New "Cyclone" arrives in Brisbane !!!!!

[craigie]

Hi Guy's,

A 'Category 2' Cyclone has just arrived in Brisbane !!!
Obviously with sunny skies and light winds I'm not talking about any wild weather phenomenons. In this case I'm reffering to my newly built 'Cyclone540' side-console Sportfishing vessel ;D ;D
It was pulled off the truck yesterday Morning at Coorparoo Marine.
Although not fully fitted out as yet (waiting for motor and accessories to be bolted on), delivery is any day now.

Check out the amount of underfloor storage. Each hatch opens up vast areas that can be used for kill tanks, live wells,insulated eskies or just general storage.

Will post more pics when boat is full complete and on the water.

Cheers
Craigie.

[craigie]

different angle

[craigie]

Front-on

[craigie]

interior showing hatches, rod storage, casting platform.

[craigie]

from the back

[Barrymundi]

nice boats. One of the best finished boats on the market

[mackmauler]

NICE ;D and before the end of the mackerel season 8) 8)

[Robbo_Townsville]

Finally got it Craig.

I have spent many a rainy day lately with a cold beer just sitting back and looking at mine (boat).

They sure are a nice craft, go good to.

[Lucky_Phill]

Webby tells me you ordered a RED one cause they go faster !

Are you getting custom rego numbers ?

And further, what about a name ?

Phill ;)

[Big_Kev]

Nice looking boat Craigie. I wanna ride, please please.
Looks like THE RED BARON to me.
Cheers Kev.

[Big_Kev]

Whats going on the back Craigie?
Or are you are realy good paddler?

[aquarius]

Awsome looking boat there Craigie.......im sure you will get to places in a hurry now!!....From memory i think you said you were putting a 115 hp on the beast.......4 stroke or 2 ?/
Catch up with ya out on the bay or maybe you will be too fast to catch now..lol
Cheers Brent
ps..how much fuel does this boat hold underfloor??

[craigie]

Thanks for your approval guys ;D ;D

She will be Christened with the name "Flam-Buoyant" in the very near future. Been saving a bottle of Glenfidict Scotch for just such a special occassion.

The colour is actually Tangerine, although it appears redish as the pics were shot in the shade of a shed. I'm told tangerine goes as quick as red, maybe Webby told me that ???

Yes Brent your on the money, will be bolting a new 115 Optimax (hi-tech 2 stroke) Mercury to her. The dealer is quoting about 80 km/per hr WOT :o ;D ;D 8).
The Cyclone comes standard with a 135 litre Fuel Tank which should give a fairly good range when cruising on 15 litres per hr ??

Phill, In the tradition of 'Re-bait', I too have got the Rego number Customized. It's my initials and then the model of the Boat - CS 540Q


Friday is collection day, bring-on Friday :D :D

Cheers
Craig.S.

[opimax]

giday criagie
don`t let the the old black anchor put you off, im very impressed with my optimax . lee

[craigie]

Yes Lee, 'Black Anchor's' are a thing of the past. From what you and others have told me, Merc's are now the 'Black Beauty' of the outboard industry ;D

[aquarius]

Hey Craigie what sounder did you purchase for the cyclone?
Mate that thing will hoot along with the 115.
Cheers Brent

[craigie]

G'day Brent,

At this stage I'm yet to pick a sounder (actually I know what I want, just don't have any cash).
I really wanted to put one of those Furuno 600l colour units into the Cyclone, but the $1800 price tag will take too long to save up. May go for the Black & white Furuno that has 340 Pixels and retails for only about $600.

Either way, it will be a while before a sounder gets screwed into the dash. will just have to 'Tred gently' in the shallows for the moment.


Had a run in 'Spikes' Cyclone a few weeks back, goes very nicely with the 115 4 banger, similar performance from the Opti will keep me happy. My previous boat did about 50 k's, so I'm really looking foward to hooning around in this one ;D ;D

Wello this weekend, woohoooo, Across to Tangas for Mack's wooohooo !!!!!

Cheers Craigie.

