hey, just wondering if anyone could give me any feedback on Aussie Whaler boats. I'm looking at selling my existing boat and purchasing a second hand 5.5m centre console. Interested in the good and the bad feedback. cheers.
aussie whaler went broke a while ago when most of the boats they built broke,i think it was the hull cracking where the stringers were glassed,anyway couldnt be fixed and they folded duding a lot of customers.someone else builds them now .when was the boat built?
personally id be looking at something else
I happened to be driving one 23 miles out when the boat developed to huge splits from the bow to the stern. We didnt sink but god we came close mate. It cost $8000 to repair and although it was re built like a tank my mate sold it. It goes to show that near any clown can start a boat building business with out any qualifications.
Stu
jesus! That's not good. Thanks for the feedback guys. Appreciate it. I was looking at a 2000 model.
Attack boats on the gold coast also make a whaler. Not a bad hull. Worth a look.
Seriola have a search under Aussie Whaler- there have been a few threads on them recently. I wrote a fairly detailed report of what I thought of mine and that would have been about a month ago- I wont bore everyone with another one- have a searchshouldnt be hard to find.
Dont be put off too much by odd reports of failures (Evenrude would be broke by now if everyone did!)- altho certainly take them into consideration. Every boat will have a horror story just ask Stinky Stabi about his Stabi craft, which most people that have had anything to do with them would talk them up. I think Nickstock had a pro mate who use AWs for years in the rough stuff with no issues.
The one you are looking at looks to be a good buy if the hull and engine are in good nick. 2 issues I would have with that one tho- the single axel trailer- they are heavey and really should have dual axles unless you are only towing a few kms at a time. Also the 90hp would be a bit underpowered IMO. I have a 115 yam 4 stk and it does the job well but with a load on board I could see the 90 being a bit lame. Price looks good but.
Cheers
Be interested to hear more on that Stu. Were there any signs of cracking prior to it happening? Was there any diagnosis as to what happened? eg trailer set up, delaminating, plain old poor workmanship? The fact you got home 23 mile with a crack from twat to what is probably a positive of the design- the cracking not so!Originally Posted by Stuart
Not quite sure a one off incident (if it is a one off- i havent heard of any other incidents like this with AWs) would qualify your last statement but. They seem to be a fairly well respected hull, if not to everyone's taste.
Cheers,
yeah cheers camhawk. i will definitely have a look. i didnt do a search as i was in a rush before and just typed it up and away i went. i take it all as face value but is a good indication and any comment is appreciative. i have a fibreglass hull at the moment and while they have their cons i do prefer them for their ride and ability to handle most conditions. i do wonder about the low free board though at the bow. do you get many waves coming over the top of yours? I would be using a boat like this to fish in the bays (Hervey and Moreton) and slightly offshore, and also in the rivers.
Actually mate the freeboard is not an issue. I use mine offshore and have had it in some crap but no never taken a wave over the front and never looked like doing it (although every boat has it's limits). There is a heap of boyancy at the front with the big shoulders so I would imagine it would take a pretty serious wave to get a greeny over it. The gunnels come to about 4 inches above my knees (Im a shade under 6ft) which I find good- enough to be secure but easy enough to bend down to the water to dip the rod under the boat or whatever.
For what you want to do with it they are ideal. You know what to expect with fibreglass so obviously you wont plan on pushing into really shallow water (altho I am happy taking mine into half a metre)or beaching it on rocks. For bay and river cruising you will be stoked with it. The room up the front and the stability of AWs are 2 of their big positives. I think their main downfall is ride into a choppy sea where those big shoulders make a lot of contact so they can bang a bit. If you are using it in rivers and the bay then this should be no problem for you. Id say try and get a ride in one.
Cheers
It was crap workman ship plain and simple mate. I know so because after the floor was ripped up the top of the hull would have been a bit over 1mm thick. There was no sign of delamination or prior problems to this. The trailer was set up fine and so to everything else, I have been around boats for over 30 years so Im confident in setting up a trailer. As the saying goes "sh1t happens"
Stu
Wow 1 mm thick. When you say the top of the hull do you mean the sides?
Dont get me wrong, I wasnt doubting your story or your experience, I just havent heard of that happening with these hulls previously so was curious. I have a couple of surface cracks in the gel coat towards the bottom of the hull in my boat so just interested to see if there were any warning signs. Hearing that the glass was so thin is both good and bad. Bad because it shouldnt happen and good because I have seen under the floor of my boat and can see that the glass is substantially thicker than 1mm so nothing to worry about.
What year was the boat? I believe they went through a couple of different owners before the current one set up- perhaps there are certain year models to look out for? Most of the ones for sale seem to be in the 1998- 2001 bracket- perhaps these were the better models and stood the test of time?
The hull was an 98 model and when I say the glass was around 1mm that didnt include the gel coat. It may have been a bit more than 1mm but not much more mate. When I say the top yeh I meant the side. I also heard they went through a few owners after investigating the whole thing after the fact. Up untill that point we loved the boat, so much so that my mate spent 8K on getting it rebuilt but we just couldnt get our head around the fact that it let go so bad. I have since seen it around the coast and last time I seen it parked on the boat ramp it still looked like it did after the re build. I didnt say anything to the owner as there want any need to make him doubt his boat.
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