The Surtees is 150mm narrower, the Barcrusher 250mm narrower.

Not sure what the deadrise is but its supposed to be 18-20 on all of them.

Keep in mind that the narrower the hull means less horses to get the job done, and the wider the beam, the more likely it is that the boat is going to flop around, unless its signficantly heavier, but then thats both going to mean you need more horses.

From comparing them at boat shows they look like a better quality product :) not sure about chivers, haven't had a look at them yet :)

.

What about a tattoo, i took one up north a few months back and put it through its passes for 2 weeks, I was quite impressed

Go to this link for more

http://www.allboatbusiness.com.au/new-boats-motors/tattoo-boats-as-individual-as-you/

we have a Chivers Hammerhead, teamed with a 150e-tech.  Very nice boat, not bad on fuel and fairly easy to tow behind the prado.  The guys that make them are more than happy to help out with anything in the design and have really good after sales service.  Boat rides well (for a tinny) and has a great deck.  They have the self flooding hull, so these have a pretty deep v on them to make the ride that bit better, fairly dry and with the self flooder, very stable at rest!

Out of those three you've narrowed it down to I'd pick the Surtees anyday !!!! Excellant reputation and hull design ...

Cheers fishfish...

do all surtees have that ballast tank for use while at rest? if so that would be my choice, as ive heard great things about it.

Both the ones mentioned by FBD have it, unsure about the tattoo boats.

The feature is called a flooded keel and it helps put a narrow boat with a deep-vee further into the water at rest.

Some allow you to shut the water in which puts your weight up to improve ride, but it gets to a point somwhere that you may as well just buy glass.

A glass boat would be cheaper than the 3 ali boats yourve mentioned. But if l was to go ali it would be the Chivers Shark series . Well built and rides great, also being able to custom what you want in the build during the process is a plus.

The tattoo boats are just a Goldstar with some stickers, still not bad looking boat.

Hi SpanishM,

From all the info and reports/reviews that I have read

The surtees , barcrusher and Chivers (shark serries) all have the flooded keel which empties under way and floods at rest, it places ~ 350 kgs of ballast down low which means you get good stability at rest for a sharper deadriser and in the case of the surtees a narrower beam.

The Surtees and the barcrusher allow the keel to be sealed which either keeps the water out which is helpful for beach launch/retrieve in as little as 400mm of water for the 5.5 WM or locks the water in to give more weight down low in rough conditions. I am not sure if you can close off the keel on the chivers.

Hull wise the surtees 5.5 work mate has a 18deg dead rise weighs ~415 kgs with an on trailer weight with 90hp two stroke ~750kgs (I would say thats dry) 4mm bottom plate with 3mm topsides

The Barcrusher is basically a surtees but made in australia either under licence I think

The chivers threasher (5.8 runabout) is a heavier boat all up weight on the trailer is closer to 1800kgs 5mm bottom 4mm sides, a bit wider and has a 20 degree deadriser.  It also requires more horses to push it With the guys at chivers recommending a 130-150 e-tech

Price wise they all about 45,000 for the base price expect that to be closer to 50-55 once optioned up a bit.  Alot of coin for a chunk of alloy and for the same price I could pick up a seafox, trophey, KW or similar FG boat 2nd hand.  But I want a light to tow easy to launch/handle by myself/young family beach launch-able boat. 

The tattoo jeep CC was/is about the same price I think? not sure of specs on that  

Anyway I need to go and have a look at all three then try and get some water time on them to compare.  Anyone with a surtees/chivers/Barcrusher want a deckie for the day?? I will pay for bait, berley and fuel and promise not to piss on your wheels.

Cheers FBD

depends on your budget but you could get a nice boat with your own customations for $60k ish

i would  check out westerberg and look at the gmd desighn

and there is  evoloution boats build in ledge point he has won a few awards

also ii would go heavy in the ali 6mm bottom and 4mm sides it might cost more but you will enjoy it a lot more

Build custom Ali boats based in Wangara. The bloke who owns the shop does all the work himself and has great personal pride in what he does! Have seen some of his last few boat. Give Greg a call and he could help you out with what you are looking for.

