From the classifieds: Quintrex Cruiseabout

That’s where the Australian-made Quintrex Cruiseabout comes into the picture.

Lightweight, so it can be towed behind the family car, with a bow lounge up the front and a cockpit optimised for fishing and play out the back, it’s the Swiss knife of boats.

There’s a reason it was Australia’s best-selling bowrider for a number of years.

At the same time, the Quintrex Cruiseabout range is priced so it won’t break the bank. 

The Cruiseabout range starts with the entry-level Quintrex 481 Cruiseabout, a 5.0-metre boat with a decent 2.1-metre beam to maximise the amount of interior room given its compact length.

To give enough forward space for the bow lounge, the centrally split console sits almost amidships. Fill out the bow lounge with cushions, and it becomes a family entertainment space. Stow the cushions, and the bow is transformed into a walkaround raised casting deck for fishing.

Step up to the Quintrex 500 Cruiseabout, and the bow lounge adds padded backrests to make it more comfortable. Extra room is added to the cockpit behind the comfort skipper and crew chairs behind the console.

The default fuel tank is 77 litres on the smaller models, but from the Quintrex 520 Cruiseabout up, the fuel tank increases to 95 litres.

The range tops out with the Quintrex 610 Cruiseabout, but while the other models are all outboard-driven, the range-topper converts to a 175hp sterndrive model with a 120-litre fuel tank – it’s a serious cruiser that will be able to take the family to more far-flung places quickly and comfortably.

It also has heavier aluminium plate built into its Quintrex-developed Blade Hull to help with the higher speed and extra weight that it can carry.

The Quintrex Cruiseabout range received a significant update in 2015, with the console pushed back to give more room to the bow – one of the complaints with the older model is that adults struggled to fit into the front section.

Standard boats were pretty well equipped out of the showroom and could even come with a proper electronics package that included a radio, and all the comfy bow lounge cushions.

As a fishing package, it was a bit light on with only two rod holders as standard right across the range.

The ski pole mount doubles as a place to place a bait board – an alloy one was available higher up the model range – and depending on your enthusiasm for fishing, a live bait tank was a factory-fit option. You could also add custom burley buckets.

We’d reckon something around the size of this, a Quintrex 510 Cruiseabout, is the sweet spot in the model line-up.

This 2018 model fitted with a 115hp Evinrude E-TEC two-stroke outboard engine is still under warranty. Although the price isn’t too far away from buying a new one, it has a few choice options we like, such as the bimini, Fusion audio system, and factory-fitted electronics.

Even better, it has the Quintrex catch and release system to make getting it on and off the trailer as easy as possible.

There’s even a travel cover.