2021 Quintrex 540 Top Ender Pro review

Like much of the Quintrex aluminium boat range, 2021 upgrades have rolled out for the popular Top Ender series of side console open fishing boats. 

Key changes include new, smoother topsides (with just two hull pressings), larger console fascia panels to fit bigger electronics displays, redesigned transom/outboard wells, dual Maxi Brackets (for mounting ladders, burley buckets, etc), enlarged underfloor storage areas, and new hull graphics featuring a large "X" for Quintrex. 

Top Enders larger than 5.0m in length also now come standard with tilt-adjust hydraulic steering to make the boats easier and more pleasurable to drive. 

There are seven models in the 2021-22 Top Ender range including 430, 450, 481, 500, 520, 540, and 590. 

Each Top Ender model is also available with a standard/budget level fit-out or as a deluxe "Pro" model with all the bells and whistles. 

You can add individual options to the standard Top Enders, but you can also buy some of the most popular options grouped/bundled together in the new Quintrex Fishing and Captain's Bundles. 

For this boat review, however, we were able to secure one of the deluxe model Top Enders, the Quintrex 540 Top Ender Pro.

Brisbane's Karee Marine has prices for the Quintrex 540 Top Ender Pro starting from $50,190 when packaged with a Mercury 100hp longshaft (20-inch) four-stroke outboard engine, and a single-axle Quintrex aluminium trailer with mechanical brakes. 

All Quintrex Top Enders come with an elevated front casting deck; three pedestal seats with four floor-sockets; a compact roto-moulded plastic side console helm station; non-slip carpet throughout; boarding platforms with ladder; dual transducer brackets; cup holders; underfloor storage bins; transom live bait tank; glove box; cockpit scuppers for the water drainage system; bow cleats and more. 

Extra features on the Pro models include cockpit LED lighting and switching; a Volante three-spoke sports steering wheel; deluxe Bass Sport pedestal chairs; VHF radio; electric trolling motor plate; burley bucket; bait cutting board; and a ski-pole, although the latter three items were not fitted to our pre-production test boat.

Our Quintrex 540 Top Ender Pro test boat was also fitted with a Lowrance Elite 7FS fishfinder/GPS, a starboard side transom door, and a larger 115hp Mercury four-stroke outboard for a total drive-away package price of $54,220.

The Quintrex Blade hull underneath the 540 Top Ender Pro has a variable deadrise, concave shape to provide a fine, wave cutting entry, but with wide, flat outer chines to provide stability and to help the boat rise quickly onto the plane. 

The Quintrex Blade hull can trace its origins back to the Millennium hull from the late 1990s. The Millennium hull was revolutionary for its time, bringing new and unheard-of levels of ride comfort to lightweight pressed alloy boats. 

Today, with 20-plus years of development, the Blade hull continues to be the yardstick — a benchmark against which other pressed alloy vee-hull boats are judged. 

Creating the concave, flared bottom shape of the latest Blade hull is no easy feat and requires having a sophisticated pressing machine to stretch-form sheets of aluminium into intricate shapes. Few Quintrex rivals have this capability. 

And yet there is more to a Quintrex than a trick hull bottom shape. This manufacturer is the market leader because it uses high-quality materials, fixtures and fittings throughout. 

For example, the anchor well and sub-floor storage lockers have lightweight moulded plastic bin inserts that are immensely strong and weather resistant.

Side deck coamings are fully welded (not stitch-welded) while the "shark" carpet flooring (over plywood) is durable, comfortable underfoot, and resistant to snagging fish hooks. 

The 540 Top Ender hull is sturdily built with a 4mm pressed aluminium hull bottom and transom, topped with smooth 3mm topsides.

The hull has an overall length of 5.68m, a beam of 2.3m, a hull weight of 638kg, and a family car-friendly highway towing weight in the range of 1150kg to 1300kg. 

The interior layout in the Quintrex 540 Top Ender Pro is conventional and remains largely unchanged. Similar to its predecessor, the new boat has a large front casting deck, a deep aft cockpit (with 680mm of freeboard) and a compact, starboard side helm console.

The front casting is 1.46m long, 1.7m wide and elevated 420mm above the rear cockpit floor. 

