30 • MARCH 8-9, 2014 WEST WHEELS THE WEEKEND WEST

ON THIS WEEKEND!PERTH’S SUMMER

BOAT SHOW!

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SHOW DATES & TIMES

TICKETSCelebrity Chef Peter Manifis

A Hobie Quest 13 kayak thanks to Getaway Outdoors - The exclusive Hobie Fishing Kayak Dealer in WA. Get your entry at the gate!

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On the WATER BOATING, FISHING

THE concept of building a boatthat otherwise resembles aninflatable in moulded plastic isn’tnew but the Whaly has a whole setof design features that make itunique.

One possibly unique feature isits place of origin: I can’t recallany other leisure boat importedfrom the Netherlands. But if thosepeople don’t know a thing or twoabout building boats, who does?

UV-stabilised polyethylene hassome great advantages over othermaterials. Softer than fibreglass,it is also naturally slippery andtends neither to damage itselfagainst jetties nor other boats itcomes alongside. It is far moreresistant to damage than aninflatable and vastly longer lived.

It is actually enormouslyresistant to damage, yieldingrather than cracking or tearingand scratches are no problembecause the colour goes all theway through the material. If someunthinkably powerful impactpierces it, the Whaly is doublehulled for safety and the hole canbe simply repaired by plasticwelding. The tough, nearlymaintenance-free properties havemade it the material of choice forfish farm workboats and oil spillresponse boats.

An obvious local application isas a tender to a larger vessel. Thereview 435 (a little over 14ft) is thebiggest in the Whaly range andmight sound on the small side.

But under Europeancertification it can carry fromeight to 12 people depending onarea of operation. The significantbeam of 1.73m and vast volumes ofbuoyancy have much to do withthis.

Our 435 had the maximum sizeof outboard, a 30hp Honda. Thiswas controlled from a side consolebut the Whaly’s ingeniousinternal arrangement allows foran alternative of tiller steering.

The main seating is provided byfore and aft side benches, eachwith four slots each side of thebenches’ vertical inboard face.These accept drop-in box thwartsand a drop-in console. We had justone thwart in place for the driver’sseat. This was pierced forsteering, throttle and powercables, the battery fitting neatly inthe half thwart next to the console.

The Whaly is fitted with a grabline for passenger safety,inflatable-style. Unlike aninflatable’s loose beckets though,this is tightly stretched quarter toquarter via the bow. Held in placeby 17 mounting points it provides

genuine security.There is not a lot of storage

available; take out the thwarts andthere is none beyond the liddedanchor well. In tender mode, sowhat? Space is the thing for thatjob. With the driver’s thwart inplace there is storage for all thevital stuff, and in a no-nonsenseboat like this frivolous stuff wouldbe out of place.

A boat this practical should beserious-minded but instead itturned out to be a fun package: 30horsepower gives it realperformance and it manoeuvredlike a sports boat. This is not anoffshore boat but the hull hasuseful deadrise and coped wellwith the Swan’s chop and assortedwakes.

Although the obvious role forthe Whaly is as a tender, it wouldfit the bill for most things you dowith a 5m open boat.

Its lack of crevices suits it tosome of the noxious substancesthat come aboard in crab nets;divers would favour the low sides;the phenomenal stability is just asacceptable for inshore fishing as itis for passenger carrying. Acouple of tasks that would use itsspecial properties could be hireboat fleets and sailing dinghyrescue boats.

For a boat likely to last alifetime or more the Whaly 435 isnot expensive. Powered by theHonda you need to part with$16,550 but you can shave off morethan $3000 by substituting aTohatsu two-stroke.

That’s cheap boating.

Ingenious internal arrangement allows for an alternative to tiller steering.

WHALY 435Price from $13,500 (as reviewed$16,550)Length 4.35mBeam 1.73mHull weight 165kgMotor fitted 30hp Hondafour-strokeAgents Dinghy World, 250 CanningHwy, ComoPhone 9367 6555

If you see people withclipboards at a boat ramp,they’re carrying out importantresearch — and you can help.

Researchers at ramps inEsperance, Albany andbetween Geraldton andAugusta are counting,weighing and measuring keyspecies caught.

They’ve already completed ramp interviews inthe Gascoyne, Pilbara and Kimberley regions.

These ramp interviews are part of a secondsurvey to collect recreational boat fishing datafrom around WA’s coast.

Researchers are following a similar procedurefor this 2013/14 survey as for a groundbreaking2011/12 survey — the first in WA using multiplemethods at once to gather fishing dataStatewide.

Recfishwest and Edith Cowan University areworking with the Department of Fisheries on thissurvey, which ends in April.

A similar survey will be completed every twoyears, allowing researchers to compare thefindings with previous results.

By the end of April, the researchers expect tohave interviewed about 6000 fishos.There arealso about 3000 recreational boat fishersaround WA recording their catches in log books,then giving the details to researchers from theuniversity.

To find fishos to take part, researchers usedthe database containing the names of peoplewith a Recreational Fishing from Boat Licence(RFBL).

The database, created a few years ago whenthe RFBL was introduced, now includes 130,000names — a very handy resource.

The survey adds to the many otherassessments the department carries out toprovide information to help manage fish stocks.

Keeping stocks healthy and sustainable is amust for many reasons — including making surerecreational fishing in WA remains world class.The 2011/12 survey found WA fishos caught morethan 3.7 million fish, sharks, rays andinvertebrates.

The most commonly caught aquatic speciesoverall was the blue swimmer crab. When itcame to fish, school and King George whitingtopped the list, followed by herring and pinksnapper.

The survey also tracked the number of fishreleased and showed most of us fish responsibly.

For the other findings, see the full surveyreport or the summary leaflet at the Departmentof Fisheries website, fish.wa.gov.au.

The researchers could not have achieved theresults without your support, so keep up thegood work.

If you have any questions about the currentsurvey, call 9203 0111 or emailresearch.survey@fish.wa. gov.au.

The Department of Fisheries will have displaysat the Hillarys Boat Show (today and tomorrow)and Mandurah Crab Fest (March 15-16). Note theWest Coast zone of the recreational abalonefishery closed for the 2013/14 season on March 2.

You can help withfish stocks research

LOWDOWN

GLENJAKOVICH

Whalywill lastlifetime

The Whaly is fitted with a grab line for passenger safety, inflatable-style.

MIKE BROWN

Moulded plasticresistant to damageand very durable

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