Surtees 5.5 centre console

Every serious fisherman I know at some time or other has designs on a centre console boat. And why not? After all, there is more room than anything else of comparative size, they have fishing room to burn and no superstructure to catch wayward casts. Look at any American magazine and the pages are full of ads for centre consoles. They are an institution, often over 10m in length with two or three big donks on the back.

Back in reality, our conditions covering everything from bar crossings to winter southerlies to burning summer sun to demanding family needs, mean a centre console is a luxury for dedicated fishing situations, right? Well, after running the Surtees 5.5 model this month I’m left with the troubling thought that I might have got that wrong. In fact I’ve already designed lots of neat innovations for Neil Surtees to add to the rig to make it even more fishable!

First Impressions

I first saw the rig at the National Boat Show in Hamilton last September. It looked very impressive on the stand and discussions with Surtees on upcoming tests saw the decision made to make it the first on the list.

Initial thoughts, when viewing the boat for the first time, are primarily ones of a warm sense of familiarity. The reason is the hull. Year after year, Neil and Jan Surtees have taken the Boat Show award for vessels of this size. The hull is a very reliable performer. Zillions of the pop top cabin version have been sold. It’s even taking a share of the market across the ditch where they are known as Bar Crushers.

With such a pedigree, it was a safe bet that the boat would be a good performer. The rest of the preliminary thoughts were to do with the layout. It looked good, decent bow rail, good ladder access at the stern, everything apparently in its place.

The Rig

As mentioned above, this hull has been around for a while. It is well constructed with six full length, fully welded stringers. The overall length is 5.5m while the beam is 2.15m. The hull is constructed of 4mm alloy on the bottom and 3mm on the sides. As the cabin version weighs 412kgs I would guess this model comes in at around 360kgs.

The deadrise is a moderate 17 degrees at the stern but it is the other end of the hull that shows this boat means business. There is a useful spray rail on the chine that definitely contributes. Of course the feature that has helped create a difference for Surtees is the water ballasting. Something in the order of 300 litres of water floods a chamber in the keel making this a very stable boat at rest. The water clears in a matter of seconds when the throttle is applied. There is an underfloor fuel tank of litres fitted.

The hull was left unpainted with some simple graphics only to break the expanse of alloy. This is in keeping with its intended use. No one buys this style of vessel for its stunning good looks. That’s an unfair statement as this is a good looking vessel where it would be easy to make it agricultural.

Horsepower consisted of a two stroke 70hp Yamaha. The cabin model is rated 70 – 115hp and certainly 70 hp was suited to the hull. Someone into diving may choose 90hp. I’ll discuss that further in the performance section.

The rig sat on one of Surtees own trailers which towed very well. Launching was very easy and the boat reloaded squarely on again in a Manu Bay high tide swell. That’s about as good as it gets.

The Cabin, the Cockpit, the Dash

It’s pretty hard to separate these into their usual categories when everything is on a single level and there is no cabin and cockpit, just forward or rear of the console. Instead we will work from front to back and cover everything.

Starting at the bow, there is a very good anchoring arrangement. In fact I’d go as far as to say it’s the best small boat set up around due to the completely open plan forward. The bow roller is joined either side by the bow rail making it impossible for the rope to jump out of position. Two fairleads are welded on, one either side. There is no capstan but the well could be adapted for one if required. The well itself is quite adequate for the purpose. The next step back sees the underfloor tank, fuel filler and gauge (which appeared not to be connected). The boat needs weight forward so the tank is definitely in the right position. Above is a fibreglass ice box which sits hard against the console. Again this is well placed creating both weight forward and an extra seating position.

The next step back is the console itself. This is well arranged if rather basic and simple. Minimalist is a good approach for this style of vessel. The console is an arrangement consisting of a vertical surface at the rear where, in this case, two of the multi-function Yamaha gauges were mounted. Above this is a horizontal area where two flush drink holders are fitted giving ideal spots for putting the cell phone etc. I would personally fit four of these and a fiddle across the front. Down a level is a horizontal area where there is room to mount instruments. In this case an Eagle sounder was fitted in the centre. The outsides of this area have grab rails welded in place. The front face of this panel is where the switch panel and cig socket is fitted.

