How We Bought The Right Boat Last Week

So a month ago I was asked to join a syndicate buying a boat. Thankfully, I don’t have to make a financial contribution! And will not have part ownership. They wanted me in because the plan is to fish Queensland, and I have experience up there. Thinking that the process of buying the right boat for the job was a good one and thought our readers might find it interesting or even helpful, if you’re making the same decision sometime in the future. Here’s how it all went down.

The four of us have done a lot of fishing, so we discussed various favourites until we all agreed on one species. Giant Trevally. Years ago, I had a mate who worked at North Queensland Express. If I took the windscreen off the boat and delivered it to the NQX yard in Newcastle, he would load it on top of flat steel sheets and truck it to the NQX yard in south Cairns for $600. Load up the boat with camping gear, guns, tackle and off we went. We had a friend who worked for a helicopter company at Port Douglas, and they had a pontoon moored at Agincourt reef. We operated out of Cooper Creek, in the Daintree. Note paper roll sounder, which tells you how long ago it was:

Agincourt was 35 miles offshore. Our friend helped by having 200 litre drums of fuel sling loaded by chopper out to the pontoon. This meant we were just a few hundred yards from the eastern edge of the Great Barrier reef, but out of swell and chop from the trade winds. A fantastic setup, which produced a lot of fish. GTs in all sizes on tap:

And here’s a decent one caught out of my boat. This GT went back in after the pic:

This one came off the beach at Hope Island - which was great, because no coral (on the western side) to bust off on:

So GTs were the target species. what sort of boat is best for popping GTs on the Great Barrier Reef? After even more discussion we agreed it would have:

At this point we had decided on what we would fish for, and what sort of boat would suit for chasing GTs. Next question - where to fish? Because boat range and likely sea conditions are critical in what to buy too. Giant Trevally range from Fraser Island, right up to the Torres Strait. But the choice of location was easy. Cooktown, where we have so many happy memories of great fishing:

The syndicate had fished out of a 5.5 metre Hooker centre console at Cooktown last November. The boat’s owner is a fanatical fly fisherman. Great for long wands but very little shelter and a tiny low windscreen. They got pounded and soaked by the trade winds and were constantly broken off by GTs because their gear was too light. Even if the new boat was bigger and beamier weather would be a major issue because who wants to cast to and fight a fish in a 25 knot south-easterly? Found the Cooktown one hundred year wind strength chart online. January on the left, December on the right:

Average morning wind strength June to August: 10.5 knots

Average morning wind strength January to March: 5.3 knots

The decision was obvious. Delay the trip until end 2024/start 2025. Which is all good, because we will fish our way up the Queensland coast, just like we used to:

I’m thinking our experience might be helpful to you, next time you’re thinking about a new purchase? Get a boat that suits your primary target fish, a boat that suits the likely sea conditions you’ll encounter, and a boat that suits the way you’re going to fish. And of course, a boat that suits your budget. The syndicate budget was $50K and we found one under budget at Forster:

Boat is a 2007 custom build 7 metre, with a Yamaha 150HP outboard and a brand new trailer. It’s in 3C Survey, for commercial fishing. Lots of comments from previous owners when I posted a pic up on the Facebook page:

PREVIOUS OWNERS COMMENT

Test run offshore ten days ago and we were pretty pleased even though the seas were fairly flat and not challenging. Cut a deal, picked it up on Thursday and brought it back to Sydney:

First stop Fraser Island in two weeks and will report in as to if the boat works out as we’ve planned
Andrew Hestelow

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