Zodiac SRM 600

I can count on one hand the number of inflatable boats I've tested in the last decade. This is not through want of trying, but rather lack of opportunity. For too long the local boating industry has castigated inflatables as inefficient and wet when underway, and too delicate for day-to-day boating.

These old views have no relevance in the new inflatable-boat market. If you haven't been on a modern inflatable, it's worth a run before making your next boating buy.

Today's inflatables come with chic centre-consoles, runabout configurations, giant sunpads, iceboxes, swim ladders, bimini tops, and so on, and provide the type of comfort and user-friendliness you won't find elsewhere. They are also made from high-tech materials imposs ible to pull apart.

The Zodiac SRM 600 I tested was one of a kind a specialist craft made for a person with a busy life and clear ideas of what he wants from it.

A keen diver, Graeme Wright also has two sons who follow him down below. With them in mind, he came to Fenquin Marine in Sydney for a dive boat and the custom SRM 600 Zodiac he got may well be the ultimate 'ducky' for recreational diving.

HIGH IMPACT HULL
The 6.0m Zodiac rigid hull was chosen for its useful load-carrying capacity of up to 16 passengers, as well as its proven track record with rescue authorities and defence forces around the country.

In the last few years, inflatables have come to the rescue of a police boat floundering on a treacherous north coast bar, troops looking to land in war-torn Timor, Greenpeace activists chasing Japanese whaling boats, even that solo sailor Tony Bullimore.

Seeking similar things from his dive boat, Wright and sons ordered the heavy-duty SRM 600 hull. Unlike the conventional PVC material used for making most inflatables, the SRM 600 has heavy-duty hypalon tubing that can withstand torrid use.

The extra-thick glass hull has built-in lifting points, special quick-release scuppers for emptying a full boat of water, and for added security, the sponsons have internal socks. In the event of one of the five chambers going down, the hull will still keep its shape.

The air chambers are baffled and can be filled from just one interconnecting nozzle. If air pressure exceeds the maximum recommended in the chambers, the valves will release some air.

The tubes are inflated to around 2.5psi, while the hull is fine entry, with one strake each side of the keel and planing boards which provide lift at the transom much like foils fitted to outboards. A nice touch was the after-market KeelGuard added to the boat's forefoot.

FITTED-OUT FOR DIVING
Fenquin Marine were responsible for most of the fit-out for diving, designing a layout that can carry four divers, eight tanks, and their gear.

Internally, the hull has an excellent non-skid floor, and the raised bow offers seaworthiness and stability when anchoring, while being relatively open, with only a small cleat and an anchor locker.

The custom-made centre-console felt solid and secure for three people to hold onto, while containing a 110lt fueltank in its forward section and extra storage in recesses alongside the console and in a hatch below the wheel.

Other details included a sturdy stainless rail around the tinted perspex windshield, a stainless steering wheel linked to Hynautic hydraulic steering, and electronics such as a GME marine stereo, Apelco 550 GPS/sounder and GME 27mHz radio.

Behind the steering console is a separate aft console designed to carry eight dive tanks in racks. The padded leading edge worked perfectly as a leaning post for the skipper.

The owner also does a spot of fishing so he had a cutting board attached to the aft console, a small bait bin moulded in, and a livebait tank or cooler fitted inside. I thought the fit-up and engineering were beyond the standard usually achieved by boat dealers, with ingenuity evident on the stainless targa with three-stage folding stainless ladder.

BUDDY BOATING
I thought it would be a good idea to do the run across Botany Bay before the wind picked up, but any fears I had about getting wet were unfounded. The boat sat down on the water nicely where its fine bow cut through the waves. But the hull cut in only so far before rising on its sponsons and lifting over the swell. All the while it remains truly, amazingly, dry and, of course, very smooth and comfortable.

Fitted with a V-four 115hp Johnson OceanRunner, the SRM 600 was a 45kt boat based on the fact I managed 80kmh at 5300rpm into the wind.

Spinning a 19-inch prop, the hull hung in well on tight turns and didn't get too flighty into the wind with the engine trimmed right out.

Weighing around 500kg on trailer, the Zodiac rig is well within the capacity of most large craft's onboard davits. At $67,000, it's not the cheapest inflatable dive rig around. Then again, if you really value your time afloat or in this case down below this ducky will do everything asked of it.