Advice & Info: Image Fishmaster 8.5m

Dean Wilkes started building boats 24 years ago in Australia before returning to Invercargill to continue in the field.

He worked for several well-known Deep South boat building companies, involved with everything from small aluminium pontoon boats to large aluminium ferries, before deciding to do his own thing. He founded his own company, Image Boats, about eight years ago.

The Invercargill-based firm now employs seven people on the factory floor and had completed 87 hulls at last count, nearly all domestic sales. They have recently moved into a new purpose-built facility, which, along with the factory, incorporates extra storage space, a showroom, and mechanical fit-up and servicing facility.

Image’s down-to-earth attitude and willingness to custom-build has seen them win a number of fans, amongst them a farmer from south of Auckland.He is one of those larger-than-life characters, and I spent an entertaining afternoon boating and fishing with him out of Kawakawa Bay, at the southern extreme of the Hauraki Gulf.

Construction

Image Boats are quite open to custom building. The Image 8.5m Fishmaster (8.75m overall length) aluminium hulls are solidly built with 6mm bottoms, 4mm sides and decking, and 3mm topside construction. The test boat Ultimate Toys is even more so, with an additional 4mm wear-plate overlaid along the keel line and extending across each side of the bottom to the line of the first longitudinal bearer. The owner anticipates plenty of hard use and likes his boats built tough.

Image boats are built to survey. The keel line is formed by fully seam-welded butted plates, with a flat plate welded across the keel line to form a strong triangular section. There are four full-length stringers and crossways, four full bulkheads, counting the transom assembly. The chine joins are fully seam-welded, inside and out. Even the cabin roof is reinforced so it can be used as an observation post when game fishing, a pipe-rung ladder giving access to this area.

Power and performance

These hulls are rated for 200-400hp and available in both inboard and outboard configurations. On the same day as I tested the inboard version, John Eichelsheim was giving an outboard version – powered by twin 150hp Suzukis – a run for a report in a future copy of NZ Boating Magazine.

The inboard configuration I tested was fitted with a Yanmar 315hp diesel and Bravo 2 leg. The owner is still trialling various props, as the engine is revving slightly high at 4100rpm. It should be more like 3900. The top-end speed is 34 knots, but the rig cruises comfortably at 3200rpm and 27 knots, using only 21 litres per hour at this speed.

Interestingly, the owner had had a Vetus bow-thruster fitted, something seldom seen in Kiwi trailerboats, although common overseas. I must admit it was a handy thing when manoeuvring the big rig in the tight confines of the new Kawakawa Bay boat-ramp facility. The owner even uses it when drift-fishing in close to the kelp. When the boat gets too close to the rocks for comfort, rather than fire up the main diesel and spook up the area, he just pushes it out a little with the electric bow thruster.

The heavily-built hull, with its fine entry and 18° deadrise, goes through the water very comfortably. Even with a half-metre chop square on the beam there was no pounding, and with the combination of trim tabs and leg tilt, a wide range of control over hull attitude was possible.

The power-assisted steering was positive and easy – I could steer using just my little finger – and all-round visibility was good. Fuelled by a 500-litre underfloor tank, the Image Fishmaster 8.5 shows all the signs of an excellent rough-water boat – something the owner takes full advantage of, regularly fishing out over the Manuaku Bar on the west coast, and as far away as Great Barrier Island on the east.

Anchoring

Access to the bow is easy with non-skid finish on the walkaround. The hatch in the forecabin roof offers another option. Incorporated in the bow rail is a fold-down section above the fairlead, allowing boarding and disembarking of passengers over the bow to the shore without endangering the leg.
The anchor is a permanently-mounted Sarca, lifted by a Lewmar anchor winch controlled from the helm. The fairlead is high-sided to constrain the warp, and a protective plate and heavy-duty bollard are fitted. The warp is fed into a forward locker, which can be accessed through a hatch in the forward bulkhead. All pretty painless.

Layout

The owner wanted a simple, open layout with no frills – a basic, hard-core fish-and-dive boat. The open back to the cabin and wide entry to the forecabin make it look a little like Dr Who’s Tardis – bigger on the inside than on the outside. The forecabin is fully lined. With the berth in-fill fitted, two or three adults could sleep there, and a pipe-frame bunk up on the helm side would take another.

A hatch at the back of the console accesses the wiring and steering, and an electric flush toilet is fitted between the berths. There are two levels of side-shelves, with the lower one padded to double as a backrest. Additional stowage is under the berths.

Out at the helm a good-sized dash is lined with marine carpet (cutting internal reflection on the windows), and a Raymarine A65 multifunction unit is mounted here. Yanmar instrumentation is flush-mounted in the dash, along with switching and other controls. There is no shortage of grabrails, and the VHF is fitted in a handy position overhead.

Seating consists of large, comfortable, king-and-queen bench seats with pipe footrails. The tops of these fold right back to access cavernous stowage space. The owner is having a freezer built to fit under one side. An under-deck hold is fitted centrally, just forward of the seats.

Big side-shelves run the length of the cockpit, and the decking is sealed chequerplate. Drainage is well taken care of via five float-switch/manual operated bilge pumps. Two 2500gph pumps are set down in the engine hold; another is set up in the forward compartment; and another two 2000gph units are fitted under the transom.

To run all the electrics, three batteries are fitted: two starter batteries under the passenger seat, with a house battery up in a protected position in the helm side of the transom wall. The engine box in the middle of the cockpit is sealed from water ingress from the cockpit, and while large, leaves plenty of work room and is utilized as a work surface.

Two modest step-downs allow access out onto the chequerplate boarding platform that covers the stern leg. A pipe cage is built around the platform, making it a useful fishing spot, and two sections of the cage fold down to form boarding ladders at each side.

Further ‘furniture’ includes a movable spotlight controlled from the helm, heavy-duty cleats, and two towing lugs: one low on the back edge of the platform and another high on the back edge of the hardtop for towing water-toys.

Fishability

This is a great boat to fish from. The large engine box has been extended upwards with a pipe frame to form a massive baitboard, a section of which lifts out to reveal a sink that drains overboard. The gunwales and transom wall are all lined with decktread, offering plenty of spots on which to perch while fishing, without the aluminium draining all the warmth out of your backside on colder days. The boarding platform sits well above the water line, and sitting facing astern along the transom wall with your feet on the platform was a good spot.

The chequerplate deck, lined with marine carpet, gave good footing and the hull was nice and stable; there was plenty of toe-room and the flat gunwale faces gave support at the top of the thighs.

All the basics were there, and so were the fittings. Two live-bait tanks were recessed into the stern platform, suited to jack mackerel-sized baits. With the bungs out, these pick up water when travelling, and drain to about half depth when at rest.

Five rodholders are fitted into the huge bait-board, and six more are set into the gunwales, while a six-position rocket launcher is set up on the hard-top. The two tackle lockers set into the sidewalls right by the rear-facing bench seats are a useful addition, allowing you to sit comfortably while rigging with everything to hand.

Divers are well catered for, with easy entry and exit into the water from the big stern platform and plenty of stowage for their gear. The catch and bait are kept in a nice big icebox, which sits just forward of the engine box. We anchored up for a while near Ponui Island, straylining pilchards, to put a feed of snapper into it.

Trailering

The Fishmaster 8.5m is supplied on an alloy trailer made by Image Boats. Gusseted for extra strength, it uses benches rather than rollers to support the hull, and is carried on tandem axles with leaf-spring suspension.

The braking system is a Carlisle Hydrastar, which is controlled by a brake actuator mounted on the trailer. This unit detects when the brake lights of the tow vehicle come on and applies the trailer brakes sympathetically.

Other fittings include submersible lights, wind-down jockey wheel, parking brake, spare wheel and dual-ratio manual winch. In practice, the big rig is mostly driven onto the trailer, but the owner is fitting an electric winch to make life easier. Tow weight of the rig is 3250kg, empty.

All in all

An excellent hard-core fish-and-dive machine with basic overnighting facilities. The Image Fishmaster 8.5m travels well and economically, and the capital cost of the single diesel inboard compares favourably with the cost of the dual-outboard installation of the similar Image rig  Boating trialled on the same day.
Because of the level of customising offered (including the hull itself), each Image boat must be almost treated as a one-off, and owners who have sufficient boating experience to develop specific ideas about their requirements will find a sympathetic ear in the Deep South.