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Trailerboat trialsBY SAM MOSSMAN

Senator Offshore 1020In the October issue of Fishing News, we ran a story by Firmans Marine boss Brian Firman covering the delivery run, by sea, of the Senator Offshore 1020 Gran Lady from the Bay of Islands to Norfolk Island.

This is a distance of 516 nautical miles and was planned in the greatest detail, with safety the highest priority. Even with noth-ing left to chance and a totally trouble-free 25-hour run, I have no doubt that a number

of people were resting easier when the trip was successfully completed.

The big Senator is for charter fishing work out of Norfolk by new owners Kerry and Malcolm Douran, so is set up as a hard-core fishing boat, with a couple of features particular to Norfolk fishing that I had become familiar with after visiting the island about a year ago.

Brian Firman had kept me in the loop on this project, and I took the opportunity to travel to Napier and check the boat out before it left for its delivery run, far to the north.

ConstructionThis aluminium-plate construction incor-

porates 6mm bottoms, 5mm sides, and 4mm topsides and cockpit floor. Under the deck there are eight longitudinal supports plus a keel bar. Laterally, there are seven frames plus a collision bulkhead in the bow. Chines are fully seam-welded, butted plates. The keel line is also fully seam-welded inside and out, then strengthened with a flat plate welded in, full length, sitting a little above the vee of the hull and forming a triangle in section. The hull design has a fine entry, 18° deadrise, down-turned tapering chines and no planing strakes.

Two sealed buoyancy chambers are incorporated into the construction of the hull – one under the floor on each side of the cockpit, providing about 4500kg of buoyancy. This equates (I think) to around 1700kg of reserve buoyancy.

The chequerplate decks are sealed and drained by two large scuppers under the transom. Under-deck compartments can be connected by bungs, and a 2000gph float switch-operated pump is situated in the bilges. A fish hold, under-deck near the stern, can be bung drained or pumped out by another float switch-operated bilge pump. For survey purposes, a manual pump is fitted under a cockpit seat with four sealed fire-hose fittings that allow different areas of the hull to be pumped by hand if necessary.

Fuel is supplied from a single 850-litre under-floor tank, with individual pick-ups and fuel filters fitted in the transom lockers. The fuel port is on the coaming and is sen-sibly surrounded by a spill-containment bar-rier with an overboard drain. The under-floor tank too, is surrounded by a fuel-containment area – a new survey requirement.

Individual electrical systems are fitted for each engine, with dual batteries on each side located in sealed lockers in the transom walls.

This rig is pushed by twin outboards on transom brackets. A walkway extends between them and the boarding ladder, which is mounted there, and has locking pins that allow it to double as a safety rail when raised.

Several custom fittings have been added for Norfolk conditions. (I should explain that there are no sheltered anchorages at the island, and boats are lifted from the water by crane from one of two wharves at the end of each trip.) Gran Lady was fitted with four heavy-duty lifting lugs to facili-tate this. There is often a fair bit of surge around the wharves too, and a pair of heavy rub rails were fitted on each side to protect the hull from any damage.

At the Napier Sailing Club ramp, a large mobile crane arrived to test the strength of the lifting lugs and the balance of the boat when it was up on the strops. She sat nice and flat – the calculations had been spot on.

Overall, the level of finish was excellent.

Power and performanceAt just over ten metres this is a big boat,

weighing approximately five tonnes. It is powered by twin Yamaha 225hp four-stroke outboards, turning 17-inch pitch counter-rotating props. It was a cold winter’s day, but blue skied with crisp white snowcaps on the Kawekas, Kaimanawas and Ruahines. We had a small weather window in an otherwise atrocious spell of weather, and Hawkes Bay was rolling in a big open swell of one-and-a-half metres as we left Napier to give the big girl a run.

A speed trial in protected waters saw a GPS reading of an even 40 knots (74kph) at 5800rpm. That is very impressive for a five-tonne, thirty footer! Maximum listed rev range for these outboards is 5000-6000, so there is room to go to a slightly coarser pitch if required.

