Riviera 36SC

I met Paul Whelan in Port Stephens, where he was parked 'til the end of April. He has since driven his new gamefishing rig, a Riviera called Maverick, back to its home berth at Laguna Quays (Qld), where the owners plan to wet a line and wander about the Whitsundays on weekends.

A highly-credentialled gamefishing skipper, Whelan stands behind the ability of this new factory-rolled gameboat as if he were a faithful employee of the Riviera factory. He has just completed his 30th season off Cairns, so his views hold some water.

At the time of writing, in the five weeks since February 6, 2002, when this Riviera 36 Single Cabin was launched, Whelan had clocked up 1491nm. Most of this was from the Gold Coast to Port Stephens, the rest in and out of The Bay for the 2002 Interclub Game Fishing Tournament, with some mid-week runs to boot.

Over the ensuing years, Whelan hopes to skipper this factory-rolled gamefishing boat for the Cairns heavy-tackle season, Port Stephens and, perhaps, even a trip to Bermagui.

The boat's owner, Patrick Ricci, is an even better advertisement for Riviera. An ex-charterer who has fished with Whelan on Sea Baby II and Devil's Pride, Ricci is now on his fourth Riviera. Like Whelan, he has nothing but praise for these production boats. Having said that, this 36SC is a bit different to the run-of-the-mill Riviera.

Indeed, the Riviera 36SC is unlike other cruising-orientated Rivieras because it is the one factory-rolled model that can be ordered with a fully dedicated gamefishing layout. You may have seen it in advertisements for the original Riviera 36 dubbed the Pro Tournament edition. It was designed with input from a number of well-credentialled gamefishing skippers, such as Bob Jones.

Maverick is a new version of the original blue boat that launched Riviera's foray into the fishing boat market. While owners and drivers of custom gamefishers may scoff at the Riviera 36, they ought not to. Says Whelan, this a great boat for owners and/or drivers who want to fish tournaments, entertain, cruise and head away for weekends with partners.

The purposefulness of this gameboat has impressed Whelan and Ricci. The owner is happy with his big-little boat. While he conceded it has a fair amount of aftermarket material, he also makes the point that most of the work was organised by his local dealer, Riviera Sales Melbourne, without the usual custom boat fuss.

"I was really pleased with the Melbourne dealer and how well it came together from afar. First I saw of my boat was a pic of it with its tower on. Never did I have to put in time going up and down to the factory, supervising things. It more or less just happened," explains Ricci.

Ricci looked around at other brands, but felt the Riviera was the best boat for filling both fishing and pleasure boating roles. This is where this boat has the edge over one-trick-pony gamefishers. To say women warm to this boat's interior is like saying marlin eat scad.

"It has some creature comforts and the single cabin works wonderfully," says Ricci. "You can sit inside and look out the central saloon door. All you miss out on is kids' accommodation. It may sound selfish, but I bought this boat for me."

SKIPPER'S VIEW
Whelan, in case you don't know, is one of the most revered skippers in Australia. He started out crewing on gameboat Kanahoee in Cairns, skippered the Hooker, Ocean Piper II and III, and owned Sea Baby II. Currently, he owns the Black Watch 34, Devil's Pride. So, you could say he has some idea of how gameboats perform.

So 'Wheels', how does the Riviera 36 travel? Its favourite angle isn't smack-bang into a headsea, but like all 30-footers once you kick it off on an angle there are no worries at all. And in a following sea it runs like a scalded cat, he says, hands-free on autopilot - a good test of any seaboat.

Whelan tends to use his trim tabs more with this boat than, say, his Black Watch 34. Into a headsea, it is important not to overtab the boat, he says. As the hull is quite full up front, it can be a bit wet.

But lift your tabs and get the nose up a touch and it is much drier. And downsea it surfs like a malibu without any tabs at all. By using the tabs, says Whelan, you can change the boat from wet to dry and also from hard to soft riding.

As for manoeuvrability, the Riviera 36 is surprising considering its engines are close together, flanked by the boat's water tanks. Whelan's only real criticism is that they could mount the engines further apart. Then again, you might lose some of the space in the saloon and clearance over the motors.

