As Max Christensen trundled the Fin Chaser 700HTA along Mangonui’s main thoroughfare to our chosen launching point at Mill Bay, it created quite a spectacle.
Amphibious craft have been around for some time, with many of New Zealand’s major trailer boat manufacturers offering them as an option, but they are still rare enough to create plenty of interest wherever they go. If the reactions of customers sitting in the cafes along this Far North township’s waterfront are any indication, with many reaching for their phones, the sight of such craft still creates a stir. And had the observers appreciated the fitout of this particular vessel, they would have been even more intrigued.
Fin Chaser Boats – FC Boats in a former life – are full of innovation, in accordance with the company’s slogan: ‘By Fishermen for Fishermen,’ with the 700 Hard Top Amphibious (HTA) Generation II fully embracing this ethos.
First impressions are important. Reaching our launch point, it was an easy transition from land to sea. At the helm, Max’s practiced hand took us from one form of wheeled power to another as we trundled down the boat ramp and into the sea. Upon reaching a suitable depth, another ‘wheel’ – the Mercury 250 V8’s big propeller – took over the forward momentum as the three drive wheels were raised. How convenient, how effortless.
Max explained that on land the vessel had a practical range, but not limited to two kilometres – perfect for those lucky enough to have beachfront properties or properties nearby. Nor do you need a boat ramp; just reasonable access to the beach and you are on your way. No fighting for a parking spot and no lining up to launch and retrieve during peak season.
On returning to the beach, holding the boat in the waves while a crew member gets the trailer is a thing of the past. With the Fin Chaser, you approach the beach, lower the wheels when it is shallow enough, raise the outboard, and drive out of the water. No waiting and no conventional launch/retrieve hassles.
Keen for a quick fish by yourself? Drive to the water and then into it. Easy as. Getting older? The boat ramp can offer the more senior solo operator plenty of challenges at times, but the amphibious nature of the Fin Chaser 700HTA eliminates all of these.
Another cool aspect from a helming perspective is how the steering wheel works the same way whether on land or water. No tricky separate steering control for the landing gear as the outboard’s steering system links through to the vessel’s front wheel. On the water, the latest Mercury electric steering makes helming a fingertip job, and it can be integrated ‘plug and play’ with the autopilot.
The helm station is another example of simple efficiency. Apart from the Lowrance HDS 12 sounder/plotter, the Anura S25 amphibious control, and Viper SS1000 anchoring system, there’s a couple of switch panels, two digital outboard gauges, and the all-important steering wheel. That’s all, so the console real estate is pleasingly uncluttered.
The VHF and stereo are above the helmsman’s head, out of the way but easily reached, and the helmsman enjoys the comfort of the marine equivalent of an Easyboy armchair fitted with a Shockwave S5 to further take the bumps out of the ride.
The Mercury 250 V8 is well-matched to the hull. Cruising at 22 knots offers a fuel burn of just under 40 litres an hour at 4200rpm. At gamefish trolling speed – just above seven knots – the fuel consumption is around 12 litres an hour, depending on the sea state.
This leads neatly into the boat’s ride. I have always been impressed with the hull performance of FC Boats and a change of name hasn’t altered the way they go. There are a couple of cool technologies that do much to ensure as smooth a ride as possible. The first is Mercury’s Active Trim, which controls the pitch of the hull using the outboard’s trim control. But not the roll. That is the job of the latest kit from Seakeeper Ride Stability Systems.
Most people, when hearing the name Seakeeper, think of the gyro stabilisation systems fitted to launches and some larger trailer boats to minimise roll at rest and underway. The Seakeeper Ride Active controls both pitch and roll, making up to 100 adjustments of the trim blades per minute to optimise both the hull’s seakeeping ability and its fuel economy.
One of my bugbears when underway centres around crew movements. You just get the vessel trimmed nicely and someone moves, requiring an adjustment to the trim tabs. The Seakeeper Vessel Attitude Control SystemTM largely rectifies this, keeping the hull on a level plane.
