The Wrangler 620 is the largest boat currently manufactured by Blue Fin Boats. A massive all-plate alloy centre console featuring a raised foredeck and a powerfully built T-Top complete with rod holders, this is undoubtedly an offshore warrior with some serious attitude.

And yet it’s certainly an eye-catching craft. Even sitting quietly at the water’s edge at Southport, the Wrangler 620 created quite a stir. Heads turned on shore; other boaters just stared. In her deep grey/black livery with contrasting wrap and numbers, it’s just that sort of craft.

With 3mm sides and 4mm bottom plate construction ensuring strength and longevity, this centre console sports huge amounts of fishing room within its overall length of 6.23m and beam of 2.3m. Up front, aft of the big anchor well and solid bow rail, a raised deck area well protected by a substantial lift in the craft’s sheer line offers a great work area thanks to a side height of 730mm. Paired storage hatches are located within the deck, while a seat spigot provided some flexibility in seating arrangements. This is in addition to the bench style helm seating, with an additional seat being an option.

A large divider-equipped and plumbed live well was set into the rear of the casting deck. This could also be utilised as an additional storage area. As elsewhere within the Wrangler, all floor areas were covered with hookless carpet, which offered sure footing and was a pleasure to stand on.

With its massive overhead framework, the console was equipped with a windscreen, 4 side grab rails, and featured a set of rod holders on its rearmost lip. Despite its height, rods could still be easily reached. Storage was provided on 2 levels within the centre console, with a hatch cover providing weatherproof storage for a central compartment.

Instruments on the dash area were well laid out, with a Lowrance HDS12 unit to port, and a soft lined compartment set to starboard. For easy use by the skipper, the big Lowrance interfaced with the Mercury 150 powerplant in the usual manner.

On a lower level on the dash area were 2 banks of switches, the craft’s 3-spoke steering wheel, ignition switch, plus engine controls. Paired drink holders were lower again, and in a handy position for use by skipper and first mate while seated on a well-padded storage box with a fore/aft backrest. An icebox was set up aft of the helm seat.

The Wrangler’s cockpit work area was also well designed for the utmost in angler comfort. Decks atop gunwales were around 300mm wide and featured SeaDek inserts as a comfy calm water seat. The 640mm-high interior sides also incorporated rod racks, offering full tip protection within tubes set into the side of the craft for 3 rods per side. Paired rod holders were also set into gunwales, while another couple of rod holders graced the craft’s aft bait station. While the cockpit floor was not self-draining, any water finding its way aboard would be directed to a sump aft to be swiftly pumped overboard.

Transom features included hatches for battery and fuel filter access, a 30L plumbed live bait tank to starboard, a lockable entry door to port that converted to a ramp to haul in a big fish, while a fold-down boarding ladder was set immediately aft.

The well performing 150hp Mercury 4-stroke outboard — set on a full width pod — was not top power. Interestingly, Blue Fin has allocated 175hp as a top weight in order to cater for twin rigs. That said, the 150 Mercury made easy work of powering the boat with 3 aboard. These big block engines have been very well received since their release last year, and as the saying goes, there’s no replacement for displacement.

The Merc’ 150, so quiet at idle, easily pushed the Wrangler’s 960kg 23° deep vee hull onto the plane at a mere 10 knots at 2000rpm. At 3000rpm the Lowrance recorded 18 knots, 4000rpm saw 26.5 knots, 5000 had 38 knots, and wide-open throttle of 5800rpm a blistering 42 knots. All speeds were recorded with 3 aboard and a half tank (175L) of fuel under the floor.

With fingertip-light hydraulic steering and plenty of get-up-and-go from the Mercury, the Wrangler was such a pleasure to drive it was hard to fend off the other folk who wanted a crack at the helm! I found cruising at around 3500rpm to be really great. At those revs, around 23 knots, the Mercury was extremely quiet, yet the rig was covering a lot of ground in a very fuel-efficient manner.

