a boat

Yes I agree, a good plate boat will hold its value but a sign of the times and alot of these smaller "custom" builders have gone to the wall, which is a shame. Also I know of horror stories where an owner has commissioned a "custom" builder to build a boat for him, paid a big deposit and then that boat never happens due to them going belly up. It is tough in the marine industry to survive and the big player does a good job of building boats, even plate ones, but if you want the best, and are prepared to pay for it, the Extreme we stock are very hard to beat-they are top shelf plate boats and Telwater built boats are very good pressed and now getting into proper plate boats too-that are up there too in my opinion and very good value for what you get.

OK, if you have been in a new Stacer 429 Outlaw with the EVO advance hull with its pressing in the side sheets to make it a dry ride then my mistake. You like the Q and that is great and if you do not think the transom deadrise does not affect the ride of a boat at any speed then that is fine with me. Is that brand (JSB) you mention still even made and yes I have been in these too and were OK boats back in the day.

OK Juggs, but if the flared bow is getting in contact with the water then the bow is very buried and with the Q shape there is not as much lift to raise the bow. As I said enjoy the Q but if you have not driven an EVO hull Stacer not sure how you can say one is better than the other. I have driven many, many, many of both brands. I wonder why no other pressed or plate boat (which is pretty much what the OP was asking about) has that concave shape that Q has at the bow? I would not say an open Q is any drier than any open S, in water rough enough you are going to get wet in both. As I said enjoy it and they are fine boats, I just prefer something else.

Why combine, when it is the stern of any boat that determines the ride and why the Stacer hull shape has been around since the 1960's in glass and all glass boats use this hull shape at the rear and so do a fair few alloy boats nowdays. If something good works in any industry it tends to be copied and Glastron back in the day developed this hull shape and yes we used to sell those back in the day too. The price is determined by the selling dealer, dealer buy price is very similar across the board and some models the Stacer is dearer for a dealer to buy. If a Q dealer chooses to mark the boat and trailer up more and can get away with it, good on him. Enjoy your Quinny and the move Juggs. Cheers, Huey.

Hi, every brand works differently and IF on a V6 Merc you do the above it will pump alot of fuel due to the choke system is a fuel injection system. On the Yamaha(guessing the HP) it is different and closes the choke butterfly over the carby venturi so does not matter how many times you do it or for how long. Do not use the above system with a Merc like you have because everytime you push the key in and hold it in you are introducing more fuel and will flood the thing. Cheers, Huey.

Hi Paikea, the Stacer with the hull shape called the EVO is proven marine design with a deep vee and reverse chines at the rear, which is always in the water doing the hard work. All glass boats and nowdays many alloy boats have this hull shape because it works and the Q offers just a moderate vee at the stern so in all waters the Stacer offers a superior ride and stability. Plus lower price and thicker materials in most models. That is why I choose to buy and stock that brand over other brands that I could easily purchase. The 509 Searunner is a great boat that will not break the bank to buy and offers the user a good all round boat that on the right days can go wide. Cheers, Huey.

Unfortunately it is not just that easy. There are some so called plate boats that I do not rate at all and I would have a some brands of so called pressed alloy boat every day of the week. The simple facts are a top shelf plate alloy boat will always be better than any pressed boat due to the construction methods and the fact that the good one use 5083 grade alloy of thicker material like 5mm in the good ones. A pressed boat will use the lesser grades of alloy and 3mm so the ride and build standards are not as good. You hit the nail on the head, it all comes down to pricing, like anything in life. Take the two brands I choose to stock, a Stacer 509 Searunner-a sweet riding cabin boat that punches above it weight, costs around the low $30K to buy, whereas a similar size Extreme, same engine and trailer is around $20K more. Is the Extreme a better boat-yes without a doubt, is it a roughly $20K better boat?-that is what the buyer will need to decide. Cheers, Huey.

Interesting topic and like the never ending Ford vs Holden debate and everyone will have an opinion. Breaking it up to clean and dirty engines, my fav dirty engines are the V4 J/E and V6 Merc's. For this technology these two engine platforms have proven to be reliable and good performing engines over countless years. On the clean front they are all very good nowdays with my fav's being the 2.6L V6 E-TEC platform and the Yamaha F150-both sweet outboards. Cheers, Huey.

Hi, this is why this site is so good and yes I will be attending too and as Donna mentioned there will be some good savings on both Lowrance HDS Touch and non Touch units on the night. Cheers, Huey.

Yes most likely, but in all honesty, I think saying "Are E-Tec's rubbish most of the time" would mean what I thought you meant and yes I guess I did misunderstand and no they are are far from rubbish as are most outboard today. As Geoff pointed out though buying privately you will want to know what you are doing because it is "buyer beware". I see it all the time, people come in here after spending good money on an over priced engine that is no good and as I said at the start of this, weekly we knock back engines of all brands that people want to trade because they are not upto my standard and I bet they will resurface somewhere for an unsuspecting buyer.

If I thought (with our 50 years of experience) Evinrude were "rubbish" why would I stock and sell them, also why would pretty much all the long term dealers stock them too and why would Telwater (the biggest boat builder by a fair margin here in Oz factory rig them only-Trust me they have all the other brands wanting them to rig there engines because they sell around 1200 per year. It is a stupid thing to say and what some dealers like to claim because there brand can not do everything the E-TEC does so they like to claim all sorts of BS. The 75HP E-TEC is the cleanest, great on fuel like all clean tech engines, but unlike most clean tech engine they perform so as I said if you can find one and it checks out I would not hesitate to buy one, that can be said for any second hand engine but with some other technologies parts like cylinder heads are very expensive and hard to see corrosion until too late. No one makes an 85HP and as I said before right here today I have nothing that would suit,. but who knows what tomorrow might bring.

