AMM Tournament 10m and Platinum 25 Flybridge

If you've worked your way up through the Australasian sportsfishing boat school of hard knocks, chances are you've owned and/or fished an aluminium craft at some stage.

For many anglers, it's been more than just one. Indeed, it seems aluminium boats, in particular plate aluminium boats, are inextricably linked with offshore angling Down Under... On both sides of the Tasman!

This is quite the opposite to the situation our Californian colleagues experience. Across the Pacific, 'aloominum' is the stuff from which they make beer cans. Forget about US-built trailerable offshore fishing boats - they don't exist. And in big boats, with the exception of the famous Striker brand, the number of alloy sportsfishing boats you come across Stateside is so small it may as well be non-existent.

When you look back at some of the alloy boats that have been foisted onto Aussie and Kiwi anglers over the years, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the abandonment of alloy as a boatbuilding medium is something the Yanks sportsfishing marques have got right. Dig a bit deeper though, and consider the more recent crop of purpose-built alloy sportsfishing boats, and you could well change your opinion.

Australian Master Marine and Platinum Custom Cruisers are prime examples of current state-of-the-art plate boatbuilders. Both companies cut their teeth on building trailerable fishing boats. Both companies have worked with many owners with serious sportsfishing bents to produce some of the best executed plate fishing boats on the market today - anywhere Period.

Now these two Queensland-based builders are looking to use this experience on a whole new generation of plate alloy fishers - looking upwards to the 25-35 foot range.

It's in this size range the 'tailorability' of aluminium means they can potentially build semi-custom boats at production prices. They can also take advantage of the latest in hi-po, low consumption four and two-stroke outboards, and the new generations of injected petrol and high-output diesel sterndrives.

Without overstating the case, it's boats like the two tested here that could see a sea change in the way plate alloy boats are considered. Even in a home market that's already enamoured to the attributes of tough tinnies...

MASTER MARINER
It has been some time since BlueWater last set foot on the deck of an AMM boat. The previous occasion was in Darwin Harbour aboard one of the company's 6m centre consoles.

That time left a lasting (if cliched) impression of a knife going through butter - smooth, fast and dry cutting through the top of an ugly tradewind chop. The impressions flooded back when we boarded the first true bluewater AMM we've tested, the 10m Tournament.

Though unconventional in sportsfishing terms, this boat is set to turn more than a few heads. Built for keen Sydney-based gamefisher, Rob Pennyfather, the Tournament is a hardtop rather than a flybridge boat.

Business-like (almost pro-boat) in its lines and execution, the hardtop layout was chosen for a number of reasons, not the least the ability to put the lower profile boat on a truck and move it around the country with relative ease.

However, Rob says the main reason he went for the bridgedeck layout was social.

"Sure, you see a few more fish from the flybridge, but who wants to be out of the action all day."

The added stability of this lower profile configuration too was a factor for Rob, who's fishing consists mainly of lure trolling, but also takes in cubing (chunking) for tuna and the like.

The choppy conditions on our testday presented not even the slightest challenge for this plate boat, and with twin 200hp HPDI Yamaha outboards under hand it skimmed the surface out into deeper water, surprisingly quietly too.

At 3500rpm the Tournament cruised at 20kt with the fuel management system reading an economical total of 50.4lt/hr. Shoving the throttles further down to 4400rpm saw the boat covering the water at a shade under 30kt and using 77lt/hr. Full throttle, with the Yammies turning 5800 revs, saw top speed at 37.8kt with fuel consumption a dramatic 160lt/hr.

Throwing the boat around through its own wash at a variety of speeds and locks reinforced the feeling of manoeuvrability. At 3600kg, this 30-footer belies its mass, behaving more responsively and in a 'friendlier' manner than many 6m boats we've been in over the years.

FROM THE POINTY END
Casting an eye over the Tournament it was noted that a Muir anchor winch was fitted to the foredeck with a triangular locker hatch flush with the deck on the port side of centreline. An indication of the thought AMM puts into its boats was the sacrificial teak timber buffer fixed to the deck between the winch and a very sturdy bowsprit.

A hardtop-style craft, the AMM's cabin roof is aluminium and its rear edge incorporated a rod rack for eight outfits. Grabrails on the sides of the hardtop, and 200mm wide sidedecks made for easy access from the cockpit to the foredeck. That is when the Reelax outrigger bases and poles are folded flat against cabin.

Further aft, the cockpit coamings sported rodholders featuring raised teak timber collars to prevent metal-to-metal contact between coaming, reels and metal rod butts.

In the rear portside corner of the big cockpit a walk-through transom door provides access out onto AMM's trademark full-width engine pod. The walkway through the bulkhead is angular with one side having a raised hatch leading into a compartment from which an oversized Johnson pump feeds the livebait tanks and deckwash. The latter was installed in the portside full-length pocket.

A pressurised freshwater hand shower sat behind another flush-mounted hatch in the same walkway.

The transom bulkhead features two large bait tanks located under a bait-rigging station. This is high enough to lean the upper torso against to steady one's self for finicky work in rough weather. The tank on the starboard side is plumbed for livebait while the other is storage for deadbaits, et al.

