Quintrex 610 Trident

Name: Quintrex 610 Trident
Brand: Quintrex

Quintrex ventures offshore

LIKES

- Solid construction
- Hull performance
- Good boat/engine match with 150 E-Tec
- Plenty of storage for the fisho

DISLIKES

- Fiddly latches on the kill tank
- Will the lid on the live-bait tank and its hinges last?
- Could do with a bit of standard electronics and standard VHF

OVERVIEW

- Plugging a gap in the Quintrex lineup

There were two things we were told at the launch of the Quintrex Trident range: first, the company was going back to its roots and offering good-quality Australian-built fishing boats with features and options squarely at the fishermen; second, the Quintrex brand was going off shore.

No, they’re not taking their manufacturing off to another country, there will now be a range of boats designed for offshore conditions.

Enter the Trident range of offshore cuddy/half-cabin boats. The Trident range is currently available in 610, 650 and 690 models all of which feature Quintrex’s Millennium Blade Hull.

According to National Account Manager Cameron Wood the Trident is a big step for Quintrex: “The entire Trident range will fill a gap in the market and with so many included features such as the live-bait tank and tackle tray, they’re also great value,” he said at the launch.

PRICE AND EQUIPMENT

- Good value given the standard equipment

Quintrex offers all its boats in what it calls Instant Boating Packages. These are packages of boat, motor, trailer that also include basic safety equipment and registration. It’s a great idea because you know exactly where you stand financially.

Sure you can add optional extras to personalise it, but for a basic boat, ready to go fishing, the packages are great.

Our 610 Trident tipped the scales at $55,380 which is slightly optioned up from the standard price of $51,325. Options on the test boat included bimini, clears, storm cover, spare trailer wheel and cover, bunk infill and cushion, cabin cushions, Mega chopping board and a rear lounge.

The standard inclusions list is long so we won’t cover it all here. Suffice to say that you can buy one off the showroom floor and go fishing. Just remember your rod and your bait and maybe some refreshments and you’re out there.

Some of the standard equipment includes: live-bait tank, nav lights, mounted cutting board, burley bucket, kill tank, twin battery box, transom door and self-draining floor.

There are few things we’d add, namely a sounder/plotter and a VHF radio. But apart from that it’s a pretty sound package.

LAYOUT AND ACCOMMODATION

- Plenty of room in the big cockpit

The layout of the Trident is pretty standard fare for a cuddy/half-cab boat with a few exceptions.

Climbing aboard as we did from the port side, we noted the wide decks which offered a good foothold, and the standard sturdy rocket launcher which gave a terrific handhold. Stepping down into the carpeted cockpit, one gets a feeling of spaciousness. It’s a big clear area that could easily accommodate three or four burly anglers.

The cockpit is self draining through one-way scuppers on either side of the transom. If water does get past these and into the bilge it’ll be taken care of by the submersible bilge pump operated from the helm.

The cockpit is surrounded by deep side pockets on either side with room underneath for feet. A transom door is standard for getting in or out or for getting bigger fish aboard and the swim platform is plenty big enough to stand on.

Moving forward we found box-mounted seats for the skipper and co-pilot . The seats are great with excellent lumbar and lateral support for those bouncy days outside.

Steering is well-weighted hydraulic.

There is room on the fascia for a sounder/plotter unit which we saw on one of the other boats but none was fitted to the test boat. It left me wondering how much it would cost to have one fitted as standard equipment rather than having to pay full retail price after purchase.

I found the digital gauges a bit hard to read in certain light conditions.

There are nice, deep side pockets for the driver and passenger and waterproof glove box to put your valuables in on the port side. Between the seats is the 135-litre underfloor plumbed kill tank. It’s a good spot for the tank as it can be accessed while others are still fishing.

The walk-through screen and long cabin hatch provide easy access to the anchor which lives in an open well up front. There’s a bow roller and substantial alloy bollard for securing the ground tackle.

The cabin bunks are 6ft2in in the old money and quite comfortable. Our boat had the optional infill and cushions to make it into a fairly big double. Storage in the cabin is taken care of with the usual side pockets and under the bunks.

