Lachie's EdgeTracker 487 (Australia)

Its great to see yet another EdgeTracker 487 being launched this week. This time from Lachie down in Melbourne (Vic).

He writes:

Well the day has finally come! My dad and I took her out from St Kilda this morning. Very stable at rest as I let the new engine idle for 5 mins.  We spent nearly 2hrs at under 3000rpm to break the motor in which didn't get up on the plane. Then another 1hr under 4000rpm. Had a bit of a play at higher revs but the northerly picked up to above 20knts. It handled the chop no worries, the spray shoots off the chines and it was a pretty dry ride. 

Hey guys, thought I should share some of my experiences in the ET487 "Tiktaalik".

I am now getting 31 knots at around 6000 rpm with 1 person

and about 29 knots @ 5800 rpm with 2 people and full load (approx 200kg)

Feels like a lot faster than 31 knots with the wind in your face, its a bit of a rush but you really need to pay attention at that speed.

I have been out just about every suitable day since launch and am racking up the hours and fish. I took it offshore at Port fairy last weekend and trolled around all day and went about 13 miles offshore and only used about 45 litres!

The trip out was pretty rough, but the ET487 ate the chop for breakfast. It is such a soft and quiet ride. We copped a bit of spray that day but that's expected in an open boat in those conditions. It is a very dry boat.

Managed a few small Bluefin Tuna on light tackle ,which was fun and a mate just missed one on the fly rod.

Also been getting a few Kingfish as well.

If you want to see more of this design, please click HERE

Lance's Sea Strike 16 (New Zealand)

 

Lance just sent me in these awesome photo's out and about with his family in their Sea Strike 16 - "Gulf War".

Great to see they're having a blast enjoying the boat as a family boat and also some serious fishing - "Sea Strike Slaying" as he calls it. Love it 

He writes:

Went out again for an early morning dive mission. Once again the wind came up to over 20 knots. Farkin spring wether driving me nuts. I don't even know how this boat goes in calm conditions. (LOL)

Freezing cold sou'wester all the way home. It was head on. Just trim the nose down and punched home with the authority of a 747. I simply cannot get over how well this boat rides. I had two sets of scuba gear on board. Plus full compliment of fishing gear and crusied back at over 30 mph over taking all manor of boats in the way. My friend Matt was utterly staggered. A little 16 ft centre console should not be blasting past 6m hardtops in choppy as all hell conditions. 

I had a massive grin plastered across my face the whole time. The screen was awesome, directing air and spray up and over my face when standing. All the storage compartment gobbled up all the gear and tanks. Looks like the fish will live to fight another day though. Got dinner..... But she was slow fishing.

Finally had a fine weather window on a weekend and took a kid fishing. Really nice to get out there and have a great day without getting smashed on the way home

 

Leon cleaned up his old man in the trevally department... ( they are suckers for flasher rigs) but got some good snapper, and really enjoyed the boat in what was beautiful conditions.

 

To see more of this design, please click HERE

Adam's Sea Strike 16 (Australia)

 

Its great to see yet another Sea Strike 16 being launched this week. This time its from Adam down at Sydney !

He writes:

The Sea Strike has been salted! I can now say its officially splashed and named 😀

After a crazy late Sunday afternoon of getting the boat ready and rigging up the fishing gear we headed off Monday morning at 4:30 ( I only got 2hrs of sleep)...Never again..Im still feeling it 😕 It only took 50min with a clean run to the Rose Bay Ramp. (https://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&i ... CCcQ-A8wAA)

One thing I keep noticing about towing the SS is how light it is. I did a 130km return trip and didnt even use a 1/4 of a tank! On board I was carrying 110L of fuel, Bag of ice, all the required safety gear, water, food and fishing gear. Its very easy to forget that your even towing a boat.

Arriving at the Boat ramp I was very happy to see no boats lining up... Well that changed in about 30 seconds..perfect timing 😎

On returning after parking the trailer (5mins) there were boats and chaos everywhere! Ahh.. the smell and noise of two strokes in the morning...We were off! Allie, Toffee the dog and my self. Wanting just to get my bearings and how to work around the boat I took it easy. We headed out to Shark Island and towards Camp Cove. The conditions were pretty lumpy and the SS took it all in her stride and lived up to the BMD reputation. At this point I was felling pretty average..even after coffee!

