Plenty to admire in tough tinnie

Brian Collings. Photo / Mark McKeown

A man I know has owned nearly 20 different boats. He seems to like buying and selling them as much as he does actually using the things. Therefore it is probably just as well that, so far, he has never owned an AMF.

Those close to this Wanganui-based company like to claim that an AMF is the last boat one ever buys. While this may sound like some sort of maritime curse, I suspect it refers to the notion that these boats are so well built that there will never be a need to change.

There is no doubt that AMF boats do have an enviable reputation for their ability to handle whatever the sea may throw at them. They are one of the few non-pontoon aluminium brands to have been selected for use as Coastguard vessels. AMF's latest offering, a 720 Pro Sport, is one of the last vessels to come from its Mt Maunganui yard; the company has decided to consolidate all of its production at its Wanganui base.

The boat, Ratanui, is for previous AMF owner David Purvis. Purvis must have decided that his previous AMF was not to be the last boat he ever bought - he wanted a more powerful version (sounds familiar).

Although the 720 Pro Sport is basically a production model, like many Kiwi boatbuilders AMF is always willing to do a little customisation. In this case, one of those changes involved raising the hardtop by 50mm to accommodate the taller-than-average owner.

What didn't change was AMF's super-strong construction method, one of the key factors behind the company's "built tough" reputation.

AMF is surely one of the only builders of recreational aluminium power boats to use a box girder system in its construction. According to owner Brian Collings, box beams are placed on a hull jig and then trimmed to create the hull shape. This creates a full-depth girder system between the hull plates and the main deck. "This means there is no way the hull or deck will move and the hull won't buckle out of shape," says Collings.

Mini bulkhead frames are then fitted within the box beams to add stiffness. A bulkhead frame is also added at the front of the box beams and at the front of the fuel tank position.

Each hull also has 25 full-length longitudinal hull welds; at a minimum of 5m per weld, this is about 125m per boat. AMF also packs an awful amount into about 7m of LOA. In Ratanui's case, this involves a cabin under the foredeck, an enclosed hardtop cabin and a big cockpit.

The for'ard cabin is standard fare: two long bunks and the insets needed to make overnighting a possibility, if not exactly an exercise in comfort. There is plenty of stowage and a chemical toilet - but with no sign of a curtain, privacy could be an issue.

The enclosed, lockable cabin is far more interesting. Rather than installing two pedestal or back-to-back seats, AMF has taken a different approach. Seating for the crew is on a two-person fore-and-aft bench seat, while the skipper gets a similar version facing forward. Space has been left behind the skipper for the safe, vertical stowage of rods.

There is ample space on Ratanui's dash for all the necessary instrumentation and loads of room above for large display screens.

Ratanui's cockpit is dominated by the engine box as its owner has chosen a diesel inboard option over the more common outboard one. There is still quite a lot of space on either side and for'ard of this, and AMF has also made the most of the intrusion: non-skid pads make it comfortable to either sit or stand on the engine box and the large bait board has been mounted aft and centre.

The cockpit is fishing-focused. There is a tidy sink unit in the for'ard port corner and, while there is no in-built water tank, bottles stored in the unit do the job. In the other corner is a portable catch-bin seat.

A live-bait tank is plumbed into the port corner of the transom and, while there are no through-transom doors, the aft platform is of a decent size and has a drop-down ladder.

Ratanui's owner is clearly a man keen on his fishing and willing to travel a fair way to do it. As a result, there is no underfloor stowage; all the available space is occupied with a 300-litre fuel tank.

Collings says that he traditionally fits his AMF hulls with lots of horsepower to ensure a combination of a good cruising speed and economy.

Ratanui is no exception. It is powered with a Hyundai SeasAll S250 diesel on a MerCruiser Bravo III leg and swinging a pair of 17-inch stainless steel Vengeance counter-rotating propellers.

Collings says the performance figures are the best he's seen in "quite some time", with great torque and power right throughout the rev range. "There's certainly no turbo lag from when you put the throttle down and the power comes on quickly," he says. "[Purvis] couldn't be happier."

Fuel economy is also impressive. At its top speed of 37 knots (at 3800rpm), the S250 consumes just 37.8 litres per hour (well under the factory-quoted figures of 51 litres per hour). At a cruise speed of about 30 knots at 3000rpm, fuel use comes down to about 27 litres per hour.

For those who like to troll, the figures are, of course, even better: at about 6.5 knots (at 1000rpm), the lowest fuel consumption we saw was 2.5 litres per hour.

AMF boats are at the top end of aluminium pleasure-boat market and this sort of excellence comes at a price. While packages for the 720 Pro Sport start from about $145,000 and include open hardtop, a Voyager Tandem Trailer with cab assist brakes and a 200hp Yamaha Saltwater Series outboard, in the Ratanui version the 720 costs about $230,000. That one gets the higher cabin top, customised seating layout, a custom AMF aluminium tandem axle trailer and the Hyundai SeasAll S250 diesel.

Ratanui's owner thinks it's a good deal. Whether it's good enough to ensure this is the last boat he'll ever buy is another matter.

AMF 720 Pro Sport

LOA: 7.5m

Hull length: 7.2m

Beam: 2.45m

Deadrise: 18.5 degrees

Trailerable weight: 3000kg

Engine capacity: 175-250hp

Fuel capacity: 300 litres

Top speed: 37 knots

Cruising speed: 30 knots

Base price: $145,085

Price as described: $230,000

Want to know more?
Check out Freddy Foote's review of the AMF 720 Pro Sport in the May/June issue of Pacific Powerboat magazine.