Wellcraft centre consoles hit the Gold Coast

HiOctane Marine at Runaway Bay has taken on the Wellcraft boats distributorship for Queensland. The boats are powered by Mercury outboards in single and dual configurations.

Of course, Wellcraft is a banner U.S. brand dating back to 1955 and really made a name for itself in the 70s, 80s and 90s with the Scarab line of sportsboats. Think Miami Vice.

Now owned by the Beneteau Group, the world’s largest boatbuilder today, the Wellcraft brand offers a line-up of 18-30ft centre consoles — including hot models with Scarab performance packs— dual consoles for family and fishing, and walkaround boats with a tad more accommodation.

HiOctane Marine, the new Wellcraft dealership on the Gold Coast, is headed by Tim Stessl, who has worked with various key American centre console brands before.

"The Wellcraft centre consoles have do have more creature comforts, amenities like toilets, upholstery packages, and family orientated options, yet they are still great offshore riding hulls due to the Wellcraft Scarab history.

"The boats have big live wells, insulated fish boxes, a plethora rod holders, rocket launchers and other serious fishing features. They are hardcore fishing rigs and we’re going to fish some tournaments next year," Stessl says.

A good fit for Gold Coast boaters, the Wellcrafts could be considered crossover centre consoles. With all the flash upholstery, they look sharp. Yet you can remove all that and put to sea to tackle some big fish as well.

The first Wellcraft to arrive at HiOctane is a 242 Fisherman with twin 200hp L4 Mercury Verado outboards (pictured) that hits about 95km/h (51 knots) loaded — it is a fast boat by any measure.

The second boat to lob here is a 302 Fisherman with twin 400R Mercury outboards, which also cracked 50 knots with full fuel, while the next one to arrive is a Wellcraft Scarab Offshore 222 with a 200hp Verado L6 outboard.

Other Wellcraft models on order include the 182, a Fisherman and Scarab Offshore model, and there will be a 202 thereafter. The Gold Coast dealership is heading to Miami boat show in February to hook up with a new sportscruiser range of boats.

More at HiOctane Marine.