[craigie]

Have had the Cyclone out for a couple of test runs in various conditions so I'm starting to get the feel of her.
With about 5 hrs running time on the clock for the Merc, I've been up and down the Brissie River as well as two trips to the Bay, one trip was wild 1.5 m chop and the other a lovely 10knt south wester this morning.

I'm yet to give it full noise but I had it to 5200revs today and the speedo said 38 ??? It's either knots or m/per/hr will check it on the next test run. Either way the fuel flow gauge was showing about 34 litres per hr at these revs.
At Idle (650 revs) fuel flow is an amazing .7 litre per hr, she'll be great for trolling Bass, Flathead etc.
Some mid range performance figures are as follows -
3500 revs - 22 on the speedo- fuel flow 13 litres per hr
4000 revs - 26 on the speedo - fuel flow 17 litres per hr
4500 revs - 31 on the speedo - fuel flow 23 litres per hr

The boat plained clean at around the 2500 - 3000 rev area, speed was about 16 and fuel flow around 8-9 litres per hr.

As the motor is very new, it will be interesting to see if these figures vary as things start to wear-in ???

The boat 'eats' the small bay chop when the wind is back around the 10 knot mark, bit of a different story with the 20knot slop but that's understandable.
At this stage I'm very happy with the performance of the package.

Cheers
Craig.

[JB]

Craigie, Ive seen that boat before!!! , last saturday DC and I were heading up towards mud island and noticed this sic lookin red cyclone gettin a touch airborne and heading in same direction as us. We were in a 475 quintrex bay hunter..

If i can remember u fellas didnt get to tangas and gave up with the 1.5mtr chop and went towards the rous, we endedup doing the same. Have to say i was very impressed with the way your boat handled considering the condtions. We were gettin bloody smashed :-[. Anyways next time we'll come say gday! ;D

[craigie]

G'day JB,

Yep that was me last saturday, I remember you guy's at the Ramp, saw the Ausfish sticker on the back of the Quinnie.
I applaud you guy's for persistance on that day for sticking at it and scoring a few fish.
Thanks for your compliments on the 'Cyclone', I feel like a newly wed and can't keep my hands off her ;D ;D
When you saw me turn off, I was heading for home, all that 'Big Air' was frieking us out a bit. All the Cyclone experts keep telling me that the rougher the water the faster you drive :o :o :o
Decided to learn all about that some other time ;D

I'll keep an eye out for your Trailcraft out there. I'm a huge fan of the Profish, went within a wisker of bying the 5.3m Side Console.

Cheers
Craigie.

[Robbo_Townsville]

Craigie don't be surprised when the motor loosens up that you may pick up another 7 - 8 mph. I wouldn't baby the motor too much while running it in, however dont flog it.

My cyclone gets to around 45mph

[craigie]

Ah Robbo, that's music to my ears 8) ;D ;D ;D I love it when I'm told my boat is going to go even quicker 8) 8).
Been mainly running at around the 4500 revs with bursts 500 rvs either side of that.
The water conditions have played a big part in how hard I can push things, next trip she gets a squirt at all 115 horsies ;D ;D

Yours does 45 m/per hr, that sounds mighty fine and fast enough for me ;)

Might have to meet up with you at some stage, hopefull of a trip towing my Cyclone to Townsville later in the year. I'm told by one that was a local to your region that August is the prime Spanish Mackerel time for up there. Keen to catch a few Lippers and Reds as well.

Cheers
Craigie.

[craigie]

Finally got a few photos developed of the rig with the Merc attached.
Let me know if your getting sick of hearing about my Cyclone ::) and I'll try and post about other things ::) ;D.

[craigie]

and more

[craigie]

It does float as well ;D ;D

[craigie]

Lee and staff from Coorparoo Marine, giving my baby it's first test run from Colmslie Boat Ramp in the Brisbane River.

