I’lll admit that one of the problems in the boating industry is that it’s sometimes hard to get a test drive in a rig you want to guy. Of course, this is because it’s nothing like a car dealership - you can’t just throw someone the keys and say “bring her back tomorrow”, the water isn’t like a road.
That’s why it’s great to see dealers putting together ‘demo’ boats that are used for boat staff trips, and to take potential customers out on the water.
This is the first boat test we have done with Marine Care in Redland Bay in Queensland and they have a ramp handy just down the road that lets them access southern Moreton Bay.
Alan Riesenweber seemed pretty proud to show off their new demo boat - a Horizon Plate 632 centre cab fitted with a Yamaha F200XCB and some cool accessories. Sporting a new wrap, the rig sure does look the part.
“We have no problems getting customers don to take a ride if they’re interested in the boat. It’s a great way to get a feel for it,” Alan said.
Horizon Plate boats are proud of their Grid Core construction. Under the deck it’s deck-to-floor welded aluminium grid that adds strength and rigidity. They’re a variable deadrise hull with reverse chines along the back half of the hull and plenty of gunwale height inside.
They are built on the Gold Coast in south east Queensland in the factory that also makes Stessl boats and are supplied with factory fitted Dunbier trailers that match perfectly which leaves the dealer to complete outboard fitout and any options that the customer wants.
In the case of this boat, it’s a big Raymarine sounder, a 36v, long shaft MinnKota at the bow and a novel battery system that packs plenty of amps of 12V in a multiple battery setup and a converter that lists the output to 36v.
It’s a centre can with a walkaround to the bow and the setup is wide enough to make your way 360 degrees around the rig quite easily. This lets you spread out a bit while fishing and if there’s 3 or 4 aboard, anglers appreciate this.
I assumed the cabin would be tiny in a 6.3m boat of this type, but it’s surprisingly large. Not big enough to stretch out, but at 1.4m, long enough to lay out if you get the optional cabin extender. The cabin is separated with a canvas privacy screen that Marine Care have installed.
At the helm, there’s some comfortable and adjustable seating, but it does lack a place to put your feet while underway. Horizon says that that issue is being rectified as I write this. The dash is wide enough for the largest of electronics mounted flush - which is what they should be.
There’s some storage under the seat pedestals, too. You can fit a cooler under the passenger one.
The hull is powered my the biggest outboard allowed - a 200 Yamaha 4-stroke. It’s the XCB version, which has an inbuilt hydraulic steering piston, but fly-by-wire throttle and shift. On the water, it’s a smooth setup and would suit someone that’s not going to dive into the Helm Master ecosystem.
On the water, it was a little sporty with a 20knot southerly pushing against a making tide to spice things up a little. Quartering the sea, you definitely get wet down the back, but she’s all dry in the cockpit. The demo rig has optional Trim Tabs, which were needed on the test day to level the ride.
As expected, she is quick out of the hole and has the most economical cruising speed at 3500rpm, where it gets 1.8km/L at 36km/h. Compare that to wide open throttle at 5800rpm where you get 800m per litre at 66km/h.
I reckon you’d end up cruising a little faster at 4000rpm and 43km/h where the range is exactly double that of hammers-down at 1.6km/L. With a 250L tank, that’s around 400km to play with in theory.
Supplied on a Dunbier twin axle trailer, this rig would come in at a little over 2 tonnes fully loaded, which is easily handled by all of the twin cab utes on the market.
As tested, this rig came in at around $130,000, but delete some of the options and the price comes down a lot. Reach out to Alan at Marine Care if you’d like to take up his offer of a test drive.



PERFORMANCE

RPM Speed (km/h) Economy (km/L)
600 5 1.7
1000 7 2.3
2000 12 1.7
3000 25 1.8
3500 36 1.8
4000 43 1.6
4500 49 1.4
5000 55 1.1
5800 66 0.8


SPECIFICATIONS

Length Overall 6.50m
Beam 2.50m
Depth 1.5m
Bottom Sheet 4mm
Side Sheet 4mm
Hull weight 935kg
RecHP 150
MaxHP 200
Capacity 7 persons

Price as tested as of January 2024 is around $130,000.

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