Hornets - good or bad ?

[punt1]

Doing a lot of research at the moment on Hornets. Looking at buying a 4.00m Wide body. But am very worried at the conflicting reports about this boat. Although they are supposed to be a very good boat, I here the following,

1. Cracks in hull requiring sent back to Factory in QLD for repair. (big worry if you come from SA).

2. Hulls need repressing.

3. Hard to set boat up (ie motor) because they are prone "porpise" when on a plane.

4. Require a bigger motor to plane than an equivalent size boat due to they shape.

5. Harder to get onto "plane" - prone to get stuck in the hole.

5. Their shape reduces the internal room of the boat.

6. Extremely difficult to deal with QUINTREX where warrenty repairs to needed.

7. The hull is very sensitive to motor height and prop selection.

If the above points are true - why are they so popular ? Not that I'am bagging the boat, but just want to know what I'm buying.

[aussiebasser]

Think a fair few of those problems are old news that have been rectified. Never heard of any of those problems with a 4.0 metre either. Some people had problems with a certain model of the 435 and 445 hulls.

[wheezer]

I would also consider a Stessl Edgetracker. For me it was a tossup between the Hornet and the ET, I ended up going with a 425 ET and very happy!

[sooty_mad]

Punt1
Very good questions!!!! I think that you will find by the lack of responses that everyone is too scared to say anything bad about any particular product - particularly after they have just handed over some well earned dollars for a boat.
Overall, I personally think that Quintrex make a great boat however with regard to the Hornet I reckon it makes about 95% of the marketing noise and delivers about 5% of the hype.
All I suggest is that you do your homework before you purchase any boat.
Watch this stir up the natives.
Kind regards... David

[tonyp]

I have a 475Hornet Trophy, I love it and would say it is one of the best built from the factory. I had a drama with the side decks and .........how all people should go about a problem went through my dealer not rubbish on here what is wrong. It does noone any good what so ever.

After they fixed my decks it was more solid than before i gave it to them. Mine does not porpise, Leak, crack,or any of that stuff people seem to havr a problem with.

I will say there QUALITY CONTROL Sux's big time. :( but they are a mass produced boat company. They will not bend from the line to change things like we want them. Ask for a rod locker and get a paddle storage.

Would i buy another one.......Dam sure i would they are a great boat and hold resale value very well. Quintrex just realy need to lift there game on Quality control and let people make a few changes from the style they have now. Oh and drop the price abit. There is other boats out there now which are at the same price range.

[NQCairns]

4. Require a bigger motor to plane than an equivalent size boat due to they shape.

5. Harder to get onto "plane" - prone to get stuck in the hole.

Never owned a Hornet and never will although these 'problems' are the result of physics not brand specific. 30+ or so years ago many glass boats were built with broad shoulders then thining down toward the rear eg Bertrams.
These boats were designed this way for a solid reason and that was to reduce drag-over-area toward the rear of the boat and therefore allow driving through the 'hump' to require less HP and as a bonus decrease the problem of falling of the plane accidentally, the decreased surface area at speed allowed improved fuel economy and lower HP requierements across the board also.
With the advent of variable deadrise this became much less of an issue and boats could be built with a rear as wide as the boats shoulders and still behave like it had a tapered hull width, this is the only real reason for it's popularity. Variable deadrise does not make a more seaworthy or smoother riding craft than the older style hulls without it, probably actually less so.
So if a person wants a aluminium widebodied hull you had better be prepared to power it up to suit - do you want the extra room of the widebody with it's forced limitations or do you want the lower hp/better fuel economy and smaller hump of a standard body?
The modern glass boats of today say you will go for the extra room. cheers nq