A boat for my 40th

[Tails]

Hey there everyone 👋

I’m keen to hear your thoughts on which boat to buy myself for my 40^th in a few months 

 About me: average fisherman now living in Cairns, have recently done boat license but still have limited driving experience, mostly with 3.9-4.2m aluminium and poly around rivers, bays and about 2km off-shore

 Specs/considerations: ballpark $15-25k, prefer new, can be towed by car with 1200kg capacity, basic comforts (shade, floor, seats, lights), able to go 2-5km offshore on good days (maybe more?), easily handled alone, can fit 3-4 people, am thinking 4-4.5m range and 30-50hp

 Boats that caught my eye so far: quintrex 420 renegade/explorer/hornet, quintrex 430 fishabout, stacer 429 proline/rampage/outlaw, stacer 435 seamaster, savage 435 bay cruiser, smartwave 4200/4800sc

 Not confident to go out to the reef 40-50km offshore yet but maybe in few years I will be. Am in two minds as to whether I should/can factor that aspect in now. Are any boats in my range big/safe enough to go that far out? If it’s not an option now, maybe it’s an upgrade after a few years.

 Thanks for reading! Any tips, advice or suggestions welcome… cheers!

Edited November 18, 2021 by Tails

[mob0103]

They are all good boats, quintrex probably has higher resale as you may well want to upsize later when you have the $$ so consider that.  

[Rebel]

Quintrex or Stacer 4.5 metres with a 60hp 4 stroke.

Happy Birthday and good hunting for a boat.

Cheers.

[dirvin21]

I've got a 420 renegade, running a 50hp 4 stroke, it gets up and goes

Handles chop pretty well

comfortably fishes 3 people lure casting

Easily launched retrieved el solo lobo  

[big Neil]

I can vouch for Dirvin21 boat. Great to fish from, easy to launch and retrieve too. bn

[noelm]

Go for the 440/449 over the 420/429 Stacer or Quintrex, much better boat, and check the Savage equivalent, they are often somewhat cheaper new.

[JustJames]

Go bigger (within reason and budget).

With relatively small boats, a small increase in length gets a dramatic increase in the 'size' of the boat because boats get wider as they get longer.  Apologies for the blinding flash of the obvious.

Ease of launch and retrieve is not an issue if the trailer and boat are well matched to one another.

As a relative noob to boat ownership, I went from a 3.75 tinny to a 4.9 cuddy cabin boat.  Just over a metre in boat length added but it goes from a boat that is snug with 2 on board to a boat that can carry four comfortably, with 2 fishing and 2 looking gorgeous.  I often go solo, and the larger boat is probably easier to launch and retrieve than the tinny was.

Don't compromise - get what you really want.  Buy once, cry once.  

I'd also recommend getting something with some sort of shade.  Ladypersons prefer if they can get out of the sun a bit (and you might too), and it gives some shelter from rain.

Take your time, buy what you really want and enjoy the journey!