Mat’s Sportzmaster 19 (Australia)

 

G'day Mark,

We launched our Sportzmaster yesterday off Carrum.

It was mid afternoon with an easterly wind picking up and the associated fetch driven swell from across Port Phillip Bay. The boat felt composed and cut through the waves easily. The boat / hull tracked nicely and was predictable on any point into and off the weather.

With a following sea acceleration up onto the plane is phenomenal, the boat jumps onto the plane (THERE IS NO HOLE) and feels like it is gliding / flying above the water. Once I've finished the motor run in I'll do some performance testing and share the numbers.

This boat feels different to any other I've helmed -from my brothers bar crusher, my mates' Haines hunter, my old Cruisecraft cubby etc - the design of this hull is at the next level.

I wanted to thank you for your support over the years, I admire your designs and wish I had the time to build them all. To the members of the forum past and present; thanks for sharing and safe boating. Pulling out all stops to get this in the water by Christmas.

Cheers,
Matt

View from the bow...

Should go all right i reckon..

I missed the Christmas deadline but didn't want to rush the end anyway.

Finally got the trailer finished and boat out of the shed.

And then the storm hit Friday Arvo.. rain water was pouring out the scuppers. so its gotten wet.

But will be splashed this weekend some time off Carrum Melbourne.

One with the cover off and in the sunshine yesterday.

Time to launch her !!!

Glen's Broadwater 5.1 (Australia)

Ian writes:

I was motoring across Western Port Bay yesterday when I saw another boat heading towards me waving like crazy. I came to a stop thinking it was Fisheries but it was Glenn in his BMD. He thought my boat looked familiar.

Great to see Glenn and two home builds out in the middle of the bay enjoying the water.

Glenn writes:
Saw an open boat coming towards me with an antifouled hull and a wrap that looked familiar, saw the BMD logo and thought
"That's Ian's boat!"
Good to catch up on the water Ian. Salacin looks the goods! Nice to see her finished in the flesh and on the water. Maybe we need a Melbourne BMD get together...

It's great to see two builders out on the water catching up.. even though it was accidental. :lol:
I have no doubt that you both had a great time yakking boats, sharing fishing tips and stories and... you’ll be crossing paths and catching up again in your fishing ventures out on the water.
All the best.!

Tim's Mushulu 14 - Fun in the Sun (Australia)

 

Been a great summer of boating/fishing adventures with the M14 and family.

Yesterday out from Mordialloc Creek did some tubing with the kids. Esky strapped to front bulkhead with kmart $5 rod holder works well when in fishing mode.

The Mushulu 14 rows as good as can be expected for a 14ft planing hull. I have been enjoying rowing out across shallows and happy with the distance I can go without breaking a sweat. I made some 9 ft oars which seem to me to be about the right length. (You couldn't go less than 8ft).

A removable casting/lounging platform insert also for additional storage and maybe a custom cooler box forward of the middle seat would be a good idea and is something I may consider for a future project.

I don't really have experience with casting platforms, so couldn't tell you if forward stability is good enough for that purpose. It's a pretty stable boat and doing lots of different things like standing up fishing and pulling in anchor etc, I have never got the wobbles and never felt like I need to grab on to rebalance when at rest even in a reasonable swell.

For more information about this design, please click HERE

Glenn and his Broadwater 5.2 Flathead. Not a bad catch (Australia)

Had the folks over from NZ for the past week. Headed out fishing on Western Port a couple of times with Dad for not much return, although counting around 80 boats on the water (that we could see) on Sunday was interesting.

Western Port was glassed out for most of the day.

Went out Wednesday afternoon hunting for snapper, nothing at the first mark, moved to the second one I had lined up and it was on for the next couple of hours.

About half or more of what we hauled up was too small to keep, we ended up with 27 flathead between 27 and around 35 cm.

Had to head in around 5:00 pm, not because they had gone off the bite (cos they hadn't) but because we had dinner in the kill tank!

At one point we were sitting there with lines down, rocking gently on the deep blue with a light breeze keeping the heat down,

and I thought to myself,

"This is exactly the reason why I built this boat!"

When we got home, no one complained that we hadn't caught a snapper.

Cooked about half of the flathead fillets as dinner for the six of us, will have some more tonight then the rest can go in the freezer for another night.

Might have roe patties for lunch tomorrow as well. (LOL)

For more information about this design, please click HERE

Will's Latest Fishing Adventure in his Cruise Control 5.2 (Australia)

 G’day everyone,

Finally we got some favorable wind conditions to go out for a fish, north of Perth Western Australia. My good mate JD and I made plans to meet at Ocean Reef boat ramp 4:00 am on Saturday morning and after setting up the boat, we were on our way offshore to a couple of new lumps we liked the look of. With the course set on the Simrad and after logging on to the coast guard to let them know of our intentions for the day, we were off.

Heading out wide and now 40km off the coast of WA, we arrive at the first lump just as the sun came up and set up our first drift. We had plenty of pickers at our baits, but it wasn’t long before JD scored a monster Bald chin groper ! She measured 56cm.! Then JD picked up a nice gummy shark. After fishing this spot for a few hours, we then decided to go try the other spot we had marked, only 4km north. Then it was my turn.

I picked up a nice bald chin that went 43cm and a Breaksea Cod. Then JD picked up a nice harlequin fish, but the highlight for me was getting my first ever WA DHU fish!!! It was undersized, but my first (LOL). By 11:30am our bait was running low so we decided to head in, talking all the way in about the day.

What a top day. Can’t wait to get back out there again in the Cruise Control and see what else I can get.

Regards
Will

For more information about this design, please click HERE

Andrews Sea Strike16 – Binalong Bay, on the East Coast of Tasmania! (Australia)

 Hi Mark,

Hope you have enjoyed a fantastic xmas and new years break. We have been down at Binalong Bay on Tassies east coast. I have had the Sea Strike out  at least 2 times a day on most days, racked up 45 hours in the last three weeks. I bloody love this boat !!!!

Every time I take it out I am just amazed at how it goes, had it in all kids of conditions, from dead flat glassy to 1.5 to 2 metre swells with a bit of chop. It just feels like I could take it anywhere, its so solid and safe.

I have had so may questions from people at the ramp and at the petrol station about it. They love it!! I have even had the local Eco tours charter operator come over and chat about it, which was nice.

We have enjoyed many days of fishing, cray potting, sight seeing and wild life watching. There have been heaps of dolphins around the coast over the last three weeks, and I’ve had pods play with the boat every two or three days. I beginning to think that they like the grey and white paint job and think the SS16 is some kind of ‘mother dolphin’ as they find it irresistible not to come play with it. We even found a hump back whale the other day, which was a first for me!!

We also had some friends come and stay at the shack for a night the other day who has a drone and, was super keen to get some footage of the area and our Sea Strike 16.

Please see below for his little youtube video that he put together.  

For more information about this design, please click HERE