Whittley Cruisemaster CR2800

The big achiever

Everything about Whittley's new flagship, the Cruisemaster CR 2800, is BIG.

It towers above its aluminium trailer like a Trojan horse. It is certainly the largest fibreglass, legally trailerable boat built in Australia. Maybe there's a bigger trailerable tinny around somewhere but I'm unaware of it.

It has an LOA of 8.9 metres or 29.16ft. It has a BMT (boat, motor, trailer) dry weight of 3236kg, according to Whittley, up 236kg on the model it replaces, the Cruisemaster 700.

The Land Cruiser/Patrol genre of 4WDs have a maximum braked tow weight of 3500kg (though, I'm led to believe those ratings will jump to 4000kg with new models soon).

And with a beam of 2.5m, it doesn't require towing permits as most large - and wider - American trailerable boats do. You just look at this thing and say WOW!

Inside the new Whittley is just as awesome. At one stage, I noted that the headroom around the area of the cabin bulkhead was a little tight, but then had to remind myself that this was, after all, a trailerboat with a hull length of just 7.5m, not a 15-metre gin palace! The fittings and furnishings are traditional Whittley quality as is the finish.

The Whittley family is very proud of their new flagship. It represented an investment of $1.2m in R&D but the dividends are coming through with most dealers having already sold their annual allocation of boats.

Whittley plans to build eight boats a month at its Campbellfield plant in Victoria and another eight at the company's plant in Georgia, USA. In fact, there is a strong US influence in the boat's fit-out and design, without compromising the feedback Whittley gets from its Aussie customers. The company currently builds 1000 trailerboats a year in Australia in cruising, fishing and now, ski genres. It has re-branded all boats to meet international marketing benchmarks.

WEIGHT SAVINGS
The new Cruisemaster was in-house CAD designed from top to bottom. In building such a large trailerable vessel, weight was perhaps the major issue. Wherever it can be saved it has been. For example, decks and hatches are made from a glassed over super lightweight but strong honeycombed sheet product called PVC Core.

Another weight-saver is the specially built all-aluminium trailer from Trailermade of Shepparton in central Victoria, a company in which Whittley has an interest. The on-road weight savings from these trailers for the company's bigger models can run into 200 to 300 kg.

Whittley is following the US trend to aluminium trailers for its boats for several reasons. For example, the outboard-powered CR2590 (formerly the 660) weighs 2435kg on a steel trailer (max. 635kg) which, in practical terms, knocks out medium 4WDs such as Pajero and Prado as tow vehicles. But put the boat on an aluminium trailer and you open up a whole new (and very large) market.

The CR2800 hull, built with full glass stringers and foam filled, is an absolute beauty. Gone is the chitty-chitty-bang-bang ride (without the chitty-chitty bit) and in its place is a hull which is just as comfortable in 20kts as it is in a still backwater.

Test day was quite sloppy off Williamstown on Port Phillip Bay with a 20-knot northerly throwing up an ideal chop to play around in. The big boat handled it beautifully, in whichever direction we ran and at whatever speed. Trimmed right out, we clocked a top speed of 38kts at 5200 rpm from the Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI motor, a 5.7lt V8 tied to a Bravo 3 duo-prop leg, and cruised very nicely at 30kts at 4000rpm.  At rest stability couldn't be faulted.

Looking down the long nose from the bridgedeck I felt like I was in a much larger boat and yet handling was more akin to a trailerboat. I could throw the boat in all directions without fear of anything funny happening. It was very nimble in turns, however I did find during these exercises  that I was blinded by the hardtop as the boat heeled over. The solution to that is simply to slide back the electric sunroof and stick your head out into the air.

I was a bit wary of opening the hardtop for fear of water coming through and making a mess of a brand new boat but I needn't have worried because at no stage did we get more than a few drops on the windscreen.

Naturally, such a large boat is going to be affected by windage at slow speeds, but a bowthruster takes care of that. Yep, on a trailerboat!

