Polycrafts

[Silent Assassin]

Hello All,

Interested in hearing your opinions about a decision I have to make in buying a poly boat. The boat in question is the challenger 4.1. I'm looking at the 40hp 4 stroke in either a Merc or Yammy. Possibly thinking about 40 etec for a little bit more get up and go.

Living in central qld the boat will be used flicking lures predominately in rivers and bays with frequent visits to Awoonga.

I'm interested in how others have set up their poly and any pics provided would be great.

I'm willing to take the good with the bad with this post - so let me have it!

Cheers

Steve

[TheRealAndy]

Gee, asking and etec v 4 stroke question here?

I would suggest you buy the motor that your local dealer sells. There is such minimal difference between an etec and 4 stroke its honestly not worth the debate. Dont buy the merc 4 stroke however, they are a piece of shit. My old 4banger yammy is better than the new 4 banger merc that I use for rescue duties at the local yacht club. Do some research on the overheating problem (we have it, Grand Marlin elaborated on it recently too)

With the poly, you need to go the maximum horsepower permitted.

Mine poly (4.55) is setup for lure fishing. You will spend more time on the electric than you will with the outboard.

For photos, I suggest you pop over to www.polyboatowners.com.

[Silent Assassin]

Cheers

Genuinely I'm more focused on the Yammy however I still like to be open minded to suggestions.

Keep them coming

Steve

[Jabiru658]

The general consensus on the poly owners website is that a 4.1 with a 30 is underpowered and a 4.1 with a 40 does the job ok but some people run 50's on 4.1's and love them.

The same ratio applies to the 4.55's like I've got, the 40 is too little, the 50 is ok and the 60 is nice to have.

Polys are fairly heavy boats for their length and need more power than similar length pressed tinnys do but you can't kill em... they are wonderfully durable.

If you can swing the extra $ for a 50 then by all means go for it but the 40 will do the job fine, just don't scrimp and get a 30 because I'd bet money you end up upgrading the motor anyway

[nigelr]

Does anyone believe the arguement about the effects of UV degradation and the resultant projected half life of the tensile strength of poly being 5 years?
This was raised a couple of years ago or so by one of our members, albeit mainly on another forum, so down the track a little, is there any new info on this?
Was seriously looking at a poly boat myself, but frankly I got spooked by the above when considering resale, and my intended usage which includes a lot of bar crossing. I was seriously dissapointed, it was a beautiful boat, but I couldn't justify taking the $ risk. It was already 7 years old.
Steve I apologise if I'm on a bit of a tangent here.
Cheers.

[LoungeLizard]

Steve,

Since you're in CQ keep in mind Etec dealers/mech's are far and few between here. As others have said stick to the brands the local dealers sell, it'll make your life a lot easier down the track. I would also say if you do a lot a of low speed work then a 4-stroke might be a better option. Go for max HP. The flex in the hull (which gives it such a good ride) means it doesn't cut the water as cleanly as a tinny and on top of that the plastic is very heavy.

Nigel,

I haven't heard of any reports of poly's cracking/splitting/breaking after 5 years and I've seen some tuff tenders lying in the sun day after day for many years. A lot of boat hire places also have poly's that are treated like crap i.e. never put under cover and they seem to last more than 5 years. Maybe give those guys a call to put your mind at ease?

Also remember most private owners will cover up their boats for long periods of time so I'd say if you get one that's been looked after you don't need to worry. You are right though about poly's having very poor resale value, but IMO that makes them excellent buys second hand.

[TheRealAndy]

Does anyone believe the arguement about the effects of UV degradation and the resultant projected half life of the tensile strength of poly being 5 years?
This was raised a couple of years ago or so by one of our members, albeit mainly on another forum, so down the track a little, is there any new info on this?
Was seriously looking at a poly boat myself, but frankly I got spooked by the above when considering resale, and my intended usage which includes a lot of bar crossing. I was seriously dissapointed, it was a beautiful boat, but I couldn't justify taking the $ risk. It was already 7 years old.
Steve I apologise if I'm on a bit of a tangent here.
Cheers.

The plastics are UV stabilised. They dont degrade in the sun. Mine is getting a bit long in the tooth now and it still looks the same as a new one with some mud and guts on. Mine was manufactured in 2002 and there is no signs of UV degredation.

Resale on them is much better than a tinnie, cause they are the same 10 years on as they are new. Infact, they are probably the same 20 years one, and maybe even 30.

I would not own one for regular bar crossings, just because the bow is really buoyant and they dont like splitting waves. This by no means makes them incapable at crossing bars, they are just not as refined as a glass boat.

Honestly, anyone who things these boats are not rugged needs to come take a look at mine. I put it through hell and I just cant f*ck it up. I have even dragged the arse of it along the road when turnbuckle on the saftey chain let go.

[billfisher]

Does anyone believe the arguement about the effects of UV degradation and the resultant projected half life of the tensile strength of poly being 5 years?
This was raised a couple of years ago or so by one of our members, albeit mainly on another forum, so down the track a little, is there any new info on this?
Was seriously looking at a poly boat myself, but frankly I got spooked by the above when considering resale, and my intended usage which includes a lot of bar crossing. I was seriously dissapointed, it was a beautiful boat, but I couldn't justify taking the $ risk. It was already 7 years old.
Steve I apologise if I'm on a bit of a tangent here.
Cheers.