On top of the arrangement is the windscreen. It folds flat to resist the breeze further when travelling. It creates an adequate amount of shelter for the driver. Two stainless steel over-centre clips quickly lock or unlock it.

Below the dash is a large storage area. It is here that I found one of the few faults with the boat. The cables are run at a point where they cut across the storage area. My camera case sat hard against them. To make it worse they aren’t protected in any way. They are sitting against raw aluminium. The same applies where the cables pass under the capping on the floor. Again no protection. I’ve fitted out many Surtees boats during my time in the industry and I can categorically state I’ve haven’t seen any such problems on any of those boats. It’s easily solved but shouldn’t be like it to start with. I consider it an oversight as the cables at the stern are well protected, although the fuel line also sits against raw aluminium.

Next in our journey south is the seat. This is a basic box raised off the floor with an upholstered top enclosing a storage area for dry things. It’s a comfortable place to sit and two of us even managed to perch there during the test. When we looked at the seating options the logical one was to have a bin behind this fixed seat creating a back to back option. In typical Neil Surtees fashion this had already been allowed for and the clips were already fitted so the bin could be moved back.

Directly behind the main seat there are two hatches in the floor (more fore-thought; both lids are the same size), one is connected to the flooding chamber so it can be filled and drained. The other drains into the rear sump where the bilge pump can discharge any flow. We managed to comfortably fit 30 middling snapper plus ice into the space with room to spare.

There are rod length side pockets fitted which desperately need carpet inside to reduce the damage to rods and reels. Further around at the transom there is good storage. The battery and switch are well clear of water (and boxed) while the lack of a separate oil tank means there is lots of room for safety gear, sinker boxes, etc.

The Surtees is known for its wide side decks and this model is no different. It could easily handle more rod holders (typically an aftermarket thing as there are plenty to choose from). A wonderful addition is the flushed can holder beside each flush rod holder. When not being used for drinks this is a fantastic place to put the sinker when moving between spots. No more dinged decks. The coaming height is spot on for both a shorter editor and a much taller co-tester.

Mid transom sees the bait board mounted. Another Surtees special, this has built in rod holders and a drain over the back. It’s a solid fitting. There is a deck mounted berley bucket flushed into the platform to starboard. The port side has a fold down ladder in the diver style.

Performance

November on the west coast was a disaster. Wind and swell had conspired to cause us to cancel the test on several occasions. I was determined to run the boat at Raglan as I anticipated a 20lb snapper coming over the rail and I knew I would get the testing conditions to really try the boat.

Surtees is another who has (rightly) great faith in his boats. The reality is you can’t be as successful as they have become without a good product. So it wasn’t at all surprising when he dropped the boat off to us and said keep it for a couple of weeks. It’s the best way to properly test a hull after all.

The first opportunity came in early December. Shane Hartstone is the local Gamakatsu rep and a very keen fisherman. The Hartstone family are synonymous with Raglan, having owned the trawlers for years, so he was the perfect person to accompany me for the afternoon. We arrived at Manu Bay to an unpleasant sight. The waves were breaking in a line before the ramp and for a distance halfway across to the bar. That was only the first problem. The wind was up to 20 knots and one gust was 25. Wind plus swell plus open boat added up to unpleasant at best. However, I’ve seen it before. A quick phone call to Dwade Pinny, skipper of the Kawhia charter boat “Clansman” confirmed my suspicion. A mile or two out to sea there wasn’t the slightest breeze and no whitecaps. Flattest day of the week was the description. Another boat waiting to launch were also about to bail out before we got that news.

The launching was effortless and I shot a few frames of the boat in the calm of the bay before we headed out. We both wore lifejackets as it was, for all intents and purposes, a bar crossing. We had to wait for a lull, run 500m towards the bar then turn across three or four lifting waves, the biggest around three metres. That problem negotiated we battened down for the journey. We needn’t have bothered; very quickly we found a surprisingly dry and comfortable ride as long as we headed squarely into the sea. It needed, actually demanded lots of down trim. The spray was thrown completely clear of the boat.

