White Pointer 730 Sports

As announced in last month’s issue of Fishing News, Auckland Marine Centre has recently been appointed as an agent for White Pointer – a smart move as Gisborne is a bit removed from what is, in population terms, the country’s biggest boat market.

Many of the boats White Pointer has produced in recent years are large, complex, custom builds, but with the onset of more financially-constrained times (beginning around 2009), they came up with the 730 Sports Hard Top, an entry-level design with basic stay-away ability. More recently they have released another model based on the same hull, the 730 Sports Cruiser, which is a more upmarket all-rounder with curved, toughened glass screens and a lot of man-hours invested in fairing and finishing.

By land and sea

One of Auckland Marine Centre’s first deliveries from White Pointer was a 730 Sports Cruiser, initially earmarked for display at the Auckland On Water Boat Show. When the dust had settled after the show, Auckland Marine Centre’s Gary Hatton, his mate Jock and I took the Mercury-powered ‘Pointer for a run out off Tiri Island in the Hauraki Gulf. As this brand is a new one for Auckland Marine Centre, they were still experimenting with props and engine heights, but the rig was already providing excellent performance.

The Sports Cruiser is carried on a heavy-duty aluminium trailer, made by White Pointer Boats and gusseted for extra strength. This is a tandem-axle model with Duratorque suspension and hydraulic braking with parking brake. Along with the usual LED submersible lights, wind-down jockey wheel, dual coupling and a dual-ratio manual winch, it features a spare wheel and bungee-operated snub-block catch. Add the keel rollers, skid plates and side bunks, and you have an easy drive-on, drive-off affair. Tow weight is around 2.2 tonnes.

It was an easy launch at Gulf Harbour, north of Auckland, and we were soon heading into about a 12-knot southeast breeze. Sea conditions varied over the morning from calm to about half a metre of chop. Later, a wind-against-tide situation developed and the sea got up to about a metre in areas of strong current.

White Pointers have a reputation for being strongly built and soft riding: ‘The Original Non Pounding Hull’ is the phrase they regularly use in their literature. The 730 Sports Cruiser is no exception, with 6mm plate bottoms and transom, 4mm sides, and 3mm topsides and deck.

The hull design features downturned chines, a fine entry, an 18-degree deadrise, graceful curves in the plates with no strakes required, and well-executed welding. The finish is of a particularly high standard; when painted the boat could be mistaken for fibreglass. Robustly constructed, this hull has substantial reserve buoyancy of around 1600kg.

Things mechanical

The hull cut through the sea softly and evenly, pushed by a quiet, smooth-running Mercury Verado 250hp. With the Verado’s power steering system and digital throttle and shift, this boat was a real pleasure to helm.

Auckland Marine Centre supplied the following figures from their shakedown run the day before, using an 18-inch pitch Enertia prop:

• At 10.4 knots (approximating trolling) the fuel usage was 11 litres per hour
• A cruising speed of 21.7 knots consumed 32 litres per hour
• At 26 knots the engine used 36 litres per hour at 4200rpm
• A maximum speed of 37.4 knots was achieved at 6000rpm (although you might expect a little more when run in)

‘Book’ full revs for this engine are 6400rpm, so while a little more tinkering with various props might provide slightly more top-end speed, this is a pretty decent prop match. At a cruising speed of 22 knots, the 300 litres of fuel in the under-floor tank might be expected to take the boat a bit over 200 nautical miles.

The insides

Anchoring is easily achieved with a helm-controlled Lewmar anchor winch that feeds the warp and chain through the foredeck into the anchor well in front of the forward bulkhead. A hatch provides access from the fore-cabin.

A Rocna anchor is permanently mounted on the fairlead. The foredeck features bow rails, bollard, non-skid panels around the cabin side, and alternative access through a polycarbonate hatch in the fore-cabin roof.

The fore-cabin itself is fully lined to the deck, and easily sleeps two adults, or three at a pinch with a berth infill added. The step-down features a Tube Mat cover. Illumination is provided by LED cabin lights, with natural light through sidelights and the polycarbonate hatch in the roof. There is space for a toilet under the centre berth (not fitted on the test boat) and stowage under the berths, supplemented by two-tier side shelves that double as backrests when seated. A lockable sliding door provides security for stored items.