THE LOOKS
The CR2800 is a good looker too, with a raised foredeck which features a sunpad, anchor-carrying bowsprit, huge twin-hatch anchor well, concealed electric winch, split bowrail and a narrow but effective walkaround deck.

The deck sweeps up into a very stylish hardtop which features electric sunroof and luggage rack, ideal for carrying small tenders. The hardtop extends back to cover the entire boat, with camper cover clears closing everything off cosily at night or during bad weather. Interestingly, the clears run on slides with press studs in the corners to help keep heat in better.

Step into the boat and you're on Berber carpet throughout, with the cabin in brown and beige shades. The ‘stateroom', for it is more than a typical vee-bunk arrangement, is an entertainment area one minute and master bedroom the next. It features bunks covered in soft brown suede over thick foam cushions with the roof a bone padded vinyl for ease of cleaning.

A flat screen TV is mounted on the forward bulkhead with speakers either side. This is driven from a multi-media CD/DVD player mounted near the table on the starboard side which drops to form the bed. Naturally, there's storage under the cushions and around the wide parcel shelf. A slimline hanging cupboard abuts the head. While a little cramped, most women could stand up in the head. This has a vacuum flush toilet (with paper holder hidden behind a waterproof flap), shower (pressurized hot water), small handbasin, privacy curtains over the window, light, exhaust fan and waterproof toiletry shelf behind smoked acrylic complete with toothbrush holders and cupholder. The door, on a full-length piano hinge, is jarrah finished ply, as is all the woodwork on the boat.

The galley is on the port side and features a two-burner metho stove, sizeable stainless steel sink, Samsung microwave, Waeco fridge, and cupboard space and basket shelving.

Natural light comes through an overhead hatch on gas struts, long, stylized side windows and the wide doorway when open.

A lockable, sliding, curved door made from jarrah-finished steamed ply gives complete privacy.

COMPREHENSIVE HELM
The skipper's position at the small, car-like helm is on a good, wide seat with comfortable backrest. The multi-level instrument panel features a Navman Trackfish 6600, twin Faria digital gauges, switchpanel, Navman VHF7000 radio, bowthruster joystick, key start, windlass and trim tab controls on the right side panel. It's comprehensive and clear.

The throttle is well placed on the right with a cupholder handy near the right knee. Under foot is a coolbox or optional space for a fridge-freezer. A bar is worked into the back of the seat.

The navigator's seat is smaller than the skipper's and perhaps a little too upright. There's an open storage shelf at knee height, a grabhandle on the left and a small shelf on the dash in front beside the sliding door. A huge storage box under the seat houses the optional air con unit.

Tinted side windows have sliding panels, and wide and long side pockets contain stainless steel cupholders.

Usually in a boat this size, the sterndrive takes up a fair bit of space in the cockpit but not so in the CR2800. It is cleverly concealed beneath the bolster covered transom and rear L-shaped lounge. The starboard side features another fold-down lounge which, combined with the removable table, forms another double bed. The table is stored in a hatch on the underside of the hardtop. Again: clever.

The transom features a fold-down step on the starboard side for easy access from the swim platform and a rear coolbox or livebait well. Odd that, because the boat has no rodholders apart from a couple of multi-purpose pipes on the barbecue stand at the rear of the swim platform! Do cruising types not wet a line occasionally?

The swim platform is enormous and contains a drained wetbin for swim wear etc., and a telescopic boarding ladder. Stainless steel grabrails are handy here and on the cockpit sides, and there are six cleats on the boat - stern, midships and bow.

There is also a very large ski locker in the cockpit floor which also houses the small (relatively) 200lt fuel tank. Larger capacity options are available for owners which don't intend to trail their boat.

What have I missed? Probably heaps of things, such is the attention to detail on the CR2800. However, if you're really into optioning up, go for the solar panels, auto-levelling trim tabs, bowthruster, air con and maybe a diesel donk. Then buy an F250 to tow it!

In summary, if you've got the cojones to tow this monster, go for it, you'll certainly love the on-water bits. The CR2800 is certainly a very civilized way to go trailer boating.