Ally Craft 540 Bowrider - Any good?????

[Mr__Bean]

G'Day guys,

Another question for the group.

Mate is looking at a new Ally Craft 540 Bow rider with a 115 Merc.

Anyone here have one, or a similar Ally Craft, opinions of it?

What is the general view on Ally Craft boats, good, bad, ugly, where do they sit in the quality stakes?

How do they rate against the other brands of ally boats in this size?

Appreciate all comments.

Link here: http://www.allycraft.com.au/showroom.php?ProdID=BR540

- Darren

[Gbanger]

there are heaps of different brands which he should consider if he wants a bowrider of that size

quintrex, stacer, trailcraft, seajay, bluefin, polycraft...

im a fan of the bluefin, which is what im getting after looking at all these boats....

[WOOF]

I just purchased a Quintrex 480 F/Sport and looked at all of the above listed boats too. The Ally Craft are good, but the Quintrex seem to have a greater resale value, which swayed me towards them (plus the purchase price was too good to refuse!).
All of the boats have pros/cons....best advice is to test them all. Sure it will take a bit of time, but at least you know you will be happy with your final descision.

[LET_IT_RIP]

I bought a 540 bow rider with 90 merc about 10 months ago GREAT BOAT. I mostly use it to fish and it hasn't let me down.Brother in law has a 565 stacer
with 115 yamaha wouldn't say theirs any diff handling wise
GOOD LUCK

[Kingo]

I bought a Allycraft 4.25 Shadow Mirage and am very happy,searched over it high and low on delivery and couldn't fault it.The thing tht bugs me is that people go on about the resale value of Quintrex boats but the fact is you pay thousands extra to start with and why would you buy a boat just because of it's resale value,you should buy a boat because of it's initial value.The allycraft saved me 4 g's compared to the Quintrex version and it's not stretch formed so they use a stronger grade of alluminium.cheers-Kingo.

[bignick]

I had a Allycraft 535 Reef King Centre Console. Good looking boat with big high sides, had a 90 Yamaha and went well. But, it was the biggest dog of a boat and I was glad to see it get towed away when I sold it. It was too flat in the hull, so it banged and slapped like their was no tomorrow. And WET!!! I've had showers where I didn't get as wet as in that thing in all but perfect conditions. The finish isn't the best on them; when I pulled some of the floor up to install electronics, the hull was full of off-cuts and metal shavings and heaps of other junk. I know that isn't much, but you spend that much on a new boat, you'd expect that at least a vacuum could have been run over it prior to delivery. With all the banging and rough ride, your knees felt like sh$# after a big day out in that. I wouldn't touch another one.

Cheers,
NICK.

[Mr__Bean]

Thanks guys,

Appreciate the input, all info passed on.

Interesting the different views on boats, happy to take your input be it good bad or ugly.

- Darren

[WOOF]

Kingo,

Valid point mate.
But if people pay "thousands" extra for what they are, excuse me for not admiring the strong resale market for these boats. It seems people are prepared to pay "thousands" extra secondhand!
I shopped around the whole of Aust and bought my boat for $4 -$5k less than any dealer could match new, then based on similar two year old boats with 100 hours on the clock selling for what I paid for mine new, I should be sitting pretty in a couple of years. IE: I'm not going to lose bugger all in depreciation. Its like having a boat for virtually free (less maintenance costs etc) for the next couple of years.
And yes the prices I got quoted for similar Ally Crafts and the like were more than what I paid for for the 480F/S in the end.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[falcon01]

I have just brought a ally craft 3.75 cody and have nothing but praise for the quality and strength of this little boat

[longtail]

g'day , i recently picked up my new 480 challenger and the family loves it nice and stable for the kids (aged 3 and 6 yrs) #;) #

pretty good for a couple of fisho's out in the bay too ...#;D ;D

cheers
jason

[Seahorse]

hey let-it-rip. glad you have had no trouble. probably because it doesnt get used. and fish, you havnt caught any yet, but cant blame the boat. good luck

[HOOKLINEnSINKER]

since moving to cairns a few weeks ago i have been on the lookout for a boat. stumbled across an allycraft 535 reef king yesterday. It has a 75 yammie 2 stroke on it. looks like a nice wide boat. as from what i was told the boat is actually a cut down 580 model. dont quote me on that. The boat is 2yrs old, the yammie is 6yr old (248hrs),trailer oldish too. asking price is $19900. iam going in tomorrow with a 16k offer. dan

[bignick]

Ask the seller if he'll throw in a free raincoat and a free kidney belt and a Chiropractor's Club membership for at least 12 months, because, I promise you, you WILL need all three. And, 75hp might be a little bit underpowered; I had a 90 on mine that seemed to be just right, power-wise.

Cheers,
NICK.

[LET_IT_RIP]

thanks sea horse. pretty good for a bloke who depends on me to help his sales figures each month????????????? anyway i'd take you out in it on the weekend, but that broken knee cap would make it very hard.
cheers c u tuesday
graham

[Seahorse]

hey there let it rip. lucky my sales figures dont go on number of fish caught, cause i would be looking for another job. hope you catch s... loads on weekend.

catch ya mate

[youngfisho]

have to agree with big nick there. the old man has a 525 kakkadu carrier, which is a side console with casting deck. recently converted to centre console. very hard riding and very wet. and whilst most centre consoles are wet they are exceptionally wet. Very small deadrise and very wide at the bow. the 525 was powered with a 60hp yammie four and for me is way under power. but it does cruise at 20 knots at 4600 rpm. and runs on the smell of an oily rag.

was impressed with some of the bluefin boats at the boat show. Looked very strongly built.


andrew

[jibby]

I would look at either the 540 savage or the new polycraft 540 bowrider the savage is nice and tall but still a tinnie. I think that the polycraft would be much smoother out in the chop. I have a 5.1m bermuda bowrider with a 75 merc and find it to be a good boat but I do get pretty wet in choppy conditions thats why I really like the polycraft and the fact that the guy at the stand said that they were looking at rating them to 140hp oohh yeeaahh ;D.