[MICHAELG]

craigie

thats a very interesting trailer set up, how the skids/supports r verticle sort of. will it affect the strakes? never seen that type

michael

[jocool]

that looks shit hot!!!! :-X

[bugman]

Craigie,

Somethings wrong. It's not going at a million miles an hour. That guy on the bow won't be there long if the driver squirts the throttle ;D

She really does look and go like a beauty.

Bugman

[Brissyguy]

WOWWWWWWWWWWWW :o :o :o

Craigie she looks like a million bucks mate [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]
Bet you cant get the smile off your face lol.

Safe and happy boating.

Cheers,
Rich.

[Hutcho]

It looks like a fast and angry beast Craigie. Top shelf stuff. I can see why you're so smitten with it.

What does it weigh all up do you know mate?

Ya lucky duck!
hutcho

[craigie]

Thanks guy's, I appreciate your compliments [smiley=2thumbsup.gif].
My mind is a bit 'One Track' at the moment and It's nothing to do with sex :-X ::) ;D

Made the decision early last year that home ownership was fast becoming an unrealistic dream so I did the next best thing and ordered the boat. Being single with no kids, I only had to justify the decision to myself ::) ;D.

At this stage I'm very happy with the boats performance. I chose this boat for it's versatility.
I'm sure there are better boats for running around the bay chasing Mack's and Snapper, and there are better boats for lure fishing the Dams and Estuary's, and there are better boats for skiing or playing 'Speed racer', I just think the Cyclone 540 side console can do all this and more (Spike and Robbo use theirs to fish offshore reefs) very effectively.

Hutcho, The boat weighs only about 400 kg approx (no fuel or passengers), motor is 170 kg's, not sure about Trailer ??

Michael,
The Trailer is an 'Easytow', could be a product of North Queensland ??? Never seen them before, but I'm very happy that I got one.
Very unique design, think it's actually designed as a 'Drive-on', although I'm yet to use it that way.
The boat rests on the 10 centre (keel) rollers positioned on the back half of the Trailer as well as the 3 sets of "Rocker Rollers' situated at the very back.
The 45 degree angle sections (metal with skids over the top of them) don touch the boat when it is correctly positioned on the trailer, they are guides only !!
The whole rig tows so easily and is a breeze to get in and out of the water. The trailer is quite low to the ground, so there is no need to drown the whole thing at the ramp, water line to the middle of the rims is fine.

Cheers
Craig.

p.s better post another photo ;D ;D ;D

[Robbo_Townsville]

Nice boat , shame about the face.lol

Very impressive

[SNAFU]

so that is what it is.i go past your place on way to work each day and have been tempted to stop and have a look.i used to look at your old rig and wonder how it went.never saw anyone about so kept going.i suppose someone will come out reel quick if i snoop around new boat especialy if it is out front.next time i go past i might drop in for a chat if you dont mind.told mate at work and he gave it thums up but he still recons his plate fisher is bees knees.
reguards SNAFU

[SNELLY]

Does Robbo's go to the reef from Cardwell ????????

[NQCairns]

Snelly I think it only gets 1/3 the way then starts spinning! Very hard to determine where it will end up after leaving the land ;) it may just continue chasing it's transom round and round thus creating a tropical depression for those on board and sadly also his mother in law (Sigh). :-X :-X :-X ;D

[bungie]

What do you think about the 115 mercury ?? would have gone bigger or does it push you alone ok ?

[craigie]

Yes SNAFU, stop in and get a closer look. It's still a bit bare inside, no Carpet or electronics (sounder, gps,radios etc), all in good time I hope.
My bedroom is at the front of the house, so I spend half my time peering out the door watching for thieves :o ::)
My previous rig went quite well and was very reliable (Clark Kakadu & 40 hp tiller Mariner) and had it from new, purchased back in 1996.

Bungie, What do I think about the Merc, love it :-* ;D. Still only early days as it has only done 35 hrs.
115 is the max for a 540 Cyclone, don't thing it would need any more anyhow. It does 40 knots WOT :o :o, May go a little more when I get a few more hrs on the clock :-/ ???

Cheers
Craigie.

[SNELLY]

NQ,

LMAO

Good one !!