White Pointer 9m

One of the little perks of being a boat-builder is the ability, when finances permit, to build a boat for the company.

This is usually described as a ‘demonstrator’ and can be a test-bed for design ideas, something to show prospective clients, as well as a promotional vehicle for the company to use. It comes in handy during the holidays, too. Inevitably, though, there comes the time when a buyer just has to have the demo boat and, let’s face it, that is what they are made for.

Such was the case when an ex-pat Kiwi walked into White Pointer’s Gisborne yard out of the blue. Their big, red, nine-metre Custom Cruiser was sold on the spot, and booked onto a freighter bound for Samoa.

White Pointer’s owner, Rex Briant, allowed he was sorry to see it go. He had wanted to make the biggest practically towable boat possible, and the 9m Custom Cruiser is the result. It was designed to cater for both bottom and game fishing, and as a live-aboard boat for a family with a couple of kids. He had, incidentally, put 160 hours on the boat over the last summer, and his team had caught four marlin from it during the hot bite experienced out off the Hokianga Bar earlier this year.

But now it was bound for warmer waters. Rex towed the big boat from Gisborne up to Auckland, and we took a last opportunity to trial the maxi-trailerboat before it departed these shores for its new life in the tropics.

Construction

The nine-metre Custom Cruiser has an 18° deadrise at the transom with a fine entry (55°) at the bow. There are no planing strakes and a slightly down-turned flat around the chines, which is variable in width and angle over the length of the hull. Bottoms and transom are 6mm standard, sides are 5mm, and topsides 3mm.

Under the deck, the hull is supported by full-width and depth transverse frames at 750mm centres, which interlock with full-length, full-height 6mm longitudinal bearers every 250mm. These are made from 6mm alloy and shaped to the curve of the hull.

The chines are fully seam-welded inside and out. The keel assembly sees the bottom plates fully seam-welded to the keel bar (three full-length welds). An option is an external keel cap with a further two full seam-welds (a total of five).

This is a very robust construction system. Hulls are built on jigs allowing compound curves to be made, adding further to the hull’s strength and allowing greater design opportunities.

This hull can be put into survey with no additional construction. Underfloor buoyancy in the test boat is provided by two large, sealed airspaces that run up each side of the cockpit. These are pressure tested at the time of construction. Additional buoyancy is provided by the polystyrene filling of the cabin walls and roof in an aluminium-‘styrene-ply sandwich. This places some buoyancy up high, so hopefully the boat will float upright if swamped. The polystyrene lining also provides insulation and sound deadening. Reserve buoyancy is approximately 500kg.

Power and performance

The nine-metre Custom Cruiser weighs about 3000kg on the water and is rated for twin 200hp outboards, or a petrol or diesel stern-drive in the 300 to 350hp range. The ex-demonstrator (now named Fua II) is powered by a Volvo Penta D6–310/DP sterndrive. This is a six-cylinder diesel with common-rail fuel injection. It also boasts the new series of Duoprop drive with X-act steering, with the integrated external steering rams on the leg controlled by an exact feedback valve rather than the old tiller-arm style.

This engine gave us figures of:

• Nine knots at 1200rpm using seven litres per hour (trolling)

• 20 knots at 2000rpm using 20 litres per hour (cruising)

• 37 knots at 3500rpm using 65 litres per hour (top end).

The standard fuel tank fitted is a 350-litre model. The test boat had a 500-litre tank, and options go as high as 700 litres.

Running in seas of about a half-metre of wind-against-tide chop, I found the hull to be a comfortable and soft traveller, with the hard-top cabin giving plenty of shelter from the windy, rainy conditions.

Anchoring

The boat was fitted with a horizontally-oriented Horizon Freefall 900 anchor winch, recessed into the front of the forecabin. Access to the anchor-well is via a hatch up on the foredeck.

It is an easy walk around the cabin sides to the bow, with substantial bowrails and non-skid strips, but with helm-operated controls for the permanently-mounted Sarca anchor, there is limited reason to go up there.

Layout

The big, fully-lined forecabin has a double berth that, with an infill, can sleep two adults easily. Above this, on one side, is a single hammock-style bunk. An electric-flush toilet is fitted under the centre squab, with curtain closure for privacy. Stowage is in two levels of side shelves and under the berths. Cabin lights are fitted.

The wheelhouse/main cabin has an open, airy feel. The large dash is carpet-lined with back lip and grabrail. Visibility is good through the 5mm toughened-glass ‘screen (aided by dual opposing AFI wipers) and 6mm toughened-glass sliding side windows.

The helm seat is mounted on a soft-rider pedestal with attractive custom upholstery. The helm station is fitted with the excellent new Volvo-Penta fly-by-wire controls, and has all the fruit: Navman 7000 VHF; Lowrance 140 sounder/plotter; full controls and instruments; DVD system with plug-in remote screen; Majestic sound system; and a nice graphite-weave wheel from Marine Direct.

In keeping with its stay-away credentials, the galley unit has four gas elements and an internal griller, a stainless sink with hot and cold fresh water fed by a 90-litre tank, and storage is provided by three drawers and a locker with push-button latches. A gas fridge is fitted underneath.

On the other side of the cabin is an L-shaped bench seat with a clever reversing backrest, plus a dining table, which drops down to form a double berth. Grabrails are fitted the length of the cabin roof and either side of the door to facilitate moving around while underway.

Cleverly, the rear window in the cabin can be dropped vertically into a cavity in the bulkhead beneath, improving ventilation and communication to the cockpit if necessary. To allow this, the cabin door is a bi-fold type, and lockable of course.

The cockpit is of good size. Immediately behind the cabin bulkhead on one side is a unit that houses the gas bottle, gas califont (for water heating), hand basin, and a pullout deck shower. The other side of the bulkhead’s rear face is taken up by a large Icey-Tek storage bin, which doubles as a bench seat.

The side pockets in the cockpit are long and wide enough to take dive tanks, while there are pole stowage racks beneath. Footing is good, with tubemat over -chequerplate decks.

The engine box takes up the centre-stern of the cockpit, but with a transom walkthrough in both corners and a chequerplate platform with rails outside of the transom (forming a bridge over the sterndrive), the engine-box effectively becomes an island rather than a wall. Good design. Two of the platform rail sections can be dropped down, forming boarding ladders opposite the walkthroughs.

Overall, the boat struck me as big, comfortable and well designed.

Fishability

As befits a boat of this magnitude, a lot of attention has been paid to the fishing fittings. As just mentioned, the footing is good and the usual access problem around the engine box has been cleverly taken care of. There is plenty of toe room and good mid-thigh support.

Rod stowage includes positions for six rigs hung from the fore-cabin roof, an eight-position rocket launcher on the hardtop, eight through-gunwale rodholders along the sides, and a five-position rod rack on the large bait station mounted on the engine box. This bait station can be removed when gamefishing, and mounting bolts for a game chair are built into the top of the box.

Outriggers are mounted on the gunwales forward of the cabin bulkheads. They interfere a little with the walkaround aspects, but not insurmountably so.

The Icey-Tek bin takes care of the catch, and there are plenty of livebait options, too. Two ram-fed tanks are suspended under the platform, and under the deck (forward of the engine well) is a fair-sized hold with a self-flooding valve. The depth of water in this tank is regulated by a float switch and pump set near the top (or you can always turn the valve off to stop the inflow of course). This hold can also be used for wet stowage or as a kill tank.

Divers are well catered for with ample tank stowage, two boarding ladders and a platform, and a big cockpit with a hot freshwater shower. Luxury!

Trailering

With 2.9m of beam, this rig falls into the overwidth category, but with a revision of regulations a couple of years ago, this is not the big deal it once was. Although the rig clocks in at about 3.5 tonnes dry, Rex has successfully trailed it from Gisborne to the Far North with his Landcruiser. Once there, he found it easy to get in and out of the water, so at the end of each day’s fishing, would tow it to the local campground and use it as a motel overnight.

The trailer was custom-built by White Pointer, and the frame is all aluminium C-section to help keep the weight down. Keel rollers are fitted to help ease the big hull onto the trailer, but polyethylene skids and bunks do the support work.

A mechanical handbrake works on one of the twin axles for parking, but the main braking duties are handled by hydraulic brakes acting on both axles. These are actuated by the Carlisle Hydrastar system. Most of the big rigs I have trialed in recent times have been set up with this system (see the New Products section in last month’s issue for details).

To secure the big rig on the trailer, a bottle screw and chain is used. Other trailer fittings include: a dual-ratio manual winch (the boat was basically a drive-on, drive-off proposition, but as some ramps don’t allow this, an electric winch makes life easier); a wind-down jockey wheel; and submersible lights.

All in all

No complaints about this one. White Pointer has fulfilled its goal of producing a maxi trailerboat that is still reasonably towable. Rex Briant has, after all, pulled it half the length of the North Island three times now.

This big, comfortably appointed hull has good sea keeping, reasonable economy, is good to fish (and dive) from, and is fitted with all the comforts of home. Such hulls are normally customised to the owner’s requirements. You could have an awful lot of fun in a boat like this!

Specifications

LOA 9.3m
Beam 2.9m
Deadrise at transom 18°
Bottom and transom 6mm
Sides 5mm
Deck and topsides 3mm
Engine options:
Outboards 200hp X 2
Inboard (petrol or diesel) 300-350hp
Tow weight (dry) 3.5tonne
Price as tested $260,000
(Captions)
The cabin has an open, airy feel.
A Sarca anchor is permanently mounted on the bow.
The Custom Cruiser is trailerable in a practical sense. The gold box in front of the winch is the Carlisle Hydrastar brake control.
This under-deck hold is plumbed for use as a livebait tank.
The cockpit is large, and two transom walkthroughs with stern platform make it easy to fish around the engine box.
In the cockpit, the handbasin unit also houses a gas bottle, califont and pull-out shower nozzle.
The stern rails have two fold-down sections that form boarding ladders.
The galley has a gas stove, sink with fresh hot and cold water, and gas fridge, as well as stowage.
The rig is powered by Volvo’s D6 310 common rail engine.
Easy access to the stern platform and full rails make for a good fishing position.
 

	This article is reproduced with permission of New Zealand Fishing News   by Sam Mossman Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited