Boston Whaler 240 Outrage

Not all boats are created equal. While a great many boatbuilders claim their craft are unsinkable, when push comes to shove there aren't many out there that will float upright when holed or completely filled with water.

The Boston Whaler boatbuilding company is one of the few to publicly demonstrate the effectiveness of its design by famously punching huge holes through a demo hull with a .50-calibre machine gun - and even sawing one in half and driving around in the abbreviated rear section. The boats weren't at their best, but they did not sink.

I was calling this reassuring information to mind as Barry Bailey, who represents the American-built boats in Australia, was steering TB's new 240 Outrage towards a messy bar in southeast Queensland. I had acquiesced when Barry took the controls soon after leaving the dock. Now I wasn't sure if it was spray or sweat that was making my palms slick in their death grip on the aluminium targa top. It must have been sweat: according to Barry, all Boston Whalers are dry as a bone.

Either way, I was definitely cringing as we left the crest of a steep roller in a passable imitation of a Boeing 747, waiting for the sickening concussion as we landed. It never came. Well, it wasn't that bad anyway. When the props bit water again the hull lifted smoothly out of the trough with no fuss at all.

After half an hour of doing this for the benefit of the camera boat, which was bobbing crazily about in the choppy river mouth, I would have been happy to tag along had Barry suggested we head for Auckland. The ride is that good.

I know what you're probably thinking: magazine editor gets boat to run around in for a year and sings its praises like a trained canary. Well, I say take a ride in a Boston Whaler and you can decide for yourself if there's any substance to my claim that this particular hull is one of, if not the best-riding 24ft open boat available in Australia today. Barry's a natural salesman, but there was no need for a hard pitch. The boat spoke for itself. Hopefully it will continue to pleasantly surprise us over the 12 months that Trailer Boat has the vessel for evaluation. And with a number of tournaments to compete in, we'll be able to let you know how the boat performs under fire.

WHAT'S THE SECRET?
I get the feeling I'm ploughing turned earth here, but Boston Whaler's hull construction is worth revisiting. The company brochure relates a story of a Boston Whaler owner who hit a submerged object at speed and made the 50km journey home with a 90cm hole in the hull. And there's the US Marines who peppered a Whaler hull with automatic gunfire but couldn't get it to sink. That's nice to know if you encounter a heavily armed lunatic while out on the water, but the fact remains that Boston Whaler sells more boats to the US defence forces than any other boat manufacturer, according to the brochure.

The company calls the construction technique "Unibond" - essentially an inner and outer hull skin of bi- and tri-axial woven 'glass matting, resin and gelcoat sandwiched together with a solid core of high-density non-absorbent foam. There's no air voids inside, everything between the outer skin and deck mould is pressure filled with foam. Hence the incredible buoyancy.

Unfortunately this isn't an inexpensive production process and even in America Boston Whalers aren't the cheapest boat on the block. Add to this our current exchange rate against the greenback and the boats are starting to get pretty pricey. But whoever it was that said you get what you pay for is dead right. The 240 Outrage hull delivers genuinely exceptional performance. Much of this is due to the shape of the hull as much as the way it's constructed, although the injected foam definitely kills the sound of wave-slap. There's no hollow rumble or thundering reverberation of waves against the hull while underway. The lack of noise is more notable by its absence when entering really rough water.

DESIGN LINES
You get a pretty good idea of how the Outrage 240 is going to handle by looking at it on its tandem trailer. The hull features an exceptionally deep vee that's carried all the way back to the stern. Stability and tracking is achieved by incorporating radically reversed and broadened chines and two knife-edged running strakes per side. The chines sweep quickly down from the bow creating a somewhat slab-sided look relieved by the swooping reverse sheer at the stern. It's a very high-sided, deep boat. The padded coamings reach your thighs when inside the cockpit, which inspires a feeling of security. You'd be very unlucky to fall out of this boat.

The boat measures 7.23m long and 2.25m wide and the hull weighs 1995kg dry, which puts it into top-end 4X4 towing territory.

Boston Whaler is owned by the Brunswick Corporation, who also make Mercury engines, so it's natural enough that twin Optimax 150hp outboards were selected to power the hull. While we're yet to complete speed and fuel economy tests, we reached a top speed of 44 knots or 84kmh according to the Furuno three-in-oneGPS/plotter/sounder. That's pretty fast in anyone's language.

The hull also has special mouldings in the transom to allow the installation of two recessed trim tabs - not that we needed them, the boat felt balanced and ran true without the need for fiddling. Might come in handy with a load aboard, though. The stern section is designed to accommodate twin outboards on its integrated boarding platform with stainless steel folding ladder. Stability is such that you can walk around out the back without the boat dipping noticeably. Entry to the cockpit is through a big inward-opening marlin door that needs a bungee cord to hold it open.

INSIDE OUTSIDE
The open centre-cabin format is designed for serious sportsfishing and brings the outside inside. The amount of cockpit room is pretty special, especially when you consider that some intelligent storage ideas means you can get loose gear off the floor and stowed out of the way.

The deck sole and gunwales are moulded to include a very aggressive non-skid surface that's both a blessing and a curse. While it offers tremendous grip in the wet, it's fiendishly difficult to keep clean. Dirt tends to cling to the floor, but hey, this is supposed to a fishing boat, not a white-shoe gin palace.