Another walk-through transom door is situated on the starboard side. A corner hatch with flush-mounted door hides the battery isolator, the hydraulic pump for the trim tabs and the balance valve for the hydraulic steering. Fuel lines and primer bulbs were also secreted here.

Two long 150lt kill tanks are underfloor in the cockpit. Also underfloor are two 250lt fuel tanks. Drainage for the self-draining cockpit is via slots at deck level. These in turn drain into a manifold that empties astern.

MADE IN THE SHADE
Another workstation is situated central in the cockpit. This consists of a sink with tap issuing charcoal filtered drinking water (from the 60lt underfloor tank) and a cuttingboard built into the lid of the stand-alone box arrangement.

When the lid of this station is lifted and laid back on its hinges, a 12V refrigerator below can be accessed. The unit consists of 20lt of freezer space and 40lt of refrigeration.

The fridge is ratchet-strapped to the floor and operates off a cigarette lighter plug attached to the inner wall. There is no bulkhead on the forward section of this structure, allowing feet to tuck in comfortably when working at the station and the refrigeration unit to ventilate. Reasoning behind this is also so the unit is easily removed for cleaning, camping use and the like as required.

Entering the helm area (there is no rear bulkhead per se) padded seats run longitudinal, from the rear of the port and starboard wall of the open cabin. Storage is available under the cushions.

The front section incorporates the mount for the skipper's and passengers suspension seats. Central in the walkway between is a fold-down timber table. This is removable or it may be lowered and the flaps lifted to make a double bed base across the rear of the saloon.

On the floor to the front and rear of the table, flush hatches open to access a cavernous storage area in the hull. An icebox of 150lt of suitable dimensions would fit neatly in this hatch.

As it is, alloy mesh grating bridges the vee-shaped bottom of the hull and provides excellent 'footing' for the items stored here. It also keeps items out of bilge water should it get wet inside. That said, the hatch is sealed from the forward and aft compartments of the bilge, so water could only enter via the cabin floor. Unlikely to be a problem...

Windscreens are made of 6mm toughened glass and two tinted hatch skylights are installed in the hardtop. The rear of the bridgedeck can be sealed with zip down clears.

The forward cabin is accessed via a bi-fold door and features a large V-berth which covers a portable toilet.

The steering station was equipped with Yamaha instrumentation as well as a Simrad AP20 autopilot and, one step ahead of BlueWater III, a Simrad big-screen CA40 combination GPS, chartplotter, sounder and radar. Of course, there's plenty of room for electronics for those owners who wish to use single function units.

Attention to detail onboard the AMM is clearly excellent, both in terms of systems (note details like the solar panel battery trickle chargers) and finish - the best we've seen on an alloy boat, this side of a Dutch-built aluminium superyacht.

While obviously lacking a flybridge, it would not be hard to incorporate some form of spotting station or tower in the Tournament's design. As it is, the AMM will already satisfy those anglers who do not wish to command a boat from high up.

The Tournament would also make a brilliant weekender for the fishing family or a dayboat for larger groups who want to do more than just chase pelagics...

Versatile, you say? Yep, just like the material its fashioned from...

PLATINUM PLATED
Each to their own, the saying goes. Well, if you're a flybridge fan, and want the ability to occasionally trailer your boat, your options in the past have been limited. (Very limited, unless your chosen brand was Caribbean.) Indeed, if you wanted that bluewater boat to be aluminium then in production terms you were out of luck.

Thus, when respected plate alloy builder Pacific Sportfish joined forces with dealer Northside Marine to design and build the Platinum Custom Cruisers series, we weren't the only ones to sit up and take notice.

Apart from turning up to our test day on a trailer, the other aspect that caught us by surprise was build quality of the very first Platinum 25 Flybridge. Our initial observations were that the boat was manufactured from something other than plate alloy. Indeed, such was the refined finish to corners and edges, and its general spit and polish, the craft gave the impression it had been formed in a mould, rather than welded together.

This impression flowed below the waterline too thanks to the acute cutting edge of the keel line at the bow and the aggressive double planing surfaces at chine level above the equally aggressive 24° deadrise. Sportfish dubs this configuration Super-Vee and has introduced it on a whole range of craft from around 5.0m and upwards. It's standard fare on the 25 and will be used on the 28ft and 30ft-plus versions that are planned. The design aims to provide deep-vee performance though with none of the stability issues usually associated with extreme deadrises.

In overall terms, the Platinum is a conventional open bulkhead flybridge design. Being the first Platinum Cruiser off the production line we should point out that some items will change in 'production' models. For example the engine fitout on the testboat (a conventional 250hp Johnson outboard) was purely for the purpose of expediency and package cost 'efficiency.'

Says Northside's Bill Hull, most order-built boats will feature twin outboards or injected petrol sterndrives.

The bottom line was, it was not viable to build three boats of this size with different propulsion units for display. Rather, in the case of the prototype a single outboard sufficed for testing purposes and was easily removed/modified should the buyer choose a different powerplant(s).

