Knowledge Required

[fishyfingers]

I'm looking at a bit of an upgrade.

Although my boat is GREAT, I've got a large family and the kids are stuck under the cabin half the time and the whole point to taking them out is for the views.

As far as fishing from my boat, it fishes 3 with ease (as zenman can attest to!) but it's mostly only got 2 in there.

I was looking around for something a bit more open for both the family's sake and fishing wise. As I can't forsee much use for the cabin, I've semi-ditched the idea of a cabin at all.

I've seen a 1988 Cruise Craft 506m Stinger that I like and was wondering if anyone has, has had, or even been in one.

Wondering what the drive is like and if it could be taken outside. My Haines Hunter is AWESOME through the chop. It's got the deep hull, a fair bit of weight behind it as well as the new 85hp johnson on the back (new to me that is).

I wanted to know how much of that stability through the chop I'd lose, if any.

Any information from those "in the know" would be a great help!

Edited May 30, 2007 by fishy fingers

[fishingrod]

Hi Fishy

I used to own the half cabin version of this hull and have answered similar questions on other forums. If you can PM me your email address I will send you what i wrote to the other people. Its far too much to paste onto the forums here !!

cheers

Rod

These should help too

I used to own the Half Cabin version of the same hull. This was my boat until about 2 years ago.

[a boat]

Hi Fishyfingers, I have a soft spot for the Cruisecraft Stinger becasue we used to own one when I was a little kid and spent many hours on it down on the Hawkesbury. I think for a river and close inshore boat you do not get much better, perhaps the only other boat that can compare to it is the Haines Hunter 16R, which is a classic boat and still get good money today. We also used to run the bigger brother to the 16R, which was the 17R with a 175HP Johnson and as a teenager I sure had some fun in that boat with my mates.

As with all older boats make sure the transom is solid and the floor has no rot and that hull should last for many more years. Most I see run a V4 Johnson or Evinrude which make a good match performance wise and I also would want to get that checked out B4 I paid any of your hard earned for it.

Post here or PM me with the the price and more details if you like and I can let you know if I think it would be worth pursuing further.

Fishrod, well done on having or getting a hold of the old brochure, I have not seen one of those for a while. That is what is good about fishraider compared to the other sites I visit and that is the willingness of other boaters to help out. I also like the picture of your old boat running under the road bridge on the Hawkesbury-you really do have it trimmed right and running sweetly.

Just my 2 cents worth,

Huey.

[fishyfingers]

fishing rod,

thanks for the help .... and thanks for going to the trouble of getting the extra info!!

Huey, a champ as always ... what can i say

it hasn't my job a lot easier cause now i know it's a good boat however from the reports, I shouldn't be taking it outside in a hurry!

ah well, back to the research I guess!

[fishingrod]

Fishrod, well done on having or getting a hold of the old brochure, I have not seen one of those for a while. That is what is good about fishraider compared to the other sites I visit and that is the willingness of other boaters to help out. I also like the picture of your old boat running under the road bridge on the Hawkesbury-you really do have it trimmed right and running sweetly.

Huey.

Fishy F - email sent.

I saved those brochures from what I was young and visited the boat shows in my primary school years. I had heaps of differnet ones. Even had a Seafarer Vsea 4.74 and several others as covers on my school books. I wish id saved more and not wasted them .... it was fun at time though on school books.

Re the trim. Thanks Huey

Im a trim trigger happy person, ill always have it as high as i can get it without cavitating or porposing. In the photo its on the edge of porposing if there is a slight bit of chop. But it was mirror smooth that day.

cheers

Rod