What are the boats like for:

Sharpie

Have a pontoon at the moment and as you say nzbwana safe as house but bugger all room inside and cuddys got no room to put the new family out of the elements..

 

Like the looks of the Surtees for sure however am looking at just changing over the motor of the pontoon so reckon 5m is max to go for, motors a 60hp yammie four stroke. Will leave it on for a few months and see if it cuts the mustard. Saw the 5m mclay at the dealers the other day and just couldnt believe the amount of deck space and room in the cuddy compared to the pontoon.

 

Ride wise everyone seems to think the mclay, though hard riding, is still way better than the pontoon and not to bad at rest? the 505 I have is actually quite tippy compared with stabis and others of that sort.?

 

Taking it for a test ride anyway in a couple of weeks so will see how it goes eh.

Churs all

 

Yeah they can be a little tough in a bit of rough stuff but at the end of the day it is an aluminium boat.  Thats the trade off.  I drove a 650 marco souwester, one of the new ones, a couple weeks ago and it was better but I think it was the weight and waterline rather than anything else.  It was def wetter than my boat.

 

Can't say I know anyone with Sportsman they will be lighter and if like the 530 have lower coamings etc which made me fork out the extra 5 - 10k for a feeling of safety in the slightly bigger boat.  I have a 90hp 2str which is fine but I wouldn't go any smaller on the 550.  The 60hp with extra weight may be at the light end for the Sports hull? 

 

I am still happy with the McLay.  But the next  boat will be glass... 

 

When I first started taking my boat out up in the BOI there were relatively few... they are now all over the place two years later.  Very popular.  A mate parked his outside the boat yard up there the other day while he was working.  Had at least three or four people ask whether it was for sale in a day... very popular which is good.

  I had a McLay, same size you are talking about, big corrosion problems, ride like unsprung horse cart, took a couple of nose dives in the joggle on the Kawhia bar, scared sh*t out of me and crew.

 

  Have a Seaforce now, like chalk and cheese, never have another tinny.

 

 Cheers

 

Have been looking around but not to sure what else i can put the 60hp onto, checked out the macs but the 420 is too small and the 570s to big?

 

What else is out there?

The consol has you sitting further to the back of the boat where the ride is soo much smoother, gives you the front of the boat for the kids to spread out and fish from, lie down in etc etc

It actually is surprising how comfortable the ride is in a rear-mounted centre consol boat. Billy Ho had his one, and it was awesome. Surprisingly dry as well really, as the bows are usually a little higher because you do not have all those folks huddled up the front of the boat.

Anyhow, just my thinks on that! :-)

Cheers mate,

Stu.

Could be worth exploring that option maybe.

Cheers, and thanks CJ,

Stu.

 

Had liked the idea of the centre consol allright, just as this is going to be more family orientated (young fullas only 8months old) the idea of having no real shelter prevents getting one.

 

http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/member_profile.asp?PF=54322&FID=21 - ohsif   Compared to my pontoon the McLay has stacks of room in the cuddy though I agree the helm position is quite far forward.

 

Thanks to all who have come up with more suggestions, will trial as many boats as possible and let you all know how I get on.

 

Churrs

Sharpie

 

Also finally took one for a scoot up in nelson last month and....

 

Not righting an advert here for Mclay but the dealer was selling them with a 60hp Merc 4stroke on the back for 28k ish, had sold the last one so chucked a 50hp Merc (super V or somesuch ?) 2 stroke on the back to try,  boat hummed along real nice, turned like it was on rails and generaly impressed quite well... the 60hp yammie should be a goodin.. stability wise, yeah its got some tip, but is way better than some of the other brands I have tried...

 

Wasnt any significant sea conditions to try it out on the ride properly unfortunatley though

 

So buggered if I know....., unless I decide to flick the motor and invest in a bigger boat second hand looks like this one will be the choice I have

 

 

 

huge space in them for the size of them, and water ballasted for a bit more stability...id try one of those as well.....if the rides anything like my 6.1 they are bloody impressive.

 

And the Verdict you have all been waiting for......

 

 

Bloody outstanding in comparision to my other boats - no bull - no sponsorship and no shares in McLay ... For the doubters out their see below.

 

RIDE: For a 5m tinny its bloody good - lands soft as compared with my other pontoons (5.05 and 4.8) don't know why and frankly don't care but after using the 5.05 and then back to back this one there is really no comparison (baring in mind they both ran the same motor)

Stability: Yes its a little tippy -  but after 40odd hours I reckon not much if any compared to my 5.05 which is weird but there we go.

FISHING PLATFORM: Man for the fishing I do - 1 or 2 up casting plastics its bloody good again with loads of deck space and room for all my SH$T to get stored away nice and neatly

THE MOTOR: that was a concern however the hull fair hums with the 4Stroke on it - no faster than the 5.05 but man it cuts through the water sweet as, gets on the plane faster, and once I get my GPS on to it would say cheaper to run, this motor goes far better on the McLay than the Kiwikraft (most likely because it was too small for the later - in retrospect)