The Streaker Navigator 4850 has been designed with a user friendly set of goals and I am more than happy to say it meets and then exceeds a lot of these goals.

Designed to be a comfortable boat for anglers to use in bigger waterways, the Navigator 4850 is a pocket rocket. Being the smallest craft in the Streaker fleet you may think that the sea legs on this craft have been compromised. Well if you think that, you’d be wrong. We had the chance to take the 4850 Navigator for a spin in some pretty ordinary conditions and for such a small boat, the ride was brilliant in the sloppy conditions.

Let’s take a look at some of the features that Leon and Paul Savage’s team has put into this little gem of a boat.

This 4.85m vessel provides the perfect cuddy cab platform for first-time boaters or the experienced angler that enjoys weekend boating. The compact nature of the 4850 Navigator means that it is easily towed, easily handled and capable of venturing through many waterways that larger boats cannot explore. And while this is a compact model, it is by no means short of features and appointments. Included in the standard inventory is a fully moulded cabin liner, bait board, rod holders, underfloor ice box and separate anchor locker. The 4850 Navigator also now offers the convenience and safety of a forward walk-through hatch plus all the practical extras expected from a Streaker Boats fishing package.

And like its bigger brother reviewed earlier in the year, the 4850 demonstrates Streaker’s attention to detail. This again is part of the beauty of the Streaker range. For the angler inclusions such as side pocket rod holders, alloy rocket launcher above the bimini top, tackle tray storage in the seat boxes, custom bait board and rear livewell make this a superb rig off the rack for an angling family.

But the inclusions don't stop there as Streaker thought of just about everything to make your boating experience simple and enjoyable.

We were fortunate to be able to really test this rig out in shocking conditions on the Bay. For such a small boat, this rig handled the chop thrown up by a nasty 20-30 knot northerly very, very well.

Just think about this for a while as this boat is only just over 4.8m long and the swells were up and over a metre with the frequency of the waves being pretty tight. It was no place to push the motor and boat to their limits, however they had to do some seriously tough work.

Like most fibreglass rigs, the thumping over the waves and into the troughs was minimal with only one wave catching us by surprise and having us land a little heavy. But it was a soft kind of heavy if that makes any sense and not a bone rattling, teeth shattering bang you can sometimes get. Spray should have been a big issue but it wasn’t. Right at the transom there was a little bit of spray intrusion, but tucked in the skipper’s or passenger’s seat not a drop of the salty stuff was felt. Whether going across, with or against the swells, the Navigator handled the treatment well. Going across the waves was actually a bit of fun as this stable platform didn’t have that frightening tendency to heel over too much going up the side of a wave or down the back side of them. By the end of the test runs I was really enjoying the rough stuff and for me, that’s a near on miracle as a batch tub can make me sick at times.

The hole shot with e Yamaha 70hp 4-stroke was impressive in the suds. Quick and responsive, the Yammie got the Navigator up and working very quickly, which was appreciated greatly in the sloppy conditions. There was a feeling that this power rating would have you safely across coastal bars even though you can fit the Navigator with a 2-stroke 90hp. It just didn't feel like it needed the extra horsepower and I am usually one that prefers the top end in the horsepower range be used because you just never know when you’ll need it.

Driving the Navigator was a simple task as the seating and controls all fell to hand easily. They were placed in a ‘natural’ position and by that I mean a position that seemed right. Like most of the details on the Navigator, this arrangement had been fine tuned before they released the model and the fine tuning certainly showed through. One other piece of design that helped in the messy conditions was the foot rests for the skipper and first mate. They were raised slightly from the cabin’s walls and had a strip of non-slip material placed on top. I found my feet naturally falling onto these foot rests and the non-slip material made it easy to balance as we blasted around in the chop.

Again, it’s the attention to detail by Streaker that impresses.

Streaker unashamedly build their boating packages to be easy to use. They want their customers to have a fun experience, nit a troubled experience. They want their boats to be used, not stored as semi-permanent garage ornaments.

To achieve this goal, they have chosen to sue a custom designed Easytow Drive-on Trailer. This trailer cradles the Navigator perfectly while travelling and when you get to the ramp, the Navigator slips off easily and can be driven on effortlessly. This is one of the main times new boaters start to get nervous sweats and one of the reasons many boat owners don’t get on the water as often as they’d like.

The electronics package that is available with the Navigator package is tailored to the users needs. The test rig was fitted with a Lowrance Mark 5 Pro sounder, marine radio and gauges to suit the Yamaha and everything was placed in easy reach and site of the skipper without anything interrupting the skipper’s view of the surrounds.

The bimini was a work of art. Tough, durable and topped with a rocket launcher custom built to suit. It provided good coverage and with the open front section, allowed a standing skipper to clearly see over the top of the windscreen when required.

Easy to use? It sure was. From the ramp to the slop of the test day and back again, the Navigator was a great rig to play around with, even if for only a short time.

The 4850 Navigator is a fantastic smaller boat that will suit bay anglers and estuary anglers alike. With the test day being so ordinary, I’d have no trouble taking this rig offshore as it's a solid, dry rig capable of handling trouble when it’s thrown at it. It feels safe, it doesn't play up and the 4-stroke 70hp Yamaha was an ideal match in terms of power and ultimately brilliant fuel economy.

As tested, and at boat show prices, the Streaker 4850 Navigator comes it at around $40,000. That’s a lot of boat for a great price and the snapper this season, next season and for a lot of seasons to come will be in for a real surprise!

For more details on the 4850 Navigator, log onto www.streakerboats.com.au or give the team a call on (03) 9729 8288. You can also check out the range of Streaker Boats at the showrooms found at 461 Mountain Highway in Bayswater.