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The ride? Well, it would take a lot of sea to unsettle a boat of this size. The hull was developed for Hawkes Bay conditions, which can involve long runs over exposed open waters to get to the really good offshore fishing hotspots. If the weather turns, it can be a long run home if you need to slow right down for the sea conditions. We headed north around the Bay and, needless to say, the big open swell that was running did not trouble us, and with a full cabin and wheelhouse we were very comfortable, thank you. Spray and cold winds are not an issue here, and just as importantly, in the summer there is some-where to get out of the sun.

Visibility was good, both seated and standing, through the six-millimetre tough-ened glass screen (sliding side windows are four millimetre). The Teleflex hydraulic steering worked fine, and a Coursemaster autopilot was also fitted.

AnchoringAlthough drift fishing is the norm up at

Norfolk Island and sheltered anchorages are sparse, the value of a good anchoring system is much more important in New Zealand. As suits its size and weight, the Senator has substantial ground tackle.

A Sarca anchor is permanently mounted on the fairlead/bowsprit. A Maxwell 800 chain and warp capstan is fitted, and feeds into one of two large, hatched anchor lock-ers. This is controlled by a dash-mounted control with a thermal overload. A heavy-duty bollard is welded to the foredeck.

Although the anchoring can all be done from the helm position, it is easy to get

around the cabin sides to the bow, should any sorting or anchor changing be needed in the anchor well. There are good sized bulwarks, plenty of hand holds and big bow rails.

LayoutThis is a full cabin boat. The fore-cabin is

fully lined, and has four full-length berths, with stowage under the bottom two. A hatch accesses further stowage space back under the wheelhouse deck. Cabin lights are fit-ted. The wiring and electrics behind the console are accessed through two screw-off plates. It is a tidy installation and looks easy to work on if necessary.

The wheelhouse/main cabin sports a large dash covered in marine carpet with teak edg-ing. Comfortable bench seats with footrests are used at the helm for passengers, with stowage space underneath. A fixed dining/chart table is added, and under the helm seat is space for a chilly bin, or as fitted in Gran Lady, a Vitrifrigo refrigerated chest.

The helm set up is cleanly recessed into the console. Full Yamaha instrumenta-tion and controls are fitted, including fuel computer and twin-throttle controls. The wheel is an attractive wood and stainless ‘destroyer’ type, and gas detector, autopilot, capstan and bilge pump controls are also at hand. Full Furuno electronics include a VHF and the very impressive Navnet sys-tem. The latter features a large colour LCD screen, which can display sounder, GPS plotter, radar and DVD, or various combi-nations. As we headed out of Port Ahuriri, for example, the split-screen display was showing the sounder and GPS plotter, while

the Eagles ‘Hell Freezes Over’ concert was also on-screen and ringing out over the sound system.

Storage niches and pockets were under the dash and behind the helm seat, and a central hold is accessed by a hatch in the cabin floor. The galley unit features two cupboards, four drawers, a two-burner stainless stove, and a sink with cold and hot freshwater via a cali-font that also supplies the shower (accessed from the cockpit) and bait-station sink, all supplied from a 100-litre tank.

A central roof handrail aids moving about the cabin in rough weather, and at the rear of the cabin is a narrow rod locker that takes up to eight rigs, depending on size. Sliding, locking doors secure the cabin.

The cockpit is huge. Behind the cabin bulkhead are two small bench seats, which cover the manual bilge pump fittings and the gas bottle. The shower and electric toilet (head) are accessed from the cockpit, which simplifies drainage, and saves track-ing muck through the boat if you are in the cockpit fishing when nature calls.

Two levels of side pockets run along the sides, and will take items up to about 3.5m long. Covering boards are attractively finished in Flexiteek. Sealed, free-draining decks run through scuppers to the boarding platform, accessed through a central walk-through section with a drop door. The fold-down boarding ladder doubles as a rail.

This is a lot of fitting out, and we haven’t even got to the fishing bits yet.

FishabilityThis big heavy hull is a stable one, and the

tube-mat over chequerplate deck makes for secure footing. Toe room and flat coamings make it easy to work off the gunwales. The walk-through transom and large chequer-plate platform make it easy to get out there and work a fish around the outboards.

There is a huge amount of rod-stowage potential. Game rigs can be hung under the top forward berths. There is the rod locker in the cabin, already mentioned. Racks in the shower will take four rods, poles or gaffs. Besides handy stowage, the shower, with its detachable hand piece, is a useful place to wash the salt off the gear.

