Bayliner Trophy 1802

It's 7.00am, the sun is shining and there's just a whisper in the gums. The air is warm, the glassy sea beyond the entrance is beckoning, like Circe... And we're packing to go home!

It's always perfect on the day you have to return home. But who could complain after a fun weekend of fishing and exploring the nooks and crannies of Gippland's Lakes system aboard Bayliner's Trophy 1802 Walkaround.

Boat testers usually have limited time to put a boat through its paces. Hence, it becomes difficult to paint a complete picture. However, time was not of the essence on this particular weekend. We towed the Trophy 300km from Melbourne to Lakes Entrance and back with four days' playtime at our disposal. The fact that we were greeted with rain and lots of wind, did little to spoil the expedition.

The boat was on loan to Trailer Boat, courtesy of John Sambell the new owner of Boronia Marine in Melbourne and his general manager, Mike Mulquiney. John and Mike had acquired it for the Melbourne Fishing Show, to test customer reaction to US-style fishing boats.

The American-built 1802 is the entry-level boat in Bayliner's Trophy fishing boat range. And with the Aussie dollar floating around 63 cents to the greenback, it doesn't come cheap.

My initial reaction after looking at the hull's broad shoulders and 'squareness' back to the stern, coupled with a flatish 16| of vee, suggested the 1802 would bang harder than the stockmens' dunny door on Dangaroo Station. Oh, how one should never judge a book by its cover.

So the first surprise came when we put the boat in the water and headed towards the entrance for a sticky beak.

The bar was so gentle that we danced around the big orange buoys on the edge of the channel and headed for the nearest oil rig across a two-metre swell with just the odd snowy lip of ice-cream on top.

And the boat rode like a dream. The more power I fed into the 150 Merc, the better it rode. I totally forgot that my nine-year-old nephew in the passenger seat beside me was having his first trip to sea, and here I was trying to make this boat break.

We looked forward to the following day, but it was overcast and blowing the wings off drying gannets. Subsequently, this ruled out another bar crossing and offshore manoeuvres. So we settled for a photo session in the protected waters close to Lakes Entrance, and some bream fishing.

ON THE ROAD
But for now, let's take a look at the trailer. These days, boat trailers are usually very good particularly dual axle set-ups. The trailer under this boat was a Dunbier with a full set of side (but no keel) rollers, dual axles and mechanical over-ride brakes.

The road between Melbourne and Lakes is flat and fast, and the towing is easy. But on this occasion, it didn't take too long before I first noticed a tendency for the trailer to wander. I also detected (with some alarm) that it didn't like right-hand bends, at all! The tyre pressures were fine, so perhaps the undercarriage needed moving back an inch or two.

Launching also proved to be a problem. We couldn't undo the safety chain or take the pressure off the holding strap. The multi-roller trailer was so slippery that once the strap ratchet was off, so too was the boat. It wouldn't 'stick' so you could take the pressure off the strap to undo the clip from the boweye. Maybe it was too new, or perhaps this trailer was too small for the boat, or maybe the lack of keel rollers was the problem...

And there were a couple of other irritating aspects as well, such as cut-and-shut moulded plastic mudguards, which I will put down to you get what you pay for.

ON THE WATER
The 1802 is fully moulded (including the deck and cockpit liner), so finish quality is first-class. All areas likely to be stepped on are dimple-moulded non-skid, and all corners are round and smooth.

The hull has very broad shoulders, a strong forefoot and quickly 'squares up' from the bow to accommodate the walkaround deck. The one-piece bowrail is strong, and at a sensible height. The bow lacks a bowsprit or compartment to store the anchor and rope which must be kept somewhere in the cockpit. How I longed for one of those brilliant flip-and-slip anchor-holding bowsprits the sort Caribbean fits to much of its range.

In lowering and retrieving the anchor you had to avoid the green-red combination nav light which was mounted right on the forepeak too. Obviously, the Yanks don't anchor off the bow.

The bow is quite high, with the sheerline dipping a little amidships (more for aesthetics than practicality). The shin-high (23cm) walkaround has plenty of foot room, and a step up from the cockpit makes access easier.

