Boat review Extreme Game King 850 centre cab Fishing central Words and photos by Grant Dixon The unusual centre cab style provides excellent walkaround ability for charter fishers. 114 Boating New Zealand January 2015
After running sportfishing boats worldwide, a local operator has fitted out an Extreme Game King 850 centre cabin: the ultimate trailer boat for charter. Extreme Game King 850 centre cabin. Tony Orton and his partner Bea Bagnell have spent nine years crewing and captaining sportfishing boats around the world, including 25m and 13m Viking sport-fishing boats for a Russian owner. However, they always planned to return home and establish a charter/hospitality operation based out of Mangawhai. Back in New Zealand, they hooked up with Extreme Boats, led by managing director Glenn Shaw. The initial plan was for two craft: a centre-console for inshore work and a bigger, but still trailerable, charter boat to get out wider. They built a 5.7m centre-console, which proved ideal for the initial development of their business, with good functionality and fishability. Then they hatched a plan for an Extreme Game King 8.5m but did away with the conventional, full cuddy cabin and enclosed wheelhouse. Instead they developed a centre-cab that was fully walk-around. With the basic hull and superstructure determined, next came the hard part creating a practical fishing platform based on Orton s offshore experiences. ALL KITS IN STOCK NOW! New product (kits available now) from marine dealers nationwide or direct from Nyalic NZ. subscribe...creating a practical fishing platform based on Tony Orton s offshore experiences. SURTEES MCLAY EXTREME WHITE POINTER IMAGE All choose NYALIC Make sure you specify for your boat online at www.mags4gifts.co.nz/boating-nz 115
Electronics Pride of place at the helm station belongs to the Garmin 8015 15-inch touch-screen, which controls two sounders GVC10 Down and SideVu as well as the conventional GSD 26 digital network sounder via a 1kW Chirp transducer. The unit also displays chartplotter data and GMR24xHD radar. Other great features include the Meteor 300 media system and GHP20 auto-pilot. There are 12-volt power points under the gunwale side trays for electric reels, as well as USB charging sockets for cameras and phones. Mounting brackets for sports cameras are strategically placed around the boat. Work station One of the standout features is the cockpit live-bait well/work station, which has the 150-litre live-bait tank as its base. The depth of water in the tank is determined by the outflow tubes a short one sees the water drain at half tide while the longer one gives Tony full tide. Pull them out and you drain the tank. The work station incorporates a cutting board as well as space for bait needles, rigging tools, lures, knives and iki spikes. On either side there is more storage for essential gear such as sinkers and other terminal tackle, along with tracing gloves and essential accessories. The work station will be great for the angler to lean back on when playing a big fish, whether from the stern or off the port or starboard sides. 116 Boating New Zealand January 2015
Max Drug don t ask, it s a long story was conceived on the drawing board and fleshed out on the workshop floor. What evolved is the most practical, trailered sport fishing charter vessel I have ever been on. Orton s brief to Shaw was a tough one. Max Drug would be used for several fishing styles, from standard bottom bashing for snapper, kingfish and hapuku, to top-water lure fishing and jigging for kingfish, as well as game fishing for larger pelagics over the summer months. And, to complicate matters on the game-fishing front, Orton rarely just pulls plastic, preferring to tease-and-switch his marlin over hookless lures and/or dredges, or target them with live bait. COVER WORLD We use our OWN top quality OCEAN PRIDE material on which we offer you a FIVE YEAR GUARANTEE against significant material deterioration. We value our customers and their valuable vehicles, and we know what you need! (NEW ZEALAND) LTD New fully trailerable semi custom cut covers for: Hard Top Boats, Zip access available Bimini Top Boats Zip access available with/without rocket launchers Cuddy and Runabout Boats T Top Boats Full leg motor covers Jet ski covers Kayak / canoe covers Anchors galvanised & stainless steel Phone Roger 09 534 4478 (Available to 9.00pm and weekends / holidays coverworldnz@yahoo.com www.coverworldnz.com NEW Product We re certain you will not beat our quality/price combination. Who else will give you a genuine FIVE YEAR GUARANTEE on their products? YEAR GUARANTEE 5 AGAINST MATERIAL DETERIORATION subscribe online at www.mags4gifts.co.nz/boating-nz 117
