The Surtees brand is synonymous with innovation and quality, and the Surtees 730 Sport Fisher is no exception.
Launched at this year’s Auckland On-the-Water Boat Show, the 730
is Surtees’ launch platform into 7m-plus boats.
While Surtees has built a number of larger 8m designs, these
have been one-off custom projects built to commercial specs for
various inshore and offshore applications. The new 730, available
in a variety of enclosed and open hard-top configurations, has been
tooled for general production.
The first of the design – and the demonstrator for this review –
struck a chord with the boating press, winning a ‘best-in-class’
award at this year’s National Boat Show. Awards are nothing new for
Surtees Boats and more might have been said had this new boat not
won its class.
The 730 is basically the same boat as the popular and proven
Surtees 6.7m Sport Fisher. While roughly 7″ bigger all round, it is
essentially a stretched 6.7m engineered and built on the
same design
drawings.
There are, of course, minor refinements and additional options,
but hull design and construction is stock-standard Surtees. And
that, says Family Boats’ Tony Singe, is what the market wanted and
is comfortable with.
“Owners of Surtees 6.7m, 6.1m and, to a lesser degree, 5.5m Work
Mate designs, have had few options to upgrade their existing
Surtees. We’ve always believed there is untapped market potential
for the Surtees brand in the 7m class. The 730 is a comfortable
progression for these owners and we expect corresponding sales
success.”
While the economy is hardly conducive to big-ticket purchases,
Surtees Boats report orders for 10 boats, which is tracking above
its initial production estimate of one 730 a month.
Surtees pedigree
While company owner and founder Neil Surtees is no longer ‘on the
tools’, it is useful to consider his contribution to aluminium
trailer boat design and his innovative and sometimes unorthodox
approach to boatbuilding.
A boilermaker by trade, Surtees was one of those guys who took
things apart just to see how they worked. Then, with the widget in
bits on his shed floor, he would reassemble, adding or removing
parts as he saw fit, arriving at an improved, albeit unorthodox,
solution that performed its job better, faster and cheaper than the
original.
His introduction to boatbuilding goes back 20 years when he
picked up a welder and built the first of several jet boats for his
own use. These early designs and the workmanship that went into
them did not escape local attention and Surtees’ hobby took on a
life of its own.
It is Surtees’ ability to visualise ideas and designs that sets
the brand apart and has resulted in rapid growth in the last
decade. Surtees now produces more than a dozen models based on four
designs that range from 5.5m to 7.3m. The company’s WorkMate,
available as a 5.5m, 6.1m or 6.7, continues to be the its bread and
butter model.
The WorkMate is a working boat optimised for no-frills fishing.
The company’s BarCrusher and Sport Fisher models are more
sports-orientated, with a fixed hard-top and build options that
extend to a galley, enclosed head and lockable cabin. Both the
WorkMate and BarCrusher are exported to Australia and marketed
under the single BarCrusher badge.
The new 7.3m Sport Fisher is an open hard-top model with a
central lockable cabin door. The same boat is available with a
fully enclosed hard-top and marketed as the 7.3m Game Fisher. An
entry-level option is also available with an open hard-top but
without the cabin door.
Construction
All three models are built from marine-grade aluminium and
specified with 5mm plate hull, 4mm topsides and a 4mm checker plate
floor.
The hull is strengthened with six full-length stringers from the
transom to the bow. Welded gussets are placed every 400mm and
capped with a solid checker-plate floor, forming two
pressure-tested under-floor buoyancy chambers with a central
under-floor fuel tank.
The 730 design incorporates Surtees’ “quickflow” water ballast
system and “waveslicer” hull form. None of Surtees’ designs have
planing strakes or typical chine rails. Surtees maintains that
planing strakes serve only to aerate water passing under the hull,
resulting in unnecessary cavitation.
The 730 hull has the same exaggerated forefoot and deep, fine
entry bow fitted with a single externally-welded aluminium
extrusion spray rail that extends aft roughly one third of the
hull’s waterline length. The hull has a variable deadrise
culminating at 18 degrees at the transom.
Much has been written about Surtees’ water ballast system.
Simply put, it is a free-flowing tank welded into the hull above
the V in the stern. The tank follows the centreline and runs the
full length of the hull. Stop the boat and the tank floods, in this
case with 450 litres of seawater – about 400kg of ballast. This
extra weight down low improves the boat’s stability when
stationary. It is also useful ballast in rough conditions.
Put power on and the tank empties of its own accord in less than
10 seconds. The ballast tank entry is fitted with a triangular gate
that is opened and closed by pulling a single braid line.
Like its 6.7 Sport Fisher stablemate, the new 7.3 is a
good-looking boat with its angled three-pane toughened-glass
windscreen, relatively low profile hard-top and external styling.
As a demonstrator, the hull of the review boat is finished in a
quality two-pot black marine coating with colour-matched graphics
and sheer stripes on the hull and cabin
superstructure.
