2019 Clearwater AL 433 King Fisher LX review

So far the Gippsland Lakes – a system of enclosed waters in eastern Victoria that are ideally suited to this type of boat – have served up the absolute worst for our first taste of this all-new aluminium boat range from Whittley, the Melbourne-based fibreglass boat maker.

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We’re making a run from Bunga Arm to Paynesville, the surface of the shallow Lake King whipping up into a short, sharp half-metre swell and the broad, flat front of the Clearwater AL banging and slapping on the waves.

It's a stark contrast to the start of our journey, a white-knuckle run hitting almost 20 knots over almost flat water from Paynesville to Bunga Arm.

Whittley is back in the aluminium dinghy game with a new range of Clearwater AL aluminium plate boats that focus on great value for money.

Whittley doesn’t build the Clearwater AL series, which so far includes the tiller-steer 433 King Fisher XL, the smaller tiller-steer 399 Cherokee and the Novo 44 side console. Instead, the Clearwater AL range is built in China and shipped here in a deal that goes two ways: Whittley’s Australian-made fibreglass boats ship out to the Land of the Sleeping Dragon.

Whittley’s Clearwater AL range is meant to be a cheap, feature-rich entree to boating.

You can buy the Clearwater AL 433 King Fisher LX as a boat, tiller-steer outboard engine and trailer package from as little as $15,990 fitted with a 25hp Yamaha F25 four-stroke and sitting on a Dunbier Sports galvanised trailer.

In stock-standard form, it’s a nicely presented bundle. The Clearwater AL 433 King Fisher LX’s topsides from the reversed chines up wear vinyl decals and is touched up around the edges in white paint, as is the boat’s interior.

There’s no anchor well up front, and no bow roller (although buyers can option one); instead there’s a curved handle protruding from the bow. You get a set of low rails up near the bow and aft, and an electric trolling motor mount protrudes from the starboard side of the bow.

Down the rear, a pair of boarding platforms extend from the transom above the waterline, and a pair of grab handles stand in for cleats. The Clearwater AL 433 King Fisher LX even has a separate raised plate on the transom for a transducer, eliminating the need to drill through the hull to mount one.

The floor is carpet over marine plywood throughout, and there are two removable padded seats with fold-down backrests.

Other standard equipment includes navigation lights, a battery mount, a four-switch panel for the electrics, and the best bit – a fully plumbed bait tank tucked into the aft platform. The boat is also fitted with an electric bilge pump.

Options fitted to this boat include the mighty 40hp Yamaha F40 four-stroke longshaft outboard engine, a 25-litre tote tank, Victorian inshore safety kit and 12 months of boat and trailer registration, bringing the cost of our ride up to $18,990.

The Clearwater AL 433 King Fisher LX draws on the designs of time-proven John Savage hulls and is covered by a four-year warranty.

From the front, the lightweight Whittley has quite punt-like proportions. The bow’s entry is quite fine, but the vee in the beamy bow is very broad and flat as the hull runs out from the stem to where the chines meet the rub rail.

The hull bottoms are made from 2.5mm aluminium with strakes pressed into them to help with lift on the plane. The near plumb sides are made from 2mm aluminium plate.

Underneath, the Whittley Clearwater AL 433 King Fisher LX features a protruding 30mm keel that starts where the hull begins to flatten out, and runs right to the transom.

External freeboard is rated at 560mm, while internally it measures 480mm to floor level in the deepest part of the cockpit.

Flotation tanks are built in beneath the front and rear casting platforms.

There’s no easy way of checking the bilge for leaks other than to lift up either the access cover on the rear casting deck for the battery or the tote tank and look into the space (they at least open the right way to make checking easy).

Given the amount of underfloor space where water can collect before it becomes visible, an automatic bilge pump or even an alarm may be a smart option.

I’m a big fan of good welds, and will even go looking in the hidden spaces on a boat to check if they are consistent. Say what you will about the Clearwater AL's Chinese origins, but most of the welding is consistent and measured. It’s not quite the sharp Aussie plate boat quality, but you have to remember this hull is built to be a sub-$16,000 package on the water.

The Clearwater 433 King Fisher LX is a boat made for fishing. That single-minded purpose starts with a casting platform over the forepeak that is at the same height as the gunnels.

On other boats, stepping up on this platform would be fraught with danger as the boat pitches and rolls underneath you. However, the 433 King Fisher LX’s wide beam that it carries forward and a shallow vee bow, combined with the reversed chines and protruding keel, add up to make this a surprisingly stable place to stand, even in a messy chop.

The casting platform steps down 150mm into a secondary platform that’s 930mm deep. This section has two swing-up barn doors that open to a storage space large enough to take a 20-litre jerry can once you squeeze it in past a crossmember that splits the egress space in half.

On our test boat, there’s already a bracket in place for the trolling motor’s battery.

There’s an optional mount on this part of the deck to take one of the two supplied seats, allowing you to either take a break while fishing or shift the crew’s weight forward while running out to a remote fishing spot.