Trailering On the Voyager Elite trailer, Max Drug weighs close to the legal road limit. Orton tows the rig with a Toyota Landcruiser and is comfortable towing it an 80-90kmph. After making some adjustments, he is pleased with the balance of the rig on the road which is a good thing, as he plans to move around the upper half of the North Island chasing the billfish. The trailer is fitted with a Carlisle electric-hydraulic braking system operating on both axles. This is adjustable from the cab, allowing the driver to set the severity of the brakes according to the conditions....the deck line is inside the waterline, making it a stable platform Stopping, seating, stowage The skipper manages anchoring from the helm using a Savwinch 2000W drum winch for minimal maintenance and ease of use. It carries 100m of 12mm braided line and 10m of 8mm chain attached to a Manson Supreme 11kg anchor. There is seating for four in the hardtop, and space for two more on the ice bin in the cockpit. Under the hardtop, as part of the seats, are several more drawers and storage spaces where lifejackets and flares are easily accessed. The cuddy cabin will sleep two comfortably, and an electric toilet is fitted. When travelling to tournaments, all the tackle and other valuables can be secured in the cuddy, which is secured with a lockable roller door. Orton has not set up the boat for overnighting, but a char-broil barbecue can sit on the baitboard to take care of basic culinary needs. A full cockpit cover with side-zips would add to overnighting comfort. The spacious underfloor bilge area is home to all the pumps and a manifold for live-bait tanks and tuna tubes. The bilge pumps are mounted on individual alloy plates and not fixed down, making access easy. Fishability Orton will take a maximum of five anglers, and there is plenty of space along either gunwale to drop down baits or jigs when drifting over deep foul or through bait schools. Because of the boat s 2.8m beam and design, the deck line is inside the waterline, so anglers weight is always inside the waterline. This makes it a stable platform, even when several anglers are on one side. The cockpit is spacious, despite the central position of the livebait tank and rigging station. Consequently, if casting poppers, two anglers can work off the bow while two fish the stern. Non-skid on the foredeck makes this suitable for casting in ideal conditions, too. 118 Boating New Zealand January 2015
Tony Orton and Bea Bagnell with Max Drug, their fishing charter boat. Tuna Tubes Another unusual feature is the tuna tubes, with four of them positioned centrally in the transom. Adjacent to the tubes are five rod holders, so anglers can place their baits in individual tubes when shifting between drifts or locations, preventing the tangles that inevitably occur when multiple rigged baits are placed in a standard communal tank. The gunwale height is spot-on, providing much appreciated support when battling fish, aided by good toe room, ensuring the purchase on offer is fully used. Neither is there a shortage of rod holders, with 37 positioned around the boat, including several strategically placed around the forward casting deck. The cockpit is well lit with LED lights set into the cabin top. The boat does not have a game chair all angling will be on stand-up tackle and again, this is where the full walk-around comes into its own. Once hooked up on whatever species, the angler can move around the vessel, allowing the skipper to chase down the fish. All tackle onboard is top-of-the-line Shimano, from the marlin gear right down to the soft-baiting outfits. Outboard power The boat is powered by twin Honda 200hp outboards as the twin rig offers safety in the unlikely event of one motor developing trouble. Orton says the motors track straight, produce an excellent wake for trolling, and offer heaps of power. When I had a spell at the helm, the Hondas pushed the vessel up to a cruising speed of 22-24 knots at 3500rpm, with no need for a burst on the throttles to get the hull onto the plane. Honda outboards have a reputation for fuel economy and quiet running, which is certainly true for those on Max Drug. Garmin GMI20 gauges display the engine data and tank monitoring; more info can be brought in via NEMA2000 from the boat electronics, giving time and speed. Trim tabs are fitted for additional trim options, although most of the hull alignment can be done using the motors. Game fishing Orton will specialise in bait fishing for marlin, either with live bait or by employing tease and switch methods using rigged dead baits, so the boat has been specifically set up for this. Teaser reels are run from the hardtop roof, controlled from the helm area, thus freeing up space in the cockpit. Orton says tease and switch involves all the crew, and the teaser reel set-up saves a lot of people running around the cockpit clearing lines, allowing the angler to focus on getting a hook into the fish. Teaser reel lines go through the roof to the outriggers and back. The outriggers are stiff, 5m Smiths carbon blanks, which, like the teaser reels, are deployed solely from inside the cabin using Rupps Revolution roof-mounted bases, keeping the walk-around free of obstructions, with all halyards out of the way above the angler. Dredges will be run from special rod-reels outfits set into beefed-up holders on the gunwale. B Extreme Game King 850 centre cab loa 8.60m beam 2.8m deadrise 20.5 degrees standard towing weight approx 3200kg construction marine grade aluminium bottom 6mm sides and deck thickness 4mm hull thickness 6mm transom thickness 5mm engines as reviewed 2 x Honda 200hp recommended hp 250-300hp length on trailer 9900mm height on trailer 3500mm width on trailer 2800mm subscribe online at www.mags4gifts.co.nz/boating-nz 119