The delivery trip from the Gold Coast via Coffs Harbour took eight hours. Whelan left the Seaway and turned right into a residual 2m headsea and 15kt southeast wind. With full tanks, the boat cruises at around 21-22kt at 2400rpm. The twin Cummins 370hp diesel engines give an extra knot or two as the load lightens. (As a quick aside, Whelan doesn't carry much junk on his gameboat. Unlike most recreational boaties, he is aware of the cost savings associated with lessening the weight of a boat.)

At the maximum continuous running setting of 2800rpm, the Cummins give 26kt and a factory apparent consumption of 57.6lt/hr per engine. Flat-out, the boat will pull 29.9kt.

The bottom line is that people should have no qualms about taking the Riviera 36 to faraway places. It is perfectly adept at passagemaking, with a good degree of seaworthiness and stability. In fact, the Riviera 36 looks and feels more like a 40-footer.

It is nothing if not a big 36 on the water.

SPECIAL WITH THE LOT
Whelan is partly responsible for the Cabo-like clean lines of Maverick. He achieved this by removing the black trim lines on the cabin and superstructure. The addition of a custom Black Marlin Towers tuna tower is icing on the cake.

When ordering a boat like this, Riviera first wants to know exactly what the customer wants. Basically, you tick a box for this option or that and the factory delivers the boat. Extras are fitted on-site by sub-contractors. So what was ordered from Riviera?

The instructions were for a 36SC without a hardtop, no clears or front cabin window, no stainless steel aft bridge rails, no ladder up from the cockpit, sans rodholders, outriggers and a gamechair. Yes, the black cabin trim lines were left out, but a few basic factory options were included.

The factory-fitted options were an additional 400lt fuel tank forward, a second livebait tank in the cockpit (made by plumbing the sub-floor kill tank), padded coamings and teak decks.

This left a boat on which Black Marlin Towers could wield and weld its magic with anodised aluminium. The tower includes the boat's aft rails, rocket launchers and clear-away holders for bent butts on the cockpit struts. There is a new ladder from the cockpit floor (more a series of steps) that improves access to the bait freezer.

On-site contractors also fitted four Lees swivel-gimbal heavy-duty rodholders - the kind that lets you swing the rod in any direction when taking it from the holder - plus a pair of black Reelax poles and a Reelax 130lb chair that was through-bolted to the backing-plate already built into the boat.

Even though Riviera doesn't build survey boats, a custom high-volume engine-driven pump system was fitted. The Riviera 36SC comes standard with just a H/C handheld transom shower and a small saltwater washdown pump.

The belt-driven pump drains the three underfloor compartments quicker than the standard issue bilge pumps as well as providing a high-powered raw-water deck hose. It will also be used to provide water to the tuna tubes that Whelan will fit in due course.

FISHING CENTRE
To me, the cockpit is the highlight of the Riviera 36SC. It is very roomy - big enough for a team of four anglers and deckies or more - with excellent ergonomics thanks to cambered teak decks and padded coamings that hit at your lower-thigh level and can be removed from their tracks.

The cockpit provides plenty of floor space and a good sense of security, even though some tracemen might argue they want more height. The open-ended hawsepipes in the transom corners will be removed and closed-up and a small infill section of padded coaming added at a later date. Coaming height works well with saltwater fly and stand-up tackle.

There is no boarding platform, of course, and the central marlin door opens outwards instead of inwards, like that on the standard Rivieras. There is a big scupper below the door to which Whelan has added a simple bungee cord and jammer. He can now back-up at 5kt and the cockpit stays dry. Pull the cord and the scupper works a treat.

The boat comes standard with twin transom lockers, twin side lockers and two additional lockers near the steps up to the sidedecks. Interestingly, these latter lockers have a 24/32V plug for Whelan's electric teaser reels. Fuel shut-offs are located to port and the boat's master battery system to starboard.

Whelan plans to make fibreglass covers for the exposed wires that lead to the tabs on the transom - just in case a bill rips them out - but he has no plans to change the excellent amenities centres under the bridge overhang.

