Boats Head For Sanctuary

WITH the sad demise of the Newcastle Boat Show this year its execution performed in stealth by the Boating Industry Association with barely a whimper from local dealers Sanctuary Cove can rightfully reclaim its title as the first major regional show of the season.

A Not-so-little Beauty

CENTRE console runabouts are the one-tonne utes of the fishing world, blokes' boats that make few pretences towards catering for snotty kids and the malcontent missus.

It's A Head Turner

Two doors, a folding alloy hardtop, room for two with a couple of soft bags and a wonderfully smooth V8 engine up front. Just don't call the Lexus SC430 a sports car, says Brent Davison.

X Marks The Spot For Bargain-priced Quality

I AM still recovering from driving 37 Australian-made boats in sunshine and showers, calm seas and calamitous conditions, over four days in Sydney and on the Gold Coast. The assignment handed to me and a team of fellow judges was to determine the Australian Boat of the Year.

Trendsetting Tarago

TOYOTA has released a range of genuine accessories designed to widen the versatility of its new Tarago seven and eight-seat wagon for families. Children's bicycles and other recreational equipment can be carried using Tarago's roof rack with optional attachments. Boats and trailers can be tran

The Secret To Good Boating

Are you one of many NSW South Coast anglers planning to buy a new boat this summer? Alternatively, you may only want to check out all the new top market boats and gear for the year 2000. Either way, you could do no better than to get a copy of Jeff Webster's new summer magazine The Fish and F

Luxury With Few Limits

Ford Fairlane/LTD Rating out of 5: *** A big, strong, spacious luxury car designed and built for local conditions. Great for towing boats and caravans. Overall build quality is questionable. Engines suffer oil leaks, exhaust systems prone to serious rush problems. The true-blue long-whee

Relative Success

IT was 1898 and 20-year-old John Joseph Savage returned to Melbourne after spending several years trawling for pearl shells on Thursday Island. He decided to build boats instead. A wide range of vessels subsequently flowed from his hands ? Olympic sailing classes; motor yachts for the rich and

Sailing To Work

Some people simply live to sail. Others have been smart enough to make sailing their living. THE OCEAN is their office, suits are something they wear for survival, and boats are a way of never having to deal with peak-hour traffic again. For an elite group of professional sailors based - occasion

Bigger Names Better For Second-hand Buyers

By MARK ROTHFIELD Haines Hunter 580SLF, 150hp Merc, galv trailer, 27mHz, Lowrance sounder, livebait tank, good cond, only driven to Shelf on Sundays, $13,000 ono. THERE are hundreds of such classified ads in the various used-boat publications, and chances are that it'll mean Jack Squat to most fi

Tinnies For Tough Guys

They used to be everywhere until plastic boats came along. Now those plate-aluminium tinnies are back, writes DAVID LOCKWOOD. PLATE-aluminium boats - remember them? In the 1980s, they were as common as bluebottles on a summer ocean current. For more than a decade, marine marques such as Yellowfin

Two All-purpose Runabouts In Stacer Fleet Upgrade

MELBOURNE boatbuilder OMC Stacer Alloy Craft has embarked on a major upgrade of its fleet of family fishers, headed by two new all-purpose runabouts called the 4.75 SeaProwler and, pictured left, the 4.95 SeaMaster. Using a blend of aluminium and fibreglass, Stacer's stylish runabouts offer the b

Veteran Has Been Revamped

Caribbean has a reputation for reliability but, as DAVID LOCKWOOD reports, until now style has proved elusive. THERE are no postcard sunsets, swaying palm trees or pina coladas pouring out of this Caribbean. Worlds away under a dark cloud near Melbourne, the builders of Caribbean boats haven't

Insomnia Pays Off

Meat pies, kangaroos...Quintrex boats. Australia's largest aluminium boatbuilde sees export potential in a radical new alloy dinghy, writes DAVID LOCKWOOD. BOAT designers never sleep. Their constant search for hydrodynamic efficiency is pursued with all the fervour of Indiana Jones and his quest

Tinnies' Price Rise

PROSPECTIVE boat-buyers and those close to the industry may have noticed some rises in the price of aluminium boats over the past year. Once regarded as the affordable alternative, aluminium boats - or "tinnies" - are now on par with their more elaborate fibreglass counterparts. The re

Pwcs Lead The Way

The fastest-growing sector of the boating market is the personal water craft, writes BOB WONDERS . ONE aspect of boating which makes it such an interesting subject is that it comprises so many different segments. Big boats, little boats, power boats, sailboats, skiffs and dinghies, canoes and

Yachts Set Sail For Sunshine Coast

NEXT Saturday sees the start of the 1995 Sydney-Mooloolaba race over 489 nautical miles to Queensland's Sunshine Coast. Sponsored by Telecom's National Business Directory, the race this year has attracted its most powerful field ever. More than 60 yachts will set sail from Sydney, with entries

Dropping In For Chat Near Cape Horn

WHILE I was in Miami, I spoke with a number of Aussies who were in town for the "big time boat show". But one of the guys I chatted with was a long way from Miami, Florida. He was, in fact, making heavy weather of it 1,500 kilometres short of rounding Cape Horn. I refer to Sydneysider D

The Savage Tinnies Come Of Age

IF there's a company in the Australian boating industry which should need little in the way of introduction, it is surely J. J. Savage and Sons. After all, this Melbourne-based, but with a strong Sydney influence, company is a mere three and a bit years away from celebrating its centenary. <

Bilge

BOAT SHOW FEVER NO-ONE with even the slightest interest in boats needs to be told what's happening this weekend, and through to next Wednesday, at Darling Harbour. It's the 1994 Sydney Boat Show, the 27th edition of Australia's largest boating exhibition. Here's a brief list of "mu