tides.
All our tinnies over 4.5 mtrs were surveyed for 5 people.
HTH
Cheers Ean
Did you ever have issues with cracking in the Quintrex models after lots of towing etc?
No, but because everyone up here wants to catch barra and wanted cast decks, on all our tinnies we put in a flat plate from the front bench seat thru to the front inside of the hull at the bow.. Cheap to do, so whether that strenghtened them or not I am unsure.Quote:
Originally Posted by CJT
Cheers Ean
badly designed trailers and short chop kills the current quinnie sad excuse for ribs.
4.5 is a good size for a proper off road rig. F60 or F70 on the tiller is my preference for space and maneuvering in tight country.
4.8s with big 150kg donks require a fair bit more thought on the trailer. Consider dual axles etc.
Bluefin make solid hulls, as do seajay and stacer. Lots of options. Check out mako craft too. Their 455 or whatever with an F60 will do big rivers but also scoot out to the reef? And really well built.
S
S
Down here in the nanny state 4.8's the magic number. Under this it's mandatory for adults to wear life jackets, so size is important for other reasons.Quote:
Originally Posted by CJT
Re my mates 4.2m Busta. Great tinny, comfortable for 2 adults maybe 3 at a pinch, but I reckon a bit too 'friendly' for 4 or 5. Even with kids, as they tend to move around a lot they can need as much room or more than adults. When you add the rods, tackle boxes, clothes, eskys etc I reckon a 4.2m will soon become pretty small with 5 in it.
My old 15' (4.6m) deHavilland tinny is just OK with 5 adults though a bit of a stretch for the equally antique 30 HP Johnson.
As to quality of Quintrex, I've also a (probably) 30+ yo 12' tinny which gets up quite nice with a 8.5 HP merc and 2 adults on board. Tried the same motor on another mates identical length/beam Savage. Couldn't believe the difference. The antique Quintrex absolutely killed the Savage in every respect. I was amazed, only good for a kinder sand pit. Most unstable boat I've ever been on.
But, horses for courses I suppose. Depends what you want to do with it and how deep the pockets are I guess.
Deano:)
I bought a BlueFin Viking 5.0 (there is a thread on here). I was going to buy a 4.75 w/F60 yamaha, but at the last minute decided to go for an 5.0 w/F70A.Quote:
Originally Posted by CJT
IME blue fin are extremely well built boats, especially where it counts. I paid the extra for a 4 mm hull bottom (3 mm sides). Compare that to the bottom (sides) of a Quintrex.
IME the only downside of the viking is that it is an allrounder. i.e. pounds more offshore than a really deep V, so cannot go as fast (in comfort), but conversely has a reasonably shallow draft in estuaries. Despite expectations it planes very easily in calm water.
This is interesting… Like others I can only give my experiences.
Between Myself and my Farther we currently have 3 Hondas (6 year old 150 & 30, 9 year old 15) all have been mechanically faultless, have no idea what mech warranty is like none of then have stopped, however they all have paint blistering which is very ordinary and seems to be common, the 150 and 30 have been repainted under warranty. The factory supplied props need to go in the bin but once a decent prop is fitted they are a beautiful machine to use. I have found the dealer support to be very poor especially in Brisbane, Dad’s in Hervey Bay where the local dealer is excellent. Would I buy another Honda – No, but only due to lack of dealer support, My Dad will.
In December last year we sold our 10m cat. It has twin Yamahas and I have never owned a more unreliable anything! We bought it new in 2007 (1600hrs when sold) and was dealer serviced every 100-120 hrs. Both engines failed, prt side 2 times, stb side 4 times, giving us more than one break down / year. The first 2 failures were in warranty period (was only 2 years), when we arrived in closest hbr (Airlie & Gladstone) the respective dealer came down and both times we were told that “Claims must be approved by Yamaha Australia before work is done and that can take 2-3 weeks” WTF! Might be ok if you can park your trailer boat at the dealer during this time but we are stranded some 600nm from home! So IMO Yamaha warranty is not worth anything, to enable us to continue our holiday repair bills had to be paid for. Also, dealers never had parts in stock, every time it was a wait for the failed part to come from Sydney. Only upside was corrosion resistance, this boat was moored and the engines looked like new when sold which is truly remarkable. All I can say from 5 years of Yamaha ownership is lucky I had 2 of them or there would have been some very expensive rescue bills – June 2010 one failed to start 80nm SE of Mackay, Strong wind warning issued for the next day. Would I buy another Yamaha, Jury’s out, dealer support is good, factory is not. I know my engines saw plenty of use and a tinnie scenario would be completely different, but I had no confidence in them and Yamaha Aus just screwed us over forcing it to court both times. Every one keeps telling me how Yamaha never give trouble, But I don’t think I could support the business again, It will be a long time before I forget the feeling of hoping the 2nd engine doesn’t stop on our way in. The stress of birthing in an unfamiliar marina with one engine was bad enough – try stopping a cat with one motor, they just want to spin around, after 6 times I was getting the hang of it.
On the original topic of 4.2 tinnies. Totally agree with Steve on the Quintex issue. No matter what brand you get, if you have a full floor ect fit out, I would recommend 40hp. I have a tiller 30 on the back of a Brooker 410 and its fine for 2, any more and it really wants more herbs, the 30 does it but its working hard. Have a look at Brooker, I bought one because of how they are built, the 410 and above are built with full plate bulkheads under the floor like big platies are built.
Fishing group at our local boat club, guys with E-Tec are very happy with them.
I had a 40 HP Merc for many years and apart from a couple of impellers it never missed a beat and it went everywhere on an old 16ft Quintrex Fishabout - they don't make Quinnies like that anymore.
I have just bought a Barcrusher with an E-tec and can't fault it. The inline 40 e-tec gets some great right ups and a bloke I know that has one swears by it for power, quietness and economy.
I agree about the new model Quintrex still living on their name. Many features that are destined to fail. May be good for family Fred going out on the bay with the kids once a month but bashing it on off-road tracks is a recipe for many hours with an aluminium welding machine.