Boating forum

Hello Austravel. If you can find a 14 foot boat and motor and trailer for $10.00 you are "the man"! ;-)

As for what sort of boat maybe one of those barra punts may be ideal. flat bottom but very stable when standing near the edge.
Sorry I cannot be more helpful but I don't get to go fishing much.

Sparkie(IE not Y) ;-)

Hi Austravel,
We have a Quintrex 385 Explorer (3.85m) with a 15hp Yamaha 4 stroke on a Redco sportsman trailer with 14" wheels and just love it. Very stable boat that can stand some rough stuff as well.

The Quintrex Explorers are well worth looking at as is the Stessel Edgetrackers.

Cheers,
bob k

Depends I guess on what you call rough. The explorer is a flat bottom vee boat designed mainly for rivers, estuaries and dams and ours performs well in these areas with winds up to around 15 - 20 knots. It certainly smoother than any other flat bottom I have ever been in.

I think the trailer would be ok. Ours has done some time around the dams in central queensland where the access roads can be a bit sus at best.

Hope this helps,
cheers,
bob k

G'day Austravel

We have a Stessl edged V, 3.9 with a 30hp tohatsu. It is a great boat, easy for 2 people to launch and retreive. Very stable boat, we have used it in the bays, rivers and off the north beach of sandy cape fraser island. Got it all for just over 5K. We also looked at the quintrex, awesome boats.
cheers
Crazie

you will need to check the trailer ( its usuly the last thing you think of when buying a boat! ) may i sugest that if u are doing some serious off road work with the trailer then look at getting the trailer custom made it will be more expencive but you wont beleave the amount of horror storys going round op here bout people with weak trailers. the things getting halfway to the fishing spot and fallin to bits boats commin off allong the corrigations at 80ks, not pritty! usuly results from the trailer being under strenth or rusting from inside. the galv dip seams to be very thin on the dime a dozen brands from south.
i built mine myself with help from my mate (boilermaker) 75 by 50 box 4mm single galv springs welded guides etc.... VERY solid yes it weighs a bit more but an extra 100 kgs isnt much realy and this thing will last. also the guys at darwin galvinising did a exelent job there must be 2 mm of galv on the thing!! so rust (hopefuly) wont be a prob for a while.
the best part bout makin the trailer myself is the thing can be exactly as i want walk way etc.... and its made to fit MY boat not every boat.
as far as boats the flat botoms are ok if ONLY on flat water but first sign of chop and they are prity uncomfortable best bet is plate aluminium v nose at the least but there gose the 10k there so maby the qunnie v nose? its flat at the back but still has the front cutting edge and will soften the ride theres plenty of models and brands and they all seem prity good so i spose see if you can give a few types a trial and see how they ride.
the motor is a funny one the 2 stroke ones are cheaper to buy and service (i do mine myself so its real cheap) and the 4 strokes NEVER end op paying forthem selves fuel and serviseing so my advise, dont get sucked in to the salesmans crap bout the 4 strokes yes quieter yes less smoke yes less fuel but you probably never need more than the 25ltr tank that they supply running to and from the ramp you only go flat stick anyway and the smoke is minimal in the injected 2 strokes. mines a tohatsu and its exelent plenty of power and not that noisy for the cost i get just asmuch fun out of her as the next bloke with a 4 stroke and i get the saving in costs
hope that helps, greg

Austravel
Boating forum: http://www.fishnet.com.au/
As you know, 14ft is not for open seas or bays. 'Punt' (blunt ended or flat bottom) styles are not suitable for chop or rough water. Stessl make some solid dinghies under 4metres. If you are going to remote places and intend to slip out to islands, get a two-stroke to the max recommended HP rating for the hull. Nothing like a bit of wind and wave to slow up a boat that is under powered. Yamaha are common and reliable but there are others.

Don't forget to price in the safety and ground equipment and bimini. An EPIRB could be useful if in remote areas.
Have fun
EV700

Try this site as well for the chat boards - http://www.ausfish.com.au

I changed some time ago from a quintrex 13ft v-nose punt to a 16ft fibreglass because I got sick of getting wet and banged about in the smaller one even in chop that was only fairly small. However I don't think the glass boat I have now would be ideal for remote areas as they are not as tough as a tinnie for the trip. The new hull shapes in the tinnies are much better, there are things like the hornets in the quintrex or the various flared bow type shapes that improve the ride dramatically. Price gets right up there with some of these though.

I would also echo the recommendation for Tohatsu as I used to have the 25/30 on the tinnie and have just changed to one of their fuel injected 90s on the current boat. Reliability is the key and the Tohatsu is legendary for that.

Another option would be something like the porta-bote which is a foldup boat. They now come in a 14ft and I think you can put a 15hp on them. If you are only in the estuaries I think they would be great and can be carried on a roof rack very easily.

Tim.

Hi Austravel,

I too have a 3.85 explorer with a yamaha 25 (2 carb model) 2 stroke, geat boat and super stable but notwithstanding bob's comments I think not suited to where you want to go. I took mine to cape york in 2003 and whilst it is great for lakes, rivers and estuary if you want to go further than a few hundred metres off shore it is not suited. Unfortunately we were unable to get out to islands out from Bathurst heads due to (typical) weather up there and the prevailing winds that come up daily, likewise around weipa. Personally I would go the traditional style hull rather than v nose punt. Regarding trailer, yes you will need a "proper" off road one and if you can making your own would be a good idea, you can have rollers under solid rail down the centre but suggest skids on sides so there is nothing to pop through floor.
Re motors, for price I think 2 stroke although because we troll a lot in lakes down here my next motor will be a 4 stroke. Everyone has their views but personally depnding upon hull choice I think you can't go past yamaha 2cyl, 2 carb 25 or 3cyl 3 carb 30 which run on 100:1 oil so much less smoke and very smooth if you do troll. (no to be mistaken with budget CV models).

As suggested I would post question on fishnet re hulls alternatives.

Regards,

Darren

Agree with Darren's response re replacing side wobble-rollers with slides. My BIL went to Steep Point (WA) a couple of years back, and a wobble roller sheared the split pin and fell off with the result that the roller "holder" worked its way thru the hull on his Quinnie 500 Seabreeze.

We reckon these arrangements should be changed so that the roller holders are threaded and allow for a Nylock nut to keep the wobble-roller on.