Taking advantage of this, the Fin Chaser design team has given the 700HTA Gen II a finer entry, further improving its handling, which, together with Fin Chaser’s bespoke extended Dry Ride gunwales and reverse chines, drives the spray down and away.
The electrics on board is yet another example of Fin Chaser Boat’s innovative ways. You would think with all the kit on board, including a Minn Kota Instinct Quest electric motor, that a substantial bank of batteries would be required to keep everything running. Not so.
There is a conventional marine start battery for the outboard, with everything else run via the Minn Kota lithium ion battery, which takes care of the house functions via a 12-36V bi-directional controller. The system is kept topped up not only by the outboard’s alternator, but also by two 140W solar panels on the cabin roof. So long as there is reasonable sunlight, you are never going to be short of power. We fished for two days, and the power/battery capacity level never fell below 97%.
Fishability
The test boat has been designed specifically for fishing. For me, one of the key elements of a boat’s fishability is an uncluttered cockpit with good ‘toe room’ – the ability to get some decent purchase on a big fish using the gunwale as support.
Stepping onto the boat for the first time, the cockpit is impressive for a boat of this length. SeaDek ensures a comfortable, non-slip grip underfoot, with the gunwales finished with a tough, sprayed-on, non-slip surface. There is wet storage under the floor and wide, length-of-cockpit shelving port and starboard for those essential items an angler needs during the day.
While the shelves will take game and jig rods, there are plenty of designated rod holders around the boat for longer rods – 19 in all – located in the rocket launcher (8), gunwales (6) and baitboard (5).
The transom has been designed to allow an angler to follow a fish from side to side without fear of catching on the rear wheels or the motor. Another reviewer mentioned that partially lowering the rear wheels added to the vessel’s stability, which makes sense. The Honda 27hp petrol motor for the Anura amphibious system is housed beneath the king and queen seating to port where it does not impinge on cockpit space.
Centrally located across the transom is a bespoke Fin Chaser self-flooding live bait tank, above which is a single-drawer, drained bait station with slots for knives. A saltwater washdown helps with the housekeeping. A large locker houses the neatly laid out electrics, which are easily accessed for any maintenance or upgrades.
While the vessel is not specifically set up for overnighting, there is room in the cuddy to sleep three snugly, with an electric toilet under the central squab. There is more shelving port and starboard with space under the squabs for storing those less used, bulky items.
Greater Doubtless Bay provided us with a little afternoon sport chasing kingfish around inshore pins. We had some success, keeping two 85-95cm models to take home, along with some nice snapper. Max hooked into the best kingfish of the day, only to have it taken by the biggest bronze whaler shark I have ever encountered, estimated to be easily west of the 200kg mark. In the process of taxing our catch, the shark became snagged by the jig and led us on a merry dance before we cut it off. It gave me a feel for what it is like to tackle a decent gamefish from this boat – no issues there!
The following day we ran out to the Garden Patch and had a deep drop for a swordfish. While we found one, it released us before we could come tight on it. The Minn Kota proved a useful tool for staying over the bait schools, and should it be required, it can push the test boat along at four knots.
In conclusion
The two trips gave me a good feel for how the boat ran and fished. I have always enjoyed the performance of FC/Fin Chaser boats, having myself owned a small centre-console model for several years, and the tweaks and improvements made to the 700HTA didn’t disappoint.
The demonstrator had been well engineered and finished. All the wiring was neat and tidy and excellent use has been made of space. As reviewed, this (amphibious) option is not cheap, coming in at $400,000, but a similarly spec’ed non-amphibious model would be around the $250,000 mark, with base packages starting at $159, 999.
But on balance, how much is anyone prepared to pay for convenience, not to mention extending your time on the water if you have arrived at the stage in life where running a similar-sized conventional hull is out of the question, especially by yourself? Even loading and unloading the boat is made easier when the hull is dropped to ground level, greatly reducing the height you need to lift things over the gunwale.
For those who like to fish in other areas, there is a bespoke road trailer available. The manufacturer suggests the Fin Chaser 700HTA Gen II is ‘the ultimate fishing machine’ – a difficult argument to refute.