We had a flick around the markers and headed for South Head. I didn't feel like I had my gear together and was struggling mainly due to the lack of sleep and Allie started to feel a little squeeze so to avoid an early departure I headed to Bantry Bay in Middle Harbour for a bit of flat water, sun and easy fishing 😀 Allie and Toff were very happy about that. We anchored just on the drop off of the sand bar and chilled out for an hour or so. Flicked out a few baits and landed the first fish on the SS. A solid Snapper weighing in at 100g (LOL), wasn't quite what I hoped for but a fish nonetheless.

Feeling recovered and gear sorted we pulled the pick and headed back out to north head to do a bit of easy trolling.

Heading into a light breeze and a 1-1.5m swell at 7 knots the SS took it on with not a problem. Easy comfortable ride. If it wasn't I would have heard about it! Hitting North Head I turned beam on and headed south to The Gap. Didn't really notice the swell, she tracks well with a soft roll. Turing north and just passing the Gap I hooked up to a nice medium rat kingy! Second fish on board. Kingy tick!

Heading east back to the ramp we were faced with 20 knots of wind, chop and boat wash. I pushed “Blue Arrow” to a comfortable 26knots at 5100 rpm. Easy smooth ride..what wind and chop ❓ I dont have hand rails yet and didnt feel at any time.  There was plenty of grunt left but the other half is not a speed freak so I played it safe 😉

As I flew past a few boats I was getting a very confused look 😆 Pulling into the ramp I was greeted with more chaos and a flotilla of boats. Yes it just occurred to me that it was a public holiday 🙄 Trailering the SS is a breeze and as its a light boat. Allie can winch it in with out struggling or whinging. While at the ramp, the comments started flowing. Nice rig, what sort of boat is that? Plate or fibre glass? What brand is it? When I said I built it, I just got a confused look and the “yea its a nice rig” lol Something else I noticed when passing other boats they were all looking for a brand name. The Sea Strike is a head turner that for sure.

So lots of fun to be had and the Blue Arrow smashed it. Need to take her off shore but a can say with confidence that she will handle it. Look forward to filling my kill tank. Which reminds me. The bag of ice melted as I left the sea cock open and drain plug out and it flooded the kill tank 😳 .. I drained it and put the frozen bait in it. Was still frozen at the end of the day 😀

Big shout out and thank you to BMD for designing an amazing boat.

The outstanding service, design knowledge, attention to detail, and the hour long phone conversations 😆 is what makes BMD one of a kind world wide. You'd be hard pressed to find this any where else..and why would you bother looking 😀

It was a great 2 years building and I look forward to seeing some new designs!

A fella called Andy from the "Downrigger shop" took this photo of Adam and Davo outside Sydney heads fishing.

He writes on facebook:

Dave Potts fished from this sweet CC at Longie last week. It was one of those days when the slop was way worse than it shows in the pictures, but this beaut little boat looked rock solid and fishable. 

To see more of this design, please click HERE

Geoff's Tropic 14 (Australia)

Its great to see another Tropic 14 being launched, this time Geoff from Victoria. What a top job !

He writes:

Here she is in the water and the video I did up explaining a few things about the build and with the boat up and running. Let me tell you, the saying never work with kids or animals when film making is true!

Here's a great video he made showing how the boat complies with the Australian Builders Plate standard.

To see more of this design, please click HERE

Pat's Magnum 10 (Australia)

Great to see we have yet another launching, this time from Pat in Tasmania and his Magnum 10

Pat writes:

The big day finally, arrived, after all the rain and high winds we have had here in Tassie there was a break in the weather in the Sunday morning. Loaded the boat on the trailer and off we went.

Since we have had a lot of flood waters we had to clear dead wood and rice grass away to put the mighty MAGNUM in and then went for a row around.

First impressions; 

1/ It sits nice and high and relatively easy to row. Bonus.

2/  Mounted the 6hp Johnson on and loaded up with safety gear, boat sat evenly balanced

3/  Started the johno 4th pull after 5 years (not bad), idled around to get the feel of it.

4/  Slowly poured on the throttle and got it up on the plan. Man does it go when you are by yourself. Just enough power for 2; for 3 I would recommend a 10hp

I am very happy with the MAGNUM after all the effort that went into building it. Even the smaller projects boats can give you a huge amount of satisfaction. 

Thank you to Mark for the time in designing the Magnum and to everyone that has given me advice over and good wishes during the build. 

Phil's RipTide CX-457 (Australia)

 It was great to hear from Phil as he launched his RipTide CX-457 the other day.
He writes:

Hi Mark,
Watching your web site over the last twelve months and then suddenly, the RipTide CX457came out of nowhere and I thought "I am going to have a go at building this boat".