Fronting the saloon windows is a rigging centre on the starboard side with a sink, work table, four plastic tackle drawers, plus a large storage area with the transformer for the Lingren/Pittman electric cranks fitted to the two 12/0 Penn Senator teaser reels.

To port is the boat's bait freezer. For Cairns, Whelan plans to convert this into a brine tank and to fit an additional freezer in the flybridge. It must be said that for heavy-tackle marlin fishing, the standard amount of bait freezer room is pretty light-on. Then again, this is not an out-and-out Cairns boat.

Underfloor is a giant livebait tank fed by the aftermarket engine-driven pump, which was created by plumbing the standard oval-shaped kill tank. This was added because there was concern over the effectiveness of the in-transom livebait tank. They needn't have worried.

Whelan says he has carried schools of slimies aboard and not lost one livie. Factory-standard, the oval tank is fed by a bilge pump as well as a recirculator that transfers water from the depths and sprays it back to the surface. There are switches for both bait pumps located under the bridge overhang.

A hatch through to the lazarette and steering gear and another hatch to starboard to a sub-floor storage locker - big enough to accommodate an outboard and a duckie - are standard issue on the Riviera 36SC. The companionway step is also a hatch to the engines, genset, water heater, fridge unit and so on. It is a little tight getting in between the engines, but once inside the space opens up considerably.

Dual Racor fuel filters have been fitted in case of contaminated fuel. The strainers are near the engineroom steps, and there is a remote 12V oil pump.

Whelan specified low-maintenance PSS shaft seals. The exhaust system - with a muffler, unlike Devil's Pride - is especially quiet. Air-conditioning will be retro-fitted before the boat spends too much time in the tropics.

The sidedecks are laid-out in typical Riviera fashion, with lots of handrails and a raked bowrail that helps keep you contained. Everything but a four-man liferaft is standard up front. There is enough flat space, even on this 36-footer, to cast fly lines and, if that's your bag, set shark baits.

The side-opening windows work a treat and help deliver plenty of fresh air inside. Whelan says there are absolutely no leaks, either. The central door into the saloon is a vast improvement over the offset door fitted to the rest of the Riv range and with the deeper windows on this boat, you get a great view from the inside to the wake and surrounding sea.

In a nutshell, the 36SC's cockpit is very angler-friendly. It has a full-blooded fishing layout, good seats for crew on the lids of the freezer and rigging centre, and the moulded steps up to the sidedecks are also handy bumrests. Make no bones about it, the boat can be set up to win tournaments.

WHELAN'S OFFICE
The custom ladder (more a series of steps) leading to the bridge was made to improve access to the bait freezer. It ensures seating for the crew on the freezer lid, although there is a large step needed to reach the bridge. Whelan says that's just fine - it helps keep people out of his office.

Whelan changed the mounting system on the bases of the twin Pompanette helmseats so they could be removed. He prefers just one co-pilot seat and no helmseat on this boat, as the helmseat restricts the view to the cockpit, diminishes driving room when facing aft and clashes with the co-pilot seat.

In fishing mode, Whelan drives from the bridge in the co-pilot seat and drops out the helmseat. In cruising mode, he will put the helmseat back in its base.

Most times, however, you will find him in the tower. He only leaps down to the bridge after a fish is well-hooked.

The custom bridge rail has six rodholders and another four rodholders for clearing away bent-butt outfits in the cockpit. A big bait fridge will be added under the lounge ahead of the console, which is big enough for the skipper to sleep on when anchored on The Reef. There is no drinks fridge - Whelan scoffs at the idea - but there is good access to all the wiring under the console.

The bridge hardtop is a neat bit of work from Black Marlin Towers, and includes an overhead radio box. Whelan only uses VHF.

The console cannot fit two 10-inch screens, however, it looks smart with a carbon dash insert. And with the latest HSB2 system on his 2002 Raymarine gear, Whelan can show whatever data he wants on his single 10-inch screen or the smaller 7.6-inch screen alongside.