Several items jump out as being different, including Surtees’
large rectangular aluminium forward hatch. This is fitted with a
small acrylic sealed window for natural cabin light. The advantage
of size is easy access to the anchor. The disadvantage is a large
hatch footprint, which heightens the risk of foredeck leaks. And in
this case, the rubber hatch seal did not look completely
convincing.
The 730 Sport Fisher demonstrator was optioned with a full cabin
bulkhead and central aluminium sliding door that slides in behind
the bulkhead on the port side when open. The door is certainly
solid and fitted with a strong locking arrangement. It is not,
however, set on any form of runner and requires a reasonable effort
to slide it closed. A door handle or similar fitting would be a
useful addition.
With its fine entry and long forefoot, cabin volume is not huge
but it does provide sitting headroom and can be optioned with an
electric macerator toilet mounted between the V berth squabs in the
bow. An optional infill squab is available to create a large berth
for the more adventurous. The cabin is fully-lined and tastefully
upholstered with twin parcel shelves. An internal access hatch is
fitted to the forward bulkhead for internal access to the chain
locker.
The 730 Sport Fisher has Surtees’ signature portofino stern with
full-length transom and walk thru located on the port side
incorporating the live-bait tank. The transom and side decks are
wide and provide clever storage options. A single-level battery
shelf is fabricated under the transom and enclosed with an
upholstered hinged panel that forms a basic bench seat when folded
out.
Utility lockers have been built into the side decks for bait and
tackle and full-length cockpit storage racks take care of rods,
gaff, fenders and spare cordage. Various seating options are
available depending on your application. The demonstrator had a
single gas-assisted pedestal on the driver’s side fitted with a
fold-out lumber support and a king/queen fiberglass unit had been
fitted on the passenger side. Like many aspects of Surtees Boats,
upholstery is designed, manufactured and fitted to boats before
they leave the factory and the standard is consistently
high.
An unusual but noteworthy feature of the demonstrator is a small
sink unit and double row of cup holders built in on the passenger
side of the hard-top. Equipped with a fresh water tap plumbed to a
75-litre tank and small sink, it is an ideal accessory for those
who enjoy a cuppa or freshwater splash down.
Cockpit and
hard-top
Surtees hard-tops are solidly engineered and equipped with a welded
rocket launcher and external handrails where required. The
demonstrator featured sliding side windows and a canvas cockpit
bimini sunshade fitted to the aft end of the hard-top. The hard-top
roof has guttering with excess runoff draining through the aft hand
rails and out overboard.
Keeping with its fishing heritage, the 730 cockpit is an open
platform, completely free of obstacles to get between you and your
fish. The cockpit combings are covered in non-skid and fitted with
three rod holders each side, flanked by recessed plastic sinker
cups or drink holders as required. The high-spec demonstrator was
fitted with rubber tube matting and all alloy surfaces had been
sprayed with Nyalic protective coating.
The helm station is thoughtfully laid out and solidly engineered
with wiring looms discretely hidden behind aluminium panels. These
can be quickly and easily removed for maintenance or running cable
for additional electronics. The instrument panel and dash is lined
and designed to accommodate large-screen instruments.
It also incorporates a curved and shielded pod for engine
management instruments. Hand holds and foot rails are well placed
for secure passage around the boat when under way.
At 1350kg, the 730 was ideally matched to the Yamaha F250
six-cylinder, four-stroke outboard fitted to the demonstrator.
Recommended power options range from 200hp to 300hp.
With winter boating being what it is, one couldn’t help feeling
cheated having to test the boat on a flat calm sea with no breeze
and a light, dreary Auckland drizzle, as the photographs
suggest.
So what can I tell you? Perhaps the most pertinent observation
is that the 730 feels like a solid boat underfoot, with no annoying
creaks or groans. The hydraulic steering is positive and firm and
the boat tracks perfectly without a pilot. It is the sort of boat
that you know is without vices – being a development of the proven
6.7. Like the 6.7, the 730 can be thrown around at will.
The fine-entry bow and extruded spray rails take care of wayward
spray and a dry windscreen at the end of the day speaks for itself.
Surtees Boats have a reputation for soft-riding hulls and there is
no reason to suspect the new 7.3 Sport Fisher is any different.
The overriding impression of the 7.3 is that it is a quality
package. And while short on some of the frills finding their way
onto similar-sized trailer boats, engineering, construction and
practicality are excellent.
Coupled with Surtees’ own tandem-axle multi-roller trailer, the
Surtees 730 Sport Fisher is quite a rig and would look good in
anyone’s drive.
Specifications
(Price as tested $124,000, Priced from $99,000)
LOA 7.3m
Beam 2.5m
Weight 1350kg
Freeboard 810mm
Fuel Cap 300 litres
Water Cap 75 litres
Water ballast 450 litres
Boat supplied by Family Boats, 247 Ti Rakau Dr, Auckland.
Tel: (09) 274 0511.