2021 Quintrex Fishabout Pro production mule review

Just over a year into the launch of the premium Quintrex Fishabout Pro range featuring a higher level of fit and finish than Fishabout models, the range has been reworked once again.

This time, though, there are major engineering and equipment changes designed to make Fishabout Pro owners feel even more proud of their boat.

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It’s part of wider-sweeping changes that have also rolled out through the Fishabout’s sister models.

The boat we’re testing here is the Quintrex 520 Fishabout Pro, a model that receives quite a few big improvements designed to make the ownership experience all that more comfortable.

But this boat is a production mule, an engineering evaluation model that is essentially a test run for how the production models will look once they start rolling off Quintrex’s Gold Coast-based manufacturing line. Because of this, it is fated to be crushed rather than sold.

We test this boat with a few caveats; we don’t yet know the price, and as the 115hp Mercury Fourstroke outboard engine isn’t fully connected to the analogue gauges on the dash, we can’t test performance. 

But otherwise, what you see is what you'll get.

There are no differences below the waterline, with the Quintrex 520 Fishabout Pro featuring the same Blade hull as before. 

The hull on this boat is pretty special, featuring a distinctive bow flare unique to Quintrex’s parent company, Telwater. That flare is achieved using a technique called stretch extrusion, where the alloy sheets that form the hull are tortured into shape. It is such a fine process that the amount of pull and twist is calculated for individual sheets, not batches.

The Quintrex 520 Fishabout Pro keeps the same flat transom as introduced in early 2000, with the engine now mounted on a pod.  

A big change, though, is a swim platform that sits higher and extends further back than before. There are also now two standard Maxi-bracket mounts instead of a single one. 

There’s a big change up front, too. The windscreen now sits on a raised aluminium section, just like the Cruiseabout models, to give it more depth. Quintrex says it has done this to streamline its manufacturing process. 

The Quintrex Fishabout range, like other models in the Quintrex range, will move to common hull graphics so that people can identify the brand on the road and in the water.

Boat, motor and trailer packages featuring the current Quintrex 520 Fishabout Pro boat are available priced from $43,550 featuring a 75hp Mercury four-stroke outboard engine. 

Upgrading the performance to 115hp of Mercury mumbo lifts that price to almost $54,000. The outboard engine gets a stainless steel prop as standard.

Quintrex hasn’t yet said what price the new boat will be, but given the richness of the changes, it’d be an added bonus if the price stayed steady or even went down.

The Pro models also all get height-adjust hydraulic steering; the height adjustment means you can tip the wheel forward and comfortably stand at the helm and steer the boat. 

The first change you’ll notice with the new Quintrex 520 Fishabout Pro is the bow. The bowsprit is completely engineered so that it can use a Sacra-style anchor. 

Down the back is a second Maxi-bracket — Quintrex’s name for the interchangeable mounts that can adapt to take everything from berley buckets to swim ladders and even a kicker motor bracket. 

Our test boat is still a blank canvas, with no extra bits and pieces other than the uprated Mercury hanging off the back. There’s not even a Mercury VesselView touchscreen, but more about that later. 

There are two transducer brackets, carpeted floors, a folding rear bench seat, bow nad stern cleats, and two plastic rod holders recessed into the coamings.

The anchor well is recessed into the forepeak. The rails on either side of the anchor well now end much more shy of the short bowsprit; this is to make it easier to get on and off the boat, either when it is on the trailer or beached. 

The windscreen still has its lean-through centre pane, but the new raised lip at the bottom of the windscreen makes it a bit more difficult to lean forward. It almost needs a step.

Much is different once you step on board, much of it aimed at giving owners a richer experience. 

The Quintrex 520 Fishabout Pro’s console is the most obvious one. It has grown in size so that it has more vertical drop. It feels as though it is made of the same light, durable plastic mouldings used in aircraft. 

This has allowed Quintrex to provide a large, flat surface in front of the starboard helm, big enough to flush-mount up to a 7.0-inch touchscreen. The outboard side of the console has another flat surface big enough to mount Mercury’s VesselView interface, and on our test boat, the interface for a Fusion audio system. 

On the other side the glovebox is larger with a decent overhead small item stowage nook. 

Giving more height to the windscreen makes a huge difference to the sense of space behind the helm, which feels more open and airy and less cramped than before.

Another big change is soft-touch panels on either side of the helm and crew seats. These are shaped so that they join up with extended side pockets that now run much further forward.

Down the back is a removable bench seat. Its padded backrest has larger wings that bend around the coamings, and looks a lot more premium — you no longer see the mounting screws. 

The 115hp 2.1-litre four-cylinder Mercury Fourstroke longshaft is the highest-rated outboard engine for this hull. Rich, responsive, and with a mountain of torque on tap higher in the rev range, it’s a strong performer. 

In fact, it is such a good performer that we wonder if there's room to go slightly bigger again. Unfortunately, the next engine up in the Mercury range is the 3.0-litre 135hp unit that adds a significant weight disadvantage. So, 115hp it is, then, which will be more than sufficient for most recreational and fishing needs.

Quintrex has paired the Fishabout Pro with hydraulic steering throughout the range. Fitted to our 520 Fishabout Pro, it’s precise and direct, and only occasionally feels a bit heavy when turning sharply with load on the system.

As this is a test build, it doesn't have the tilt-adjust steering wheel.

Trimmed up and opening the taps, our test mule hit a top speed of 30.5 knots with four people and around half the 95-litre fuel tank filled. 

The Blade hull this boat sits on is the same as before, working particularly well in short chop and cutting neatly through boat wakes to provide a smoother ride than you might expect from a lightweight alloy runabout.

The improvements made to the Quintrex Fishabout Pro range is extensive, particularly among its range of boats measuring 5.0 metres and more.

The current Quintrex Fishabout Pro models do feel a bit closed in behind the helm, so the improvements to open the console up and make it much more roomy will go a long way to giving owners a sense the boat is a lot bigger than it really is.

The other tweaks definitely make the Fishabout Pro lift the perceived value and make it feel like a much more premium model than before.

The boat is also future-proofed as the console now adapts to the technology that electronics makers pack into a single multifunction touchscreen that grow ever-larger.

We've already liked the Quintrex Fishabout Pro range for standing as one of the best runabout packages on the market. The new-for-2021 changes will only enhance that feeling.