Hi, from time to time we get good second hand engines in and well sell them after going over them-trust me after 50 years doing this if an engine is no good we do not trade them. Finding good clean tech engines is hard and most of the time if we have a good one it is sold before it is even removed off the old boat. Any dealer would be worth checking out becasue we all trade outboards just some dealers are better than others. Unfortunately I have nothing that would do the job at present but yes if you can find a clean 75HP E-TEC it would be a good match-there is no 85HP Evinrude. Cheers, Huey.

Hi, as I said in your PM to me, no 60HP and I do not care what brand you could get would perform well on that rig-the boat is too heavy and has too much hull in the water due to its design. The carby 70HP's would do an OK job but are both small cc and being old tech will use the fuel. No clean tech 70HP would have enough grunt so as I said in the PM, the 75HP E-TEC punches above its weight and that is what I would fit. Just make sure whatever brand you fit the dealer knows what he is doing because old tech, new tech or any brand if not set-up, fuelled and propped right they can not perform as they should. Cheers, Huey.

Hi Steve, all the gear has come in now so I will send it straight away. As for the Genesis mapping it is a good feature that allows a boater to map where he uses his boat mainly and if not in the chart-like say up river from Spencer, then you can get more and more detail each time you go "sonaring" in that place. From what I understand, on the website the Pro guys make there charting and finding public so you should check that out.. Cheers, Huey.

Extreme make the best TRUE plate alloy boat in your size-the brands you mentioned are not plate boats in this size range with 3mm sheet alloy and only 4mm on the hull. Extreme are built to another level with 5083 5mm and 4mm plate used through out and the build quality is far superior to any other brand and running a hull of 20 degree deadrise, large reverse chines and flooding keel they offer the best ride and stability going in a plate. Yes I have been in them all and choose to stock and sell Extreme for a reason. Ask any of those other brands to use 5mm and 4mm only and/or build to survey standard and I think you would get a too hard basket answer. The 540 Sportfisher, have one here or the new 500 Sportfisher is the best money can buy and the dollar is good at the moment against the kiwi dollar so good time to buy. Cheers, Huey.

Hi Stewy, if you go down the path of trim tabs or smart tabs you will need to make sure the transom area is dead flat-any ripples and the tabs can stick. They can be added if when you run a straight edge there is no gaps but they cost more than Permatrims, but hydraulic trim tabs are the best if you want to spend that sort of money. You can not only adjust for bow up and down attitude, but listing too. Cheers, Huey.

Stewy's boat is propped to achieve good WOT RPM and mate if you are going to fit anything then the Permatrim is the only one to fit, they work like a big trim tab and allow the boat to plane better and stay on the plane at lower RPM. They work well on Poly's like guys have said due to being heavy little boats and they tend to stay "sucked" to the water. Cheers, Huey.

Hi Geoff, there will always be "more to this" or another side of the story, but you and I probably will never find out and as I said it is a shame, I do not like seeing any shops go belly up but this industry is a tough one to survive in. Cheers, Huey.

+1 to what roadrunner said and it is a shame because I too liked going to their stores to have a look around. It has been rumored for a while and who knows what will come after the creditors get paid, but from what I am hearing some people are owed a fair bit of money.

+1 on Gary's, we have fitted many of his outriggers and they are very good at a very good price. I personally have never heard of or seen the brand you mentioned.

That US 30HP Merc you have in electric start, P/T/T version will not even know if you you cut the thumb screw brackets off. They used the same transom brackets for tiller, rope start versions and your engine and with a tiller model you had thumb screws to secure the engine to the transom and there needed the area that is fouling the hydraulic steering.

Hi Dave, all those units you list do not require an "extra box" for DI. Also Lowrance does not need another transducer for CHIRP, but it is only in 2D-not DI. The A78 is the pick of the crop due to being CHIRP in both 2D and DI and the Garmin is not CHIRP unless you get the expensive "extra box' as you put it. The Raymarine and Garmin are priced another level up from the Lowrance Elite range so you would want them to be better which they are. Cheers, Huey.

Hi, everyone is going to have a different opinion so buy what you like the best. You will be going well to get a new Oz version 1199 for your budget even if you are talking $2,400. Even the 899 CX SI will be over budget. There was some old models floating around but all the good SI combo have gone. Till the end of last month you were able to get a HDS-8 with structure scan thrown in, but that has finished-someone might have one of these bundle packs left-it was just in budget. Something might be happening next month so contact me then because a HDS-10 with structure scan will be within budget. Right here today the best value is the Simrad NSS-8 with structure scan at the upper end of your budget and I have only played with the new Garmin at the show and being new I doubt many people have used it in the water but it seems pretty good. Other than that I have used them all in the water and as I said if $2,400 is your budget then today the NSS-8 is the best. Cheers, Huey.

All three brands mentioned are very good with each offering something the others do not. Depending on budget, the Simrad NSS Evo2 is the pick of the crop at present for everything it can and does do. Used the NSS-9 during the week on a new Extreme with the CHIRP transducer and it was an awesome bit of gear and with the ability to use touch and button is a big bonus. It was very rough the day I tested this great rig and if it was just a touch screen unit you could not use it in such conditions. Also have the ability to add LSS-2 for structure scan is a huge bonus and great in Hawkesbury/Harbour/Botany etc. I stock and sell all these brands and you would be happy with any of them just more so with some brands than others. Cheers, Huey.

Some modern car with ABS have this issues-seen it with most European brands so ring the car manufacturer and see if they are one with this problem and have a solution.