Test runs within the Southport Broadwater and on the Seaway gave a strong indication of the craft’s potential as an offshore rig. Featuring Blue Fin’s Eziride hull, the big Wrangler simply couldn’t be made to pound or wallop when crossing wash or coming off waves in the Seaway entrance. The hull’s design ensured a very sea-kindly ride at all times and a quiet one at that, thanks no doubt to the amount of foam fill below the floor and strong sections of cross ribs and longitudinal bracing.

Not surprisingly, with such high sides and that large sheer line lift within the bow area, there was very little water making a nuisance of itself when travelling fast in choppy conditions. It’s important to remember that open boats always have the potential to get a bit wet at times, but in my view it would only be with the Wrangler travelling across big chop or solid wave action with wind on the quarter that there would be any need for a spray jacket.

Purpose-built as a fishing rig, the Wrangler 620 has great potential. Rated for up to 6 anglers, I’d see 4 fishing it easily, maybe even 6 in the right conditions given the 2 work areas both up front and aft of the centre console. Those aboard would find plenty of room for tackle boxes and the like within storage areas, there’s a bait tank aft, a big fish box up front, and lots of side height to ensure comfort when offshore. With its large pressings and massive spray chines, the plate hull featured impressive stability at rest and would no doubt endear itself to anglers fishing wide.

Surprisingly, there were no side pockets within the cockpit area, but on the credit side was the fact that rods could be stored in complete safety thanks to the built-in tubes within the sides, and the fact that the cockpit sides were also soft lined with hookless carpet.

In summing up the 620 Wrangler and 150 Mercury package, I saw it as a really well put together offshore rig with a lot of workroom and plenty of comfort for those aboard. Seating options are available for anglers wanting to take out a few folk at a time, and it’s a topic Blue Fin will discuss.

I found the overall finish and fitout to be exceptionally good. Welds were visible but very neat, with the standard of paint finish and upholstery work of the highest quality. Pride of ownership would be a big plus with this craft.

Options on the test rig included the vinyl wrap, folding ladder, Lowrance HDS 12, and raised front casting deck. The reviewed craft, on a custom Blue Fin trailer, is available as a package, and Blue Fin Boats can be contacted on (07) 5571 5277 or at www.bluefinboats.com.au for a dealer nearest you.

Technical Information

Length: 6.23m

Beam: 2.30m

Length on trailer: 8.1m

Height on trailer: 3.2m

Hull construction: 4mm plate bottom, 3mm topsides

Deadrise: 23°

Fuel: 175L

Engines: 130-175hp

Engine fitted: 150 Mercury 4-stroke

Persons: 6

Towing: Family six wagon, or large 4WD ute or wagon.

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Features such as the Wrangler’s spray chine and below-water pressings are easily seen in this launch image.

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A lot of heads turned to admire the Wrangler 620’s fine lines when resting on the beach at Southport.

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Besides being a great place to fish, the Wrangler’s forward casting deck also featured twin hatches and a large live well.

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The manufacturers were generous with the hookless carpet throughout.

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Safe storage for valuable rods is going to be a selling point with this craft.

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Additional storage space within the Wrangler consisted of a large box under the padded helm seat.

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Those aboard would appreciate flexibility in the Wrangler’s helm seating, courtesy of a 2-way backrest.

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Blue Fin’s Brad Richey at the helm of the Wrangler. This boat was so enjoyable to drive, we were virtually drawing straws to see who might be next!

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Compact yet very functional best describes the Wrangler’s helm setup.

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A neat, functional transom layout, with a removable cutting board.

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Although not top power, the 150 Mercury 4-stoke certainly made easy work of powering the big Wrangler.

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A smooth running hull at work. It’s easy to see how little fuss the Wrangler’s well-designed hull creates when under way.

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Powering out of a sharp turn to port, the Blue Fin’s under-hull features are easy to see.

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By no means maximum but ample power is how the author saw the 150 Mercury 4-stroke outboard.