Quintrex 570 Top Ender SC

The American bass-boat market has been on this course for years and manufacturers in this country have followed the market trend.

A side console design frees up a heck of a lot of deck space and allows free flow of people from bow to stern with the least amount of interruption to valuable deck hatch space.

The positioning of a console to one side rather than midships also adds more stability to a boat as people tend to walk down the centreline rather than to one side and this makes a fishing platform that much more user friendly.

The 570 Top Ender has achieved all this and with a little tweaking it will become a formidable fishing machine, not only in our northern waters but at other points of the compass in salt or fresh water.

The review boat was fitted with an optional bimini and envelope and sported a two-tone paint job. Fitted with the 130hp Evinrude ETEC and with safety gear and sitting on a trailer the retail price for the rig was $47,160.

There is still ample room for anglers to walk between and behind the two seats to fish from the aft corners and over the stern.

The coaming on the transom is broad fore to aft and a live-bait well is plumbed in the port corner. The opposite corner has been left vacant and serious anglers might want to consider reinforcing the bottom side of the coaming and using this area to mount a downrigger. Midway along the coaming, a pole base is fitted in which optional bait rigging station or ski pole may be fitted.

The width of the coaming running along the transom mirrors that of the raised platform underneath, which is raised around 75mm above the deck proper. In the face of this are two drains for the scupper system. A central hatch lifts out to access the crank battery and oil reservoir for the Evinrude ETEC outboard.

This fitment is well placed as it frees up the area under the transom but also lowers the centre of gravity which adds a little to the stability of the vessel. There is an option of a second battery which would be housed on the top of the platform on the starboard side.

The Evinrude is recessed between large boarding platforms with the one on the port side having the Maxi removable boarding ladder. The mounts of the ladder can also hold a burley bucket or auxiliary outboard motor bracket which can hold a maximum engine mass of 52kg.

The deck is carpeted waterproof plywood and hosts an extra seat post base with another on the raised casting deck giving a total seat placement of four.

Short cockpit side pockets are situated toward the stern. The space forward, normally devoted to side pockets is covered in to retain positive buoyancy material.

Under a removable hatch in the forward deck is a bunged rotaform tank which complements the others found in the casting deck. The latter hosts a central well in the aft end with a hatch either side then another in the forward section.

Emptying the contents of so many hatches after rain or so the deck may be hosed down without wetting those items will surely be a tedious task. Wouldn’t it be great if there was some sort of barrier to the ingress of water so that everything could stay in its place?

On the bow, the boat can be optioned up with a base plate on which to mount an electric motor, the batteries for which could be stowed in one of the many forward hatches.

The two millimetre hull sides have a smooth-looking flat plate finish, adding to that ‘custom’ look but also making the addition of full or partial wraps for decoration that much easier to achieve.

The bottomsides are 4mm and are formed into Quintrex’s Blade hull, which supersedes the Millennium Hulls of yesteryear.

The transom design of old has also had a makeover which has given the occupants of the Top Ender another 180 mm of internal length space.

The 130hp Evinrude ETEC was gutsy with plenty of torque no matter where you were in the throttle range and with 150 being the maximum recommended, it would surely have some long legs then.

The minimum recommended horsepower is 90 and provided you were fishing and travelling light that would suffice, however with a load of people and supplies it may be left wanting.

The 570 had a low planing speed of 5.3 knots for 2100rpm with a fuel consumption of 6.9 litres per hour. The advantages of such a low planing speed will be seen when having to cover long distances over rough choppy water.

If you’re just taking it easy, then cruising at 2800rpm will give you a shade over 13 knots for 12.5 litres per hour. WOT on this rig had the ETEC consuming 45 litres per hour at 5500rpm for a respectable 39 knots.

There are not too many boats on the market with specs like this Top Ender for a comparable price. This boat represents very good value for money and will take you to places economically and in comfort.

It has all the ingredients on which to build a serious fishing platform and with a little tweaking to the deck apertures it will come into its own -- and on budget.