What is everybody riding to the fish?

[headlight]

Yes had her since the end of 2008 & have been well impressed with her, re-engined her with a new Honda 115 EFI couple of months after getting her which hasn"t missed a beat since.
37kts flat out & .6 litres a mile at between 22-24kts cruise, weather permitting.
My friend Glyn"s identical boat with 125hp mariner 2 stroke out of the water the day before for me to service the engine & clean & tidy up

[headlight]

Jack plate courtesy of Carolina Jack Plates, makes a big difference to performance & consumption raising the engine on these hulls

[valkie]

This is my stabicraft just before I bought it.
Its a New Zeland built boat.
The whole outside is air filled pontoons, sealed and solid.
The boat had unbelivable sea keeping ability and is solid as a dock underfoot.

And it does 40 knotts with a 90 hp merc

[Alto Mare]

Nice boat, good luck with it.

[Steve-O]

The lodge in Alaska I went to 4 years ago had stabicrafts for their fleet. Like you said solid as a dock under foot ...very smooth... easy handling.

[valkie]

I love mine.
I have had her airborne several times and she comes down beautifully and soft.

We have quite unpredictable seas over here and I went out one day in calm seas and a serious squall came up.
I wasn't worried, it was rough and damn uncomfortable, but still felt reasonably safe.
Heading back in I came up behind a glass boat twice my size and he was in all sorts of trouble, both bilge pumps going flat out.
He radioed me and asked if I could follow him in, just in case.
I did and it looked hairy, but he got in all right.
Turns out the squally kicked up 3 meter plus seas and 3 meter waves.
As I said my Stabi was doing it rough, but we took very little water, three other boats actually sunk.

Safe little boat.

[humboldtdan]

How is ride in a 2 foot or better chop?

[valkie]

In small chop it tends to bang a little because the pontoons hit the water.
If the chop is consistent you just trim down and hit the go go button, it rides over the chop easy.

In larger chop its in its element, and will ride as fast as you are game to go.
The tracking is very forgiving, so its quite hard to stuff it up.

I find Lake Macquarie (In Australia)to have inconsistent chop which is worst case scenario, so I have to keep it at around 20 knotts.
It can get up to 3 foot waves coming from all sides and all over the place.
The shallow bottoms and land protrusions with large water area all contribute to the crappy water.

I have seen Bass boats virtually swamped and open boats taking on more water than they can get rid of.
The Stabi takes it all in its sride, although I do get some spray if I hit a wave and the wash gets airborne.
Generally just enough to wet my glasses, I have never taken a wave over the front or side.....yet

These boats are built for New Zeland boating conditions, some of the toughest in the world.
The New Zealanders are also suicidal in the way they drive their boats, going out in conditions I wuldnt even venture to the beach to have a look.
But tough they are and the boats are made tough to suit them.

The buoyancy and the rear pod setup virtually eliminate any possibility of water coming in from behind
The front just wont go under, Trust me I've gone down the face of a wave badly and the Stabi just hit the bottom and flattened out.
Love this boat, but I do have one small complaint.
It steers like a ford with bald tyres and stuffed steering rack at slow speeds.
Seriously, at slow speed this thin is almost impossible to keep on a straight line.
You need to be doing better than 5 knotts or you get sore arms from continual steering adjustment.

[jonnou]

You got yourself a good one. West coast safe 

[boon]

These boats are built for New Zeland boating conditions, some of the toughest in the world.
The New Zealanders are also suicidal in the way they drive their boats, going out in conditions I wuldnt even venture to the beach to have a look.
But tough they are and the boats are made tough to suit them.

We'll collectively take that as a complement

At the moment I'm fishing from one of 2 boats, either my workmate's recently acquired Mac 4.2 centre console:

Awesome boats, this is his second one after the first one dismounted the trailer and mated with a parked Nissan.
Very stable, beamy, lots of room for a small boat.

Otherwise, the old man's 4.4 metre Ramco Seeker

Both are great little boats, fish 2-3 people comfortably, and make for very cost-effective boating.

On the right day we'll happily take either boat well offshore.

[valkie]

Had the Stabicraft outside a couple of weeks ago and began to become a little concerned.
The waves were knocking the little boat all over the place and you had to hold on just to stay vertical.

We decided to head in when the water was more white than green, and proceeded to cruise in along at around 15 knots.

Then we saw the other boat, now, no names mentioned, but this was a well known brand of boat and was touted as being sea worthy.
But as we watched, it was really struggling to make headway.
Each wave washed over the bow and in the side, when it slowed, water came in over the stern.
They were in serious trouble, bilge pump working overtime.

Now the old Stabi was being knocked around, but we still hadnt taken a drop of water over the side, Except for spray.
I got on the radio and asked if he was OK, and he said that he was taken by suprise at the ferocity of the waves.
I knew it was bad, but that bad???
I followed him in as far as the bar, but he elected to hide in the leeward side of the island rather than brave the somewhat daunting looking bar.

Coming in was the worst I have been through and we were between two huge waves, one behind and one in front, I kept the Stabi on the back of the front one all the way and we got through without any problems.

Later on I found I had been in gale conditions and that the bar was considered un-navigable, but the good old Stabi never let us down for an instant.

Ill never go out in conditions like that again, but its good to know that if I get caught out, Im OK.

The other boat.
Saw him a couple of days later, he said he had a terrible night bailing and wondering if he would get through the night.
He watched us come in on the bar and said for most of it we were invisible because of the waves and water.
He is now in the market for a Stabi.
Guess he was impressed.

[Ron Jones]

In Washington there is a company called ACB (Air Chambered Boat). Seems to be the same idea as the stabi. They explain it as an aluminum rib. I've seen SEALS do utterly ridiculous things in there ribs. I'd say you got a good boat.
Ron

[boon]

There are stacks of Stabicraft clones on the New Zealand market now, all of them good boats...

Frewza (built down the road from Stabicraft by an ex-stabicraft employee, I believe)
Senator
Kiwikraft
Osprey

At least, they're the ones that spring to mind. I wonder how many of them get exported any further than Australia? With the dollar the way it is you could buy a 21ft Frewza Hardtop with a 140hp Suzuki 4-stroke for less than 35000USD... chuck it on a car-carrier for another couple of thousand and you're into a lot of boat for the money.

[valkie]

Almost bought a frewza, but it was only going to save me a few thousand and with import duty and getting an Australian compliant trailer, even that would be eaten up.
From what Im lead to believe they are as good as the Stabi, but I dont think they look as good.

I volunteer for Marine Rescue and see some scary sights every day.
This morning I was on radio shift, we overlook the bar.
I watched as several small tinnys with one  person on board putt out into the ocean.
Now it was calm today, but as we all know, that can change very suddenly.
These tinnys dont float real well, and some have virtually no freeboard.

But the onbe that really took the cake was one of those plastic folding boats.
You know the ones, they fold flat and open up like an origami model.
It headed off into the ocean with what looked like a 5 hp motor struggling to get it against the incoming tide.
Two people on board and no life jackets....................suicidal.

[hippie]

On the east coast we have Tidewater Boats manufactured in the Carolinas. On the Delmarva coast they are the hottest thing going. Everyone is getting their CC models. I bought mine 2 yrs ago.