SOUTHWIND 655 SF

[Brad1m]

IVE HEARD THAT THE SOUTHWIND IS A VERY SMOOTH RIDING HULL, THEY ALSO LOOK REAL GOOD AND ARE WELL DESIGNED ALL ROUND INSIDE AND OUT.
EVERYTHING IVE HEARD ABOUT EM HAS BEEN GOOD
SIMILAR SHAPE TO THE HAINES HULLS,
ANY WISH TO SHARE ANY INFO ?

[basserman]

mate they are a great hull but like all boat it will come down to how it is driven and buy who
i have a SF17 and i feel very safe in most conditions no mater what how ever not my dream boat but then again i haven't found the dream boat eyt that has everything i want on it and in it ;D

[Fishin_Dan]

Looks like they get a bit wet in the bow though.... ;)

[basserman]

bow who said that was the bow thats the stern when backing down on a marlin ;D ;D ;D

[boatboy50]

Hey,

The SF655 is based on the original SF20 Hull. I owned two of these boats and cant praise them highly enough. Great hulls, handle rough stuff easily, and give the driver a sporty feel. The harder they are driven the better they go.
Seriously, one of the better hulls ive ever driven, would buy another if i was after that size again.
Make sure its got plenty of hp to make the most of the hull. Still made today branded the Southern Star SF655.
Do a search on here, youll find plenty of info
Regards
Darren

[skippa]

Yep,

Great boats, but I've only had mine a short time. I've got the SR17. Very soft riding and forgiving hull which, in my opinion, ride every bit as good as the Haines and Signatures.

Serving its purpose well, good fishing rig for me as well as suiting Mrs Skips needs in the 'sleepover' dept. IE bunks in cabin are 6'2'' long = plenty of room including space for porta potty.

Runs with a 115 2s Yammie which is a good match, although the brochure shows they came standard with a 90hp and says you can expect 30 to 40 knots. I'd go with the 115 I'd still reckon the 90 would be under powered, or just on the limit at best.

As Darren says, now Marketed as Southern Star and available from Logan River Marine at Yatala.

Brad, are you thinking of buying one? I see there's one for sale at Bribie Is and a couple at Queensland Boat Sales Loganholme and John Crawford Marine Tingalpa too.


Cheers,
Tony 8)

[Fishin_Dan]

Looks like they get a bit wet in the bow though.... # #;)

Sorry guys.... I was making a joke about the pic in the post, not the Southwind hulls.... :-[

<...Goes back and sits quietly facing the wall...>

[skippa]

Mate come back outta the corner, knew exactly what you meant. # ;)

You meant that about those awful Haines' and Cruise Crafts #;D #;D


Cheers,
Tony # 8)
who apparently now needs to go sit in the corner.

[craigie]

Sin Binned to the Naughty Corner is o.k., just don't get your toys (read boat) confiscated. ;D ;D ;D ;D

Skippa, what type of performance are you getting with the 115 hp ??

Cheers
Craig.

[skippa]

Haven't measured her at WOT yet, but for normal sorta bay work, very happy.

Stays on the plane at 12mph (I guess the foil helps) cruises comfortably at 32mph@4000rpm with 19 pitch ss prop. Gets about 1nm per litre, which is slightly better than myHaines with the same motor.


Cheers,
Tony # 8)

[Brad1m]

Duh , took me a while fishin-dan, but figured it out "eventually" the photo i threw in, "im not slow, honest!"
mate of mine took these pics in the North Sea , from a semi-submersable drilling rig.

Can anyone tell me ? How much difference do ya think a stainless steel prop would make to the 655-SF, and what would the behaviour of these differences be. ie: fuel economy, performance to RPM, getting to plane, all that stuff.
Cheers

[craigie]

Gotta love that low speed planning, especially when the seas are inhospitable.
Your figures with the 115 sound very good, in particular your 4000 rpm Cruise for 32 mp/h 8).

Craigie.

[basserman]

well top i have had on the best of days in the best conditions was 48knots at wot

[ANYFISH]

they are good photos of that ship
have you got any others?