Underneath the front deck is a large storage locker with a carpeted false floor. Three separate hatch lids open up to access this excellent dry storage/safety gear compartment. 

Further forward there is a moulded storage bin and open anchor well, port side electric trolling motor plate, bow roller and tie-off cleat. 

Fully welded side coamings encircle the casting platform and extend aft to the transom. 

At 250mm wide, the coamings are comfortable and broad enough to perch on while fishing and make it easy to install extra rod holders, downrigger brackets, and so on. 

Moving aft, the main cockpit area stretches back more than 2.0 metres to the full-height transom wall; there is plenty of fishing deck space here, particularly if you move one of the three included pedestal chairs up to the bow platform.

Elevated side storage pockets flank the cockpit, while under the floor is more storage space in the form of two moulded plastic bins.

There's also a handy glovebox under the helm console, beneath the tilt-adjust sports steering wheel. 

The console is large enough for a modest-sized electronics display, along with engine gauges, switches, cup holders and the included VHF radio. 

Across the transom, our test boat was optioned with a starboard side transom door that leads out to the boarding platform and the included telescopic (stainless steel)  boarding ladder. 

A moderate-sized live bait tank is built into the transom on the port side, above a full-width shelf/platform with a hatch to access the bilge compartment and battery.  

At 5.4 metres long (5.68 metres overall), the Quintrex 540 Top Ender Pro is large enough to fish coastal offshore waters. This new model has high topsides, a deep aft cockpit and a safe, seaworthy hull; I would happily fish this open boat a half dozen or so miles offshore in good conditions. 

Underway, in mixed-up bay chop, few alloy boats can match the Quintrex 540 Top Ender Pro for ride comfort. The hull slices easily through the waves, the flared topsides pushing spray out to each side of the boat.

Ultimately, as with any open boat, you will get wet in the Top Ender, but in typical bay chop the hull is dry, soft and well mannered. 

Paired with Mercury's compact 115hp in-line four-cylinder, four-stroke outboard, the 540 Top Ender has plenty of power too.

The 540 hull is rated for longshaft outboards of up to 140hp, but I found 115hp to be more than sufficient, the Mercury motor providing ample thrust and power for most boating and fishing applications. 

We recorded a top speed of 38.3 knots on the Gold Coast Broadwater, the hull launching hard from idle before building strongly up through the mid-range to 6000rpm.

The Top Ender cruises comfortably at around 20 knots in mild conditions but runs most economically at a slightly higher speed of 24.6 knots at 4000rpm. 

The smooth-running Mercury four-stroke outboard engine uses 15.4L/h at 4000rpm to achieve a maximum range on 95 percent of the boat's 95-litre fuel capacity of 144.2 nautical miles. 

Performance

Range on 95% of the 95L fuel supply at 4000rpm: 144.2nm

The Quintrex 540 Top Ender Pro is one of the best all-rounder alloy fishing boats on the market. It is small enough to fish estuaries and impoundments, rivers and streams, yet big enough to roam big open bays and coastal offshore waters. 

In a cluttered market, the Quintrex 540 Top Ender Pro stands out from the crowd; the hull offers class-leading levels of ride, handling and performance, while the interior layout combines plenty of open deck space with ample seating and storage areas.    

I reckon there's a lot to like about this terrific new Quinnie tinnie. 

Specifications
Model: Quintrex 540 Top Ender Pro
Length overall: 5.68m
Beam: 2.3m
Hull weight: 638kg 
Weight on trailer: Approx 1,250kg
Bottom & transom alloy: 4.0mm
Topsides alloy: 3.0mm
Maximum power: 140hp (20" longshaft)
Maximum engine weight: 220kg
Engine as tested: Mercury 115hp four-stroke
Fuel: 95L
Flotation standard: Basic
Passengers: Six 

Priced from: $50,190 including a Mercury 100hp longshaft (20") four-stroke outboard and a Quintrex single axle alloy trailer.

Price as tested: $54,220. As above but with a larger Mercury 115hp four-stroke outboard, a Lowrance Elite 7FS fish finder/GPS, and a starboard side transom door.

Supplied by: Karee Marine