Thread: Boat upgrade, 14-15ft range

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Soft riding pontoon boats.

Profile
Senator
Osprey

Hard riding pontoon boats.

Stabicraft
Frewza

Stabicraft are hugely overvalued IMHO.
But they have done a great job marketing and are on the global market.
They are the toyota hilux of trailer boats.

Osprey are great riding boats but do need to be very well powered with the rounded pontoon outer sucking onto the water and don't offer much room inside.

The new senator 500 and 550 are I think a cut above all others in the size class.
Modular accessories you can add or remove.....Stabicraft you get what your given.
Full flat floor! Biggest selling point ever. No slippery angled bits of floor at the gunnals to tip you in when landing a fish.
Foam filled pontoon as standard so much quieter.

The 500 cuddy is my dream boat because I could still fit it under the house....If I had a bigger place I would have a bigger dream boat.

Agree with you about Stabi.
Good serviceable boat with good reputation.
But I think they just think they look clunky and ugly.
Regarding price tags, I don't know where the value is in the Extreme name.

Alot to go through here, thanks for the replies been trailriding this weekend.

As alot of you have stated everything is a compromise, I would like a larger boat, but this would be to the detriment of the fly fishing, duck shooting and shallow water stuff. So Im willing to sacrifice size in order to have a jack of all trades but master of none, so to speak.

I also agree that the Stabis are way overpriced, but occasionally there's some realistically priced examples.
@c-dog cheers the frewza has peaked interest, alot of bang for buck comparatively.
@southernman cheers for the offer, I'll keep that in mind, busy with racing and work until early December but will keep in touch.

https://www.bluewatersportfishingboa...bluewater-2850

Easy decision, neat for casting in any direction

[QUOTE=7mmsaum;1742579]https://www.bluewatersportfishingboa...bluewater-2850

Easy decision, neat for casting in any direction

For the cost of that he might as well buy a Frewza, one of every model to cover the bases.

I looked long and hard recently at a F15WX, just about brought one but then a very reasonably priced Stabi 1410 come up for slightly less. The Frewza is seriously good buying in comparison to their competitors and sounds as though it might fit the bill for you.

The Stabi tax is real, I can’t for the life of me figure out who/why you would pay new prices for them.

Originally Posted by 7mmsaum

https://www.bluewatersportfishingboa...bluewater-2850

Easy decision, neat for casting in any direction

Attachment 286822

Not a West Coast boat.
Take a wave over the front of one of them and you have a very slow moving pool.
And if you are in conditions where you take one over the top, the last thing you want is to be stuck moving slow.

[QUOTE=Hayden C;1742583]

Originally Posted by 7mmsaum

https://www.bluewatersportfishingboa...bluewater-2850

Easy decision, neat for casting in any direction

For the cost of that he might as well buy a Frewza, one of every model to cover the bases.

I looked long and hard recently at a F15WX, just about brought one but then a very reasonably priced Stabi 1410 come up for slightly less. The Frewza is seriously good buying in comparison to their competitors and sounds as though it might fit the bill for you.

The Stabi tax is real, I can’t for the life of me figure out who/why you would pay new prices for them.

Yeah mate, a fully optioned f14xw, would be around 20k, depending on outboard. Be interesting to see how much more the 15xw is. The wee stabi 1410 do look pretty ideal too.

Pm me ya email if you want and I can send you the pricing from back in june, dont think they have gone up since. few things aren't standard on the f15 vs the f14, biggest difference is the 2k extra for the larger trailer.

I have a 1850 stabi fisher and to be fair yes they are pricy. It does ride hard .but its super stable when it needs to be. I've had a few people comment who have boats that it bangs around a bit. But when we were out there and the weather was shitte they were well impressed . We did a trip to hen and chics the other week. Weather was good then it got bad real quick. We cruised back.in at about 15..18 knots. There was another boat out there a hard top surtess a big one from where we were. It was rocking and rolling something ridiculous
I couldn't believe the state of what we were seeing. Cant comment on anything else boat wise as only owned one pontoon boat.

I have a Frewza F16 side console and Kapiti is its playground.
Heaps of space I've have had 5 spearos on board and it didn't feel crowded so I think the F15 would be quite similar.
Stable as, we often have 350kg on one side no drama. I've been out in some gnarly stuff and never felt unsafe.
If it's windy you will get wet, doesn't matter what console boat you have but no doubt you found that with the MAC anyway.
The F16 is beach launchable with one person but it is not easy, the F14 is a breeze to launch solo. I think the launching difficulty depends massively on the trailer weight and the beach condition.

The Senator 500sc looks really good but at twice the price you could do a lot of fishing with what you'd save going Frewza.
Profile boats go well but I wouldn't recommend their smaller boats due to a friends nightmare dealing with them when welds started failing on a very new boat.

What about a Fat Cat - I like the look of the 4000 or the 4500, floats in bugger all water, good deck space, should have good stability been a cat, quite been poly.

Downsides might be handling / ride been a cat, but to be honest i haven't been in a small cat so wouldn't know, the larger shark cats ride well and cats are used extensively in SA. NZ built and the reviews are pretty good and the back story is a good read.

I think a tiler steer 4000 or 4500 for beach launching, shallow water launch / use and quite flat water stalking and casting in the lakes could be a great option.

https://fatcat.nz/

Poly plastic tough, minimal maintenance

I just drive over to Blenheim and back just to have a look at the 500 cuddy.....Still impressed.

I had a 5m Osprey for years to get to town, fishing and so on.
It rode easy enough that my younger sisters would fall asleep while holding a grab handle on our way home from town.
60hp 4stroke Merc, it got along great with a load.
Sold it to a mate over Nelson way and he's still got it, thinking its been over 20 years.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

I just drive over to Blenheim and back just to have a look at the 500 cuddy.....Still impressed.

Yeah that new modular system is very clever. Big price tags these days though. Aiming to compete at the stabi end of the market it seems

Ive had a 14ft frewza tiller and a surtees 485, both could fish 3 adults well enough, way more room for gear and a few niceties in the surtees though. Both great boats. To be honest pretty much all of the modern nz built boats are bloody good. We are spoiled for choice really. Everything is a compromise.

The cuddy cabin does make a big difference to how wet you get, comfort on the water.

If youve got cash, Lots of good bargains to be had currently if you can jump on them.

Originally Posted by Nick-D

Yeah that new modular system is very clever. Big price tags these days though. Aiming to compete at the stabi end of the market it seems

Not really a competition senator is way ahead

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