Nick Jones takes a trip to Mayor Island on a pair of exceptional alloy boats.

The backstory

Having long admired the Purekraft design, and with this publication leaning towards more ‘adventurous’ boat reviews, I felt the Papamoa-based brand would be a particularly worthy first cab off the rank for our new-look mag. Then I found out Jarrod Hall (Purekraft’s head honcho) and his clients share our same fishing affliction – it was meant to be!

The initial plan was to venture down to Waihau Bay in search of some mid-winter southern bluefin tuna, but the logistical gods conspired against us. Never fear; a trip out to Mayor Island, some 20-odd nautical miles from the Tauranga Entrance, to target kingfish would provide a worthy ‘Plan B’. 

Jarrod, a naval architect, boasts some serious design pedigree, having established Hall Marine Design (HMD) in 2007. As well as designing boats for many well-known New Zealand outfits (including the recently released Sealegs 12RC), HMD has designed plenty of custom vessels for customers all over the globe. Purekraft was born when HMD expanded into developing its own boats and shortly evolved into a fully-fledged boat-building operation due to the demand for finished Purekraft hulls.

When asked about the values behind the Purekraft brand, Jarrod is clear that customisation is a leading consideration.  

“When you choose a Purekraft, you’re not just choosing a boat, you’re embracing a philosophy of complete customisation. We work closely with clients to deliver unique vessels that meet their specific requirements.” 

The Purekraft foredecks provide flat, spacious, and safe casting platforms. They are easily accessed via wide footings complete with recessed cleats to avoid toe injuries.

No two boats the same

The two boats we fished on – a 770HT Diesel (Infamous) and an 800HT (The Pacific Hammer) – are a testament to Purekraft’s commitment to customisation. Although these two vessels share the same fundamental design elements and are of similar dimensions, the details and componentry differ greatly, reflecting the wants and needs of two diverse clients.

David Jew, a keen game fisherman from the Waikato, is the proud owner of Infamous. Since its launch, this Purekraft 770HT Diesel has been fruitfully gamefishing for striped marlin out from Raglan and bluefin tuna around East Cape. David opted for an integrated Volvo Penta Aquamatic Sterndrive D4-DPI package for both the fuel efficiency when trolling, and the 200-hour service intervals. 

The owner of Infamous, David Jew, opted for an integrated Volvo Penta Aquamatic Sterndrive D4-DPI package for both the fuel efficiency when trolling and the 200-hour service intervals.

The Yamaha twin-outboard rigged 800HT, The Pacific Hammer, on the other hand, is set to be shipped to California, where its owner plans to indulge in a variety of fishing – crab potting, gamefishing, bottom bashing, and salmon trolling – along the western coast of the USA.

Construction

The hallmark of the Purekraft design is a big volume vessel sporting a high bow and chunky chines. The deep entry hulls of the 770HT and 800HT – constructed with 8mm alloy under the waterline – transform into a moderate 18° deadrise at their transoms. With an LOA of 7.9m and 8.3m for the respective vessels, Purekraft measures its vessels fairly with the advertised product length equating to the true hull length. 

These boats are beamy – 2.58m and 2.65m – meaning there’s plenty of internal room for fishing, socialising, stowing gear, and sleeping, in addition to great stability at rest. The cockpits are large and uncluttered, in part due to some clever design elements (which we’ll get into later). The range of both boats is more than adequate for multi-day adventures, with respective underfloor fuel tank sizes of 560L and 600L.

Moving for’ard, the ‘hallways’ between the king/queen seating arrangements are generous and make moving around the boats a breeze. Internal headroom of 2.07m on both vessels (even under the decent overhead grabrails) is much appreciated by tall frames like mine.

The wide, comfortable seats promote a social atmosphere.

