Hook, Line and Sinker Haines Hunter project boats (part one)

The world was amazed in 2007 when Yamaha released its new F350 four-stroke outboard. It was something of a game changer, featuring a muscular, lightweight narrow-vee 350hp V8 packing trick new fly-by-wire throttle control and inbred toughness.

About the same time, fishing show Hook, Line and Sinker was expanding. We’d taken the show out of Tasmania, our home state, and it was suddenly being broadcast around the country.

One of HLS’s major sponsors at the time was Yamaha, and we decided the best way to promote its products was to restore and repower a project boat. Given the timing of the 350’s release, we decided to try and find a boat that could take that much power. We didn’t have to look far – Victoria’s Port Phillip Bay, the home of old Bertrams.

Tucked in beside a shed, and sitting on an overgrown block of land overlooking a graveyard was “Beast”, a mid-1980s 23-foot flybridge Bertram. Close up, we could see a ton of potential, but not before a hell of a lot of work!

At some stage Beast had undergone a repower, her single inboard stepped up to a MerCruiser 300MPI fuel-injected 5.7-litre V8, driving a Bravo Two. Someone had spent some considerable dollars on it, but to what extent was difficult to tell, as the boat was banged up and hadn’t been wet for years.

A clue as to why soon surfaced. At some stage since her repower Beast had sunk; not to the bottom, but far enough to dump the engine underwater. Not surprisingly, this had endowed the MerCruiser with electrical problems that no technician could find despite plenty of effort and money.

On the flight back to Tassie, we weighed up whether we should buy Beast. Nick had enough experience with old boats to know this was going to be a big job. The team at Yamaha was also sceptical; the amount of work and money needed to repower the Bertram was frightening, especially for a fishing show with a limited budget.

Sipping a beer on the plane, we knew we were going to buy Beast. Okay, so there were plenty of reasons not to, but we believed viewers would be interested. As it turns out, we were right.

The number one selling point for us was the name: Beast. Sticking with the theme, we could call our in-show project boat segments “Unleash the Beast”. For the next six to eight months we could go through the process of replacing the drowned inboard with the world’s biggest outboard, all while performing a complete restoration with fibreglass hull extension, refit and beautification.

Still to this day people ask us what happened to Beast. We can tell them that Australia’s fastest Bertram 23 is still on the water, and capable of an impressive 55 knots!

Beast’s transformation was a huge success, giving us a boat that was reliable, fast yet fuel efficient, and not only a whole lot of fun to use, but well decked-out and practical for fishing.

Losing the big engine box in the cockpit yielded ample workspace, added a live bait tank and a kill tank. The big, cutting-edge Yammi came with new electronics and dual fly-by-wire controls that made rigging the engine a breeze.

We will never forget sitting in the 23’s tiny flybridge, our knees around our ears and clipping along at more than 50 knots. Unfortunately the cost of the project meant we had to sell Beast shortly after the makeover was finished, but after recently organising a day on the water, we can happily report the Bertram is still one hell of a boat. Beast’s new owner has also spent a bit of money, adding a brand new trailer and some new clears.

From the onset Unleash the Beast’s popularity was evident. Even today, a decade on, Hook, Line and Sinker still receives emails and messages each month wanting to know more about the process. In the meantime, we’ve been busy with other project boats, each based around a Yamaha four-stroke outboard.

One was for the launch of the four-cylinder Yamaha F70 via segments called “Living in the ’70s”. It involved two boats, with Nick repowering a Markham Dominator 5.0 cat with a pair of 70hp two-stoke outboards on it, and Andrew commissioning a new build – a tournament-style aluminium fishing machine.

Other project boats included a 1980s-era Yeltacraft, dubbed the ultimate all-rounder and fitted with a Yamaha F115. That boat managed to fish for marlin and barra, and even towed 11 water-skiers!

Hook, Line and Sinker has also knocked up homemade boats, and has even restored a couple of small hulls as tiller-steer bream boats. More recently, though, it has taken on its biggest challenge yet: “Beast 2”, a podded Bertram 25 repowered with twin Yamaha F200s.

But that is a story for another day, because HLS is a bit more preoccupied with a couple of classics that have stolen our heart!

For the next two seasons Nick and Andrew will restore, repower and breathe new life into a couple of Haines Hunters, one from the late 1960s and the other from the early ’70s.

In our next article, Hook, Line and Sinker will introduce you to Nick’s original and timeless Haines Hunter v19r, and Andrew’s rare and rotten Haines Hunter Trihunter 5.0.