gday mate, im selling my 5m trailcraft atm if i get right price, made in 04, has a 60hp merc 4 stroke, hds10 sounder, furno gps, all saftey gear etc life jackets, its an very nice fishing boat, mint for squiding crabbing fishing rotto river etc, reason for selling working alot more these days and no time to use it, pm if u would like any other info

Hi Thommo

I have a Traily 540 freestyle, great little boat and very happy with it. Pro's and cons below:

Pro

- excellent deck area for fishing, more useable fishing room on my 540 than on many 23 foot boats.

- free draining decks - an absolute winner and makes cleaning a breeze.

- high sides, I have not had a wave come over the top yet.

- tough plate bottom boat, well built, not flimsy like the true tinny style boats.

- very stable at rest for fishing.

Cons

- Fairly spartan, no frills.

- Ride is best described as hard. Same for all ali boats, but not a soft ride.

- High sides means drift is fast, requires drift anchor when other fibreglass boats dont.

- Poor paint prep- resulting in lots of bubbling of paint around fixings. All traily's have this.

If I had my time again, would I buy another Traily as a fishing boat....absolutley.

On the motor, it has a 90 e-tec. Although I have had a failed injector and a spun bearing in the leg (both fixed under warranty), I am very happy with the motor, great on fuel, no oil smoke or smell and still has the 2 stroke power low down that the 4 strokes dont. Mate had a 90 4 stroke, and it really struggled to get on a plane if you loaded it up, same top end.  Under 150 hp, I would serioulsy consider an e-tec although a Suzi would be nice if you could afford one, 150 hp and over, I would go a 4 stroke everytime.

Hope the comments help.

i had a 5.7 centre console with a 2 st evinrude  115 , great boat and was vey suprised on it capabiliies even though it was an alli , it took on most conditions and road well and a good fishing / diving rig ,  and good economy with the 115 ,   i sold it and upgraded to a 6.1 isl cab trailly with a 150   4 st,

My old man has a 5.4 runabout and they feel like a pretty solid rig to me.  There are few small design faults in his boat but it is an early 2000 model so I'm guessing the newer ones wouldn't have such problems?

As John said, the paint is bubbling/peeling around welds and it does ride a bit hard but I think that's a result of the fact that they are such a solid boat.  I have been in other ali boats that ride a bit softer.

Minor issues we had are 1.)  The transom door would let in too much water when drifting because it wasn't quite flush when shut.  We put a bit of foam around it but it still leaked a bit.

                                    2.) The drivers seat doesn't swivel 360 because it hits the steering wheel one way and the throttle handle the other way.  Such a small thing but very annoying.  Would have been easy to fix in the first place.

                                    3.) Obviously the paint bubbling.

                                    4.) It's hard to open the flaps which let water out of the self draining deck.  Again, very minor thing but very annoying.

All in all I think they are a pretty good boat and would probably look at getting one again.

Just another thought though - The guys at Dingy World have the old pressing moulds or whatever you call them from when Trailcraft went bust a few years back.  They make a boat called a Reef Hunter.  Might be worth comparing prices etc as they are probably identical to the Trailcraft hulls still?  Quick google - you'll find it.

When i intially started boat shopping I pretty much had my heart set on a quintrex bayhunter/sea breeze as they was plenty on offer at the time for my budget. Was happy to go down the quintrex route again as was happy with my previous Dory.. But I happened to stumble across a trailcraft which fit my budget and never looked back.

In comparison to a quintrex bayhunter, the traily wins hands down in my opinion.

Being a true plate boat unlike the pressed hulls of the quintrex makes the hull more solid. 4mm bottom and 3mm side. This extra weight IMO adds to an improved ride compared to a pressed hull.

Transom door, being a diver.. its so much easier walking through the transom door rather than clambering up the sides of the boat, also helps to pull big fish through the transom door

Self draining deck with scuppers makes it easier to clean and safer if you were to get swamped by a wave. Also reduces the risk of sinkers/ hooks getting stuck under the floor

120lt under floor fuel tank (no problems about running out of fuel)

Plenty of deck space with the motor mounted onto the pod at rear of boat.

Some cons –

Paint prep as discussed

Shortage of storage  space(but have since fitted a false floor in the front which has resulted in a heap more storage)

Drivers seat is placed a touch too far forward meaning uncomfortable to drive standing up.. Also cant swivel around as the seat hits the key on the control box (many bent keys as a result of this)

Can’t go wrong with a trailcraft, you get good bang for your buck.. Big boat features in a small boat size

Cheers heaps for all the comments boys a big help!

All the cons you have told me although sound annoying I recon are quite minor and things like the storage space and seat I could look at getting changed before I  settle.

Cheers for the offer Andy, I'm not quite ready to buy yet but if it comes time and it's still round I mite hit you up!

Cheers again

Hi Thomo

I bought a brand new 2010 model 590 Trailblazer with 125HP Mercury Optimax, just over 12 months ago. I've always liked the look of the Trailcraft boats, especially from a fishing/diving perspective. The large transom door, combined with the rear deck where the outboard is mounted, and swing down ladder, provides easy access into and out of the water...great for diving, skiing or just having a swim off the boat.

The beam is approx. 2.4m and the large open deck is ideal for our boating requirements. Easily fishes 4 or 5 (depending on prevailing weather conditions, drift, etc), more than enough room for 3 or 4 scuba divers, and there's enough storage space up front for the essentials.

I upgraded the seats in mine to armchair style, as I wanted some comfort while travelling out wide. It's easy to launch and retrieve, but I've not yet tried it on my own.  

I've got a Furuno FCV-620 sounder and a Lowrance HDS8m GPS mounted on the dash, and there's still some room left for other stuff.  

If the water is sloppy, then the ride isn't so good, but if you drive to the conditions, it will get you where you want to go. On a calm day, i've found that trimming the outboard in a bit, keeps the nose down and it hoots along. 

We've just started waterskiing and skurfing in the estuary and it's great for that....gives us another option with the boat if the condtions are less than favourable for fishing out wide. Still trying to suss out the best way to deep water start on a single ski, but we'll get there!

If you want to go for a spin in mine, just PM me.

regards
rusty...

PS. the 2010 model 590 Trailblazer is the same boat as a 2009 model 570 Trailblazer....some sort of remeasuring/rebadging exercise, apparently  

Cheers for all that info Rusty! Great help

Cheers for all that info Rusty! Great help

Ive got a 5.8 2003 with 4s Yam.

All the points above are valid, following added

1/ paint, mines 8 years old and has sat in the Broome Derby sun all its life til a year ago. The paint is solid but there are bubbling areas. However having worked on many ally crayboats in the days when there was plenty of cray money to throw at painting-its lasted better than many ally paint jobs Ive seen over the years.

Paint just DOES NOT LIKE aluminium unfortunately!

2/ Ride-best descibed as "character building" in short chop, however Ive done a few long trips in less than ideal weather and NEVER felt concern. Its stable at all times.

3/ Convenience-I wouldnt buy a new one as Id be worried about scratching it. I like that its strong and it can take the bottom onto the coral when crossing the shallows at the islands, bang against the railway iron jettys without crying about it, and drive it straight up the trailer to retrieve.

Having said all that personally Id still consider a FG boat for my next one as well. Both materials have their advantages, apples and oranges really.