FRONT THE BLUNT END
On the testboat, the Platinum's transom set-up featured a boarding platform either side of the pod which was home to the big Johnno. The starboard platform had a recess cut in for a berley (chum) bucket while the portside offered cockpit access via a lift-out transom door. A contoured hand-hold in the top of the coaming of the door aids boarding passengers and assists in the lifting process when it's time to remove the door completely. A hatch hides the fittings for a deckshower.

Another of these oblong cutaways with a high rib edge is located at the aft end of each gunwale to act as a hawsepipe to allow mooring ropes to be passed through to the cleat below.

Full-length cockpit sidepockets provide plenty of gaff storage and the like. These pockets protruded around 200mm out from the sides of the boat and are approximately the same depth. A rolled lip finished these off neatly and wide gunwales and padded coamings ensure they are out of shin-whacking range.

Across the transom, a wide hinged bulkhead allows full tilting of the single outboard motor in this version of the Platinum. Twin-engine configurations will have full-width, full-depth pods negating this necessity.

Starboard of the collapsible bulkhead is a wide hatch which hides the twin battery power supply. The battery isolation switch is located below the starboard side pocket and atop the bulkhead two plastic hatches in the aft starboard corner conceal a Johnson pressure pump for deckwash and livebait tank and outboard motor oil reservoir. There's also a good sized livebait tank.

Taking pride of place in the cockpit is a Reelax light-tackle gamechair and underfloor there's a 400lt fuel tank. Adding to convenience are two large underfloor killwells either side of the gamechair.

CABIN FEVER
A teak treaded ladder provides access to the bridge. This is, in turn, mounted on the bulkhead that forms the aft portside corner of the cabin and conceals the boat's head and shower. Inside there's an electric toilet and hand basin with hand shower.

Portside bulkhead aside, the rear of the cabin is open with just a waist-high bulkhead to the starboard side, forming a backrest to the dinette. The whole area can be sealed off with a removable zippered screen.

There's plenty of storage in the cabin, with hatches accessible from the companionway under the dinette, for example, and a mid-height locker forward of the same.

Opposite the dining area, the galley comprises an Electrolux stainless steel mentholated spirits burner stove and a single sink. Below are a cutlery drawer, cupboard and 12V fridge. Drawers and cupboard faces are aluminium framed with laminated waterproof wood inserts.

The forward bunk area is spacious, if a typical V-berth in layout - one bunk each side with the ability to place an insert in the rearmost section to complete the bed. More storage can be found below and a narrow (head-friendly) storage pocket runs the length of the walls to the bow.

The bulkheads are soft-lined with frontrunner-style fabric and the deckheads feature a padded vinyl finish. Cabin reading lamps were installed over each bunk and a tinted hatch was fitted to provide natural light.

The V-berth is not the only sleeping accommodation. As with other boats in this size range, the dinette collapses to form a well-sized berth.

THE VIEW FROM UP TOP
Upstairs is where it all happens and here you're greeted by a helm seat that's about two and a half people wide. Queensland-based sportsfishing stalwart, Reelax, manufactures the smart looking seating module.

On the port side of the bridge a bucket-style seat allows for the mate to easily watch the lures astern and converse with the skipper while he or she tends the centreline helm.

As seen in the photographs hereabouts, the steering station is neatly laid out with the binnacle for the single lever throttle/gear control having its own pedestal which acts as a support for the rest of the dashboard. There is a stack of storage space under the helm, in front of the skipper's feet.

What there isn't a lot of room for is instrumentation or electronics - add another set of gauges, for a twin outboard set-up for example, and space is really going to be at a premium. So too, in the case of sounders and the like. The electronics fitted to the testboat were compact Lowrance and Garmin units which fitted well. Big screen Raytheon, Furuno, Simrad units and the like will have you looking for alternative installation options, however.

Our Platinum test day started off with a light breeze that picked up as the day went on peaking at around 10-15kt. Heading across shallow Moreton Bay the chop was typically sharp and close together, running into the forequarter and increasing in size as we distanced ourselves from the mainland. Nonetheless, the Platinum's ride was smooth and dry.

Offshore from Moreton Island the sea conditions could be best described as lousy - sharp, confused, very close together and 2m high on the nose.

The total lack of slamming as we ploughed into these conditions at our hand-held GPS speed over ground of 15kt showed just how adept this hull is in rough conditions. On no occasion did the bow bury and spray up to the flybridge was minimal.

In calmer waters the 17-inch propeller pushed the Platinum to a touch over 30kt at 5500rpm. A subsequent test with a 16-inch prop increased peak rpm to 5800 with a top speed of over 33kt.

That said, a powerplant(s) with a little extra torque would suit this hull more than the single two-stroke outboard rig we tested. With the 17-inch prop it certainly needed a few more neddies and a bit more grunt in the lower rpm range would have made the boat a more 'relaxed' mount in the confused conditions we encountered.

We'd love to try this hull with one of Yanmar's excellent diesel sterndrives or perhaps a pair of the latest direct-injection two-stroke outboards. No doubt the added oomph would result in a craft that could make a real mark on the compact end of the bluewater spectrum.