There are ten aluminium through-gun-wale rod holders. (Mounting holes were drilled along one side for six Alvey deck winches to be added at Norfolk). The rocket launcher has two rows of staggered holders, taking a further 17 rods. By my count that makes 45 positions, possibly a Trailerboat Trials record.

The central bait station is a work of art. Sidelights give low-level cockpit illumina-tion for night fishing. A freshwater tap (hot and cold) and sink is fitted for hand washing, as is a saltwater deck hose. There are two bait and fillet boards, one of which would take all but a large gamefish. A central trough is drained to a sump by pump and is flushed by the overflow from a tuna tube (also fitted). Another section has a rubbish bin with a bag holder — another very useful feature and a good way to help keep the cockpit clean and reduce the amount of rubbish thrown overboard by thoughtless anglers. Under the forward edge is a tray for tackle boxes and the like, while a large insulated fish bin (in

Instrumentation is neatly flush-mounted and includes the impressive Furuno Navnet system.

A Sarca anchor is permanently mounted on the substantial fairlead. A big dash and comfortable bench seats are cabin features.

126 New Zealand Fishing News December 2004 www.fishnz.co.nz

this case a 105-litre Iceytek) fits underneath to store the catch. A great set up with easy access to it all around the cockpit, freeing up a lot of fishing room.

A further under-deck floodable hold pro-vides extra storage, and a livebait tank is built into the boarding platform. Outriggers are fitted on the cabin sides — Kilwell poles with Manta bases. Weatherproof speakers are mounted in the cockpit for entertainment or just to be sure you can hear what is happen-ing on the radio. There is even a waterproof video camera mount in the cockpit, which can be shown, real-time, on the Navnet screen, helping the skipper to keep track of what an angler is doing more easily, should the boat be required to chase a big fish.

Divers should be happy with this rig. The large boarding ladder, chequerplate board-ing platform, walk-through transom and hot freshwater shower accessed from the cock-pit should make life easy for them.

TraileringA five-tonne boat needs a fairly serious

trailer. The new owners had a trailer wait-ing at Norfolk for this boat, but back in New Zealand, Firmans Marine had a trailer built by Trailer-Kraft of Ngongataha (near Rotorua). It is a tandem-axle rig fitted with pneumatic brakes and an electric winch. The hull is supported on a combination of entry rollers, benches and wobble rollers. Rig weight is in the realms of 6500kg, requiring a small truck (Firmans use an ex-fire truck) to tow it.

An overwidth permit is required, but this is not terribly onerous. Brian Firman told me that restrictions have recently been eased and, with the correct lights and flags, overwidth rigs can now be towed at night and weekends. There are minor limitations within city limits, where such rigs are pro-

hibited from 7-9am, and from 4-6pm, to avoid traffic problems.

All-in-all…With an overall length of 10.2 metres

(33.4 feet), this is probably the biggest trailerboat I have tested. It is well built and finished and has all the comforts of home, allowing comfortable stayaways for four or more occupants. The two big Yamahas give it a top speed of 40 knots – an impressive performance from a hull of this size – giv-ing it the legs to cover big distances, even when conditions turn unpleasant.

Although not really designed as a billfish boat (it could be pressed into the role) this mega-tinny is probably one of the most prac-tical and well laid-out bottom fishing boats I have seen. Quite a machine, Gran Lady.

A dining/chart table seats three. A rod locker is set into the rear bulkhead.

Gran Lady gets the sky-hook test at Napier’s Yacht Club ramp.

The toilet and shower are accessed from the cockpit, and makes a useful spot to wash down rods and reels.

The galley unit features storage, hot/cold freshwater sink, and a two-burner stove.

The boarding ladder forms a safety rail if you want to fish off the boarding platform.

The big cockpit features a great bait station and plenty of all-round fishing space. Note the lifting lugs on the gunwales.

SpecificationsL.O.A ................................... 10.2mBeam ................................... 3.1mDeadrise at transom........... 18°Bottoms............................... 6mmSides .................................... 5mmTopsides/deck...................... 4mmRecommended power....2X225hp outboard.......300hp diesel inboardPrice............... approx.$250,000(including GST), depending on specifications