Custom Fibreglass Mouldings at Taree, on the Mid North Coast, are producing a range of fibreglass bass/bream and leisure boats.

Bruce Lamotte is the man behind the business, with 20 years’ experience as a laminating technician and a lifetime in and out of boats. He knows his stuff.

The Lamotte boats range from 4.2 metres to 6.5 metres with the interior and deck layouts tailor-made to the client’s instructions. With a beam of 1.6 metres and an outside gunwale measurement of 1.95 metres, the full range of boats provide ideal stability.

The test boat is owned by Bruce’s brother, Ross, who fishes the BREAM tournaments and spends most weekends tormenting the local flathead and bream populations in his home waters of the Manning River.

Ross’s boat is a 5.2-metre version with an altered pod that supports the 90hp Evinrude FICHT outboard. At 70kmh to 80kmh, the 90hp covers plenty of water, decreasing travel time and increasing valuable tournament time spent fishing.

The interior of the boat is fitted out with two forward livewells of 125litres and two rear wells of 70 litres. Large rod lockers either side of the boat allow ample storage for camping gear, fishing tackle, crab pots, nets and eskies.

The cushioned bench seat can fit three to four anglers across behind the twin glass consoles. Fully carpeted, this model will sell for $14,000 to $15,000, excluding motor and trailer.

Bow-mount electric motors can be fitted directly to the deck or on mounting plates. The 65lb thrust Minn Kota on the 5.2metre is more than ample to position the boat into the prime position to get the cast away at feeding fish.

Stability is a highlight of the hull design. With four anglers fishing and moving around on the boat, there is minimal rocking and the low profile of the hull minimises wind drift.

Deck size, layout, livewells, plumbing, carpet and hull colours are totally up to the customer. Bruce can work miracles with glass, which is a big advantage over alloy hulls.

A basic 5.1-metre boat with tiller steering and small foredeck starts around $7000, with smaller models even cheaper. All the boats are laid up with lightweight biaxial glass. There is absolutely no timber incorporated into the hulls and all decks are 15mm vacuum-bagged Nyderplast™ with a solid transom of 12mm woven glass. All the models can be set up to be self-draining, including livewells at the end of the day.

Deck hatches can be plastic, glass or Nyderplast and can be finished lockable with flush pulls for secure storage and easy access.

A feature that you need to feel to appreciate is the soft ride, even during the roughest of weather. The light glass hull floats gently on the roughest of water and that can be a real welcome on a long run home.

CAPTION

The Lamotte 5.1 is part of the range of Lamotte Craft fishing boats made at Taree.