Starting from the heavy-duty aluminium bowsprit and moving back, you'll find a smallish anchor locker (sleek, polished fibreglass mouldings inside, no daggy work here), a couple of stainless T-cleats and a hefty stainless bowrail enclosing the whole front half of the hull. Aft of the small foredeck is the lounge area; a family-friendly inclusion that shows this boat isn't just for raggedy-arsed fishos. The insides of the coamings are thickly padded and serve well as a backrest. A very thick vinyl-covered cushion sits atop a massive hatch which is where you'd keep a country mile of silver rope and a couple of anchors in one of those plastic tubs so as not to scratch that virgin gelcoat. If you're fishing and don't need to have a lie down, then you can simply remove the cushion altogether so you can fish right off the bow and get the anchor and line in and out more easily.

In front of the centre-cabin is a moulded seat for one or two slim people that's great fun to sit on while underway - no noise and a fresh breeze to liven things up.

We come now to the cabin and anodised aluminium targa top that's a work of art in itself. A bloke by the name of Paul Selby (Black Marlin Towers, tel 0410 774 148) welds them up from his Gold Coast workshop and it certainly looks the business with its red canvass top.

It's all too easy to get used to the nice padded coamings as you walk down towards the cockpit. All boats should have them!

Mounted centrally in the cockpit is the helm seating position and workstation. Our project boat is fitted with the deluxe leaning seat with a flip-up bolster to make it more comfortable to stand and drive. Below this is a sizeable storage module. Behind the seat is a work bench-cum-cutting board with a lid to access a 100lt plumbed livebait well with light and drain bung. There's two stainless steel rodholders, a knife and leader holder and a stainless steel grabrail traces the unit - a thoughtful inclusion. Inside there's those cool slide-out clear plastic tackle boxes for your hooks and sinkers.

Under the cockpit gunwales there's secure rod and gaff storage and a couple of stainless rodholders are installed in the coamings.

In the floor you'll find two enormous fishboxes with pump-outs and draining bungs. They're big enough to hold a big kingie, tuna or cobia or a good haul of reefies. The hatches lift on gas struts and the handles are good quality. I might as well mention now that practically every hinge, cleat and metal fitting in this boat is top-shelf.

NIP & TUCK
The stern features a really neat little foldaway lounge that is one of the few around today that won't annoy anglers. Fold in the legs and the whole seat locks away a few inches above the floor so you can tuck your feet underneath when fighting a fish from the stern. It accommodates two and the coverings and construction are above average.

There's a couple more rodholders for a teaser line or whatever in the middle of the transom, a second 68lt plumbed tank for your pitchbaits and an excellent little freshwater shower hose fed by a 75lt tank. A raw-water deck washdown is also a standard item. As mentioned, the transom door leads out onto the boarding platform so you can take a shower after a swim or really put the wood on a rampaging tuna.

HELM & CABIN
Outrageous is fitted with Mercury's new SmartCraft electronic gauge. All the info you need from speed, engine revs, range, fuel burn etc is displayed on a screen mounted on the dashboard fascia. This baby will even work out your personality problems to the nearest decimal place ... well, almost. We call it "Hal".

Next to this we've fitted Furuno's powerful GE1700 NavNet GPS/plotter/sonar. Stay tuned for a feature in the next few issues as I report on how to use the bloody thing. I'm sure it's simple, but for someone who struggles to program a VCR, I'm firmly at the bottom of the learning curve. It looks the goods, anyway. Next there's an ICOM VHF radio, a binnacle compass just below eye level and the whole shebang is topped with a curved tempered glass windscreen.

Driving a twin-engined rig is a little different. The engines don't "travel" as far, which reduces your turning circle. Chucking one engine into neutral - or even one forward, one reverse - dramatically improves maneuverability around the marina or dock. The throttles are really well set-up: instantaneous response, zero clunkage when shifting gears and they're mounted close together. A second set of trim and tilt switches are paired on the dash so you don't have to take both hands off the swish stainless wheel to change the boat's attitude while underway. There's a waterproof switch panel for accessories and the cockpit is fitted with courtesy lights.

Open a bi-fold door in the starboard side of the console to step inside the cabin, which has full standing headroom, a marine toilet with holding tank and pump-out, storage compartments and access to the console wiring (incredibly neat and well organised). There's a cute opening porthole on the portside, perhaps in deference to the proximity of the loo.

Boston Whaler didn't make the cabin for staging lavish cocktail parties but it serves its purpose as an enclosed head and giant dry storage area. Cameras, jackets, fenders, notebooks and other gear ended up here while we tested the boat. It's well finished with smooth, flawless gelcoat and the sort of workmanship we've come to expect from this boatbuilder.

PERFORMANCE & HANDLING
What a weapon! The engines deliver their power quietly and without clouds of smoke choking everyone in sight. The boat is rock-solid at rest while in calm water. It rides wonderfully and tracks straight as an arrow regardless of where you point it. Barry Bailey absolutely thrashed the poor thing during her maiden voyage, perhaps venting some frustration at a ceaselessly ringing mobile phone and peak-hour traffic. Into the sea, across sea, down sea at a constant 25kt, the boat behaved predictably. Maniacal driving aside, we remained fairly dry ... however, all centre-consoles are subject to a bit of wind-blown spray. It's all part of the experience. Those enormous reverse chines definitely do keep the spray away under normal conditions.

None of us here in the Trailer Boat offices can wait to take Outrageous out fishing, perhaps from Bermagui or Sydney, and when we do, you'll be the first to hear how it went. If we come home, that is. I hear New Zealand is nice in spring.