Purekraft’s one-piece front windscreens are epic – affording unimpaired vision for skippers and passengers alike. Dual wipers are on hand as required and sit nicely out of view by the front corners of the cabin when not in use. I also rated the large sliding side windows (an often overlooked yet important element on hardtop trailerboats) that are perfect for ventilation and sticking your noggin out to spot a workup or keep an eye on a rampaging marlin. 

With the voluminous bow, space is also not an issue in the forward cabins, where there is room for two (very comfortably) or three (perhaps after a few ‘nightcaps’) adults to stretch out on the squabs, dual storage shelves bordering each side, and, once again, very forgiving headroom. Lockable cabin doors provide privacy and security. 

As the photos demonstrate, the paint jobs courtesy of Super Yacht Coatings are immaculate.

Both Infamous and The Pacific Hammer sit on custom Purekraft aluminium trailers – each a perfect fit for their respective hulls with made-to-measure keel rollers and side support skids. Constructed from a mix of 5mm and 6mm 5083 marine grade aluminium, Purekraft trailers are built to last and look slick with their black alloy wheels. The trailer tech includes Credo wireless braking systems, centre steps, and a boat catch. In the case of these rigs, the winches were manual but electric winches are an option. 

Layout and fishability

Both Infamous and The Pacific Hammer feature a user-friendly layout with a nice, open flow between the cabin and cockpit areas. The XL king/queen seating set up port and starboard is fantastic, sporting plush, hard-wearing upholstery. The seats are wide enough to sit comfortably on whilst turned sideways so you can chat with your crew or watch the lures, and foldable armrests are a classy touch on The Pacific Hammer. There’s plenty of creative functionality around the seating plan, too. Purekraft have designed aft squabs that extend out with electronic latching on a rail system to produce a luxurious recliner, and underneath is space for chilly bins, fridges, or other gear. David has opted for the lounger seat option on both sides to maximise lure-watching comfort for the crew (provided they don’t nod off!).

Purekraft has designed aft squabs that extend out with electronic latching on a rail system to produce a luxurious recliner, and underneath is space for chilly bins, fridges, or other gear.

The respective leather-upholstered dash areas on both vessels are chocked full of screens, gauges, and various controls. The Pacific Hammer, in particular, has some cool helm gadgetry such as remote master battery switching, wireless phone charging, and Yamaha Helm Master EX functions. The California-bound boat also has something rarely seen on Kiwi trailerboats – a 12V air-conditioning unit on the starboard side to ensure the skipper’s comfort. There are matching electric reel and downrigger reel power outlets on each side under the gunwales, custom downrigger mounting plates port and starboard, and a foot-operated removable pot hauler to ensure crabs will be on the menu for the owner.

The electronics on The Pacific Hammer are juiced by two house batteries located in a sealed transom locker. This tidy area also hosts circuit breakers and C-Tek charging connectors. Two roof-mounted solar panels help maintain charge. There’s also switching at the rear of cockpit for various pumps – handy when you have a rod in hand or a fish on!

On Infamous, power is supplied direct to matching Daiwa electric teaser reels mounted on the hardtop’s underside. There’s a small hole in the cabin bulkhead through which David connects his teaser lines to his outrigger halyards. 

Purekraft’s vessels certainly don’t want for rod or drink holders (you can never really have enough, can you?). You’ll find 13 double-racked, alternately spaced rod holders on the rocket launchers of the 770HT and 800HT, while Exploding Fish rotating rod holders have been installed along the coamings to accommodate all manner of rods and dredge booms. Drink holders are found in convenient positions throughout the vessels – heck, there are even a couple on the cabin roof of Infamous (it makes more sense when you discover that there’s a retractable roof bar for watching the game lures up there!). 

The impressive helm station on the 800HT.