[Brad1m]

a few , i took this one , not quite a boat though.

[skippa]

Yeah Craigie,

4000 revs just seems to be a sweet spot. Same motor on my V17R runs at 30mph @ 4000revs. Hull of the Southwind is very close to Signatures eg 1750LE's

Needed that 'slow plane speed' tonite, pretty sloppy in parts, wasn't the best of nites to be on the water, but beats watching big brother...... # ;D


Cheers,
Tony # 8)
PS Basserman, what prop, pitch and rev's produced 48knots? good top speed.

[basserman]

prop i think is s SS17p size i'm not too sure of and revs were around 5200
was very good top speed but don't get too many days when you can run up the river that well ;)
getting the new suziki 115 in a couple of mounths and that should do the same if not a tad better but still would love to through the 140 on the back ;D
i love my speed but when out side it sort of means nothing at all ;)

[Baycruiser]

Think you might want something bigger than the 655 if you plan to tackle the North Sea!!!!! ;D ;D

From all accounts, the Southwinds are good boats. Never heard or read anything negative about them. Mate has a UB 520...rides really well and dry for it's size. Finish looks good too.

[skippa]

Go on Basserman, go the 140 #;D ;D ;D

I assume your going with a 4 stroke Suzy? That'll give you plenty of range.


Cheers,
Tony 8)

[Brad1m]

HOPING TO GET MY NEW TOY TODAY 8) ;D

[skippa]

Nice looking rig Brad.

[Brad1m]

its got all the sht,
But that Haines 650F was pretty tempting, smooth looking boats those.

[boatboy50]

Well Done Brad,
You will be a happy little camper.
Regards
Darren

[Brad1m]

CANT PICK HER UP TIL TUESDAY >:(
HOPEING TO PUSH EM ALL ALONG A BIT AND GET HER TODAY , BUT WILL PROBABLY BE TUESDAY, [smiley=bigcry.gif]

[Brad1m]

took me a while but finally found an SF17 on the net , nice boat, I went up to the 6.5M boat, because the last boat I had was a 17.6' nova and iif ya had 3 on-board trying to fish "WELL" it wasnt pretty and everyone just ended up on each others nerves after only a few minutes, just too small. Allright for me and the missus but that was it. It was a reliable boat though, you could allways rely on it not to start , and when it did start it would idle fine, until you enguaged gear and put a bit of torque to it, then it would just die and back to square 1 again, so much fun ::)
Lost count of how many times I was stuck just off the ramp drifting towards the rocks, in everyones way, down on CCA's thinking that we would be stuck until someone came along to tow us home "SO MUCH FUN" ::)

[adriancorrea]

But apart from that, Nothing else wrong Brad? lol :D ;)
Looks like it just needs a new motor

Tight Lines
Adrian

[Brad1m]

yep , she's a good hull, did a few over-nighters on the arti at hervey bay, when we got her on the trailer and took the bungs out, youde be flat out filling the cap of a coke bottle with the water she took on.
shes got a bloody big esky on board to ill get a photo of the hull and transom also the esky in a minute and post em in the for sale section.

[Shamus63]

I bought the Trade a boat Southwind "Bluewater 1" back in '05.
It has to be the best I've ever owned punches into a 15 - 18 knot seabreeze like it was nothing you can drink all that comes over the bow.

Used it off Port MacDonnell here in SA chasing Bluefin and bottom bouncing and it's awesome. Previous owner put on an autpilot so those long days trolling are a little easier.
Great for the family as well, throws up an awesome wake at 3400 22 miles an hour for the wakeboarder Jr.
Flat out does 5400 rpm for a genuine 42 knots but that's flat out balls to the wall trimmed right out. She's mighty loose at that.

Will cruise all day at 4 grand just on 30 knots. I don't know whether Yamaha built this one extra heavy but at 2.7T it's a struggle to tow.
Only downside are the sensa brakes, absolute disaster would never own another boat with that system on.