Lightning boats

[bugman]

Guys,

Anyone (other than Pete) had any expereince with Lightning boats. Looking at a Lightning 6500 plate half cab.

Looks as though it was pretty well tailored for the individual who had it built but just interested in anyone who may have owned or ridden in one.

I've emailed Lightning here in Brissy but no response yet.

I'm also wondering about manufacture date - hard to tell.

Bugman

[jimbob]

G day Bugman
I haven't had any personal experience with then my self but i friend of mine had a boat custom made & it was a great boat but the service was very poor it took a hell of a long time just to get someone to return calls then it was excuses like haven't had a chance to get to the benders & so on but this went on for months.
Their boats are pretty good although i did hear of a couple of pros that had bought centre consoles say they porposed a bit but that was a few years ago now i he did fix them. But all in all they do make a very nice boat just have to be patient ;)

[MTpockets]

I know a pro fisher at noosa that bought one about 6 years ago. He would go out for anywhere between 2-7 days at a time and absolutly swore by it. He had it custom fitted as well. From memory he had to wait a bit longer for it than was originally quotted. Since he bought his, there has been some sort of Lightning invasion on the sunshine coast. They look like a very neat and strong boat, and perform well. I believe the company has only been around about 10 years, but not too sure about that.
cheers
Les

[BarraSteve]

I've got a Lightning Centre Cab that I had custom built in '97...can't fault the boat in any way..

The company has been going for years (I know a pro that had one built in the mid 80's)..

At the time my choice was between a Marcel design or the Lightning..(considered a Sportfish but they weren't building large boats then)..other than those companies not much else was around..

Lightning were more than happy to customize which is rare for a lot of so-called "custom" boat builders..

Their measurements were honest as well (internal length as opposed to LOA)..
I'd been warned that they could be slow so I added
a completion date in the contract...mine got built on time..

BarraSteve..

[Dean1]

Hi BarraSteve, were the hell did you dig this thread up from?? The lightning mentioned at the beginning that bugman was inquiring about was bought by bugman and then i bought it off bugman about 18 months ago. I only kept the boat for a year. It was an 89 model hull 6.5m half cabin. I wasnt all that happy wih the ride, trim tabs helped it alot but i was never really that happy with it. It thumped pretty hard, but i had a cat before it so i was spoilt. Lightning boats build high large solid cabins, which in turn make them a bit top heavy. With a deep vee this made mine quite unstable, they are definately solid boats and well built but i found the after sales service a nightmare. Anyway ive now purchased a 5.2m kevlacat that blows the lightning away, chalk and cheese ;D

[BarraSteve]

:D :D Yeah Dean...I did a search and this thread popped up so I thought I'd put my 2 bob's worth in..

The hard cabin would make the smaller boats top heavy..

Mine's spot on though....I gave the position of the cabin as well as it's dimensions much consideration before we started..

BarraSteve..