Having never built a boat before and after mine had been stolen two years ago, the want to build this one was to the MAX. When the plans arrived, I found them really easy to read and I began to build.

Mark helped me through the parts that I didn't quite understand, but they were easy once I had talked to him. I am so glad I was told about Bowdidge Marine Designs by Geoff Lord, our previous sand paper representative.

With the Builders plate and motor on, registration was easy. With Great Excitement the day had come to launch her. Eight months of building and now it was time to try out my boat. My Riptide was launched at 1.30pm and I headed straight out to Jumpingpin bar to try her out.

She handled like a dream, taking the bad 20 knot NNW wind head on and while crossing the bar, all the time I felt really safe in the boat. The RipTide handled better than the boat that had been stolen from me two years prior. I am over the moon about this boat, it's got so much potential! With Marks help from all of this, I now have my boat back and... I had a great time building it as well. 

Can't wait for next weekend... I'm going fishing! 

Regards Phil Martin 

Brisbane. QLD 

Top one Phil.
Great to hear you love the boat and the way it handles the open water, especially when your wanting to go fishing.
Love it

Duncan's EdgeTracker 426 (New Zealand)

 Its great to see Duncan from NZ launching his new Edgetracker 426.
What a beautiful job he did building her.

He writes:
I only went out for a short blat, I only got onto the water at about 6 pm and the boys have school in the morning so I couldn't make changes and go out again. The boat handles the chop very well!

Here's a few photo's

Its great to see yet another EdgeTracker 426 splashed

Top Job Duncan !!

To see more of this design, Please click HERE

Tom's Mushulu 12

 

Making the decision whether or not to build or buy was very easy for me, I found Mark through his web page, rang him and with a great deal of enthusiasm he explained how easy it would be for me to build the Mushulu 12 or 14. The cost of building was also very cheap and you also had the excitement knowing that you will build something with different shapes, sections and curves and once built, it will float! As a carpenter this all gave me much excitement and I was ready to start.

To all of you reading this, I can honestly say that the build was very easy. Anyone who is good with their hands, who is patient and wants to achieve a high quality product will find this project very enjoyable and complete it with ease. When I had the entire boat formed and glassed, I decided that I wouldn't just paint the boat. I would detail it with as much exposed timber as possible. The bulkheads would be in clear veneer with solid edging with solid doors, the front seat and anchor hatch would have inlays in a contrasting colour and the boat would have a sole with contrasting colors. Also the rubbing strake would have timber inlays and the entire boat would be a pearly white color with as much chrome as possible, as it had to look like it was made for a classy yacht. This I hoped would make it easier to sell. The things I didn't enjoy as much as others was obviously the sanding of fiber glass, but all in all it was very enjoyable. 

It would be great to be able to build full time, not part time as the stages would be completed faster and certain elements would be cheaper. For the next build I intend to build two boats at the same time as this will save me time and money. I will be ready to build a larger vessel as the build stages of this boat carry on to the next one.

Tom

And to my good friend Mark, we haven't yet met face to face, but I'm sure we will one day. Just so you all know when reading this, Mark is not just someone who you buy the plans from. He is the person you will be able to contact at any time and any day regarding your build. His web page is full of information and each boat has its own build stages of previously built boats. So when you start out building, you are surrounded by photos of each stage of construction and with your plans in your hands, you also have a visual library of the construction stages. If you still need help, you can just call him and he will explain everything so that you understand ! This makes it so easy and stress free!

Thank you Mark for making the dream possible.

Tom Macens.

Bob's Sea Strike 16 (Australia)

 Its great to see yet another Sea Strike 16 launching.

Here' s a few photo's of Bob's boat taken on that day. Bob was a first time boat builder and "WOW"... Top finish mate.

She looks great !

Clintons Sandy Strait 14 (England)

Its great to see another launching today, this time from Clinton and Nikki from the UK.

He writes:

Well chaps she's in. Great day we even managed to catch a fish!!!

It was worth all the effort. Had a brilliant time. Boat was even better. Had lots of comments…. all good. We had a few envious stares when launching and retrieving, it was so easy ....could even be a one man job. Perfect for UK conditions.

The swell was 2 to 3 feet and as long as you kept pointy end towards the swell you stayed dry. 25hp is more than adequate got on the plane in less than 5 seconds.

Loads of deck space and we had a top speed recorded on phone of 32 knots when the swell dropped.

I backed off I got brown trousers....

Weather was a balmy 12 centigrade but it was well worth all the effort

Top marks Mark. We are delighted