16ft sportsman craft looking for input

[fishingnottake]

i;m looking to hear from people who have/had sportsman's particularly around 16ft, how are they offshore etc.

[Spaniard_King]

I take it your looking at one of the local boys rigs. It's not Harries is it ::)

I have been in a couple and they are solid boats, one in particular had the transom extended by way of a pod. It made a hell of a difference but then lenthening any boat should always be a positive moove. 80hp up would be nice

No problem running to 9 mile from currumbin or anything like that

Garry

[lunar_c]

Yeah I've got one. 15 1/2 ft.
Excellent boat. I've been to Wide Caloundra several times. Gets out through a 15kn NE sea breeze no worries. It's a better boat than I am a skipper. If the weather blew up I would be confident of getting home.
Bloke who had it before me took it to the Banks regularly.

- Mine does not look like the one posted here for sale recently.

Ben.

[familyman]

I've got one with a merc 115 on the back.It really hoots,well it doesn't at the moment cause its running like a dog,so off to the shop it goes!
Handling wise its a fairly deep vee and a bit rolly at sea but I might be too fussy.Through chop and such its been fine.I put half pods on mine to lift the stern a bit which sat low with the 115,stopped slop coming into the well all the time and reduced planing speed down to 15-16 knots.With a lighter motor this would come down further .I put an alloy 100 litre tank under the floor and moved the batteries forward to under the port side seat which then allowed for a livebait tank at the stern quarter seat.
Anyway it has never disappointed me.Pm me for more photos and details.
cheers jon

[familyman]

PS this photo is pre pods,sorry.
cheers jon

[mark221263]

My earlier boat was one of the last sportsman craft boats out of the mould before they closed the doors back around 1991. It was only the smaller 4.6m half cab and had a 70hp yamaha.

It's not really what yor question is about as it's too small for any significant outside work but I can say the following,
* plenty of room for it's size
* well built
* handled the Moreton bay chop well and better than some boats 5m plus I've been in.
* If it we're a bigger model (5.5m +) I'd be happy to go offshore.

In general they are a soild well built basic boat that if looked after will serve it's owner well.

It was a sad day when I sold it but then I was upgrading to a 5.8m cruisecraft outsoder so there was a smile to be had.

Cheers Mark

[whykickacatalong]

I had one for a few years about 8 years ago and loved it. It was a 4.95 half cab and had a 70 yammy on the back and performed well. I used it off shore and inland and found it to be a very seaworthy hull for the size, although a bit rocky as stated above but the ride through the swell made up for that. If you are after a boat to do near shore and close reef work then it will be suitable.

http://www.fishnet.com.au/content/fishnet/images/gallery/080332eb-8866-422f-a924-5ba267ac52d0.jpg