This wasn’t a calm sea either. While the wind quickly dropped away there was sufficient slop on the swell to need the throttle to be worked. What surprised me was how the hull went better and better the more the power was applied. What didn’t surprise me was the lag due to the weight being so far back when compared to the cabin version. With 70hp it meant we had the revs up around 3900 – 4500 most of the time. I suspect this is probably the best combination of power to weight at only 104kg. I’m not sure that additional horsepower and associated kilos would do the boat any favours.

We both perched on the main seat where we could converse and stay clear of the breeze. If we’d had more than the 45 minute journey we would have set up the second seat. The throttle placement took a degree of getting used to. It’s not perfect but I also couldn’t come up with a constructive way of improving it. More of a problem for me was the trim switch which was on the opposite side of the throttle to the norm.

The journey out disappeared in no time. The only problem of note was the lack of a compass. Even with a GPS (not that one was fitted) I drive by compass and with nothing but the Tasman to look at it’s a lot harder to drive straight. We were comfortable all the way, the hull landing a little stern first with a whoosh more typical of a pontoon trapping air rather than the crash of a mono hulled alloy boat we expected.

We stopped at the 48m mark and set up for a drift. Shane caught a snapper within the first few minutes which meant we’d already equalled our last trip at Raglan together. This was a good test for the boats stability which was unable to be faulted. A combination of the water ballasting, a low centre of gravity (no cabin) and the wide decks keeping weight closer to the centreline meant the boat barely moved off line. With nothing else to show for our efforts we motored out again and set the pick. With no results after 40 minutes we motored out past the 50 and tried again. This time the results were quick to come. Pan sized snapper were the order of the day and I have to admit that Shane thrashed me in the beginning at least. I did score the biggest though. We fished a thoroughly enjoyable session until an hour before dark. We had already decided to take a limit as we needed some fillets for Christmas and production kills all fishing for a couple of weeks. We completed the mission with time to spare.

The trip home was another story. This time we had a down sea run, the wind slightly towards the beam. This was a different matter to drive all together. We certainly managed to flick plenty of spray aboard coming from the windward side. Unfortunately that was my side so I got wet. Eventually I kicked Shane off the seat so I could hide behind the console. The use of up trim made the hull run a lot better with the sea and I was surprised to find we had no cavitation problems even when running with the motor well out. As we got closer inshore I was able to really up the revs and the hull loved it. It was a really fun boat to drive.

Arriving back at the bay, huge sets were rolling in. Manu Bay at high tide is best avoided in a swell as it comes right over the breakwater. We watched the set come through as we milled around the bay and I made the decision to hold the boat rather than drive it on to the trailer. Shane’s backing skills were untested but he was definitely a big enough lump of a boy to hold the boat unaided. Surtees have a neat system on the front of the trailer where a counter-balanced loop grabs the bow hook its well suited to retrieval in such a situation. The trailer also has welded loops over the front of the trailer lights to protect them from a misdirected retrieval. The gap between sets was so long that we were in and out in one cycle with the boat loading perfectly at the first attempt.

Summary

One of the greatest fishing experiences is to grab a twelve foot tinny and be right amongst the elements. This offering from Surtees has a little bit of that magic about it. Let’s be absolutely clear; a centre console boat is going to get you wet. It will also probably get you sunburnt and wind blown. If you aren’t prepared for that don’t buy one. If you want an indecent amount of fishing room, an unbeatable platform to fly-fish from, a perfect dive vessel or just an affordable boat, this model will be in your sights.

Having the boat for a decent period allowed me to think on what changes I’d make if I owned it. The first would be carpeted pockets. Next, I’d have a vinyl cover across the transom. This would leave that area completely dry for safety gear etc. I would also have screens bound to the bow rails in the Australian style. I’d have them made clear though to retain the superb all around visibility. Because most of the spray comes over the rail height I figured out a simple way make a small triangular screen from the console to the side. That would deal to most spray. It wouldn’t be difficult either to make a small sun canopy off the console. A few more rod holders would complete the job.

The workmanship and finish is a credit to Surtees. The hull exhibited no discernable vices. Its another I can’t put against our benchmark scoring system – it would have to be a score of fifty with nothing else to compare to. However I suspect this boat would rate better than that and stand up to any comparison.

This article is reproduced with permission of Coast to Coast Magazine 2009 Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited