Northbank 650WA

The manufacturer has designed and built these boats to suit those conditions which are typical of much of the southern waters of this continent; and it performs in this type of environment admirably.

This, the 650WA is set to be the big-water flagship of this company.

Remove those options and the tow-away price is reduced from $104,000 down to $92,000.

Now while the seating was plush, it also occupied a lot of the room in the beam of the inside of the cabin which, due to the walk-around path outside, was obviously not as wide as a full cabin boat. This meant that seats had to be pivoted into the straight ahead position to easily walk between and should you or your fishing and boating partners be on the overly-large side, you will want to look at a smaller seat base profile option to allow more room for easy passage.

The helm layout was uncluttered with those items such as switch panels and radio that are not required to be in the face all the time, being installed in the right-hand side cabin liner.

A compartment in the deck between the seating modules was insulated as an ice box and access to the fuel tank was available under a centre hatch running to the transom.

From the helm, the skipper has a clear view all round through the toughened glass screen that featured a sturdy grab rail across its rear top and clears were installed up to under the canvas bimini. The test boat featured an extended rear brow on the back of the bimini to provide some extra cockpit shade. A rocket launcher holding six rods also formed part of the bimini frame.

The windscreen is manufactured from toughened glass and there is another grab rail for the passenger built into the aft end of the dash.

Steering on this boat is via Mercury’s own power steering pump system connected to the 225hp Verado. It emanates a slight ‘hum’ as it is operated which, by the way, is a one finger affair, no matter the sea conditions or boat attitude.

With a weather forecast of 15kts of front coming through at 12.30 hours the lure of the size of the whiting put paid to a sensible departure time. Sure enough, this notorious stretch of water changed dramatically in just minutes. By the time we were near the ramp at the Cape the chop was running at well over a metre with white caps stirred up by at least 20kts of sou-easter which we punched into.

The 650 handled the weather admirably. Its ride headlong into the oncoming mess was as soft as could be and when cutting at an angle across the chop it tracked straight. Manoeuvrability with the Mercury Verado power steering was a delight and precise with just the whir of the pump audible but only when off the plane.
Acceleration was excellent and hole-shot good with the engine exhibiting a lot of torque throughout the throttle range. And it ran as quite as a mouse all the time. At a WOT of 5,600rpm you can expect a top end speed of 46kts or just over 85km/h; fast on the water in anyone’s books.

SPECIFICATIONS – Northbank 650WA
Price as tested:   $104,000
Options: Numerous
Priced from: $92,000
LOA: 6.8m
Beam: 2.44m
Weight: 1300kg hull only