Another 280mm step down leads into the 1600mm deep by 1400mm wide cockpit. This is a surprisingly generous amount of useable space, framed on either side by 150mm wide top decks. This space includes two offset options for mounting seats so two people can fish different sides of the boat without interfering with each other.

Raised pockets along each side that allow you to get a toe under – great for leaning over the near-vertical side to grab a fish – aren’t very long, but rod tips can rest on the raised deck in front. The inside edge of one of the side pockets also serves as the stowing point for the detachable anchor light that plugs into the top deck-mounted socket.

The rear casting deck is a 300mm step up and is a wide, workable area interrupted only by a floor mount for the seat and the Yamaha F40’s tiller.

To starboard is a smallish raw aluminium bait tank equipped with an electric pump, which drains out the back of the transom.

The deck lifts up at the two extremes of the transom. To port is the space for the 25-litre tote tank (and also the bulb for priming the fuel line) and to starboard is a battery in a battery holder. Getting it in and out is easy.

An electrical cut-off switch is located under the starboard gunnel and is easy for taller people to reach from outside the boat while it sits on the trailer.

By default here is only a single pair of aft-mounted fishing rod holders recessed into the top decks. More, even if it’s only another pair further forward, would be welcome.

To be fair, we’re out testing this boat in awful conditions. The breeze, blowing 10-15 knots from the west when we set out, is now pushing 20 knots from the south-west, whipping up the lake’s surface into whitecaps for the return journey.

Into the breeze and with the big electric-start, electric-trim F40 humming along behind us, we’re still making good headway even though as we cross the waves at a 45-degree angle the flat bow kicks up sheets of spray that the wind whips back into the boat.

The angled approach is much more comfortable than taking the waves head on, where the broad bow launches skywards and then slaps back down.

Two up, the Clearwater AL is good, although it does tend to need the weight of someone right up on the nose to keep its attitude in check – up on a plane the Yamaha ran out of trim adjustment to keep the nose down.

Really, this boat doesn’t need the 40hp engine; even on the flat water at half throttle the grunt of this engine had the Clearwater AL 433 King Fisher LX up on the plane and skimming across the water at something approaching the dinghy equivalent of warp speed.

Also pushing the case for a smaller engine is the F40’s long tiller. When the seat is mounted on its rearmost position, the tiller hits up against it when turning to port. It was easier to steer while using the seat as a leaning post, and even better when the seat was removed to either sit on the platform or stand.

We’re told the more compact 30hp Yamaha outboard engine doesn’t have this problem. In fact, step down to the 30hp Yamaha F30 and you’ll likely end up with a much better balance of performance versus cost.

The hull underneath the Whittley Clearwater AL 433 King Fisher LX, though, is an excellent all-rounder. The exposed 30mm deep keel helps it track true, while reverse chines that run almost the entire length of the hull grip the water in turns as the boat tips in.

My notes show the transom sat very low in the water where it dipped around the  outboard engine, meaning you needed a bit of caution when coming down off the plane to ensure the wash didn’t flood in over it.

One up, the Clearwater AL tended to have a nose-up attitude when rising onto the plane; the hump to get there was pretty pronounced, even with the weight of the full 20-litre jerry can right forward. Adjusting the engine down a notch to trim down further would help overcome this.

It’s a small thing, but the front navigation lights are mounted on a plate that’s welded into the centre of the front rails, and their black plastic covers protrude slightly. Sure enough, on test a gentle tag with a jetty flipped the starboard cover off.

The Clearwater AL 433 King Fisher AL is what it is; a cheap, decently made tinnie that’s a sound alternative to buying a second-hand one.

As a flat water fishing platform, it is excellent, even going a step up to include the surprise and delight of a plumbed live bait tank as standard. The design maximises interior space, so if you ever feel the urge to overnight it, the 433 King Fisher can easily accommodate a couple of swags.

Add a fishfinder and an electric trolling motor, and you’ll have an easy-towing package that will have you out chasing fish any time the urge hits you.

Specifications
Model: Clearwater AL 433 King Fisher LX
Length: 4.3m
Beam: 1.84m
Depth: 0.7m
Bottom and transom alloy: 2.5mm
Topsides alloy: 2.0mm
Engine: 25hp (min)/30hp (rec)/40hp (max)
Max engine weight: 110kg
Engine as tested: 40hp Yamaha F40 four-stroke longshaft
Fuel: 25L tote
Flotation standard: Basic
Passengers: 4

Priced from: $15,990 including internal and external paint; vinyl wraps; front and rear casting decks; carpets; plumbed live bait tank; bilge pump; two pedestal seats; twin rear boarding platforms; electric motor mount; fuel tank and battery bracket; 25hp Yamaha F20 tiller-steer four-stroke outboard engine; unbraked Dunbier single-axle galvanised trailer

Price as tested: $18,990 including all the above and inshore safety pack; 24-litre tote tank; 40hp Yamaha F40 four-stroke longshaft outboard engine; 12 months Victorian boat and trailer registration

Supplied by: Whittley Victoria Sales