Stessco Catcher

[Crooked]

G'day,
New to the forum and have been through quite a few of the threads, some really great stuff! I live in NQ and am just about to upgrade my small tinny which is a 3.6m quintrex (1979 vintage) to something a bit larger. I've been looking around for a while and at the moment I'm leaning toward a Stessco Catcher SF420. These look like well built boats with 3mm bottoms standard, the deepest V I've seen all the way through to the transom. I will match it with a 40Hp Suzuki 2 stroke which are being released in January (previously only up to 30 hp in suzuki 2 stroke).

I haven't seen many of these boats around and am wondering if anyone has experience with these hulls, ride, stability, dry/wet etc.

I'll be using it in the estuaries and out along the coast out to islands, we don't have the swells up here so on good days this size boat is OK.

Also the boats comes on a Belco trailer, from other threads these seem to be of good quality, but the one I saw it sitting on only had very small slides (300mm) at the back of the trailer (Ezi loaders) are these enough to stop a boat and motor of upwards of 300kg from rocking side to side??

look forward to any advice.

[dogsbody]

Hi Crooked might need a bit more info. ;D ;D

Dave.

[Crooked]

OK Dave thanks for reply, more info:
Stessco Catcher
Length 4.2m
Beam 2m
Depth 1m
3mm bottom with 1.6 sides

Has full carpeted floor, pedestal seats, rear step, chequer plate foredeck, front casting deck with hatches and all the other standard gear with tinnies.

One of the reasons for leaning this way is the layout which is great with heaps of room owing to the pedestal seat and casting deck layout. Some of the other boats of this size I have looked at have incorporated the thwarts in the casting decks reducing the room available for moving around.

The price is approx $10 400, so seems reasonable.

[dogsbody]

Sorry mate the rest of the info just popped up now.

I got a 4.2 Blue fin with 3mm bottom 2mm sides, 30 Merc and it's a good solid unit. I use it in Moreton Bay mostly and it can get a bit wet if the wind picks up but you are gonna get wet in a open tinnie fact of life. Really stable as well. The no swell would make life good for you. In Brizze coming in on a outgoing tide and wind northish, yeah my kidneys are good.

You can get the longer skids put on the trailer or put them on yourself. I have got the small ones and have had no probs.

Dave.

[robersl]

crappy looking welds on the seats was going to get one but did not like the look of the welds

shane

[Crooked]

hi Robersl,
Yeah fair enough I'll check those, I was going to get the dealer to unscrew and lift the floor to have look at the welds along all ribs and also the seat mounts so that should give me a good idea.

Evan

[Luke_Groen]

I've got a mate with one,

Definatly a top tinny!

[Crooked]

Hi Luke,
Have you been out in the chop in it? any good, I know all tinnies are going to be a bit rough, I've had my fair share of kidney treatment while the old man sat down the back wondering what I was winging about (surprised I didn't piss blood a few times) but some tinnies are definately worse than others.

With the deep V it looks like it should be OK ;D

Evan

[Luke_Groen]

As you said its got the deepest V of any tinny ive looked at too. I havent been out in it personaly but I work with him and people his taken out and they recon its better then any other tinny they've been in for the size.

Cheers

[Archer]

Evan, i looked at the Stescco Basstracker RV 4.2 i was almost going to buy one...Untill i looked at the base model. The welding was to put it bluntly Shithouse.
Now perhaps this isnt a common problem maybe the boat i looked at was a friday job but it was enough to put me off them entirley....
My advice try and get a good look at some of the models with no floors in them and if your still happy enough get the dealer to remove the floors of the one your going to buy before handing the hard earned over just to be sure!!
They are a nice looking boat and well layed out.
Ohhh and check for shavings aswell. The bottom of the base modle was full of shavings.....

Joe

[Crooked]

Thanks Joe,
I'll do that, my impression from seeing the boat was that it was done basically "no frills" which is fine by me because I can add the xtras myself. But the welding is obviously important and I will definately be checking this before purchase. The dealer has sold boats to my family for a long time so I trust him to some degree and this should help me to get to the bottom of all these sort of questions.

I looked at the unpainted hull and will have a look under the floor next time, looking at the painted hulls of any manufacturer it would be almost impossible to tell if the welding was of a good standard or not.

cheers, Evan

[Commodore]

Hi Evan,
my old man got one a few years back and i have spent many hours in it, river and sea, chop and calm, cant fault this hull. Uncle had a 4m seajay, could not get the results of the rv so he bought one too. very stable at rest, good in the chop, still get some spray(its a tinnie), but over all one of the best small hulls i've been in. Hull seems strong, cant see welds been a prob.
Cheers,
Chong

[the_lump]

Like a few replies indicate CHECK THE WELDING.I have looked over some of the bigger versions and the welding is so bad its scary.Just a little hint $ seasons are also stesscos :o

[the_lump]

Make that$ a 4

[Crooked]

Had a look at the 4 seasons website and you're right, the boats there do certainly have a similar build. The customised RV on the front page is very similar to the stessco that I looked at (the one I saw was just minus the paintwork).

It's interesting the constant manufacturer crossover there is in the marine industry, particularly with outboards. Boats don't seem to be as bad but obviously still some that comes out of the same factory.

Re: the welding, I'll certainly check, I would have thought that producing good welds was just part of being a good tradesman, I guess the emphasis should be on "good". Also I'll be looking for strong welds, if they're not all pretty that's fine as long as they have good connection with both surfaces.

cheers, Evan