Profile 545 Jet

Profile boats are becoming better known by the boating public these days.
This is partly through the company’s association with the Hiwi the Kiwi Fish for the Future programme, an early win for the Profile 750HW at the Hutchwilco Boat Show several years ago, and the distinctive orange-gold Profile 650H that features on Adam Clancey’s TV show Fishing New Zealand.
The Napier-based company was started by Mark Lincoln and sold to Napier retailer Firmans Marine in 2008. Lincoln continues to run the manufacturing side for Firmans Marine, which handles the fit-outs through to key-turn stage, as well as the marketing.
Recently, Firmans put together a custom Profile 545 hull designed specifically for beach launching at Ocean Beach, just south of Cape Kidnappers in Hawkes Bay. This small settlement has an open surf beach with several shallow sandbars out behind the first break. Getting a boat out through the shallow, testing conditions safely requires a specialist craft, and this is what Profile/Firmans put together for local landowner Andy Lowe.

Design and construction

The standard Profile 545 hull features a 4mm bottom and deck, and 3mm pontoons. The hull is supported by the pontoon structure itself, four full-length bearers and the keel assembly. Above the keel-line, a flat plate is welded across the hull, forming a strong triangular section at the keel. Lateral support is provided by a main bulkhead at the helm, the transom assembly, the forward collision bulkhead, and two central frames that also form the position for an under-floor fuel tank.
Several departures have been made from the standard version of the 545 hull to allow for the jet-drive configuration. The keel has been rounded to allow the hull to ‘slide’ in the turns, providing the increased manoeuvrability that jet boats are known for. In addition, flat rails have been added around the bow to facilitate man-handling in the surf during the launch and retrieval.
A high level of stability, load carrying, and buoyancy (total buoyancy for the hull is 1200kg; minus the hull and engine weight of 730kg, this leaves a reserve buoyancy of 470kg), are the three best features of the pontoon configuration, aspects that have considerable value in a surf-launch situation. In this case the pontoon construction is split into three separate sealed sections, with a large area under the sealed deck as well.
Twin linkable batteries (one house and one starter) are situated under the rear bench seats and provided with the additional protection of internal battery boxes.
Drainage from the sealed decks runs to a large under-deck sump in the stern, fitted with a manual 1100gph bilge pump, with additional drainage in the form of a duck-bill scupper. A second 1100gph bilge pump with a float switch is installed in the engine compartment.

Power and performance

The Profile is powered by a Mercury Optimax 200hp Sport Jet; a 60° vee V6 direct-injection two-stroke engine that exhausts through two mufflers then out the jet, greatly reducing the noise. This compact unit has one of the best power-to-weight ratios of its type.
The Sport Jet unit has an advantage over other jet systems in that it has a vertical power train, turning 90° to run through the jet. This allows the engine to be fitted right back in the stern, conserving cockpit space.
With a jet unit there is no tilt-trim to adjust the attitude of the hull as there is with an outboard. Instead, a trim plate – like a fixed trim tab – is used. The test boat is the first of this model to be fitted with a jet and had only just been launched. The trim-plate adjustment was still to be made at the time of testing, but the balance of the hull was not very far off – although riding a bit bow-high, this is not necessarily a bad thing when facing surf conditions.
Fuel is carried in an 80-litre underfloor tank, and there is a further 25-litre auxiliary tank with a fuel-cock shut-off back in the engine compartment.
Sea conditions did not permit us to try out the top-end speed of the rig, but the boys tell me it will do in excess of 50kph.
The real benefits of the jet unit became apparent as the boat was launched. Ocean Beach is a popular swimming beach, so launching was restricted to the rougher water, away from the swimmers. Brian Firman and I were fortunate to have locals Ben Doggett (an RIB driver from the local surf club), Josh Aperahama and Paul Mills running the boat. With practiced moves, the boat’s engine was first fired up in the lagoon to warm the engine, then the traditional rusty-but-reliable beach tractor (in this case a David Brown) pulled it to the surf line.
The reason for the big rails around the bow became obvious as the crew swung the boat around and held it bow-on into the breakers while the tractor was parked and driver Ben Doggett did the beach-sprint back.
Next, the engine was fired up, the crew tumbled on board and the Profile was skilfully worked out through the surf break, punching through a couple of combers.
Once outside the break, I had a drive. For those unfamiliar with them, a jet-boat’s steering is different to a conventional boat. Full lock is only around a quarter-turn to each side, and the wheel is sprung so that it automatically returns to the centre. The throttle lever is also different to the conventional throttle-shift. With a rounded keel, jets don’t track in a straight line as well as boats with more prominent keels (this is what gives them their considerable manoeuvrability), nor do they have great steerage at low speed. As can be imagined, all this does take a little getting used to, but I soon started to get the hang of it.
The engine ‘hunted’ a bit at low speed, caused by a mis-match between new software and the engine’s earlier model Electronic Control Module, fitted in the race to get the boat in the water by Christmas. A replacement ECM – which will solve the issue – was on its way from the distributors.
Later, on our return through the surf, the jet showed its true abilities. As Ben travelled in on the back of a breaker and crossed the shallowest outer sandbars, the water was sucked up by the wave, leaving only a few centimetres depth. With an outboard-powered craft we would have definitely struck bottom and been very deep in the doo-doo indeed, but the jet unit meant we skittered happily through the skinny water and up to the beach instead.
Rather than mucking around, the tractor was used to quickly drag the boat up onto the sand (again, no running gear to worry about), and then loaded onto its trailer.