The cabin deck is quite high, as is the custom with walkarounds, and there's a seat moulded into the bow. It's quite a comfortable position from which to fish and is needed as cockpit space is limited due to the space required by the walkaround design. Remember, this is only a 5.5m boat and few local manufacturers make a walkaround so small.

A large engine well is flanked on both sides by large quarter seats which can be removed for fishing duties, and stored. Stern lockers on both sides contain oil bottles and battery.

Gunwales have good quality recessed stern cleats (and there are another two on the forward quarters), two rubber-sleeved rodholders and a ribbed aluminium boarding strip.

The Trophy was fitted with a EFI model Mercury 150. Surprisingly, the powerplant was just a little reluctant to get the 1802 onto the plane. Once up, it was fine though perhaps some might like to opt for a more powerful outboard.

CABIN COMFORTS
The 1802's cabin is quite roomy and access is good through a split-fold, lockable door. There's plenty of headroom, and the V-berths are comfortable and wide.

Storage in the cabin is limited. Most of the underbunk storage is taken by twin fueltanks (150lt in all which gives the boat a considerable range). A small, lined storage compartment right in the bow could store small items, although it's awkward to access.

The walkaround configuration eliminates any interior sidepockets, although there is an awkward space between hull and liner on the passenger side which can accommodate a couple of lifejackets. The cabin is lined with a durable off-white carpet, and the bunks are fabric covered. Small rectangular portholes are located either side of the cabin and open inwards and have flywire covers. It's a pity they're not a little larger to let in a bit more light and air because, although the cabin does have an overhead light, it has no central hatch and can get a little claustrophobic.

The driver's position is very comfortable with excellent vision through a glass windscreen. Instruments and controls are well placed and nothing is awkward. The twin forward seats are moulded poly with button-down vinyl covered cushions and backrests, with flap-over map pockets behind.

Although adjustable, the swivel angle was negligible. That was disappointing because, if you're fishing and you want to face the stern, your seating options are limited to squatting on the gunwales.

The stainless steel wheel looked great and steering precision at speed was excellent. It's a shame response was so soft in the 5kt zones.

On the passenger side there was a grabrail on the side, but no storage bins at all. Of course, the cabin door is directly in front.

There is a very big wet fishbox in the floor between the seats. The fishbox, and a sternbox into which deckwater drains, are fitted with automatic bilge pumps. A light, vertical four-rod holder with moulded slots for knives is bolted to the front of the engine well.

FISHING FOR FUN
Generally speaking, the Trophy 1802 is an entry-level boat which families can use for fun and a spot of fishing. It's a comfortable all-rounder with few frills, but still very good for all that. Considering its size (it has a beam of just 2.29m), it's roomy enough. At no stage, with three adults and a child onboard, did we feel on top of each other even when fishing.

As mentioned earlier, it was its impressive top-end performance which really surprised me. On our first run offshore we managed 70kmh at 4500rpm without going really hard.

On the last day, a trip up the Tambo River to the cliffs (for not even one bite!) hid the fact that the easterly wind had increased significantly during the day. On the return trip we came out of the river mouth side on to the wind whipping across Lake King. It was gusting to 30kt and creating 1-2m windwaves only a couple of metres apart. I thought this was a wonderful opportunity to really test this hull.

The boat leaned into the wind considerably especially when it was at 90| to the hull. We managed a speed of 30kmh at 3500rpm, with a fair amount of slap-bang-crash as the boat came down hard on its port side. But remember, this was in extreme conditions.

Later as we swung head-on into the slop, the boat straightened up; the thumping disappeared, and so too did the spray. Excellent stuff.

It was a great opportunity to put the pedal to the metal, to see if the boat would skip across the top. But for my mate's sake, I resisted the temptation.

Bayliner is a subsidiary of the giant Brunswick Corporation which (among other things) owns Mercury. Reputed to be the world's biggest boat builder, it knows its markets. The Trophy series is aimed to capture the family fishing arena, and the 1802 is the ideal point of entry for these purposes.

No doubt you are getting a versatile and well-built family boat with the performance and open water handling of a much larger rig. The bottom line, however, is the package pricetag of $49,000 is comparitively expensive to a similar Australian-made rig.