Around a year ago, I made the decision to upgrade the offshore boat that I had owned for over 20 years. My old Shark Cat 500 Sportsman had served me very well, but its only shortcomings were a slight lack of range for multi day trips, and the need to roll out a swag on the deck when overnighting on board. I will say upfront, that I am a fully paid up member of the cat appreciation society, so any replacement boat had to be a member of the cat family, have sufficient fuel underfloor to allow me to spend up to 3 or even 4 days on the water, sleep 2 or 3 people comfortably during those trips, but still be able to fit into my existing shed at home. It also needed to be towable behind my Nissan Patrol.
Over the years, I have ridden in and fished out of a multitude of cats of all sizes and makes up to 28 feet in length, so I had a pretty good idea on what models would fit into my wish list, and had narrowed the choice down to a couple of possible contenders. I was speaking to Rob Smith (Smithy on this forum) one night, and mentioned my search for a new boat. He asked me whether I had taken a look at the Sea Trek boats made in Caloundra. When I said that I had not, Smithy said that they had a good following with the Commercial line Fishermen on the Sunshine Coast, and he had not heard any bad reports about them. I added them to my list of boats to look at.
I contacted Al Broughton to make some enquiries about his boats. Al was happy to answer a heap of questions over the phone, and told me that I was welcome to drop by the factory anytime to take a look at the boat he was currently building. The information I had gathered over the phone had me adding this boat to the list of contenders. A mate and I made the trip up to the factory a couple of weeks later. I was very impressed with the boat under construction, and spent a heap of time talking boats with Al, and he happily answered all my questions, showed no impatience with me being there, and made no attempts to hard sell me one of his boats. I tend not to make quick or impulsive decisions, so departed the factory without giving any indications as to whether I was going to go ahead with one. After a couple of weeks of discussions with my brother, and other fishing mates, comparing the now 3 boats I was considering, I narrowed the list to 2. Those contenders were the 2100KC and the Sea Trek. I had a couple of quotes for a new KC, so again contacted Al and asked him if he could give me a quote for one of his boats. I received that quote for a full turn key package a few days later, and spent a day working out what I wanted, and looking at how I wanted a few small changes to suit my garaging situation. The main requirement was the need to be able to collapse the targa and rocket launcher so that I could get the boat into the shed.
I went back to Sea Trek with my list of requests, and after a few discussions, Al said he was happy to build to my requirements, and arranged to get me a revised quote. That new quote was the deal clincher, subject to being able to go for a test ride in one first, so I let Al know that I was keen to order one after going for the test ride. The boat we did the test ride in belonged to one of Al's customers who lived in Caloundra. It was a hard top version powered by 115 Etecs, and the hour we spent running around off Mooloolaba was enough to convince me the boat was a winner. Back at the Coast Guard pontoon after the test run, I locked in my order, and was very happy to hear that the customer in front of me had asked to postpone his boat for a year, and therefore, my boat could be started right after completion of the one under construction, bringing my boats delivery forward by several months. In early November 2013, I received a phone call to say that my boat had started, and I could come up and take a look any time I wanted to. All right, enough story telling for now. here are a few pics showing the build process.
The hull in the process of being layed up in the mould - at this point, the gelcoat is in, followed by a tie layer, then 2 layers of 450 gram chop strand layed in and rolled by hand. There is no glass work put in by chopper gun in this boat.
View from the front. Next to go in is a layer of 600 gram double bias, followed by another layer of 450 gram chop strand. A foam core goes in after that, then a further 2 layers of 450 gram chop strand.
There is a double lay up of glass in the keels, and also the wave breaker for strength, making these areas between 12 - 14mm thick of solid glass. Next, 6 bulkheads (all glass) go in, and also a bearer over the top of the fuel tanks to protect them during the life of the boat. At this point, 5 bulkeads and the bearer are in, and 2 of the 3 longitudinal stringers (again all glass) are in, running from bulk head to bulkhead and finishing at the cabin bulkhead. There is still one bulkhead to go in up front, and also the crash bulkheads to go in running from the cabin bulkhead through the forward one to each bow.
The boat has two 180 litre underfloor fuel tanks, and are made from 6mm thick vinyl ester.
The transom has 16mm timber in it, and is sealed in with a double lay up of glass, making the transom 35mm thick. The only other timber used in the boat is up in the bow to give full strength for the tow eye. All cavities under floor with the exception of the rear two are foam filled with 2 pack foam which meets survey standard for resistance to fuel and water absorbance.
Cabin and deck lay up, shortly after coming out of the mould.
Hope everyone enjoys the photos of a really great boat produced locally. More photos to come in the next few days.
Cheers
Jeff
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