Gday FBD,

Surtees are a good boat and perfect for what you are looking to achieve with it. Have a look at these boats as well - they fill the gaps the Surtees leave out. http://www.mclayboats.co.nz/boats.php They are easily available in Australia, but with the NZ dollar being so bad compared to ours Id import one. A mate up here has one and it is an excellent boat for all requirements (Creeks, outside for Billies, Monties etc).

Try not to fall into the trap of "What can I get for this much?", find what you want and stick to your plan otherwise the shortfalls will give you the shits!

amf     or     stabi  got to be worth a look

i'm liking tough nz built ally boats.  

Just bought a 5.1 side console and the bigger range is available.

they have constantly won Australian boat of the year awards.

check them out as they have the best ali hull on the market! 

for me it was a choice between Barcrusher or Noble but Noble won for many reasons.

Cheers for the input,

Reason I like the three mentioned is the reported ride and stability at rest, other custom or plates may be similar but I dont know.  Went and checked out all three boats today, the surtees is ahead at this stage.

Could tell the difference between build quality and paint finish on the surtees vs the barcrusher, not to much in it but just nice little touches on the surtees. Couple of 2nd hand Barcrushers (560) which are 6.1m on the net at the moment so they might be worth a look.

I liked the fold down hard top and windscreen on the surtees, the under deck storage and front cuddie are nice, Its a no nonsense fishing boat easy to clean and look after or not look after..., I dont like the in the boat floor fuel filler for the underfloor fuel tank. Nice big wide gunnel's to sit on with great side pockets, the motorwell live bait tank and inbuilt burly bucket and thru transom access are nice and great access to the anchor well.  All up weight for the 5.5 is ~ 400 for the trailer 415 for the boat and ~175 for the motor so with fuel and gear about 1200-1500kgs 

The chivers has a lot more room/deck space and looks  a bigger boat all round very slab sided, it doesn't have a close off flap on the ballast, and on the reef shark (17 footer) no cuddy cabin or squabs to get the kids out of the sun. The do have self draining decks and great seats and dash room.  Level of finish was great and plenty of thought has gone into the design, carpet decks thru out and better round cabin access to the front.  Not as much under deck storage on the smaller 17 footer as the Surtees.  They do have the thresher 5.8m in a cuddy version (i didnt get to see one as its in the paint shop) and it can be built to spec so easy to add in the bits that I want.  All up weight for the 5.8m wet is ~ 1800kgs so a bit heavier.

The surtees comes packaged with the merc's, the barcrusher with yammies and the chivers with either yammies or evinrudes. Got no idea about motors at this stage (thats the next stage of research)

ah well time to get some wet I think.. Good way to spend a windy Saturday morning....  

in terms of motor as long as it says made in Japan or product of Japan you wont have any issues!

As for boats. if you can go bigger you will appreciate especially on those days when the conditions take a turn for the worse. With a bit of pracitse you can manage a 6m boat fibreglass or ally on your own. just my 2c worth.

Ben

The Chivers Shark series was developed to compete with the ever increasing number of quality plate allys coming in from NZ (Surtess, Stabicraft etc.) as well as Bar Crusher of course. Our older style West Aussie boats like the Meridian (By Chivers) just weren't competitive in terms of ride quality. The Shark Series does however retain the usual (and popular) West Aussie Plate Ally features such as wide beam, self draining deck, rising shear line etc. The three boats in question are all very good and yes, the larger size of the Shark Series may work against it in some cases. The last Thresher 190RB we weighed ready to go was around 1650kg and I wouldn't own it with less than 150HP, even though 130HP will do the job. Whatever boat you consider (ally or glass) don't buy it until you've tried it on an average day (say 15-20 knots and 1.5-2.0m seas) and let the boat speak for itself. If you didn't guess already, yes I work at Chivers and you can test a Shark Series boat any time the weather is lousy (except Sundays) - even if you are just curious about them (we are only 10 minutes from Woodman Point boat ramp). 

Cheers

Michael Hart

0413 559 554

Thanks Michael,

I was in a couple of weekends ago and had a good look over the sharks.  Had a good chat to Laurie? about the boats and have had positive feed back from an owner tha has a thresher CC up North.  They sound good and I'll get down for a test ride in the not to distant future and get a price to build one up.  Do you have any photos of the cuddy version of the 190 thresher?

cheers 

No worries i will send you some pics tommorrow do you have a direct e-mail?

Michael