Marlin Broadbill 660 Offshore

Power catamarans have never been a huge part of the boating scene in New Zealand, particularly trailerable craft for sportfishing, diving and family boating. Not so over the ditch where cats are popular and respected, not the least for their rough water handling and ride qualities. We tried an Aussie import, the Marlin Broadbill 660 Offshore, marketed here by Benseman Marine and came away with a better understanding why this style of boat is so loved by Aussie fishos.

The Broadbill is a big boat on the trailer; there’s no getting away from it. She’s tall and her length is considerable, although ‘660’ (6.6m) refers to length overall (LOA) and actual waterline length is only a little over 5.8m. The boat’s very beamy, but still within maximum trailerable width, and all-up towing weight fully loaded and filled with 300-litres of fuel is still less than two tonnes — no need for electrically operated trailer brakes.

In the water, too, she’s imposing to look at — tall and wide with acres of cockpit. This impression is exacerbated by the forward-set cuddy cabin, so typical of power catamarans, and the relatively short hardtop of the test boat (longer versions are available). There is no way the boat could be called pretty, certainly not in a monohull sort of way, but it does turn heads — particularly those of serious anglers.

We left West Harbour Marina on a cold and foggy winter morning for a fourteen kilometre run down the inner Waitemata harbour to North Head with a view to heading a further 16km to our first fishing possie for the day. The water was like glass, but visibility was almost non-existent. Enter the boat’s Seiwa Tigershark C-map Chartplotter, pressed immediately into service even though none of us had ever used one before.

A combination of five sets of eyes, a towel to rub the condensation off the safety glass windshield (windscreen wipers were not fitted at the time), and the Tigershark allowed us to make steady progress down the harbour until the fog started to clear near the harbour bridge. We had a full crew on board: Mark, Brett, Adam and I, as well as Brendan from Bensemans to make sure we didn’t get into any trouble.

Outside the Heads, the water wasn’t much rougher, except for a slight ripple and a bit of tide joggle. A straight run out to secret possie #1 allowed us to get a feel for the boat and sort out a comfortable cruise speed. Twin 90 hp Johnsons with four-bladed stainless steel propellers provide the motive power. Performance is good, particularly acceleration out of the hole with the four-bladers, and a comfortable cruise of 30 knots (GPS) at 4200 rpm was maintained. Steering effort is minimal, thanks to Hynautic hydraulic steering, and the motors could be trimmed individually to compensate for cross-seas, load or wind conditions. As the engines are set well apart on a catamaran, there is no need for contra-rotating props and the boat’s attitude can be readily adjusted using the engines trim control. At low speeds, excellent control is possible using one engine at a time, both together or one in reverse and one in forward gear.

As always, there was an adjustment period as we got used to the outward lean on the turns. Turns were safe and sure at speed, and amazingly tight turns are possible at low speeds when one engine is used to work against the other to pivot the boat around its tail.

The helm and front passenger’s positions are excellent. Visibility is good (once the windows cleared!) and the adjustable Reelax helm seats very comfortable. Footrests (Hooray!) are well placed and both driver and passenger can brace themselves properly. Behind the two swivel-seats, on the lower step of the pedestal, are hinged pad seats (giving access to storage inside) for a total seated accommodation of four. Additional standing passengers are well provided for with grab rails on the boat’s sides and the rocket launcher. The hardtop is lined and on the test boat accommodated a light and the VHF radio.

The fully lined cuddy itself is really only useful for storage. It doesn’t have bunks, though a single pipe bunk is available, but there is a lot of dry storage behind the painted alloy cabin doors. Access is easy and a step is provided to aid working the anchor. A large alloy hatch opens onto the foredeck, also revealing the generous anchor locker. A short bowsprit and a massive alloy bollard are standard, though many would consider a winch for a boat of this size. The bowrails are solidly constructed and there is good-quality non-slip on the sloping foredeck and reasonable access along side the cabin to the cockpit (rails are provided along the cabin top).

From the photo boat, a Bayliner Trophy, it was possible to see the pontoons working, particularly the distinctive wave-piercing bow sections of the boat. These carve through the waves, breaking the force of the boat’s landing and helping soften the transition to the upward lift of the main hulls. It works very well and the Broadbill proved very soft riding through the wakes.

