Boats 2 Go Fishing Charters - Auckland

'Boats 2 Go' is one of a new breed of charter operations — a U-drive set-up where clients have the choice of hiring either a skippered boat or else taking a boat out themselves. Based at Gulf Harbour in Whangaparaoa, Boats 2 Go has two craft for hire: a four-stroke Honda 45hp-powered Stabicraft and a 150hp Volvo turbo-diesel Bluewater 6.1m walkaround.

Both craft are run under Safe Ship Management and are fully equipped for work in the Gulf and elsewhere. The Stabicraft can be trailered by any 2 litre family sedan making it ideal for weekends away or extended holidays. Bare boat rates are extremely reasonable ($175-$375 per day, depending on the boat and the season, half days ranging between $120 to $250) while skippered rates are also very competitive.

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Boats 2 Go was set up by Warwick Beauchamp, a school teacher with a life-long interest in the sea. He did some figuring and came up with some remarkable statistics — for the annual cost of owning an average 6m vessel, punters could afford to charter his 6m boat for 32 days a year. And that’s without taking into account purchase price or fuel bills (or towing or depreciation!).

The same arithmetic for an average 5m craft gave 22 days charter of Boats 2 Go’s Stabicraft.

The boats are surveyed for anywhere in the Hauraki Gulf although the Stabicraft is not allowed the same latitude as the larger Bluewater. Great Barrier Island is a common destination for charters on Hydro-Hya though they may not go around to the seaward side.

Boats to Go offers a full range of services to its customers including breakfasts and lunches if required, complimentary tea and coffee, hire tackle and bait and berley. Skippers are flexible — they’ll do what the charter wants or the charter can leave it up to them to find the fish. The same goes for the level of assistance — they’ll help novices with tackling up and technique while letting experienced anglers get on with it. Skippers don’t fish unless invited.

In general, only experienced boaties take bare boat charters. So far there have been no problems, though Boats 2 Go reserve the right to refuse a charter if they feel the appointed skipper is imcompetent. A full briefing and demonstration in handling the boat is given before the charter sets off.

Fuel is charged at the end of the trip but both boats are remarkably economical.

I joined Geoff Marshall, owner of Hydro-Hya, Boats 2 Go’s 6.1m Bluewater Walkaround. Geoff had the boat built to his own specifications with charter in mind. He contracts his boat to Warwick Beauchamp and is also the skipper when required. A navy man, Geoff has spent a lifetime at sea and its obvious from the way he runs the boat that he’s no stranger to things nautical.

Also aboard for our morning on the water was one half of the father and son Bluewater Boats team, Gary Colcord. Son Paul designs the hulls and father, son, and their team at Bluewater Boats build the craft to the highest specifications. Many, like this boat, are built to survey and quite a few find their way into the hard world of commercial fishing.

According to Geoff the process of choosing a good aluminium boat of this size is not a simple one. He looked at literally dozens of possibilities before settling on the Bluewater 6.1. In the end it was the sheer strength, the quality of the materials and the workmanship that swung him. They were also able to custom-build to his specifications and he enjoyed having so much input, at every stage of the boat’s construction — including sanding the hull on weekends! He hasn’t regretted his decision to go with Bluewater.

Hydro-Hya is the first hardtop 6.1m, in walkaround configuration, Gary and Paul have built. After several hours aboard the boat, I’d have to say this is one of the best such set-ups I’ve seen. They have managed a near-perfect mix of fishability and accommodation. The cabin area is still big enough to be useful while the walkaround is broad enough for easy passage. This is partly due to the considerable beam (right out to maximum trailerable width) but is also a credit to the clever design — outward flaring sides and an inward leaning cabin means there is plenty of room down each side. Sides are padded right around the boat and the cockpit deck has been lowered to meet survey. Coamings are wide enough to sit on.

The hardtop itself blends nicely with the rest of the boat’s lines. It’s solid and the handhold across the back is far enough forward so that standing passengers can get some shelter from the elements. A simple enough point but one most boat builders ignore. The inside is fully lined.

Two custom-built pedestal seats on rams provide seating (with storage pods underneath) and there are two full-length berths, a chemical toilet and an infill for a third overnighter — provided they’re a very good friend — through the hatch in the cabin proper. Under the berths is a ton of storage; there are shelves, cubby holes and assorted lockers, too.

The dashboard is compact but still fits the full complement of instruments and gauges. Hydraulic steering takes all the hard work out of controlling the boat while trim tabs were considered an unnecessary complication on a U-drive boat. The engine box takes up a fair bit of the cockpit. The Volvo 150hp turbo-diesel is a relatively long engine and an oversized 200 litre underfloor tank together mean there isn’t much room for underfloor storage. Nevertheless, a useful kill tank-fish bin has been squeezed into the floor between the fuel tank and the engine box. A removable squab sits atop the engine box (replaced by the bait board when you get down to business) and there’s good access either side of the box and through the lift-out rear hatch to the large swimstep. This is well clear of the water and perfectly safe to fish from in good weather. The dive ladder has already seen plenty of service.

On the water, the Bluewater 6.1 Walkaround gets up and goes very nicely. With its present props, fitted primarily for carrying loads (the boat is surveyed for six), it will do between 25 and 30 knots but its acceleration is good. The duo-props have plenty of bite and there is no cavitation in the turns. With the original props it topped out at 35 knots but Geoff felt that he needed more 'oomph' down low.

The boat rides very well. We had a moderate chop as we headed towards Tiri, with a bit more confused water in the channel itself. I played with the trim but found that the boat was happiest reasonably nose-down, into the sea at least — as one would expect. It was also clear that the Bluewater is a dry boat. The cabin provides plenty of protection but we struggled to get spray on the screen. The designer seems to have found a happy medium between a fine, soft entry, which flares out and back to quite a full bow section and broad shoulders. A 19 degree vee is carried all the way to the transom. The result is a relatively soft-riding boat with good seakeeping qualities and lots of buoyancy forward. High bows and plenty of freeboard are two more reasons Bluewater boats are popular with serious users and west coast fishers.

In the turns the boat leans well over but the bite from the duoprops is good. Backing up is not a problem and the boat stops amazingly quickly when you button off the throttle — duoprops again.

We anchored up in shallow water close to Wellington Reef and started a berley trail. The walkaround feature was immediately appreciated with the way the tide was running — Gary moved up to the bow, while Geoff and I fished from the cockpit. There's ample room and the ergonomics are good — enough toe room and gunwales which felt about right to me, despite being higher than usual to meet survey requirements. Stability at rest is excellent.

Pretty soon we had a procession of small snapper coming aboard, with the odd better one in amongst them to keep things interesting.

There are six rod holders in the cockpit and a sensible rocket launcher on the hardtop. Game poles are not currently fitted but Geoff's thinking about some for next season.

Anchoring is fully automatic and effected from inside the cabin. A Maxwell chain-rope capstan stows the cable in the generous anchor locker which, on Hydro-Hire, contains 20m of chain and 150m of rope. Fenders are stowed in generous side pockets.

As a U-drive boat, Hydro-Hire is ideal. It's easy to drive, responsive, seaworthy and built to take the knocks. It's spacious enough to easily fish four, though it's surveyed for six. The hardtop gives good protection from the elements and the capstan system takes the hard work out of anchoring. The boat's finish is good and the graphics are eye-catching, which, along with the boat's authoritative lines, add up to an attractive package. Although this boat is diesel-powered, the hull is equally at home with single or twin outboard installation. Bluewater boats build the same hull with different topside configurations, have a new 7 metre in the pipeline, and produce boats down to 4.9 metres in any configuration the customer may want.

 

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