Razorline Olympian 7.2 Hardtop Deluxe

Beefed up Olympian

The Razerline Olympian 7.2 Hardtop Deluxe is a very serious fishing machine. I can imagine huge bluefin tuna flapping around vigorously on its spacious deck while you're bobbing around on monster swells miles off Portland in Victoria's southwest.

This big plate tinnie with the imitation Carolina "hip" and space-wasting cutaway stern still has acres of cockpit space to fish four big anglers no problem at all. Only trouble was, when we did the test we weren't miles off Portland, but just a few hundred metres off Geelong Yacht Club in the top end of Corio Bay.

Ah well, can't hook 'em all. The test boat was specially built through Geelong Boating Centre for a Torquay customer who uses it mainly to fish offshore there, via the beach ramp. Just hook up the Easytow dual-axle trailer (full Teflon skids) to the tractor, run the rig across the sand and dump the boat - easy.

Yeah, right. Give me a real ramp any day. Which begs the question: why doesn't a big town like Torquay have a boat ramp? But I digress...

TOUGH COMFORT
This Razorline is built for comfort...well, in a rugged sort of way. For example, the hardtop is excellent protection from spray and cold. And on warm days, you can pull out an extension D-pole from the hardtop to swing a shade cloth over to protect you from the sun.

The hardtop is fully lined and has a box on its leading edge just above the skipper's nose which houses the radios and stereo. Fantastic, everything within easy reach.

Three aerials are mounted on top along with three small solar panels and grabrails either side, vertically and horizontally. Non-skid, grey rubberised paint is a feature of not only the roof, but the forward deck and walkways around the bow, which features an enormously long bowsprit carrying an anchor with an open rope-hatch below the Muir 600 anchor winch.

On the trailing edges are white painted grabrails, both vertical and horizontal, with a six-pot rocket launcher. This is easily accessible, despite the very generous height of the hardtop. The windscreen is split into three, and is high and as solid as a rock, with a wiper on the driver's panel. Side windows have sliding panels. Three deck lights mounted on the rocket launcher are probably bright enough to attract calamari and there's another centrally mounted internally in the hardtop.

The cabin, behind a lockable sliding door, is a fairly standard set-up with the usual storage spaces under the bunks and a toilet in the vee. It's fully lined and as such, suppresses noise.

BUCKETS AND BINS
The stainless-steel framed chairs are not quite true buckets, but they do have armrests and swivel. They are mounted on storage bins with access doors in the rear. The test boat had a 59-litre Indel Isotherm fridge fitted into the passenger side bin. The driver's seat slides forward and back, but there is no height adjustment, not that you need it. If the going gets rough, you'll stand to drive anyway. And while on this point, one of these days an Australian trailerboat manufacturer will install a driver's seat with a swing-up bolster. They're fantastic in rough weather, and for docking.

The helm is spoked stainless steel with a docking knob. A compass is in front on the dash, with a panel containing digital instruments for the twin Yammie 115 four-strokes driving the beast. Front and centre is a Furuno GP-7000 C-map NT which is hooked through the Yamaha gauges. Mounted centrally on the dashboard's top, carpeted panel is a bit of overkill in the Koden CVS-883 colour sounder. The throttles on a side binnacle are well positioned.

The switch panel is behind the helm on the left with the anchor winch switch and fuel gauge. The checkerplate footrest is painted white like all non-water contact surfaces. An open carpeted shelf at the skipper's right elbow is quite deep and repeated on the other side of the boat.

The passenger also has a footrest and grabrail on the bulkhead, and the EPIRB, while sensibly mounted close to the passenger's left hand, is somewhat exposed and could be bumped involuntarily in bad weather. It would be better in a moulded recess (and, while I think of it, where was the fire extinguisher?).

COCK-A-HOOP
The self-draining cockpit is a fisherman's delight, with sidepockets long enough for a surf rod and wide enough for all sorts of gear. Central in the floor is an enormous wet bin, big enough for some very nice southern blues. Four stainless steel vertical rodholders have been mounted on the sidepockets to provide additional rod storage, but they will probably take some bark off wandering legs in rough weather.

The gunnels are wide and flat, with rubberised non-slip surfaces. Six rodholders, all angled differently, will handle a good lure spread. And the very large and solid sternposts should handle the biggest bitey.

The transom arrangement is interesting because while its design has some advantages, there are some minuses too. The cutaway is currently considered stylish and certainly looks ok, but it foreshortens the gunnels and pushes the top of the transom forward, meaning less interior space. Not that interior space is at a premium in this boat - there's acres of it. And there's no doubt it aids boarding. But maybe it restricts the size of the livebait tank which is built into the transom on the starboard side.

Centrally mounted is a sizable Teflon baitboard, built on top of a box with tackle drawers underneath. I shudder at the thought of gunk from the board dribbling down into those drawers, but maybe they're recessed sufficiently to avoid that.

The board is also equipped with two light rodholders, so the boat is certainly well equipped for rod storage.

Outboard on the transom the motors are mounted low and central to a built-in berley pot on the starboard side and a swing-down ladder on the port, which leads to a walkthrough protected by a lift-out panel. Both sides of the transom have vertical grabrails.

The bottom half of the transom has compartments for three batteries, all behind hatch covers and a deckhose is attached on the port side inside the sidepocket.

PERFORMANCE
Like all big plate tinnies, the Razorline struggles a bit into a headsea from a comfort perspective. It also had a tendency to lean into the breeze (and it was only a breeze). We tried to correct this sidesea attitude with a one-motor-up-and-one-down setting, but with limited success. The boat would have been better with trim tabs. A big hull like this needs all the help it can get.

And different props, perhaps. They were stainless steel and quite good in a straight line, but let go too easily in turning manoeuvres, when the boat appeared sluggish. At 17-inch maybe they were a little small, or perhaps four-bladers would have improved performance.

Downsea, and with plenty of trim, the twin Yamaha 115 four-stroke outboards pushed the boat to a WOT of 35.5kts at 6100rpm. It cruised comfortably at 22kts at 4300rpm.

At almost three tonnes on the trailer, this is no lightweight tinnie. The owner specified an upgrade of plate gauge, using 6mm on the bottom and 5mm on sides which certainly adds to the boat's toughness and there's no doubting that.

There's also no doubt that this is a serious, blood-n-guts fishing machine that will just require a quick hose-down after each trip and Bob's your uncle.

LOWS