That little theory overlooks the fact that the Polycraft is very thick and any UV degradtion is a surface effect. Also there is nothing stopping you putting a cover over it.

The 4.1 Challenger performs quite well with a 30hp in the tiller configuration, especially if it's a 2 stroke. I don't agree with the maximum power theory. If your fishing style doesn't involve tournaments or require hooning around then why go to the extra expense and put up with the extra weight on the transom? My Challenger does 24.3 knots with my 2 cylinder 2 stroke Suzuki 30hp.

[GBC]

Does anyone believe the arguement about the effects of UV degradation and the resultant projected half life of the tensile strength of poly being 5 years?
This was raised a couple of years ago or so by one of our members, albeit mainly on another forum, so down the track a little, is there any new info on this?
Was seriously looking at a poly boat myself, but frankly I got spooked by the above when considering resale, and my intended usage which includes a lot of bar crossing. I was seriously dissapointed, it was a beautiful boat, but I couldn't justify taking the $ risk. It was already 7 years old.
Steve I apologise if I'm on a bit of a tangent here.
Cheers.

There must be water tanks just exploding all over the place by now.......

Resale - a 455 cc poly bought new with a 50 honda and all the fruit was $15k - they are more than that second hand now.

Back to the OP, I've been for a run in a 4.2 frontrunner (g'day Mick) with a 40 etec - it went fine - I wouldn't look at a 50 unless I was loading it right up.

[Silent Assassin]

Thanks to all that have responded thus far..

I was told that UV degradation would not be a problem as poly boats can be compared to poly tanks which spend all of their time in the elements. I'm hard on my gear so a poly seems to suit.

Can anyone provide advice as to how I could set up a poly with dual batteries plumbed well etc. It would be great to hear how fellow ausfishers have their poly set up.

I was possibly thinking of extending the front casting deck a little to not only give me a little more room to move but also additional storage space for some fuel battery etc.


Steve

[Razgo-]

my 3m Poly tuff tender leaked and the inner hull would fill up with water. since it was brand new i put it down to a manufacture fault which they repaired under warranty. finga will attest to that if he can remember that far back (oh ye he who is a brave man that jumps into a sinking boat instead of jumping out of it)

its sits out in the blazing sun 7 days a week and still looks new. they are definitely very buoyant!

russ

[bushbeachboy]

The 4.1 Challenger performs quite well with a 30hp in the tiller configuration, especially if it's a 2 stroke. I don't agree with the maximum power theory. If your fishing style doesn't involve tournaments or require hooning around then why go to the extra expense and put up with the extra weight on the transom? My Challenger does 24.3 knots with my 2 cylinder 2 stroke Suzuki 30hp.[/quote]

Billfisher, I found quite the opposite. Mine came with a 30 two-stroke two cylinder Tohatsu and was underpowered. I think perhaps the engine capacity has an effect also. The little Tohy was only 430cc, so I think lacked torque. Your Suzuki might have a bigger displacement which could help with moving things along. Yamaha make a 3-cylinder 2 stroke 30 that is 500cc that might be suitable too.

I fitted a 40 2-stroke Yamaha with PTT to mine (tiller steer config) and the 40 is a good match to the boat.

I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts about the effects of increased engine displacement but without horsepower increase.

As someone else has said, go over to www.polyboatowners.com for more info.

Cheers

[LoungeLizard]

Resale - a 455 cc poly bought new with a 50 honda and all the fruit was $15k - they are more than that second hand now.

That must have been a while ago. I priced up a 4.5 CC with 60HP Yammie & other goodies (electronics, Bimini, nothing over the top) with a few dealers and all came back $24K - $25K. In contrast I've seen several 2 - 3 year old boats similar to above for around $15K

[TheRealAndy]

Thanks to all that have responded thus far..

I was told that UV degradation would not be a problem as poly boats can be compared to poly tanks which spend all of their time in the elements. I'm hard on my gear so a poly seems to suit.

Can anyone provide advice as to how I could set up a poly with dual batteries plumbed well etc. It would be great to hear how fellow ausfishers have their poly set up.

I was possibly thinking of extending the front casting deck a little to not only give me a little more room to move but also additional storage space for some fuel battery etc.


Steve

There is a guy on here goes by the name of JackExtractor (i think) who owns a blue 4.1 poly. He has it set up like a tournament boat. Might be worth sending him a PM. It was well done.

I dont have casting decks on mine, but I really need them. I started to build a foward casting platform but never fisnished because I was not happy with my design. Now I know what I want, just have not had the time to build it.

My second battery sits right down the back of the boat, and only runs the electric. Primary battery is in the console.

[BOMBIE]

Silent, Im also in CQ,and have just brought a 4.1 challenger with 50 4/ suzi goes @ 30+ knts with only 20hrs so far and after 7hrs my alloy was well......!! BEST thing Ive owned mud comes off easy does'nt dent when you tap something crab pots dont hurt it and travells so quietly and as stable as ,Im rapped