Getting out on the water and going boating can be one of the most enjoyable experiences you and your family can ever experience. The hardest part is often choosing a boat to suit your needs and wants.
Here are some key points when choosing a power boat, and a list some of the more popular models on the market to suit your lifestyle.
The key is to establish what the target enjoyment you want out of the boating lifestyle:
- Is it for water sports?
- Is it for cruising/overnighting around our majestic waterways?
- Is it fishing with a few friends?
- Is it a general-purpose boat for a family fun day out in the bay, estuaries, or dams?
By simply defining the target enjoyment, you can determine the style of boat you will consider purchasing. This decision will ensure you do not over capitalise on the boat.
If a smaller boat is all you need to do your target enjoyment, then that should be the boat you look at purchasing. Do not feel pressured to buy a big boat. If you overestimate your usage, you will over-capitalise on a boat. And nine times out of 10, it will just sit in the yard/pontoon as it is either: (a) too much trouble to prepare for an outing and then clean after an outing; or, (b) costs too much to take out, e.g. fuel etc. On the rare occasion you want to venture further afield, then you can either hire a larger boat, or go out on dedicated fishing charter or to a wake/ski park with a few mates. This sensible approach to boating ensures you have a user-friendly and economical boat that suits your main purpose.
Northside Marine caters for each of the four core boating lifestyles – water sports, cruising/overnighting, fishing, and versatile family day boats. Below are some of the popular models within the Northside Marine range suitable for these boating lifestyles.
WATER SPORTS
The Malibu and Axis brands are renowned as the industry’s leading ski, wake and surf boat. This Summer 2017’s most popular water sports model has been the Malibu Wakesetter 22 VLX, a fantastic boat, designed to provide perfect wakes for wakeboarding and wakesurfing, and is super-roomy to fit everybody and everything in. Northside Marine is the hub of Malibu/Axis in Queensland.
If a fully-fledged water sports boat is a little too much for your lifestyle, very popular for the past few years has been the resurgence in sporty bowriders both fibreglass and aluminium. Popular this season being the Glastron GT185 and GTS185 (5.5m bowriders) which are easily towed behind larger family vehicles, with packages starting from as little as $53,990. Northside Marine offers the Glastron range of fibreglass bowriders, which can be fitted with wake towers to provide the ultimate family water sports boat, capable of towing the kids around or going for a cruise with mates.
In aluminium, the Stacer Easy Rider bowrider range have been a very popular boat for families, as they present great value for money, yet are loaded with all the features one would expect.
CRUISING/OVERNIGHTING
Whittley Cruisers (trailerable) and Jeanneau NC Series (non-trailerable) are the pinnacle of the cruising lifestyle in South East Queensland. Both these have become a benchmark for quality cruising boats that people admire and wish to own. Whittley Cruisers just make sense. They are compact enough to tow and are powered by an array of efficient power plants. They are your home away from home, providing waterfront views that stretch on forever. All the creature comforts are at your disposal and cleverly disappear when not in use. Cruisers are available in a range of sizes to suit every budget and lifestyle, from the compact CR 2080 to the floating apartment, the CR 2800. Each model has a versatile layout and huge breadth of ability.
After something a little bigger? The Jeanneau NC Series maybe for you. These boats sport a modern saloon-style contemporary design, and range in size from 9m to 14m. These feature large entertaining areas, as well as much larger sleeping quarters and galley, compared to a trailerable model.
FISHING
Ranging from a small Stacer tinnie for taking the kids whiting fishing at the Broadwater or out to the dam, through to hard-core bluewater fishing machines, such as the Stabicraft, Stacer Plate Series, Surtees and Whittley Sea Legends to chase that fish of a lifetime – Northside Marine has a trailer boat model to suit every budget and fishing needs. Popular for inshore fishing in protected waters are the Stacer Proline, Stacer SeaSprite and Stacer Rampage range of open tinnies. These range in size from 3m through to 4.3m, with packages starting from as low as $4,990.
If you are after something a little bigger to venture further afield, the Surtees 610 Game Fisher and Stabicraft 1850 Supercab have been very popular this boating season. These are large fishing boats with plenty of cockpit space, and nifty inclusions to make your day on the water comfortable, yet are still easily towed behind most large family vehicles. If chasing marlin off the shelf is your groove, the larger models of each of these brands are definitely fishing machines, and are equally as good as each other. Some have a few more creature comforts, while others are tailored more to fishing. The hardest part with these will be choosing the one that you like the best.
FAMILY DAY BOATS
Often, a family day boat is something that acts as a bit of a crossover – versatile to take the family out for a leisurely cruise, yet capable of throwing a few fishing rods in and taking a couple of mates out for a day’s fishing, or even attaching the ski tube out the back and having a blast. The key thing with a ‘family day boat’ is to incorporate shade so the occupants do not get burnt from the harsh sun, and make the day out on the water as enjoyable as possible. This season, the Stacer Seaway, Bay Master and CrossFire series of boats have been motoring out the door. They have a nice bimini cover and handy storage solutions to keep the deck as clutter-free as possible. They are relatively cheap to run on a day-to-day basis, and are quite easy to maintain.
Northside Marine is home to an array of well-known brands – Axis, Glastron, Jeanneau, Malibu, Stabicraft, Stacer, Surtees and Whittley. There are over 100 individual models to choose from that suit a wide variety of boating lifestyles. Check out the extensive range at Northside Marine’s 10,000m2 purpose-built boating megastore at 2294 Sandgate Rd, Boondall (only 15mins north of the Brisbane Airport), or view the range online at www.nsmarine.com.au, or call (07) 3265 8000.
(Feb-Apr2017)
