Marlin Broadbill 750 Offshore Sports

I wouldn't have wanted to be on a lesser boat than the new Marlin Broadbill 750 Offshore Sports. Not for this afternoon on Sydney Harbour. Forget the usual champagne cruise for views. In the last few days, gale-force winds had whipped-up a swell which peaked at more than nine metres off the NSW coast.

This was the aftermath, mind you, but it was bitterly cold and some solid four-metre Big Wednesday rollers were smashing into the cliffs. What this new Broadbill offered was a sanctuary from the storm and one of the best rides I have experienced in a Broadie to date.

But there are several other sides to this story. First, there are the motors, twin MerCruiser diesel inboards with sterndrive legs that I thought were revolutionary. Secondly, one couldn't overlook the fact that this boat was a demonstrator for the Australasian Raymarine distributor, Robin Kydd of Oceantalk Australia.

Robin didn't disappoint with a full spread of the latest whiz-bang Raymarine gadgetry designed to aid navigation and find fish.

The boatload of sharp electronic contrivances including an infrared camera kept me busy on the harbour during the course of an afternoon and evening.

FUEL SIPPERS
When it comes to trailerboats, this is a broad one all right. The cat tips the scales to 2800kg laden on a dual-axle trailer with hydraulic sensor-activated brakes. Tow vehicle is a Patrol 4500, which makes light work of the job, though you need to take care cornering as the rig is as wide as a bus.

The new 750 hull, an extended and modified 720 sporting an extra 300mm, was designed to accommodate Robin's preferred powerplants - twin 1.7lt DL MerCruisers. The diesels are paired with Alpha One sterndrive legs.

Think diesels are slow? Think again. At 4400rpm, the perky donks have driven the big cat to 60kmh. While I recorded a top end speed of 56kmh, I spent the more time cruising at 44kmh at 3400rpm, and preferred 36kmh at around 3000rpm in the rough.

Robin opted for diesels for reliability and economy more than outright speed. He has had Marlin Broadbills with twin outboards before. While it is early days, the diesels are obviously less thirsty, noisy and service-hungry. They should be good for 5000 running hours at least. As for consumption, after 48 hours the boat had used around 320lt of juice, which equates to roughly to 7lt/hr. While a lot of time had been spent idling about, the log also showed a good deal of hard running.

MODIFIED HULL
The 750 is a departure from other Broadbills in another sense - its variable deadrise hull ranges from 35 to 25° at the transom. Another new addition is the 10cm chines back aft that help support the engines.

These wide chines seem to make the 750 sit up higher in the water and the boat seems taller along its length than other models. There was only one occasion when I buried the bow near the heads, and even then I didn't get wet.

The wheelhouse on this 750 is a Godsend, shedding ambient spray and cutting the wind. Wipers ensure you always have good vision. Not that it mattered with a GPS chartplotter with radar overlay and an infrared camera to fall back on.

Like a lot of Marlin Broadbills, the 750 is built to survey and built to last.

The undersides are 5mm plate alloy, 4mm is used for the topsides while the cabin superstructure is fashioned from 3mm sheet. There are lots of no-frills, workmanlike alloy features typical of Broadbills.

For example, the transom is equipped with a checkerplate boarding platform that has slots to take a remote swim ladder that also clips on the bow. It's needed to access the boat at the service station as well as from beaches.

Fold back panels at the ends of either sponson provide access to the engines.

In between these is a walk-through platform with a central scupper for the self-draining cockpit. This platform over the cat tunnel has long been favoured as a boxing ring for slugging it out with big gamefish.

The batteries hide in either transom corner, with the isolator to port and a recessed tackle box to starboard. The gunwales are a new design that's narrower but more stylish than the usual wide ones which have room to mount rodholders.

I liked the foldaway cockpit side seats that provide terrific little bumrests while drift fishing. Underfloor lies a fueltank built in a containment cell that isolates possible leaks. A floor panel riveted in place under the carpeted floor can be cracked should you need to get at the tank.

TOUGH AS NAILS
Deck gear is tough. The quarter cleats amidships used to lift the boat are rated to 2500kg. Walkaround decks with non-skid gunwales lead to the foredeck which has a heavy-duty bowrail, sprit and anchor locker.

The hardtop is surrounded by safety glass, and while there are side-opening windows I didn't notice any leaks. In any case, the dash had two waterproof switch panels and protected wiring.

Apart from the Raymarine gear, this boat had a simple helm with Mercury engine gauges, audio and visual alarms, wiper switches and a wheel linked to Hydrive hydraulic steering. I looked inside the cabin and while there is room to sleep two, it was being used more for storage. Additional space exists in the boxes beneath the twin helm seats.

As a demonstrator, the 750 is designed to be a low maintenance platform with loads of floor space. Of course there are loads of options for serious sportsfishers, divers and commercial operators. Things like a toilet, shower, hot water service, livewell and gamechair might be considered.

My only criticisms are that the throttle was a tad close to the wheel, and at idle there was the odd slap of water in the hull tunnel. In all other respects this was the right boat for what was a testing day on the water.

THE ELECTRONICS
My relentless tours of boats reveals more Raymarine electronics fitted than any other brand. Needless to say, the giant US company had a boatload of circuitry bolted to the dash of this demo boat. To begin with, there was the latest ST7001+ autopilot with a gyro-rate sensor that gives supreme performance and a compass output equivalent to that of a $20,000 unit. This allows radar overlay to work effectively.

Robin says autopilots are becoming increasingly popular on 26-footers and up, allowing for hands-free trolling and waypoint navigating. Above the helm was a Raymarine VHF 215 marine radio which is Digital Selective Calling compatible. When hooked to GPS, you can press a button to transmit an emergency signal with your location automatically attached. Unlike VHF radios of old, this one had a waterproof fascia and a one-piece handset.

Nearby were some new stand-alone instruments that are increasingly finding a place on the dash of powerboats.

The ST40 wind gauge confirmed we had 30-plus knots of southerly outside the cabin. Yikes!

There was an ST60 multi-function repeater that can show everything from surrounding stand-alone sets including depth, speed and wind data interpretations.

There was a 10.4in L1250 depth sounder screen linked to a 1kw dual-frequency 50/200mhz transducer, which I'm told will do 500-600 fathoms comfortably. The unit was also equipped with Raymarine's new HSB2 networking system, which allows up to 10 different displays from outside sources to be shown.

The sounder was connected to a 48nm radar, Raychart and C-Map plotter package, allowing us to view the seabed and charts of the harbour, with a radar overlay in a purple hue. As for future trends with plotters, well, it just has to be in the area of supplied information. I pressed the cursor on a marina icon on a chart and a window came up with everything from fuel-wharf opening times to the availability of toilets.

An RL70C, a 7in screen model, was alongside. With the latest networking software it could do everything that the big 10in screen could. It was used primarily as a radar, however, with the big screen reserved for depth sounding and chartplotting duties.

SEEING IN THE DARK
Having run the Broadbill every way, I was directed to follow a route that Robin had entered on the GPS chartplotter.

We arrived with pinpoint accuracy at each waypoint, whereupon an alarm sounded. I pressed a button on the autopilot and the boat steered itself to the next waypoint.

Too easy.

As the sun set in the west another side to this trip emerged. A 14in colour PC screen on the dash with a standard video output was connected to the latest thermal-imaging camera designed for boating.

Hot Eye, a $35,000 infrared video, was mounted on the hardtop. It has a range of around 800m. Day or night, it shows a black-and-white picture with hotter objects displayed as white and cooler things looking black. I am told just about every boat over 80ft in the US has one of these nifty Hot Eye cameras so they can be warned of potential danger.

What did I see on the infrared video? Well, there was a nightime Navy diver whose head popped up as a white dot when he surfaced, a man walking down his boatshed stairs and what looked like a women stealing a quiet moment to have a smoke under the Spit Bridge.

Robin then closed out what was an interesting day on the water. Using all of the twin legs with four-blade 21in props, and some deft boat handling skills, he docked the Broadbill and bade me farewell.

This new Broadbill 750 Offshore Sports is a real goer with twin diesel engines and sterndrives. The new hull is drier and better riding than other Broadbills thanks largely to those chines. Long-range trailer boating in a big rig like this is safe proposition come fair weather or foul.