Sunshine Coast New Boat - what to get?

[jclay1773]

I agree with flex.

I live on the coast and it's not long before you start heading wide to reefs that produce consistently. The in close ones are hard work.

[mitc69]

once u go cat u never go back , i find crossing bar easier in cat then in a mono, mainly at gold coast and shallow depth like 1770 otherwise stability is a must for alot of fishmen
center console prefer cause of weight balance of mono, but since you in abit of lost, suggest u try local shop for boat testing, a boat is only as good as it skipper, and if a skipper feel the boat isnt his cup of tea it a failed boat...

[BigE]

Goodwin long boat.... I love mine good in the swallows and good off shore good on juice.
mine is an older model but i hear Gavin is making them again look for "above grade marine"

BigE

[airlock]

Well with so much on offer it would make sense to get two if you have the storage and are happy to pay the rego.
The boys are right in saying the close reefs while a viable option are really hard fished and take time and knowledge to really get anything worth the trip, so something that can easily push wider will be the best option.
On the other hand the rivers can be really choked up and hard to navigate in some of the best fishing areas and therefore a cheap dedicated tinny with a shallow draft would be miles ahead of something that would have to have some degree of offshore capability.
And remember, if you want to navigate the noosa river then pray to your deity of choice and hope your craft draws approximately half the water of a dried leaf or things might get very hairy.

[Lovey80]

Gday Lovey. Have room to store a trailer at home now worries. Towing with a Jeep Wrangler.

This may be a silly question, but is there a reason to opt for a twin hull or center console, ahead of a single hull cuddy? (I can think of a few possible reasons...but interested to hear other peoples thoughts)


Sent from my iPhone using Ausfish mobile app

The original boat I posted was a CC purely because I thought you were looking for a boat that could fish inshore as well as off shore. Knowing that you're concentrating on an offshore boat primarily, that throws that out the window.

As as for twin hull, well once you get used to the quirks and learn how to drive them, you'll never want to own a mono off shore boat ever again. For ride, stability, and safety you won't find a mono of equivalent length that can compete.

The noosa cat I posted the link to was out on the hards from Mooloolaba the last trip I did that way. So you know she's certainly offshore capable.

[scottar]

As as for twin hull, well once you get used to the quirks and learn how to drive them, you'll never want to own a mono off shore boat ever again. For ride, stability, and safety you won't find a mono of equivalent length that can compete.

Never say Never. I have seen it on more than one occasion - the most prevalent category being game fisherman who have had "tunnel slap" up to the back teeth and back again. Yes they are more stable, yes they can transit choppy water at faster speeds (to a point - No one who owns one seems to talk about the point at which it gets that rough you have to slow down and what happens in a cat then - barra punt springs to mind not that I can confirm it - I have always been in a mono chugging away. Admittedly this sort of weather is not what the average fisherman would go out in on a day to day basis.) The other thing I personally have had trouble with is sleeping with both cats and an alloy rig that had a big reverse chine in the shoulders in any sort of chop - just noisy.

[Lovey80]

Never say Never. I have seen it on more than one occasion - the most prevalent category being game fisherman who have had "tunnel slap" up to the back teeth and back again. Yes they are more stable, yes they can transit choppy water at faster speeds (to a point - No one who owns one seems to talk about the point at which it gets that rough you have to slow down and what happens in a cat then - barra punt springs to mind not that I can confirm it - I have always been in a mono chugging away. Admittedly this sort of weather is not what the average fisherman would go out in on a day to day basis.) The other thing I personally have had trouble with is sleeping with both cats and an alloy rig that had a big reverse chine in the shoulders in any sort of chop - just noisy.

Tunnel slap is not an issue on any cat I've been on really. As for the issue of getting that rough..... If you're out in weather that is 20 plus knots then you get what you asked for......

[AndrewB]

I have owned a 5.3m side console cat that I took to the banks on regular occasions, and as previously said once you own a cat you wont go back for offshore work. They will travel thru much shallower weather than a mono which is bonus up river, also much kinder on your back and legs as the ride is much less jarring.

[mitc69]

well if u get caught with your pant down and facing 4-7m swell your screw anyway i have heard stories of tunnel breaking in 2, but likewise that just stories and bad maintenance

[airlock]

Nothing wrong with twin hulls in big seas. The main issue is the idiots who buy into the theory that the faster you drive a cat in these conditions the better it goes, while this has some truth in wind chop its madness when things get heavy. Just do what what the mono boys do, button up the clears, set a troll line out the back and just push home slow and easy without giving the boat a pounding. But since most of the time its a northerly driven wind chop round these parts then a twin hull can be a better option in the 5-6 meter range, well that is until you consider the tunnel slap

[Lovey80]

Seas have to be pretty big before you need to come off the plane in a cat. How many people go out in those sort of seas anyway?

[scottar]

Not so much go out Lovey (Not too often these days anyway) but have come home a few times in some extremely average conditions that have had a few of the cat lads I know complaining bitterly at the weigh in. One day in particular had wind against tide and us taking green water up the screen at the top of Peel doing 6 knots one wave after the next - was the first time all day we had to slow down to the point of being off the plane and had been 20 mile offshore. Back at Raby Bay ramp the anemometer gave us a wind speed of 60Kph so definitely not your average fishing day and a bit windier than our learned friends at the BOM had anticipated (how unusual huh).

We also spend a considerable amount of time off shore slow trolling live baits for macks every summer - I don't see how any of the 6 metre cats couldn't get tunnel slap driving into the wind chop doing this given the tunnel clearances at displacement speed (and have outfitted monos that have replaced cats for owners for this exact reason). These things aside, totally agree that cats do some things a whole lot better than a mono - but they don't suit everyone's usage patterns. Different strokes for different folks.

[Lovey80]

I get what you're saying. Re this tunnel slap. Are you talking about chop hitting the tunnel when trolling? I can't see why that would bother someone?

[mitc69]

then get an aussie whaler tri hulls, they should have alot less tunnel slap... tunnel slap is normal

[scottar]

I get what you're saying. Re this tunnel slap. Are you talking about chop hitting the tunnel when trolling? I can't see why that would bother someone?

Maybe it's just me. Anything in my rig that makes noise over and above what needs to be there (thank fully crap like radios etc have an off switch) tends to get the short shift real quick. I like to think I resemble something close to remotely normal though