Whelan's chosen Raymarine pack includes a 650 autopilot, RL70C 24nm radar, and Raymarine L1250 hi-po sounder that doubles as a chartplotter as well as taking radar overlays and tide info. The sounder, while touted as a 1000 fathom job, shows 600 fathoms okay. Moreover, it marks marlin: "like a beauty".

A good production bridge, the Riviera 36 is now even better with carbon-fibre dash inserts. There were chrome-rimmed Cummins engine gauges and a stereo remote control as standard, but the fuel tank switch, raw-water pump switch, and engineroom temp gauges were extras.

Finally, the Icom VHF has two-way speakers in the cockpit, bridge foredeck and tower. Inside the saloon is an Iridium satphone and a laptop. Up top, the tower has a neat fold-down seat, twin 7.6-inch Raymarine screens, VDO tachos and a spotlight control. Here, and on the bridge, the gearshifts and fingertip electronic Morse controls operate with little, if any delay.

INDOOR LIVING
Full marks for the central door, low saloon windows and subsequent view from inside to the cockpit and wake, although the hinged saloon door might be better if it was a sliding number. By the way, Riviera, owner Ricci said should you make a similar layout on the 40 then he will consider upgrading to it.

The finish is really quite spectacular; light and bright, airy and contemporary, not at all dissimilar to a modern apartment. There is camel carpet, white liners, cafe latte-coloured leather lounges, white crepe curtains, high-gloss teak joinery, fresh air, and natural and overhead lighting.

There is an L-shaped leather lounge to port, a dinette that drops to form an impromptu double - a good angler bed - and another adult-length lounge opposite that converts to a pullman berth. Whelan uses the huge locker underneath to store tackle.

A teak cabinet under the blanked-in forward window harbours a cocktail cabin, cutlery drawers, glass drawers, CD locker and TEAC television and DVD player. Four lockers alongside hold the satphone and computer.

Though it is set down two steps, the galley isn't so far removed as to be anti-social. The U-shaped Granicoat benchtops surround a big sink, half home-sized fridge, two-burner electric cooktop and convection microwave. Space for storing provisions is boosted by a massive sub-floor hold. There is somewhere to store the pots, a big white headliner that can be wiped clean, plus an extractor fan.

The head - to starboard, down another few steps - is the size of that in a 40-something footer. Think lots of floor space, a Granicoat vanity, teak-trimmed mirror, frosted hatch for privacy, separate shower stall under which you can stand, Vacuflush loo and, yes, an extractor fan.

With just a single cabin, the owners are treated to a big, first-class island berth with an inner spring mattress and, in this case, a lovely factory-fitted copper-coloured bedspread. The walls are lined with soft-touch vinyl, a big hatch brings in light and storage exists in massive hanging lockers and under the bed.

Headroom throughout the Riviera 36SC is really very good. As mentioned, Whelan plans to fit air-conditioning, which will doubtless make that master cabin even more comfortable when sleeping off Cairns. All up, the boat is very livable for a couple over weekends or weeks and for a team of, say, four, during tournaments. After all, ask most anglers and they will say they are only too happy to sleep in the saloon.

WHELAN ON WORLD RECORDS
Whelan says the flash new Riviera 36SC, Maverick, will catch world-record fish - don't you worry about that. As a skipper of choice for light-tackle exponents chasing world records, that's saying something.

His preferred fishing method is entirely switchbaiting these days. Hence, those electric reels and the custom-made teaser rods. Probe a little deeper and you will find he also has a professional licence and, a few times a year, Whelan handlines red emperor on the reef.

This explains why I found some fresh gemfish fillets in the freezer on Maverick. A drop in 98 fathoms off Port Stephens had yielded two gemfish plus some mega kings. I took a piece home. Yum. But I digress.

Maverick presents a compelling argument for buying a production-made 36-footer to go both gamefishing and pleasure boating. For the former, the boat really does work. In the short time Whelan and owner Ricci have run Maverick, they have tagged five blue marlin to 180kg and three striped marlin, including a NZ-sized fish estimated at 140kg.

Now Riviera, about that 40-footer???