BLOG: Boats I have loved

IT'S hard to see a loved one leave; the first girl (or boy) you ever kissed, family members embarking on an extended trip abroad, a treasured boat that you just can't bear to part with...

My first ever boat was a 3.1m Stacer lightweight model. I kept badgering my old man to get us a boat till he finally buckled and forked out the dollars on that little car topper. A 5hp Suzuki was clamped on to the back of the tinny – after my pushbike was stolen from our back yard, the engine found a new home in my bedroom. If I could have fitted the boat inside my room I would have. I loved that little tinny - that first love is often special.

I quickly outgrew the car topper and moved up to a 3.7m Savage Snipe sporting a 20hp Mariner. Being a kid meant I could stand on the thwarts to cast if the water was really calm but I often had to jump down whenever a ferry came past which saw me lament the lack of stability. That tinny sported the first trailer I ever owned and figuring I should do some preventative maintenance on the wheel bearings, I removed the hubs then walked down the road to Robbo's spares and bought some replacement bearings, which were repacked and replaced. I screwed the castellation nut down nice and tight because I didn't want the wheel to come loose – it did come loose, however, on the very next trip when the wheel bearings overheated and disintegrated.

I learnt some valuable lessons in that boat. It had better sea keeping abilities than its predecessor and caught me my first kingfish – I loved that boat too.

My next boat was an opportune acquisition. My good mate Jeff from school had a neighbour with a derelict half cab in the backyard, so we knocked on his door and I offered him something silly for the boat – the boat had weeds growing out of the grime on the deck and its owner didn't really care much for it so he took my cash and I became the owner of what seemed like a massive ship at the time.
It was a tumultuous relationship and one that caused me no end of pain and heartache – we grew apart and I soon learnt the bitterness of hate. The troublesome boat was an abused Haines Hunter V146C with a softish transom, a cracked trailer, a soft floor, damaged upholstery plus an engine with broken trim and tilt – it was a difficult lesson to learn but one that would educate me on the nuances of boat ownership more than any article or knowledge passed down from an experienced soul. After many, many months of long hard work we eventually cut our losses and sold the boat to a bloke who was keener than us on completing the restoration than we were – I was glad to see the back of that one.

Shortly after finishing school I had the itch again and was soon scouring the classifieds for the perfect boat. Chance met opportunity on that fateful day I found a Haines Hunter 445F – it was a pristine hull and a boat that I would court at every opportunity during our seven years together. That boat showed me the offshore world and I loved it immensely but found myself at the crossroads towards the end of our relationship. She desperately needed a makeover, however, I toiled with the irrational love for the vessel versus the rational thought of overcapitalising an old, yet timeless hull.

The Haines Hunter 445F

Rather than make a rash decision I bought cheap 4.2m Bermuda tinny with a 20hp Johnson on the back. The Haines was left to ponder our relationship while I got to know the Bermuda. I was a little ambivalent on the Bermuda; I loved the freedom of being able to lift a tinny over the rocky foreshore at the local ramp but it was a little bit small and needed a great deal of customisation. I started fishing solo more often in the tinny and then knew that I wanted a better one. As luck would have it I was scanning through the Trading Post one afternoon at uni and stumbled upon a non descript ad for a boat that I'd seen a sistership of once before. The ad was literally two very short lines but the words "Seahunter Kakadu" told me all I needed to know. The boat had a soft floor and wasn't given the love it deserved and with its 25hp Suzuki, I thought it may be underpowered. It was relatively cheap though and could be moulded into what I wanted, so I bought it on the spot.

When I brought home my third boat, my folks freaked out. After a long discussion about the house not being a boat yard I sold the Bermuda to a mate for less than what I'd paid – I was neutral on the Bermuda, I didn't love it nor did I hate it. The Kakadu, however, was a boat that I soon fell in love with and I immediately found myself looking at the Haines differently...

After about a year of umming and arring, I put the Haines on the market and it sold within one day – it was sad when we parted ways. I really did love that boat.

Another couple of years passed before I started scouring the classifieds again and came across an early model Haines TD149 with a 50hp Honda – it seemed to be the love child of my 445F and the Kakadu so my mate Evan and I did a 23 hour non-stop trip interstate run to collect the boat and tow it back home.
I took Fisho's Mick Fletoridis out on the maiden voyage and after hitting the throttle to chase a school of salmon, I quickly slowed the boat down on approach only to have a torrent of water come charging over the transom and into the boat - I never really felt comfortable in that boat when I took it offshore; great estuary rig but not what I wanted. That relationship was never meant to be and we soon parted company.

I remained faithful to my 4.3m Kakadu and spent countless hours fitting it out to become quite the estuary battleship. After another couple of years and after spending a great deal of time fishing alongside mates with access to some great boats I again felt the need for further independence and started looking for my next love. What I really wanted was a bigger version of my 445F, but in plate aluminium and with some of the layout features from the Kakadu and boats gone by. A custom plate boat was the only solution.

At this stage I did a great deal of homework before finally commissioning the build of my AMM, which remains by my side today as our relationship continues to blossom. The AMM was an expensive boat that took all of my money; the rational part of my head tells me it was too expensive, my heart tells me you can't put a value on love.

The final chapter in this love story came last weekend when the Kakadu and myself parted ways – I really loved that boat and struggled to sell it, given the customisation that went into creating such a hassle free feature packed fishing machine. Sadly, it wasn't getting any attention as I had a new love in my life. It was tough seeing that loved one go - good bye my little aluminium friend, you will be missed.

Do you have any stories of boats you've loved (or hated) over the years?