This boat was designed with fishing in mind. Normally I would never consider fishing out of a trailer boat with five people — it doesn’t work. With the Broadbill, it’s not only possible, it’s easy! We fished five serious anglers from this boat comfortably, even while straylining. That’s no mean feat as all five of us had to fish across the stern to take advantage of the current. On the 660, the ‘gangplank’ between the engine pods facilitates this.

This platform is at least 1.5m long and a metre wide reaching right out past the engines. It’s the plumb fishing position on the whole boat (which is why Mark Kitteridge spent most of the day there!) but it’s also where you board the boat, or disembark. A dive ladder slots into the holes provided, and it can also be deployed from the bow if you wish to disembark passengers on a beach.

General fishability is excellent. Pull-out washable carpets add warmth to the interior, the gunwales are at the perfect height (700mm — just right for survey) and there is plenty of toe room. Wide side shelves are long enough for fishing rods and wide enough for dive bottles and there’s a plumbed livebait tank in the port side aft. A removable bait table sits on the starboard quarter, draining into the starboard motor well.

Twin underfloor tanks hold 150 litres each; detachable vinyl curtains across the transom protect batteries and oil reservoirs and the cockpit self-drains through scuppers in each corner. Finish is generally good; the 4mm hull is fair and the painted topsides largely free of conspicuous welds and spatters.

The boat exceeds all Australian safety regulations and it can be put straight into survey here in New Zealand with the addition of a few bolt-on accessories like a fire extinguisher and an EPIRB. As a charter boat, it’s ideal. Not only is it incredibly roomy for its length, it’s stable as well — all five of us could stand on one side of the boat. Twin engines have safety advantages and this boat will still do 18-knots on just one motor.

Our first stop, ‘The Wreck’, was a test for the Tigershark chartplotter. It’s marked on the chart but it still took us a while to locate it. In the end we trusted the GPS and let it put us right on the mark, then used the JRC JFC46 sounder to position ourselves up-current.

The fishing wasn’t too hot and a few small-ish snapper were all we managed in an hour’s fishing. The current was slower than expected and the wind swung us around a fair bit (cats do tend to sail in windy conditions). A move inshore to last week’s hotspot, plus two more relocations to secret possies #3 and #4 were similarly slow. Those fish we did land were barely legal and the likelihood of taking home a feed seemed increasingly remote. A quick conference and we decided to make our way back to the Wreck in the hope that the fish had come on in the interim.

There was a bit more wind and wave action by now — enough to get some idea of the Broadbill’s ride. It’s very soft riding and the conditions in no way challenged the hull. Nor did the wakes we ran at later in the piece, regardless of the angle or speed of the approach — or the size of the wake. Quartering the waves, the boat's ride is particularly good (usually the worst aspect of a monohull’s behaviour) with its least pleasant (but still good) ride straight into the seas.

This time we found the mark straight away and we anchored up sharply. Baits were sent downstream and the waiting began. Alas, the snapper were simply not on the job and all we could manage were a few small ones and some jack mackerel (into the tank they went). Adam decided to send one of the jacks back down alive and was rewarded with a strike almost straight away. A nice john dory was the result.

Pretty soon there were three mackerel livebaits swimming around and john dory began coming aboard in a steady stream. These delicious eating fish are suckers for live bait and a feature of the Hauraki Gulf in winter. Thankfully, the other feature of winter fishing in the Gulf, the barracouta, mostly stayed away. We experienced just one bite-off in the whole session. With several fat john dory in the fish bin, we had our feed. Mark finished the day with a nice snapper and it was time to go.

The run back to West Harbour from out beyond Rakino took just on one hour. On the way back we pushed the boat up to 5500 rpm and 40 knots on the GPS. It’s worth noting that the engines are propped for economy and not speed. Total distance covered for the day was 96km and the trip computer told us we’d used 120 litres of fuel.

The boat was easily driven onto the custom-built steel trailer. It’s equipped with Teflon skids making launching and retrieving extremely easy. The dual-wheel braked-trailer has a manual winch but it’s easy enough to fit an electric one.

All in all, the Marlin Broadbill 660 is one heck of a fishing boat. It would make a superb charter boat able to work off either coast, and at less than two-tonnes fully laden, it’s a practical towing proposition. As a sportsfishing boat, it has a lot going for it, not least its excellent rough water ability and phenomenal cockpit space and stability at rest.

	This article is reproduced with permission of NZ Fisherman Magazine John Eichelsheim Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited