Image 7.45

A lot of specialist fishing boats have been featured in this magazine over the last 40 years, but it is uncommon for Sam Mossman to review a rig that is specifically designed for free-diving.

Darren Shields, who has written a spear-fishing column for this magazine for over a decade, is a serious diver. He has been involved in the sport for 47 years, has been national spearfishing champion six times and travelled all over the world to pursue underwater opportunities.

Darren is the owner of the Wettie dive equipment company (www.wettie.co.nz) and has designed many innovative dive products. He has owned a range of boats over the years, so has well-developed ideas of what he wants from a dive platform.

When Darren decided to get a new, specialist boat for free-diving, he went to aluminium boat manufacturer Image Boats of Invercargill (www.imageboats.co.nz). Principal Dean Wilkes has a background as a sheet-metal engineer. He got into boat-building during a working holiday in Australia and, after returning to New Zealand, worked for several boat-builders, constructing everything from big ferries and commercial boats, right through to trailer boats. Seventeen years ago, he started his own firm, Image Boats, which now employs ten people and has turned out more than 150 hulls to date, including mono-hull and pontoon designs.

By land and sea

Darren’s vision of a specialist free-diving and spear-fishing boat involved keeping things as simple as possible, while providing a dive platform that could crank out some big sea miles to distant dive destinations. To this end, the layout is stripped back to the necessities. (“Fewer things to go wrong or need fixing” as Darren put it.)

The boat’s lines are attractive, but a flashlooking painted finish was avoided, with the acid-washed alloy coated in protective clear Nyalic for an easier wash-down.

The 7.45m hull features an 8mm bottom, which offers extra protection from any damage and adds some extra weight low down, helping to provide a better ride and more stability at rest. Also adding to these two aspects are a beamy (2.50m) fine-entry hull with a 17-degree deadrise at the stern, and wide, slightly downturned chines. This boat has been built to survey, as charter work is intended in the future, and rated for up to six people.

Darren and I launched the big Image at Takapuna Boat Ramp on Auckland’s North Shore. The alloy trailer, also built by Image Boats, is fitted with skid plates and benches rather than rollers, making it an easy drive-on, drive-off proposition. The aluminium used for this tandem-axle design helps keep the towing weight down, and Image used extra gusseting for strength at important spots. Other features include: leaf-spring suspension; a dual-ratio manual winch; hydraulic braking; wind-down jockey wheel; submersible LED lighting; parking brake; and a spare wheel. Tow weight, dry and empty, is about 2000kg.

We headed out into the gulf in a windagainst- tide situation, which was pushing up a half-metre chop. But Spearo just ate the sea conditions, and I was impressed with the soft ride. The hardtop provided plenty of shelter.

This substantial rig is pushed by a Honda VTEC 250hp outboard, a 3.5-litre V6 that is quiet and economical with ECOmo lean-burn control. (Performance figures are tabulated above, right.) We top-ended at 35 knots (64.8km/hr), but Darren reckoned he’d had another couple of knots out of the rig the day before in flatter conditions.

Honda rates this engine as having topend revs of 5300-6300rpm; the 350-litre fuel tank should give a range of about 250 nautical miles at 4000rpm.

On the day, in average conditions, it achieved 5850rpm, spinning a 16-inch pitch prop. This is about the middle of the ‘book’ rating, indicating a pretty decent prop match, with a good combination of performance and economy.

Dive, dive, dive!

As mentioned earlier, this boat’s application is to serve as a hard-core freediving platform (Darren says, “There are only two rod-holders on the boat, and they are really for the dive flags”). In fact, there is not even dedicated dive-tank stowage, although there is certainly plenty of space to fit them if required.

We headed out into the gulf on a bi-valve mission – mussels and scallops – as Darren had been spearfishing the day before so was already stocked up with fish. I acted as boatman while Darren did the wet stuff. He is so good at free-diving that his ‘down times’ were quite a lot longer that I was used to, causing me to worry a little initially until I adjusted to it.

The Lewmar warp and chain capstan were great; I idled around, following Darren until he signalled he had found a good patch, then used the helm control to drop the Sarca anchor (which is permanently mounted on the bow).

The required shellfish were soon secured, and I found the work station on the transom very handy for definitive counting and measuring (Darren had already given them a once-over in the water).

Performance

Honda 250hp outboard; 16-inch pitch prop; two adults and 320l fuel

Revs          Speed          Fuel

                 (knots)          (l/hr)

1000          4.0               3.3

2000          6.7               8.8

3000          12.0                         17.0

4000          21.5                         30.0

5000          29.2                         51.3

5850 (max) 35.0              84.0

Conditions: half-metre following sea with eight-knot wind on stern quarter.

Stem to stern

Extensive use has been made of Ultralon ‘U-Surf’ decking, providing nonslip surfaces on the foredeck, hardtop and gunwales. Decking, step-throughs and boarding platform are all tread-plate aluminium.

Access to the fore deck is through a hatchway in the cabin roof or around the cabin sides. Bow furniture includes: a fold-down boarding ladder built into the substantial bow rails; a heavy bollard; the Lewmar anchor winch already mentioned (which feeds warp/chain through the foredeck into the anchor well); and a decent-sized fairlead. The anchor-well can be reached by a port in the foredeck or a hatchway in the forward bulkhead.

The fore-cabin has been kept basic: no squabs, just basic gear-stowage space and a mount to store a 15hp auxiliary outboard. The area has a lockable sliding door, useful for securing gear, along with a lockable covering plate that can be fitted over the electronics.

The ‘screens and side-sliders are toughened glass with good visibility. A pair of Rocna ‘wipers are fitted. The large dash is covered in dark marine carpet (avoiding internal reflection on the glass) and has a rear lip to secure odds and ends stored there. There is no shortage of grab-rails (including two overhead) for passengers.

A nice padded fascia on the console has the electronics flush-mounted in it. These include: a Lowrance HDS9 sounder/plotter; Lowrance VHF; Garmin digital engine gauges; Fusion MS-UD650 entertainment system (Darren also used it as a ‘dry box’ for storing his phone); along with controls for the Lectrotab trim tabs and the Lewmar anchor winch. Steering is aided via Seastar hydraulics.

On the passenger side is a hatchtopped locker, so divers can store their dry clothing when suiting-up.

The helmsman gets a comfortable highmounted (for improved vision), upholstered, adjustable bucket seat with roll-back bolster and pipe footrest. A rear-facing bench seat is behind this. The passenger side has two levels of bench seat. Both sets of seats are built on box units with internal stowage accessed from the sides. The rear-facing seats house removable, draining storage boxes for items such as gloves, booties and catch bags.

Under-deck holds are positioned between the seats and at the rear of the cockpit. Along each side of the cockpit are two levels of side-shelves and a tie-down bar (a Wettie Float-Boat was bungeed to this bar on test day). Darren stores his fins, spearguns etc here when travelling long distances in rough conditions. Two clip-on storage bins make for ‘ready-use’ stowage for the same items.

The central transom locker houses a twin-battery system, and also allows access to the bilge, where two 2200gph bilge pumps (one with a float switch) are mounted. The top of this locker is taken up by a worktop with cutting board and storage tray beneath.

There is space under the transom for a couple of fish boxes or modest iceboxes. More catch stowage is available in the stern under-deck hold, or a larger aftermarket ice bin can be added.

Twin transom step-throughs with dropdoors allow divers easy access to a large boarding platform that can take two divers at once. There is even a holder here for a large bottle of mask anti-fog. For boarding at the stern, Darren has done away with the usual fold-down ladder, instead using a fixed rail welded under the platform with grab rails above.

All in all…

I was impressed by the Image 7.45’s on-water performance, and it looks sharp, too. Although primarily a fisherman and only a casual snorkeller, I believe in the KISS principle, and can really appreciate Darren’s stripped-back dive-boat layout. In addition to making Spearo very easy to clean, it will also take some wear and a few knocks without worrying about any scratched paint and, most importantly, it suits Darren’s diving system perfectly. There is a place for everything a free-diver needs – at hand, but out of the way – but nothing that is not necessary.

Dean Wilkes and his Image team in Invercargill have produced a good ‘un.

Specifications

Material: aluminium

Configuration: monohull, openback hardtop

LOA: 7.45m

Beam: 2.50m

Bottom: 8mm

Sides: 4mm

Topsides: 4mm

Hard top: 3mm

Deadrise: 17”

Test engine: Honda 250hp

Prop: 16” pitch

Tow weight: approx. 2000kg dry

Fuel capacity: 350 litres

Trailer: Image tandem aluminium

Price as tested: $140,000

Test boat courtesy of Darren Shields, Wettie.