Scorpion 890 |
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Sportcraft Boats began as a boat retail company based in Morrinsville in the Waikato.
Started over fifteen years ago, it is a family firm headed by manager Jamie Black. Sportcraft supplement existing boat brands with their own range of hulls, the Scorpions, designed and manufactured especially for their perceived market.
Over the years, the Morrinsville yard has expanded, spreading to several adjacent lots, and in 2001 a new yard was opened in Hewletts Road, Mount Maunganui.
The latest and largest of the Scorpion range is the new Scorpion 890, and the first of this model was built for retired King Country cockie, genial John Downard, who trains horses at his property on the western Tauranga Harbour.
A combined crew, consisting of Jamie and Scott Black from Sportcraft boats and staff from NZ Fishing News and our sister publication Boating NZ, rendezvoused in the Bay of Plenty to put John’s boat Seahorse through its paces.
Construction
Sportcraft have the Scorpion hulls built under contract by various engineering companies. The level of finish is fairly good, with a smart paint job and good welding (with the exception of a couple of small non-structural welds that were a little coarse, apparently added later by a different welder.)
Constructed from 5083 marine-grade aluminium, the 890 has 6mm bottoms and 4mm sides and topsides. The hull is 16° at the transom, with no strakes and wide, down-turned chines. The bottom plates are joined to a keel bar with full seam welding inside and out. The chine plates are butted up and also fully seam welded inside and out, with the outside welds ground smooth.
Besides the keel bar there are eight full-length bearers supporting the hull. Crossways are four bulkheads (including the transom assembly), plus the fuel, water tank and engine hold assemblies.
Exact buoyancy figures of the hull were not available, but rough estimates put the hull at close to 1000kg on the positive side, contained in two under-deck chambers; certainly a huge safety margin.
The overall design is an enclosed hardtop, with separate wheelhouse and forecabin. The chequerplate deck is sealed and drains to two sumps under the transom, where the water is pumped away by two 1000ghp bilge pumps. The sealed engine hold is likewise drained, but with a 1200gph pump.
A twin-battery system is fitted, with one in each of the two transom lockers at either side of the engine box. A triple switching system links the starting and deep-cycle house batteries.
Power and performance
The 890 hull is rated by its designer, Spencer Black, for 250-350 horsepower. The test boat was powered by a 250hp Steyr turbo-charged diesel inboard driving a Mercury Bravo III leg with counter-rotating 20” props.
Steyr is not a firm well known in NZ, but this huge Austrian manufacturer specialises in military, agricultural, marine and industrial engines, and the marine engines are represented in New Zealand by Cambridge firm Performance Imports Ltd. Boat owner, John Downard, had seen the engines at the Mystery Creek boat show, and was impressed by the power-to-weight ratio and world-wide reputation of the brand; enough so to specify one for his new boat.
Sportcraft had done a neatly laid-out custom wiring job, with each cable labelled at both ends. Care had been taken to ensure that the engine gets plenty of air, with three vents and a blower installed. Fuel is carried in a 330-litre under-floor tank, and owner John has been getting average consumption figures of 12 litres per hour from a mix of travelling and trolling.
A speed test achieved 26 knots (48kph) at 3800rpm as a comfortable cruising speed, and John reported 33 knots (61kph) at 4400rpm – maximum rated revs – on a previous trip. Engine noise is about what you would expect for a diesel inboard.
The steering is power-assisted cable and did the job well, although it was a little lumpy. I suspect that the power assist needed bleeding, not uncommon with a new installation.
The position of the throttle was not ideal, right up against the helmsman’s leg, where it was going to get bumped regularly, but as these boats are extensively customised, this position can be easily moved, depending on the owner’s requirements.
We took the 890 out over the Bowentown Bar, helmed by John Downard, a member of the local coastguard. There was a good lift running – easily 2.5 metres – but the big Scorpion handled it with ease. Visibility was good through the curved toughened glass forward ‘screens, aided by a Roca wiper when necessary. The side windows were sliding 6mm toughened glass.
The Steyr engine had plenty of pick-up and the bows plenty of lift. Having cleared the bar area, we ran out to Mayor Island for a photo shoot, then brewed up some coffee and made sandwiches for lunch – the joys of a big, stable boat. A quick but fruitless troll ensued, before we headed back over the bar to complete the trip. The big hull handled the conditions without any problems, and seemed to be an excellent performer.
Anchoring
Access around the sides of the cabin and up to the bow is easy, with a wide walkway and substantial bow rails. Non-skid finish had not yet been added, but was being considered.
The test boat had been set up with a Lewmar freefall horizontal drum winch and permanently mounted anchor. The control is at the helm and fitted with a thermal overload. The boat carries 200m of warp and 20m of chain. Access to the anchor-well is via a hatch in the forward bulkhead. Although we did not set an anchor, the set-up looks as if it would do the job well.
Layout
Owner John intends to use the boat for stay-away trips. The fore cabin can be converted into a large berth with infills, and could sleep up to three adults. It is fully lined, and fitted with cabin lights. Stowage is in large side pockets and under the berths. There is a zip-up privacy screen between the fore cabin and wheelhouse.
The wheelhouse/main cabin is also fully lined and set up for on-board living. Other features include: all-round grab rails; a large dash with rear lip; and a helm with flush-mounted Navman electronics (VHF 7200 radio, Fish 4600 sounder, Tracker 5600 GPS plotter, and Diesel 3200 fuel computer).