The wheelhouse has a large, dark coloured, marine-carpet-covered dash (this cuts internal reflection on the ‘screen and stops stuff sliding around) and a rear grab rail. The curved, toughened glass ‘screens are fitted with wipers, which have a useful single-wipe button set just behind the throttle. Side sliders offer ventilation.

The console faces are finished in a nice grey faux-leather with flush-mounted instruments and electronics. Along with the usual switching and engine gauges, there are controls for the anchor winch, Lectrotab trim tabs, and the electronics are handled by the latest Furuno TZT 15 touch-screen multi-function unit, with the sonar featuring a 1kW through-hull transducer – a nice bit of kit. The VHF and sound system (when fitted) are housed in an overhead nacelle, and there are two levels of storage for knick-knacks on the sides.

Helm seats are nicely upholstered bucket types with roll-back bolsters, mounted on gas shocks at the forward end of king and queen units. Foot rests double as storage bins. The seating units also feature wide, comfortable rear-facing bench seats (great for lure-watching) with plentiful internal stowage space. Grab rails are fitted under the roof and around the trailing edges of the open-backed hardtop.

The decks (and gunwale tops) are covered with Deck Tread panels that have drainage gaps leading to a sump under the transom. This, in turn, is drained by duck-bill scuppers and an 1100gph float-switch-operated bilge pump. Twin batteries are set in a protected locker in the transom wall, which also houses the Verado’s power-steering unit, the fuses and a fuel filter.

Other cockpit features include decent-sized side shelves and racks for poles, gaffs and so on. Clears can be dropped from the rear of the hardtop to the deck, which is useful for overnighting, bad weather, or just to keep the leaves and cats out if storing the boat in the backyard.

A transom step-through with polycarbonate drop-door leads to a large Deck Tread-covered boarding platform with grab-rails and a knee-jointed ‘T’ style boarding ladder. Serious game fishers might like to consider positioning the step-through on the port side of the boat so a stand-up angler has the solid transom on the same side as the helm to park his backside on, enabling the skipper to see the line better when motoring forward to chase fish.

The fishy stuff

Despite being designed for all-round use with slightly extended fore-cabin and wheelhouse, the hunter-gatherer aspects of the Sports Cruiser have not been compromised.

The cockpit is a decent size and features good footing, all around toe-room, and nice, flat gunwale faces to lean on. Fish can be stowed either in two flooding under-deck wet lockers (one has a ‘tarakihi flap’ so you can ‘post’ smaller fish without lifting the main hatch), or in an after-market ice bin, as we did.

There is a live-bait tank built under the transom step-through with aeration sprayer, front window, and a light that switches on when the pump is running. Three stainless through-gunwale rod holders are fitted along each side and four more across the rear of the transom-mounted bait-station. The bait-station has a big cutting board, overboard drain, two cup/sinker holders and two knife slots.

Overhead is a six-position rocket launcher, while outriggers are mounted on the cabin sides. Power outlets for electric reels are fitted in the cockpit corners, four in total. This is a very practical setup that caters to most types of fishing, as well as providing the basics for divers.

The snapper schooling season was just around the corner at the time of our test – heaps of baitfish were showing on the sounder, and birds and dolphins were starting to get interested. A few drifts with soft-baits produced one nice snapper of about 6-7kg, but not much else. Another few weeks until kick-off…

However, the boat fished three of us easily and the cockpit was practical and comfortable to work from.

Overall…

White Pointer aimed to produce a stylish, comfortable, well-finished hull that is versatile enough for family fun, water sports, and overnighting as well as catering to the needs of divers and fishermen – even game-fishermen – without compromise.

The 730 Sports Cruiser is a success by every measure.

Specifications:

Material: aluminium

Configuration: open-backed hardtop

LOA: 7.4m

Beam: 2.45m

Hull and transom: 6mm

Sides: 4mm

Topsides: 3mm

Deadrise: 18 degrees

Test engine: Mercury Verado 250hp

Prop: Enertia 18-inch pitch

Fuel capacity: 300 litres

Trailer: White Pointer tandem alloy

Tow weight: 2.2 tonne (approx).

Key-turn packages: from $149,990

As Tested: POA

Test boat courtesy of Auckland Marine Centre