Andy56
27-08-2015, 12:50 PM
Hi guys, its that time in life when another boat is required to satisfy my lust for adventure, lol. Actually its close to a yr and a half that I sold my 543rf. I am happy here in thailand but a trip to the beach and I want a boat.!!
Ok , just to lay the ground rules. There is so much shit in the water here. With the heavy rains that fall yearly, its impracticle for a poor country to clean up properly. So that rules out a fibreglass boat. Any damage would be almost too hard to get fixed here. You cant just go to your local marine shop or fibreglass place. These things just dont exist here in down town chiang mai. I am handy with tools but prefer not to. There are NO BOAT RAMPS. my, my, my how pampered we are in PPB, lol. So a beach launch is the go. Most of the big dams do have a ramp of sorts , usually gravel slopes.
You can buy fibreglass boats made in thailand, but having been on them and looking at the hull shapes, they are bangers. Nothing beats a true Aussie or American hull. So an Aussie alloy boat is the go. What can I get here? A Quintex or a Stacer! Or I can import a second. So I called the local Quintrex dealer in Krabi, 15hrs away by car. Yes he can get me anything. How about a Noble 5.8m, only 850,000b hull only. ($34g). I had to laugh, after the reports in these forums, NO F'N way hose! How about a Smart Liner Sunbreeze 525, only 500,000b. he was a little disappointed when I said topender450sc.
Having read that the topender now has 4mm bottoms, Its the standout boat for me for all the above reasons.
Its very rare for the waters here to standup like PPB unless you have a warning well in advance of advancing bad weather. I had a quinnie before in melbourne and it handled PPB rough water easily. So no issues there.
The next issue is motors.
Its rated for 75hp, so a suzuki or yamaha is the go. (70hp and both pretty good motors I think). An Etec 75hp gen 2 would be ideal. Which motor will be able to withstand the most knocks from water debrie? Thats what I'd like to know! I wont tell you how much outboards cost here, but just say this. You would cream your pants if you knew how cheap they are, lol.
Anyway over to you guys what do you think? Any suggestions?
Ok , just to lay the ground rules. There is so much shit in the water here. With the heavy rains that fall yearly, its impracticle for a poor country to clean up properly. So that rules out a fibreglass boat. Any damage would be almost too hard to get fixed here. You cant just go to your local marine shop or fibreglass place. These things just dont exist here in down town chiang mai. I am handy with tools but prefer not to. There are NO BOAT RAMPS. my, my, my how pampered we are in PPB, lol. So a beach launch is the go. Most of the big dams do have a ramp of sorts , usually gravel slopes.
You can buy fibreglass boats made in thailand, but having been on them and looking at the hull shapes, they are bangers. Nothing beats a true Aussie or American hull. So an Aussie alloy boat is the go. What can I get here? A Quintex or a Stacer! Or I can import a second. So I called the local Quintrex dealer in Krabi, 15hrs away by car. Yes he can get me anything. How about a Noble 5.8m, only 850,000b hull only. ($34g). I had to laugh, after the reports in these forums, NO F'N way hose! How about a Smart Liner Sunbreeze 525, only 500,000b. he was a little disappointed when I said topender450sc.
Having read that the topender now has 4mm bottoms, Its the standout boat for me for all the above reasons.
Its very rare for the waters here to standup like PPB unless you have a warning well in advance of advancing bad weather. I had a quinnie before in melbourne and it handled PPB rough water easily. So no issues there.
The next issue is motors.
Its rated for 75hp, so a suzuki or yamaha is the go. (70hp and both pretty good motors I think). An Etec 75hp gen 2 would be ideal. Which motor will be able to withstand the most knocks from water debrie? Thats what I'd like to know! I wont tell you how much outboards cost here, but just say this. You would cream your pants if you knew how cheap they are, lol.
Anyway over to you guys what do you think? Any suggestions?