Extended Hydrofield's 6.8 Finished Photo's

[Spaniard_King]

Where are ya fishing picks matty??

[Spaniard_King]

Just Bumping this to the top for Tonks

[Wet Work]

This is awesome. What an inspiration for my next big project.

I love hyrdofields. I owned a 5.6 with 2x50hp tohatsus a few years ago. I needed a boat i could put into survey for work i was doing at the time. I guess i didnt ask enough people the right questions and it appeared that it would need a lot of work to get it surveyed so i sold it.

I got a 18' sharkcat (thats real shark cat, not aluminium shark cat or whaler or anything else). They also are great hulls and as heaps are in survey the local marine authority were happy to approve it with only some minor mods.

I found out a couple of years later that it would have been relatively easy to get the hydrofield in survey. That annoyed me a bit as if i had asked this person the same questions a couple of years earlier i would probably still have the hydrofield today.

For anyone interested in a comparison between the 5.6 hydrofield and 18' sharkcat here are my thoughts:

top speed: hydro (2x50) = 30kn cat (2x90 mariner 2st) = 35
happy cruise speed in av cond: about the same for both 18-22kn
tow weight (both on good tandem trailers) hydro = 1.5t, cat = 2.5t

Rough water ability: very similar. I never felt unsafe in the hydro. Tried to get it to hurt me in 2m swells near a barway one day but just couldnt get it to put a foot wrong. The cat, once i got the hang of steering it was also good. Would get a nasty landing off swell sometimes and threw heaps of water around but they are a great hull. Comparing the limited use i had of the hydro compared to much more use i had in the cat, i prefer the hydro. If it is too rough to keep on the plane in the cat you are stuffed as they just bog down and get really horrible at low speeds. The Hydro would plane cleanly down to about 10 knots and it remains very comfortable in quite ordinary seas at that speed. Generally the Hydro was just an easier boat to drive and tow around.

My commercial diving days are over now. The cat has gone and i have almost finished rebuilding a Haines Hunter v19r. They also are an awesome hull. Mine is the later model which edencraft (and others) still use. I have worked as an abalone deckhand for a couple of years in a 6m Edencraft (v19r with pod) so i know exactly what they can do. If the missus would let me i would sell the v19r as soon as its finished to get a 5.6/6.1m hydrofield. She might let me sell the v19r after summer for next years autumn/winter project...

[firecat150hp]

G'day Guys,

It has taken us a while for both myself and the old boy to decide what we were going to do as we now need a new boat, as the little 5.6 Jaguar was getting to small for the areas we wish to fish, and neither party wanting to go away from the Hydrofields, it was time to look at the new 6.6 Jaguar. After a couple of months of tossing a few ideas around and looking at the new 6.6 Jaguar 2 dozen times, we just could not justify the money or the changes that had to be made for the new one, as it still needed so much changeing for what we wanted to achieve, so back to the drawing board we went. We through up the idea of a cut and shut extension slash renno of our current boat and after a few phone calls to my old boss and a few trips up to his workshop to see how big of a job it would be, we agreed and decided to go ahead with the cut and shut and renno .

We need to stip her . With all the negative comments being tossed around by so many people as why this wont work, it was a very stressfull time as the old
Cheers
Matty

Hi Matty....I was reminded of this thread from another member and I am going through the same sort of dilemma with my 4.9 Markham Whaler.

To date it is in the floor / transom removed stage.
Fuel tanks are gone literally and all foam(saturated) has also been removed.
Decisions decisions and more.
Final lock down is 're-build transom and add a straight rear wall ridding the boat of a leaking engine well and a very heavy and useless live bait tank.

Like you I did the sums and couldn't justify a 5.5 meter Cat in 'New Form'

My 4.9 is having a 'cut and shut' right across the middle at an extra 600mm.
In effect raising the bar to 5.5 meters....add my custom bow sprit and the legal overall will be 5.7 meters.
Additional reno/re-build is a custom "Full Hard Top Cab" (windows and no leaking clears)with raised dash and steering station.

Your photos will be a help as the actual cut was scaring the hell out of me but once I've now actually seen yours I'm less stressed.

Will begin a reno posting soon as a bit more work is done.

Regards Steve

[Spaniard_King]

Bump.... someone was looking for this thread

[Fimpy]

Hi Matty
Any chance of putting the reno photos back on line? Can't locate them so I figure they must have been taken down.
My sons and I are currently renovating an ex-navy 5.6m Hydrofield that had been used as a drone. Not planning to extend it but photos would be great to help give us confidence in what we do.
Cheers
Fimpy

[Spaniard_King]

Mate he isn't on here any more

ring Lantrak and ask for Matt

[Reefgeek]

I know this is a old thread...

Would love to see some pics of the final product of this as I’m planning on doing the same

anyone have a pic they could post up?

[Spaniard_King]

IMG_0718.jpg only 1 I could find

[gazza2006au]

Span good to see u back on the forum that boat sits almighty low in the water! Are they all like that?

Sent from my SM-G900I using Ausfish mobile app

[CT]

that boat sits almighty low in the water! Are they all like that?

Yep, its a Hydro thing!

[Spaniard_King]

Yep, CT is onto it. Just a Hydro thing

[Paul071978]

Wow that is a gangster low rider for sure