Both the inboard and outboard Purekraft configurations provide great angling platforms. The gunwale height is low enough to not affect important things like casting, working lures, or dealing with fish boat-side, yet still provide safe, fish-fighting support. The large, caged swimstep on Infamous is a nice compromise for the loss of cockpit space resulting from the inboard engine bay. In saying that, the engine bay cover hosts 13 rod holders and is overlaid in SeaDek – handy for fishing gear that needs to be close to hand like gimbals and harnesses, and also as a viewing platform if a marlin is sighted in the gear. The swimstep is easily accessed via transom gates on either side above the livebait tank (starboard) and jandal/all-purpose locker (port), and stays admirably dry at rest with no outlets (baitboard, livie tank, or tuna tube) draining onto it.

The Pacific Hammer also has a livebait tank starboard with a transom gate above, while the port side features a plumbed freshwater sink with jandal/all-purpose locker underneath. The compact Digital Electric Steering systems of the twin Yamahas make its swimstep an uncluttered fishing platform, too. The Purekraft livie tanks are a decent size that would happily accommodate around 30 jack mackerel. The transom-mounted bait stations feature rod and drink holders, knife/tool slots, sliding drawers, large bait/filleting boards, and even a bottle opener complete with bottle cap catcher.

Fishability is further enhanced by the foredeck design of the Purekrafts. They’re very flat, providing spacious and safe casting platforms, augmented by the high bowrails that can be comfortably leaned on for balance when grappling the likes of an angry kingfish. Dual rod holders on the bowrails are handy if you want to stay up front and hold on when repositioning for another drift. The foredeck is safely accessible (even with outriggers deployed) thanks to the wide footing around the cabin. SeaDek is found everywhere on both vessels, enhancing both aesthetics and comfort.

Twin 16” Garmin screens, accompanied by a 1-2kW through-hull CHIRP transducers (double-skinned) provide all the fishfinding, chartplotting, and radar functionality you could wish for on each vessel. And if the fish aren’t biting, Fusion and Wet Sounds stereo systems with subwoofers will provide the good vibes. 

More unique features

If you thought we’d touched on all the unique features of these vessels, you’re very much mistaken as there’s plenty more design ingenuity worth noting. The aft under-gunwale areas feature handy compartments with pop-up lids – on starboard they are utilised as rubbish bins, whilst on port they house the tuna tubes. The Pacific Hammer boasts knee-operated, cockpit handwashers that direct a stream of water overboard away from the vessel.

A Dometic fridge-freezer unit is tucked under The Pacific Hammer’s starboard seat, while the opposite compartment houses a 110-litre Dometic chilly bin. The boarding ladder folds and is completely retractable, hiding away under the swimstep when not required. What else is retractable? Well, there’s a large sunshade that extends over the cockpit to provide shade from the Californian sun.

Practical cockpit design features include double under gunwale shelving, a wealth of rod and drink holders, and hidden-away tuna tube and rubbish bin gunwale compartments with pop-up lids.

Oh, did I mention The Pacific Hammer’s cockpit helm station next to the pot hauler? It’s a Yamaha Helm Master joystick (again conveniently recessed into the starboard side deck with a flip-up opening) to enhance manoeuvrability when gamefishing or hauling pots. 

There are also the elements required to meet the strict US and California state standards, such as the blackwater tank. When quizzed whether these requirements were a headache, Jarrod laughs.

“It was just another design challenge – that’s our bread and butter!”

Then there are the little things that some folk might not even notice, but all would appreciate. Things like the recessed cleats along the passageway up to the foredeck so you don’t stub your toes.

Performance

With The Pacific Hammer sporting twin Yamaha F300hp outboards, the stage was set for a bit of fun. She jumped very quickly and comfortably up onto the plane, and at cruise speeds in the 20-30 knot range, fuel burn was respectable – around 2L per nautical mile. Yeah, but how fast, you ask? The Purekraft crew got her up to 51 knots during flat-water testing – impressive, but perhaps no surprise given the 800HT hull can be matched with far lower horsepower options. 

Yamaha’s outstanding Helm Master EX technology made manoeuvring a breeze, and its FishPoint function – through which the engines automatically hold the boat in a single position through low engine RPMs and electric steering – was pressed into action many times on our day out. 

