Outboard's time has come

The SeaBandit features a walkaround deck and is powered by twin Mercury Verado 275s. The top speed is 38 knots. Picture / Richard Robinson

Until fairly recently the inboard/outboard debate for fast cruisers in the 10m to 12m range was pretty much firmly in the inboard zone.

That all changed with the advent of the new breed of two-stroke direct injection and four-stroke outboards. Which is where Bill Cranston re-enters the boatbuilding picture. A veteran of the industry, he believes the time of the outboard for bigger boats has arrived.

To prove the point he has built a 12m speedster to introduce a new range of high-performance sports fishers he calls SeaBandit. The prototype is powered by twin Mercury Verado 275s. The top speed is 38 knots which equates to 45mph, pretty good going for a boat with a 7-tonne displacement and only 550hp.

Cranston's career in the industry began at Mt Maunganui in 1984 as Bay Boatbuilders. Two years later he opened his own yard, building mainly Don Senior-designed gamefishers in the 10m to 16m range. That took him through until 1997 when he took a break to work on a family project on Great Barrier.

From 2002 to 2004 he was project manager at Formula Boats, overseeing a big production team and along the way refining some of his own ideas including the one that led to the present SeaBandit project.

"When you start looking at what most New Zealand recreational boaters do and want, having an inboard-powered boat is not the ideal solution," he says. "Most of us go out and back for a day on the water, perhaps overnighting when the weather is right or planning a holiday cruise.

"Day boating is what most of us do and is what our conditions largely dictate. When you add ease of handling and the cost benefit of outboard power, and add in the extra space you get by eliminating the engine room, outboard power makes economic as well and practical sense."

Cranston says he watched some of the early experiments with outboard power on big boats, not the least being Ken Lusty's Horizon III. Designed by Alan Warwick, the 19.4m (638) long boat was powered by triple Yamaha 225hp V6 two-stroke outboards and was capable of 28 knots.

Even with the outboard technology of that time there was a place for outboard power at the bigger end of the range.

"The advent of the new breed of motors the time was right for the boat I had long envisaged," Cranston says.

Enter the SeaBandit 400SF. The hull is a standard Oliver 37 in GRP. The topside mould, built to Cranston's design, features a full walkaround cockpit and side decks and steps to a fisherman-friendly foredeck. The cockpit can accommodate a fixed, mounted game chair or could equally work well as a stand-up game-fishing platform.

The extended boarding platform between the outboards allows easy access to land the big ones and makes getting to and from the water easy for divers and water-toy exponents. A boarding ladder is clipped under the platform.

The way SeaBandit has structured its build programme means the company can offer a 12-week delivery, Cranston says. As well as the Verado, power options include the Evinrude V6 direct injection E-Tec and the new Yamaha, Johnson and Honda 4-strokes.

Cranston: "When you look at the cost of the engine room and compare the 550hp for around $100,000 for twin outboards with around $250,000 for diesels, with all the machinery and set-up time that involves, the outboard option is a clear winner. And once the warranty runs out it is easy to bolt on a new set of motors in less than a day.

The Verado-powered SeaBandit is in the water for $536,287 including GST. The basic boat with two Evinrude 225s is $472,478, including GST.

More on www.seabandit.co.nz (see link below).