Mustang 2250 Walkaround

Mustang's long-awaited 2250 Walkaround is finally on the water, with many modifications and improvements from its 2150 predecessor.

Regular Trailer Boat readers will have read about our Mustang 2150 Walkaround project boat. The hordes of people pouring through the doors at most of the National boat shows along the eastern seaboard would have been hard-pressed not to notice it emblazoned with Trailer Boat signage.

Along with Trailer Boat Editor David Granville, I took the 2250 for a spin around Southport to examine the alterations that will make this boat even more attractive to those contemplating a large trailerboat purchase.

Cosmetically, there have been a few important changes, and for those not privy to the specifications on our now retired and for sale 2150 model, this is what we found.

Obviously, given the model identification, the length overall has increased by 100mm. This increase is not readily noticeable. In fact, the only noticeable change in overall size was within the cabin where the floor level had been lowered about 100mm.

The footwell in the cabin runs well forward and stops at a short storage area suitable for a portable toilet. The bunks each side conceal more storage space. A bulkhead at the forward end of the cabin has two shelves for storage, which don't have the door the previous model had, so don't be surprised if items on these shelves end up on the cabin floor in rough conditions.

The ventilation hatch in the roof has double locking handles and twin locking rams for variable opening heights. This hatch is pretty small and anyone with broad shoulders will have trouble getting through it. It should be treated as a vent, and all access to the bow should be via the walkaround cab.

Elliptical opening windows with solid stainless steel frames and flywire screens are installed in the port and starboard cabin walls. A stainless steel cabin light and Humminbird NS25 C-Map card reader are fitted to the shroud that covers the electronics at the rear of the helm. A surrounding shelf with padded sides finishes off the cabin, which has walls and roof neatly upholstered.

Deep walkways provide excellent access to the bow. A bowroller with captive pin sits on a solid bowsprit. A split-bollard with captive pin is further aft, and an anchorwell with hatch holds ample ground tackle for a boat this size.

GOING OVERBOARD
The forward brow of the cabin has a recess with a padded cushion should the anchorman need to brace himself in rough seas. This cushion is velcroed to the cabin, but should have extra velcro or stainless steel press-studs to further secure it, as it went overboard during our test.

A welcome change on the 2250 is the modifications to the targa and bimini top. There is extra bracing in the form of noggins between the two frames of the stainless steel targa, and the front of the bimini is now braced to the top of the windscreen by stainless steel fittings and cable. Suspending one's weight from the rearmost portion of the targa yields minimal movement from the frame. This targa can be folded back inside the cabin for storage under a low garage or for reduced wind-resistance when long-hauling.

Another improvement is that the targa frame is angled towards the top. When mounting the steps to traverse the walkaround, an occupant is upright and not leaning out as was the case with the 2150.

The helm area features a strong stainless steel grabrail above the windscreen. The dash layout has a typical MerCruiser inboard monitoring system, and steering is Sea Star hydraulic.

Humminbird's NS25 GPS/Sonar was flush-mounted. Should one forego the NS25, the available space is enough to take one of the larger combination units available.

The MerCruiser gear control is tucked neatly out of the way of the skipper's elbows.

The seat support system on this and the 2150 consisted of a box section which forms part of the mould for the inside walls of the cabin. They run at right angles toward the centreline of the boat, stopping short, allowing a walkway in between to give access to the helm and the cabin door, which is bi-fold and now lockable with hasp and staple. The Reelax seat bases are attached to these. The helm has a forward and rearward sliding seat base that swivels while the passenger seat only swivels. The addition of an adjustable swivel footrest on both seat posts is handy, although we found it collided with the inner wall of the cabin when swung around. Being metal against gelcoat, some sort of padding should be fixed to the colliding edge of the footrest.

As with the 2150, a small hatch in the seat-mounting box gives access to storage on the cockpit side of the seat posts. The addition of a lip in the mould of the box prevents water intrusion, which was a point of concern in the 2150.

Rebated pockets in each cabin wall provide some useful storage for odds and ends.

In the cockpit proper, sidepockets situated well off the floor measure about 1.5m in length. An aluminium foot tread is fixed to the floor to provide traction when leaning against the padded coamings, preventing foot slippage on wet decks. Another aluminium deck tread is fixed to the lip of the sidepockets for sure footing when using the sidepocket to climb over the gunwales. These two simple additions are intelligent inclusions.

Atop the coamings, two stainless steel rodholders are recessed with rubber fill caps. Centrally located on the transom bulkhead is a baitboard with a shallow sink coupled to a drain hose that runs down the transom, through the duckboard and into the water. On each side of the shallow sink a cutting board is fixed to the board proper. A couple of slots in the board allow the insertion of knifeblades and three stainless steel rodholders finish this unit.

Access to the board is difficult if you happen to be the third angler at the stern. Reaching the baitboard is no problem for the two anglers positioned in the aft beam corners, however.

LIVELY FIX
Two 35lt livebait tanks feature in each end of the transom bulkhead. The livebait tanks fitted to the 2150 caused a bit of grief - water running out of their lids, between the tank proper and the underside of the coaming, and then onto the motor and into the bilge. The 2250 addresses this problem by modifying the lip, so that the bait tank is completely sealed.

Below these tanks, on the inside of the transom, flush-mounted hatches provide access to the batteries and isolation switch. This area is quite constricted but serviceable.

Over the transom, two fenders sit in their recess, held in place by a stainless brace. Ski-rope hitches are fitted each side on the outer transom and a folding telescopic stainless steel ladder is fitted to the boarding platform.

The forward edge of the engine box has a rebate with a rack that holds three drink cans with coolers attached. A large stainless handle on the starboard side of the box allows the engine box to be tilted forward. A lip of at least 60mm rises off the floor to prevent water and rubbish falling onto the engine from the cockpit floor.

The cockpit floor holds two large kill tanks that are drained externally and could serve as storage for hoses, buckets, extra fenders and the like.

According to Mustang, approximately 200kg has been added to this hull, although this is yet to be verified by a weighbridge. Running the same 4.3lt EFI motor as the 2150, hole-shot was noticeably slower with the 2250, which was spinning a 19-inch propeller compared with the fast lift-out of the 2150, which ran a 17-inch propeller. Top end speed on the 2250 was faster, though, reaching 71.3kmh at 4700rpm, which is around 6kmh faster than the 2150. The 2250 cruises nicely at around 3500rpm, which provided a GPS-recorded 53.2kmh.

Like the 2150, some cavitation was evident on high-speed, aggressive cornering, which is not abnormal considering the speed and attempted turning-circle. Using the 2150 as the camera boat, one could detect little difference when boat-hopping from one to the other.

Some spray over the bow to the windscreen was similarly evident on this model, and purchasers are advised to include a set of clears in their initial order. This amount of wind-blown spray is annoying rather than soaking.

Steering was smooth and throwing the boat from lock to lock is effortless. Out in the swell off the Gold Coast Seaway, the 2250 punched through short sharp swell without severe banging. It turned across the face of a 1m swell and ran with a following sea without any problems.

The MerCruiser performed impeccably. Smooth and quiet, if the fuel economy is as good as our old 2150 Mustang, it will be outstanding.

The new Mustang 2250 Walkaround is a smart and solidly-built boat. Looking across the field of similar-sized and appointed trailerboats, this unit represents excellent value for money.