Many of the main cabin fittings were made from rimu milled on John’s old King Country farm. Large stowage pockets run either side of the cabin. A dining table and bench seats can be converted into a large bench seat or berth.
The galley unit includes the helm seat, chart locker, drawer and cupboard stowage, a Vitrifridgo marine fridge, Cramer double-burner gas stove with ceramic tile endwall, and a stainless sink with hot and cold water fed from a 50-litre tank.
The rear cabin doors are sliding and lockable. Tucked under the gunwale at the front of the cockpit is a properly vented gas califont that meets gas certification standards. This heats water for the galley and deck shower, and a connection on the transom means it may be used on the boarding platform or at the rear of the cockpit, too. The gas bottle is set under a cockpit bench seat, and an EPIRB is stowed out in the cockpit where it can be got at in a hurry.
Unusually, Seahorse has a flush toilet under a second bench seat in the cockpit. Now before you go jumping to conclusions, there is a privacy curtain on rails that surrounds the convenience, and it makes a certain amount of sense from the space and ventilation aspects.
The cockpit has large, approximately three-metre side pockets, and high sides (reaching up to my hips), with wide gunwales. Large cleats are welded to the stern corners. A retractable sunshade has been fitted over half the cockpit at the owner’s request, and from this a full canopy can cover the entire cockpit.
A RIB tender was stowed out of the way atop the cabin roof, strapped down to a pair of rails. Over the transom wall (solid, but a walk-through option is available) is a chequerplate boarding platform with fold-up boarding ladder and grab rails.
Fishability
Despite the space devoted to the forecabin and wheelhouse, the cockpit is a roomy one; even the engine box does not greatly intrude into it. The chequerplate deck gives good footing, and although the high gunwales may cause some problems to anglers who want to use a rod bucket and lean on the gunwales for support at the same time, there is good all-round toe space. Fishermen who need to chase big fish could do it forward, while braced against the engine box and transom (on the helm side, so the helmsman can see the line more easily).
Six through-gunwale rod holders have been fitted, and while not set right for trolling, are fine for bottom fishing. A large bait station fitting over the engine box was currently under construction by the owner, so had not yet been fitted. A six-position rocket launcher is situated on the hardtop, although access to it was not easy with the cockpit sunshade extended.
The owner wanted some sort of livebait facility, but rather than fit a full-on tank, he went for a tuna tube mounted on a post on the boarding platform. This would do just as well for a kahawai or a few jack mackerel, giving a further fishing option without getting too carried away.
Divers are catered for too, with boarding platform and ladder, shower facilities, and side shelves quite large enough to take dive tanks.
Fishermen all have different ideas about fitting up fishing boats, depending on their particular requirements, and larger craft like the 890 Scorpion are inevitably customised. Certainly the basics are all here.
Trailering
A big boat requires a substantial trailer. Seahorse is carried on an EZ Loader sporting 32 wobble-rollers per side, plus a bow roller. This is a tandem-axle, cradle A-frame rig with duro-torque suspension.
The braking system is interesting, with American-made Carlisle Hydrastar brakes (see www.carlislebrake.com) controlled by a brake actuator mounted on the trailer. This infrared unit detects when the brake lights of the tow vehicle come on and applies the trailer brakes sympathetically. In the tow vehicle, a control box that can be plugged into the cigarette lighter is used to adjust the sensitivity of the trailer brakes. It seemed to work well in practice.
Tow weight of the rig was calculated out to about 3250kg, and we towed and launched the boat over the sandflats easily enough with the farm tractor. The big boat seemed to come on and off the trailer okay, but the winch is set high on the post to keep it and the fancy brake system well clear of the water. This means that the winch is up about head-height, making for difficult winding, so an automatic winch is to be fitted.
All-in-all...
Owner John Downard got what he wanted – a comfortable stay-away boat with a fishing orientation. The big boat handled the substantial lift on the Bowentown Bar with no problems at all, and with a bleed job on the steering and a shift of the throttle position, will be a pleasure to steer – just the usual teething problems on a new hull. Certainly the new owner is delighted with its performance.
A boat like this is a very personal thing, and doubtless a great many aspects of the layout would be altered to suit the requirements of different owners. I can’t think of a better way to fill the coming winter months than by building your own dream boat.
Specifications
LOA 8.840m
Beam 2.790m
Deadrise 16°
Rec. horsepower 250 – 350hp
Engine options as required
Length on trailer 10m
Height on trailer 3.3m
Trailerable weight 3250kg
Price as tested $187,418.00
Packages from $165,000.00
The timber for the attractive rimu fittings was milled on the owner’s old King Country farm.
Steyr is not an engine name well known in NZ, but has international respect.
The wide open spaces of the cockpit proved lots of work space, shaded by the extendible sun screen.
The fore cabin is fully lined.
Instruments and electronics are well laid out, but the throttle needs shifting.
Smoko at Mayor Island. Wouldn’t you rather be home cutting the lawns?
A toilet in the cockpit is uncommon but has some advantages.
The curved glass ‘screens offer good all-round visibility.
A wide walkway and substantial bow rails make access to the pointy end easy.
The chequerplate boarding platform is fitted with ladder and tuna tube.
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