Anchoring

The ground tackle is stored in an anchor-well behind a three-quarter-height bulkhead in the bow. A large hatch and a chequerplate platform make life easy for the bowman, who can stand in the hatchway and control the Anchormax capstan with a switch handily mounted on the bulkhead.
Split bow-rails drop on either side of the fairlead, constraining the warp without need for a locking pin. A crucifix bollard is there for tie-off duties – an efficient system that does all that is required for the shallow coastal work it is used for.

Layout

With a boat of this size, there is little room to be wasted. The bow, apart from the anchoring facilities, features a squab seat along the starboard side that might shelter a couple of people at a pinch, or allow a child enough room for a nap. There is stowage space beneath, and pipe rails prevent items sliding back when underway, doubling as footrests.
The cuddy features tinted polycarbonate windows with a turn-back on top. A large dash has a back-lip and passenger grab rail. As well as acting as a storage tray for odds and ends, the sounder (a Lowrance Elite 5) is mounted here.
The console features standard gauges and switching, and a Uniden Solara VHF is mounted underneath.
The helm seat is a swivelling upholstered bucket-type on a pedestal with stowage space underneath. The passenger seat is a custom king-and-queen, with the rear-facing bench seat housing a 50-litre icebox underneath. Two rear seats are fitted to either side of the engine box, which hinges back astern for easy access to the engine. A ski-pole has been added in front of the box, and the side shelves will take dive tanks.
Over the stern is a chequerplate platform with grab rails and a fold-down T-ladder for diver/swimmer access. Stern cleats and Decktread on the gunwales complete the ‘furniture’.
Including the fishing fittings (which we will get to in a moment) and an inboard engine, Profile has fitted a lot into a relatively small boat. On test day we had five adults on board without any problems, the stability and load-carrying ability of the pontoon design proving its worth.

Fishability

Places like Ocean Beach and boats like the 545 Profile are rather more about harvesting kaimoana than sportfishing. Diving, cray-potting and basic bottom-bouncing are common uses. The fishing layout follows this line, but has to work around the jet system fitted – the feature that allows access to a fishery that otherwise could only be safely got to with more conventionally-powered craft on a handful of ‘perfect’ days.
A fold-down, six-position rocket launcher takes care of rod stowage, and four through-gunwale rod holders are all you can reasonably use while fishing. A plastic cutting board is screwed to the top of the engine box, and the icebox under the seat stores bait and the catch.
Potting for crayfish is popular on this part of the coast, and the Profile is well fitted out for this with a removable swivelling boom and electric winch. We put the equipment to good use, and here again the pontoon design proved ideal, providing the stability needed to counter the leverage of the boom. The crew were aware of the dangers posed by the combination of a stuck pot and a sudden swell (capsizes and deaths have resulted from this scenario), and a secondary fold-out fairlead down on the gunwale top had been built for use on rougher days or with jammed pots, greatly reducing the leverage.
The crays played ball, and after running the pots we stopped for a bottom fish. We managed to fish four lines OK, and found the fishing set-up, while not ideal, was certainly workable for basic line fishing. A few blue cod came to the party too, along with kahawai, ‘couta and a whole warehouse full of carpet sharks.

Trailering

The trailer is a simple, hot-dip galvanized, cradle A-frame, DMW single-axle model with zinc-protected leaf-spring suspension. Four pairs of wobble rollers and an entry bay at the back of the trailer aid loading, and the boat sits on the wobblers and a set of keel rollers when on the trailer. A single-ratio manual winch, wind-down jockey wheel and submersible LED lights complete the fittings. Tow weight for the rig is 1030kg.

All in all

Safe surf beach launching is the concept that this boat is built around, and to a certain extent other design aspects are subordinate to this requirement. After all, you can’t catch them if you can’t get out there!
The answer to this overriding requirement is this jet-powered aluminium pontoon hull; stable and with a high load-carrying capacity, small enough to be easily launched over the sand and man-handled in the surf, yet big enough to fish four, dive from, and pull a few cray pots. Ideal.

Specifications

Configuration: pontoon cuddy
Material: aluminium
LOA: 5.45m
External beam: 1.98m
Internal beam: 1.51m
Hull and deck: 4mm
Pontoons: 3mm
Deadrise: 17°
Hull weight: 480kg approx
Tow weight: 1030kg
Test engine: Mercury Optimax 200 Sport Jet
Trailer: DMW Premier
Price as tested: $69,000
Key-turn packages from: $53,000
Test boat courtesy of Andy Lowe.

Source:  http://www.fishing.net.nz/index.cfm/pageid/51/view/yes/editorialID/1136