Page 44 - Bush 'n Beach Fishing mag

Store your items securely and within easy reach.
A 40L fuel tank up the front balances the boat and gives more than enough range for a few trips.
The live well is an essential item for offshore sh- ing.
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Page 44 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2020
But after doing the full brake service on her, I thought I’d show off the baby of the fleet Banter.
With the wide beam you get a solid, sure- footed ride and the slapping is significantly reduced with the extra weight.
The water pickup and pump are external to the boat, mounted on the transom.
SNew fishing weapon from Horizon
UMMER is here and that means it’s mackerel time!
Gold Coast
by HEATH ZYGNERSKI
It’s been a long year and I haven’t spent nearly as much time on the water as I’d liked in the Aquaholic.
The boat is full plate, so for a 4.35m she is heavy – about 100kg heavier than the Quin- trex 4.2m Dory and sig- nificantly wider.
The 30L live well is fitted to the passenger side in the aft and pro- vides ample space to keep big live bait alive.
Banter is a 435 Ho- rizon EasyFisher that terrorises creeks and offshore reefs, usually with my young son Mitch aboard.
The boat was origi- nally fitted with a 30hp Honda outboard and while this pushed the boat along fine, once you loaded it up with an Esky, ice and another body, it soon become apparent it was under powered.
In an open tinnie, if you cop water over the front, you want to be able to get rid of it quickly.
The boat was bought as a bare hull, with a few minor modifica- tions that the team from Horizon were only too happy to accommodate.
The Rule LoPro 900 GPH automatic pump in the bilge does the job nicely, with a 1” outlet hose carrying any water quickly out of the boat.
We had the hatch up the front made to a spe- cific size, allowing us to get a 40L fuel tank in there and ensuring that the weight would help in balancing the boat.
The team at Sil- ver Service Marine at Burleigh Heads set us up with a 50hp Honda, and wow, does it hook now!
The boat is kitted out with good quality electronics, having a Garmin sounder, VHF radio and waterproof switches fitted.
There were also an ad- ditional step and hand- rail put on the rear and an electric motor mount fixed on the front.
Fitted with a SOLAS stainless-steel propel- ler, the boat leaps to life when the throttle is put down.
I cannot stress enough the flogging your gear gets in an open boat, so it’s better to step up a bit for better qual- ity than trying to penny pinch.
We made a modifica- tion to the tiler handle setup, with a 60hp han- dle being fitted so the trim and tilt were on the end of the handle, mak- ing single-hand opera- tion simple.
As they say, “a poor man pays twice.”
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This is in contrast to the trim being on the side of the handle, re- quiring you to use ei- ther your other hand or release the throttle.
The first is obviously for squidding at night, and the second is so boats can see you when you’re under way – es- pecially when they’re right behind you, as the navigation lights be- come harder to see.
Neither are ideal when crossing bars.
Speaking of which, LED is the only way to go.
The battery for the electric is also up the front and wired in, so it can be totally isolated from the main battery with a flick of a switch when using the electric.
The boat has light- ing under the gunwales and the pockets, and these can be individu- ally switched to give either full lighting or a nice glow, so you can
On the transom, there are two LED blue squid lights fitted and these serve two purposes.
Again, the extra weight up the front bal- ances the boat.
* continued P45 www.bnbfishing.com.au