Quickboat
The 12' Quickboat is mostly used during our annual sojourn to Ningaloo Station. Prior to it's purchase I had a Porta-bote (see below) and before that mainly used a sea kayak for snorkelling and a limited amount of fishing. I have kept the 9.8HP Tohatsu from the old boat and it is ideal for the Quickboat. This boat really does live up to it's name and takes less than five minutes to assemble from zipped up carry bags to putting the outboard on! It is extremely seaworthy (inside the reef) and enables us to have all the benefits of boating whilst towing a van and without carrying a heavy aluminium dinghy on the car roof. The boat travels on the roof rack of the car along with a sea kayak and a stand-up paddle board.
To enable easy launching from the beach I made a lightweight aluminium trolley which dismantles and is light enough to travel on the roof of the car. The Wheeleez ( http://beachwheelsaustralia.com/ ) beach wheels are ideal on the soft sand.
A mop bucket from Bunnings makes an ideal anchor box and is secured to the bow with an aluminium bracket to keep it out of the way and prevent it sliding backwards. A notch was cut each side of the bucket lip to accommodate the anchor prongs.
A hydrofoil ( http://www.ozpropellers.com.au/ ) helps get the boat up on the plane quickly even with four people on board. This with the aid of a tiller extension enables the front seat to be used making for a much better ride when only one person is on board.
A ladder (most marine shops) mounted on the transom using a pair of downrigger brackets ( http://www.thecoverguys.com.au/ ) enables easy access to and from the boat which is essential as we do a lot of snorkelling and swimming from the boat on the Ningaloo Reef.
I kept the fish finder box from the old Porta-bote. The transducer was mounted using a suction handle (Bunnings) cut in half and reticulation fittings screwed together to form a pole with the transducer bolted to a 'T' fitting.
Scotty kayak fittings from the USA (http://www.amazon.com/ ) lend themselves nicely to the Quickboat. A clamp is available which will accommodate a range of fittings including rod holders and a bait board.
Porta-bote (Now Upgraded to a Quickboat)
Since it's acquisition I have found it to be fantastic for getting on to the reef top for a feed of Spangled and Red Throat Emperor. It handles a surprising amount of swell and chop with ease and I have surfed down small swells in it without problems. I have even loaded my stand-up paddle board in it for a trip out to the reef for a surf. The Bote had a 5HP Mercury on it when I bought it but I quickly realized that this was totally inadequate. The change to a 9.8HP Tohatsu (which is the same weight and size as a 6HP or 8HP) has made a world of difference and it will manage the weight of up to four adults without a problem. It loads easily on the roof rack with the seats underneath it and the motor on the floor behind the passenger seat. It takes about thirty minutes to set up (I wouldn't like to do this regularly, but once done it lives on the beach for a couple of months). I upgraded the supplied wheel mounts with a pair of beach wheels, then attached a grab handle on each side of the bow to make getting the boat from the water a lot less taxing. It is now a breeze to move in the soft sand. Padded seats from BCF were simple to install.
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A Place In The Sun 2019
