New Boat Advice

[breamnwa]

I'm after some help in deciding the best boat set-up for me. My previous boat was just a mandurah crabber, 25hp Merc/esky and some crab nets. All I needed at the time

Anyways, now I'm looking at something a little more comfortable/fancy etc. I've made the decision to spend about 6k on the boat(the inital budget was more than twice that, but I'm looking for a new 4wd now too)

Size wise I'm not too sure about what to really go for. I just want it for some river/esturary fishing and odd crabbing session mandurah way, so I'm thinking sub 4m and under 20 horses, a livewell, couple of seats etc etc. I can pick up a MotorGuide 54lb leccy second hand for it too. The plan is to deck it out over a few months, to free up some cash for the new car.

I'm looking for some good recommendations on hull size/shape etc, I would love to just buy a package, but I can do most of the work myself anyway. I really want to get the boat/trailer for under say $1400, as you seem to pick them up for this sort of money with an outboard too.

Any recommendations would be appreciated Oh yeah, I'm having trouble getting prices online for the leccy, anyone know what the 54lb MG's normally go for new/second hand.

Cheers,

Paul

[Brad Y]

Paul

Sounds similar to what i want to do- 4m boat so i can do the pro tour next year. Just start from scratch and make it like i want it

My first punt project was great fun and i learnt heaps so i can use it on doing up the new boat properly

Good luck

[Molly]

Hi Paul

I recently purchased a motorguide 54lb bowmount from one of the dealers in Freo (there name escapes me at the moment)...cost me about $800.. I called three mercury/motorguide dealers to find the best deal, all three were within about $60.00 of each other...

so far it has been great , makes such a difference to how and where i can fish..well worth the money

Roy

[BIG PETE]

breamnwa

i think the regs for the pro tour say you can only have a min 25hp on your boat



BIG PETE

[Bream Addict]

mate i dont fancy ur chances of boatand trailer for 1400bucks, for instance a stacer proline 3.95 on a reasonabl trailer will set u back 2850,trailers a damn expensive, unless u look second hand and then got to get 1 that real similar to the hull shape.

[breamnwa]

Yeah I forgot to mention, I will be looking at secondhand only.

[breamnwa]

Any more advice?

I've been looking at some 11ft'ers lately, seems like a good size for the swan, and can be built on a budget. Enough for me I'd reckon, only be me and 1 or 2 mates anyway.

What I really want to know is what are the ideal brands/models/shapes for swan river fishing(bream'n)

[Brad Y]

Take it from me, you will need a bigger boat than 11ft for two mates... I can fish one more out of my 10 footer but its a hassle for space.

If you want if for comp fishin try something about 3.8m- you can do super punts and pro tours series in it.

The vee hulls will be good on the days were you have to get through a bit of chop to get home but v nose punts will give a more stable platform to fish off.

Im lookin for a vee hull as you can use them for other types of fishing too- and they are still quite stable to fish on a casting deck with.