The twin Yamaha F300hp outboards deliver a top speed of 51 knots!

The slightly smaller Infamous, powered by an integrated Volvo Penta Aquamatic Sterndrive D4-DPI package, was unsurprisingly a touch slower onto the plane than the other rocket ship but offered more than enough power matched with incredible fuel efficiency. At 24 knots the fuel consumption was only 1.3L of diesel per nautical mile. Top speed was a respectable 34 knots, the aft-facing air vents Purekraft designed clearly doing their job of removing heat from the engine bay. And at trolling (David’s preferred fishing method), she sips a meagre 7L per hour at 7 knots. David says the fuel efficiency is “incredible.” Volvo’s D4-DPI combo provides simple helming with electronic vessel control, electronic shift and throttle, and a DuoProp drive that offers more grip and handling response than single propellor sterndrive systems. 

Skippering the Purekrafts is a comfortable experience either seated or standing. Although they have high bows that at first give the perception of riding a bit ‘bow-up’, it’s simply an illusion – they sit nicely level on the plane with the deep entry hull affording a smooth ride. On our trip out to Mayor Island, we had a 10-15 knot southeasterly wind chop on top of a 0.8m easterly swell which the 800HT and 770HT both carved up with ease. Throughout the day there were no harsh bumps or landings, and the hull design with its solid chines deflected spray away in a particularly effective manner – so effective, in fact, that the wipers were barely required. 

The Purekrafts are very dry boats – there’s no spray ‘backdraft’ into the cockpit and the cockpit floors remain dry. David noted that he fished in some inclement weather during the Kubota tournament earlier this year, and while his mates on similar-sized vessels were getting drenched, his cockpit was dry as a bone. I can attest – somewhat daringly I decided to wear ‘Crocs and socks’ for this boat review. It was a non-issue, however, as my hooves stayed completely arid throughout the whole day of fishing, filming, and catching the drone on the swimstep. 

The hulls are nimble and surefooted through turns.

Trimming was simple for the boats, enhanced by the aid of the ZipWake auto trim systems. In the afternoon, the seas flattened out and we cruised home in speed, comfort, and style. The Purekraft lads also took the opportunity to show off how nimble and surefooted these hulls are through turns. All in all, these two Purekrafts are ingeniously designed vessels that perform well for hardcore fishing missions – a great mix of form and function.

And how about our fishing performance? Unfortunately, it was one of those tough days at the office when you try everything, but the fish simply don’t play ball. I’m sure it was ‘user error’ on our behalf, however, as we certainly weren’t hamstrung in any way by the boats. And just to prove it, David was straight on the road east to Waihau Bay on the afternoon of our review day, proceeding to catch multiple southern bluefin tuna that very night on jigs… maybe I should have sneakily stowed myself away on Infamous and joined him!

Specifications

Fuel Economy

Vessel: Purekraft 770HT Diesel
Engine: Volvo Penta D4-270A-G

Engine speed               Boat speed               Fuel                Fuel          
(RPM)                          (Knots)                    (L/hr)             (L/NM)

3579                            32.2                       53.1                1.6

3524                            31.5                       52.8                1.7

3395                            30.0                       50.5                1.7

3191                            27.9                       43.8                1.6 

3012                            25.8                       37.7                1.5

2792                            23.1                       32.0                1.4

2602                            20.4                       28.5                1.4

2405                           17.3                        25.6                1.5

2213                           14.2                        24.4                1.7

2022                           11.4                       20.4                 1.8

1524                             7.8                         9.1                 1.2

1011                             5.7                         3.1                 0.5

700                               4.2                         1.3                 0.3          

You can find out more about Purekraft here: https://purekraftboats.co.nz/

September 2024 - Nick Jones

New Zealand Fishing News Magazine.

Copyright: NZ Fishing Media Ltd.

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