14 — Northern Territory News, CARSguide, Saturday, January 16, 2010

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I’M A WANDERER: The Sea Jay 5.8m Wanderer measured up to all expectations during testing

SEA JAY'S PURSUIT

OF EXCELLENCE

BRING IT ON: The 6.8m Sea Jay Pursuit handles the rough and smooth with aplomb

By IAN GRANT

BUNDABERG-based

Sea Jay Boats knows

how to put its boats

through their paces.

It has cleverly used the

perfect aquatic test bench

of the Burnett River and the

open waters of Hervey Bay

to retain its reputation

among Australia’s leaders

in aluminium boat building.

The design and test

certificates of its new de-

signs are never approved

for production before a

stringent set of sea trials.

This was again the case

when the company com-

pleted the prototype 6.8m

half-cabin Pursuit.

The Sea Jay Boats’ de-

sign and development

team, headed by Colin and

Janelle Glass, has success-

fully added another top

performer to their already

impressive catalogue of

sheltered-water dinghies

and open-water craft.

Quality control from the

cut-out stage to the meticu-

lous fabrication and weld-

ing is another key to their

success.

It has built its reputation

by combining strength and

sea safety in all boats from

the small Nomad to the

new flagship, the 6.8m

Pursuit.

It has perfected the sure-

track style hull shape which

contributes to the larger

boats in the range of being

known for the positive grip

with the water and safe

handling in choppy seaconditions.

The Pursuit held an un-tried pedigree when sherolled off the productionline, however her test crewincluding Troy Glass re-mained confident that thevessel would breezethrough her initial sea trials.

‘‘There was a reasonableswell off Burnett Heads butfor me the sea conditionswere soft, however I washappy with the perform-ance,’’ he said.

The Pursuit again ach-ieved high marks on theperformance graph reach-ing 50km/h in 5.89

seconds and a peak speed

of 72.3 km/h (33.51 knots)

at full throttle.

Length: 6.8m

Beam: 2.5m

Fuel: 360 litres

Engine: 175-200hp

Price: From $87,990

Wanderoff toblueyonderSEA Jay Boats has givenboating families the oppor-tunity to discover new hor-izons in a high element ofsafety and economy withits four-boat range of Wan-derer bow riders.

This stylish open-stylerunabout is best describedas a versatile all-rounder,with the hull design andspacious interior layout al-lowing the Wanderer to beeasily converted from acomfortable day cruiserinto a serious fishing andcrabbing runabout.

There are very few recre-ational boats on the marketwhich can compare withthe versatility of the bowrider, and Bundaberg-based Sea Jay Boats hasadded its own touch ofexperience to present ahigh standard of familyleisure craft.

Essentially all five Wan-derer models are designedfor the sheltered inshoreenvironment, but the 5.8mflagship of the fleet has theproven pedigree and struc-tural integrity to extend itsversatility to fishing openoffshore waters.

The combination of awide 2.44m beam and theability to replace the com-fortable bow-rider cushionswith a casting platform hasmade the 5.8m Wanderer apopular choice with boat-ing families who preferoffshore fishing when theweather is right.

The model’s excellentsea-handling character hasbeen tried and improvedover many hours of testingand research in both calmand rough conditions, withthe features of the SureTrac and ultimate-edgetransom providing a calm-ing effect in a lumpy sea-way.

The 5.8m Wanderer’shull weight of 625kg,complemented with 16floor ribs, presents a super-stiff underbody.

This, combined with asea-calming fore-peak andspray-deflecting chine, as-sists to deliver a better-than-average performance.

There was plenty ofpower from the 130hpengine to suggest the 5.8mWanderer could also addskiing and wake-boardingto the list of aquatic activi-ties.

The Sea Jay 5.8m Wan-derer measured up to allexpectations during test-ing, but a maximum 150hpengine could be fitted ifwater-skiing and wake-boarding were to becomepreferred activities.

Length: 5.8m

Beam: 2.49m

Crew capacity: Six people

Fuel: 160L

Engine: 130-150hp