Noble 5.8 Cuddy Cabin

One of the few things the financial downturn didn’t change about the Australian boating scene is the fact that an 18ft cuddy-cabin will always be a very versatile boat. They’re big enough for serious offshore fishing, and equally capable of comfortably cruising around the many picturesque bays and estuaries that Australia is so blessed with. They also have ample room for social family boating or blokes-only fishing expeditions. They can also take on our nasty coastal bars with a degree of safety, yet they’re not so big to make launching and retrieving awkward for a couple.

For the Noble Boats International 5.8 deep-vee Cuddy Cabin this is a very accurate description. Add to that the fact that it’s stronger than your average brick outhouse because it’s constructed from plate-aluminium and this boat will happily satisfy our national tinnie mania.

The Noble deep-vee hull has been around long enough to have silenced any doubts about its innovative design. This hull has indeed proven to offer a superior roughwater ride compared to other plate-aluminium boats, although it’s perhaps not quite up there with the best 'glass hulls. Even so, it's at least as good as run-of-the-mill ones, and is still every bit the tough tinnie we’re so in love with (justifiably, as it turns out, given the lousy ramps and bad roads inherent in boating across much of Australia).

The other significant difference is that Noble boats are now built in China, thus the “International” moniker.

Still, Noble Boats International, in the best plate aluminium tradition, is prepared to tinker with a few things, albeit within reason.

There were in fact two things I’d change. The first is the helm position. I am 170cm tall so the screen frame was right in my line of sight while at the wheel, regardless of whether I was seated or standing.

For me, the otherwise snug and comfy deep bucket helm seat needed raising for my line of sight to be either over or under that frame. My view of the water in front of the boat was definitely compromised so I was constantly craning my neck to see. This is not a position I would like to be in for the time that it might, for example, take me to cross northern Moreton Bay.

The helm seat is on a slide so my gripe about seated ergonomics was all about my eye height as it related to the windscreen frame. Similarly, when standing at the wheel, I’d need my eyeline raised at least 10cm so I could again see over the frame. I assume the easiest way to achieve this would be to raise the deck below the helm.

They’re fairly simple modifications, although quite important ones if I were to own one of these boats.

Not so simple was the cabin’s bunk -- it was simply too short for me to sleep comfortably on. Changing this would be a relatively major exercise, and if this were a boat I was looking at buying -- and given its many other attributes and the places I’d want to take it -- I’d want to sleep aboard sometimes.

Fortunately, the cockpit in this cuddy-cab configuration is spacious so perhaps a few centimetres could be sacrificed for customers who agree with my sentiments. Other than that, you’ll find precious little else on the negative side of the balance sheet about this boat -- and what I liked about it is a much longer list than that one.

Otherwise, the standard equipment list is comprehensive and includes a folding rocket launcher/rod rack, a transom door, a big fishpit belowdecks in the cockpit, a plumbed livewell in the port side of the aft covering board, and a float-switch-activated bilgepump.

It also has side windows and a hatch for the cabin, a glass windscreen, stowage lockers, deep bucket seats for helm and passenger with waterproof hatches, plus two more to access the oil bottles and batteries inside the aft bulkhead.

Add to that a baitboard/workbench on the aft bulkhead, three rodholders a side in the sidedecks, and a ladder with non-slip surfaces to board through the transom door.

Other standard fittings that many boatbuilders include on their options list include the bowrail, bowsprit, well-sited grab bar on the passenger side of the helm area, footrests, and an enormous anchor well -- I kid you not, at one stage I stood in it to take photos and it reached my thighs.

There are a few options, and their attractiveness will depend on how seriously you take your offshore fishing, and where you intend to fish. Things like upgrading the standard 180lt fuel tank to 240lt, a hardtop, an electric anchor winch and maybe an icebox or two behind the bucket seats are about it.

I guess this boat, by its very nature, appeals to us serious fishing types, and while few buyers wouldn’t have fishing on their mind, it would only take the addition of an aft lounge and perhaps some removable shade for the cockpit to make the Noble 5.8 Cuddy Cab suitable for social boating too.

Despite all that (and without mentioning that this motor’s reliability, economic operation and wide torque spread has made it so popular among fishing guides) you’d be a fool not to consider it. It’d certainly be interesting to compare the performance and fuel efficiency of one of the V6 150hp four-strokes though. My thoughts on the hull’s rating from 90-150hp are that I’d definitely be looking at motors closer to the upper end of the rating than the lower.

Options fitted: VHS, compass, bimini top, front side-clears, safety gear including EPIRB, registration