Boat Owners

[Happy Dude]

We have just came back from cumbria having bought an orkney fastliner 16! This things got an old engine on her but a brand new auxillary, good trailer and full electrics again, and only paid 2500! The main difference I notice is the towing... it is amazing! Ive got a 1.6 astra estate and the trooper (500kg boat, 200 kg of trailer/batteries/anchors/steering systems etc, 150kg of engines, 30kg petrol = basically 900kg) was a real strain a lot of the time, but now im towing about 500kg and its just great! I feel so much more comfy towing this rig than before, since cost stops me upgrading to a bigger car/4x4. Plus we never seem to go more than a mile or two offshore and dont really need a 35 knot machine!

 

What I would say is that having a big bad fast boat isnt the only way to get out there fishing, and if you are careful you can do it on a budget. Why not try to buy/sell a boat for a little profit to help make the overall thing a bit more affordable?

 

PS happy dude you should technically have a braked trailer with the trooper, 750kg being the limit! Not trying to be smart though

 

hi dan,

 

my first boat was an orkney 16 foot fastliner 24 years ago

 

i had her for 10 years and had some fantastic trips all over scotland in her including many trips around luce bay catching my still standing PB's for pollack, tope, thornback ray, spurdog, wrasse and more.....

 

last year i fished on a friends fastliner 16 while i was on holiday and was filled with horror at how low the gunwales were and how slow she was considering we had to travel approx 10 miles to the marks he fishes

 

while we were heading back to the slip my friends wife phoned him to ask if i had enjoyed my days fishing and for a joke i shouted "he needs a faster boat!!"

 

within 2 months he had a brand new warrior 165 complete with 60hp motor

 

as for the trooper requirements, if it needed a braked trailer arnie at seahog would have to sell them with one, but these are an optional extra for this boat.

 

there are 4 guys in my boat club with troopers, only one has a braked trailer and he recently disconnected them because he is fed up with the constant maintenance.

 

no way mine weighs as much as my mates warrior 165.

 

if your source of info on the trooper is the seahog website, the weight for the trooper is wrong as they have it down as the same weight as a sealord/commodore, no chance, the sealord is a much, much heavier boat as i used to tow one for a friend and it definitely needed a braked trailer

[Glasgowdan]

I agree in practice most people wont use a braked trailer for a trooper, but i think sitting one on a weighbridge might show it to be pretty close to that weight.

 

10 miles offshore... we dont fish any marks that far off. I'm sure we could but dont feel the need really! Just dont have the money, the means or the will to own a big heavy fast boat for a while anyway... we have had them and didnt feel as comfy as with this fastliner.

 

Basically we are the type of guys to up and go camping/fishing for 3-4 days, maybe motor out to a small island and camp etc, and the easier it all is the better... we can manhandle this orkney down a beack and use the car to tow it back up again with a rope etc which you cant do with bigger boats!

 

Will see how it goes, considering getitng a newer engine for it soon but who knows.