MECHANICAL AND HULL

- ‘Egg crate’ construction makes for a strong and rigid boat

In the production process of the Tridents, Quintrex uses aluminium which has been developed specifically for stretch forming. For the cognoscenti, it called 5251 H34 Temper which, we were told, is both flexible and strong.

The bottom of the Tridents is 5mm and the hull topsides are 3mm. The hull itself is an ‘egg crate’ construction supported by longitudinal and latitudinal fully-welded 5mm ribs over which is placed the checkerplate floor. This provides for a strong and rigid boat that’s ready to take on the seas.

Power for our test boat was provided by Evinrude in the form of a 150hp E-Tec. Minimum power is quoted as 115 with a maximum of 175. The 150 proved to be lovely motor for this application and good match. In our opinion the 115 might be a little light-on.

The fitment of the outboard was very neat with nice touches like the battery box designed for two batteries and plenty of room for isolator switches and the like.

The underfloor fuel tank holds 160 litres.

ON THE WATER

- We went fishing

So what does one do with an offshore fishing boat? Go offshore fishing of course.

We set out from the Gold Coast on an absolutely perfect Queensland morning. In fact, I hate to say it, but it was actually too perfect. Certainly not the conditions one would want for testing the sea-keeping abilities of an offshore fishing boat.

The Pacific looked more like a sheet of glass than an ocean, and as you can see by the photos there was no breeze. The biggest waves we saw were made by a pod of cavorting humpback whales!

But we persevered and headed out a few miles to try our luck.

Our Millennium-hulled Trident got us out there with no fuss. The standard trim tabs were a good inclusion and the hull cut through the tiny swells easily.

I found a comfortable fast cruise of around 25 knots at 4000rpm and although we didn’t try it, we were told that the rig was good for 35 knots at wide open throttle.

The aforementioned E-Tec is a lovely engine and is quiet enough for occupants to converse at normal levels when cruising out to the fishing grounds.

At 4000rpm we were using around 30 litres per hour giving about five hours of constant fast running. That equates to well over 100 nautical miles which is plenty for a boat of this size.

Try as we might, we could not catch a fish, but in trying we got to test the Trident in a variety of conditions -- fast cruise, trolling speed and drifting over a couple of reefs. One thing we did note was how stable the boat is at rest. With three or four burly blokes aboard, there was no problem moving about and we didn’t have to be overly cautious of the lateral trim of the boat when fishing.

The big, uncluttered cockpit offered plenty of room and there was heaps of storage for our gear.

Cruising back toward terra firma, we put the boat through its paces. We found the steering to be light, and the boat very manoeuvrable. It was stable through turns and didn’t have any undue cavitation of the prop.

VERDICT

- A good size for the job at hand

Overall, we liked the 610 Trident. Having had a quick spin on the bigger variants of the Trident, I’d probably lean toward the 610 simply because of its size. It’s small enough for one person to get it on and off the trailer, yet big enough to handle some light offshore work, as we proved.

It has a maximum load of eight people (which would be a bit cosy, we thought), but for a fishing party of, say four, it has plenty of room for fishermen and their gear.

The 150 E-Tec is a good match and can handle the weight of the crew and gear.

The boat feels sturdy and rigid under foot and gives a sense of security at sea. It’s a good package too, offering plenty of standard equipment for the average fisho with room to add more through the long options list.

Overall, a nice, comfortable package with a pretty good price.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Price as tested: $55,380
Priced from: $51,325
LOA: 6.16m
Beam: 2.4m
Draft: 1.4m
Length on trailer: 7.18m
Height on trailer: 2.6m
Bottom thickness: 5mm
Topsides: 3mm
Weight (boat only): 860kg
Total towing weight (BMT): 1450kg
Engine: 150hp Evinrude E-Tec
Max HP: 175
Min HP: 115
Fuel: 160 litres

Prices supplied by:

Steve Minahan
Caloundra Marine (Qld) Pty Ltd
8 Baldwin Street
Caloundra, 4551, Qld
T: 5491 1944
F: 5499 6455
E: steve@caloundramarine.com.au

For more information go to www.quintrex.com.au

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Quintrex 610 Trident

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