• by Steve Morgan

I asked Stones Corner Marine’s Glenn Baker if he was in an option-ticking mood when he put together this demo rig for their dealership in Brisbane. After all, this 780 Bar Crusher hard top with a 300hp Yamaha 4-stroke was one of the most kitted out boats that we’ve tested in the last couple of years.“We like to have all of the good gear on our demo boats, because customers see the finished product, relate to it and then want to take it home,” Baker smiled, “and that’s exactly what a demo boat should do.”

We knew we were in for a great day on the water in this epic rig – even though Moreton Bay was white capping and there was hardly another trailer at the ramp. It didn’t matter in this rig. It’s long enough to bridge the waves, heavy enough to move the water (and not vice versa) and dry enough in the wheelhouse to cop a gale warning and still keep you warm and comfortable.

And it had all of the accessories – a fridge, radar, toilet – you know, all of the things that are necessary for a big day on the water. That’s what you get for $165,000. A great Australian built boat with enough gear and range to take you to a different state.

We had Stones Corner salesman, Troy Wegner, take us out for a spin on a day that was perfect for seeing what hulls like this can do.

“This boat has a 500L fuel tank rather than the 330L standard, but it comes at the expense of an underfloor kill-box,” said Troy on the test day.

After running the numbers, we calculated that this rig would have a theoretical range of over 700km with that tank and a captain sitting on 3,000rpm. At those revs, the Yamaha pushed the 780 along at 41km/h and delivered 1.6km/L of fuel burned.

[sliderpro id=”340″]

If you’re showing off to your mates at wide open throttle, you’ll only get 700m/L, but you’ll have plenty of fun. It all depends on how much you like spending money at the bowser.

The way that the Bar Crusher ate up the sub-metre chop was impressive – the faster you went, the more the hull got on top of the rough water and the waterline length bridged the gaps. Quartering the slop, you’d definitely get wet if it wasn’t an enclosed hard top design, but the cabin and new hard top design kept the cabin warm and dry.

There’s a lot to like in a rig like this, but I was particularly impressed with the lockable cabin, the dash that can flush-mount any of your electronics and be visible from where you’re fishing and the practicality of the transom door and boarding ladder arrangement.

You can watch a video review of the boat test on the Fishing Monthly Magazines YouTube channel or by scanning the QR code hereby with your smartphone.

Or better still, get in touch with the guys from Stones Corner Marine to check out this weapon of a rig yourself, they’re at www.stonescornermarine.com.au and at Stones Corner Marine on Facebook.

SPECIFICATIONS
Length: 7.8m
Beam: 2.45m
Weight on trailer (dry): 2,380 kg
Fuel: 500L (330 standard)
Max hp: 300
Capacity: 6 persons
Materials: 5mm bottom, 4mm sides

PERFORMANCE
RPM km/h km/L
1000 – 9 – 1.9
2000 – 13 – 1.0
3000 – 36 – 1.5
4000 – 54 – 1.1
5000 – 67 – 0.8
5600 – 80 – 0.8
* Figures from Yamaha Performance Bulletin