Edencraft 233 Formula with Twin 300HP Mercurys

s.morgan@fishingmonthly.com.au

You may have seen the test we did recently on a 6m Edencraft that we completed on the final day of their epic east-coast road trip last year. Well, there was a second boat on that trip. It’s the kind of boat that you’d expect a company owner to have swinging behind his tow vehicle.

Totalling around half a million dollars worth of rig, the GMC and Edencraft 233 Formula, powered by twin 300hp Verados, definitely raised an eyebrow or three around Cairns as we met the crew for a water test and a little filming.

And this was definitely one for the keyboard warriors who complain about not testing boats in rough conditions – a pretty nasty northerly blew the whole day, and we got a feel of just why Edencraft boats have a

Main: reputation of the smoothest ride possible in rough water.

Above: Edencraft are built in Australia out of their Geelong factory. This 233 achieved the 1km/L of fuel burned, which is the goal of many of these big rigs.

Edencraft owner Grant Maher explained why they ride so nicely.

“These are a heavy hull and we keep as much weight as low as possible. The hull is 40mm thick and it’s fully composite, which means there’s no wood in the build at all,” Grant said.

The standard fuel tank underfloor is 420L, but there’s an option for 600L of fuel if you want it.

Maximum horsepower for this rig is 600 and this is provided by a pair of V8, 300hp 4.6L Mercury Verados, which give outstanding economy for a rig of this size, burning just 1L per kilometre travelled.

“The DTS (Digital Throttle and Shift) on these motors has been a fantastic experience and the economy has been amazing,” he said, “Earlier we did 300km in Hervey Bay and used 281L.”

Even so, 4000km each way towing and around 80 test rides later, I’m sure the fuel bill would have been pretty scary! This boat is not a lightweight – it comes in at about 3,700kg on the trailer unloaded – probably around 4 tonnes ready-to-fish, so your standard twin-cab ute isn’t going to cut it.

“The GMC has a towing capacity of 4.5t and it does it easily,” Grant continued.

The Formula is cradled on an Easy Tow trailer, also built in Victoria, and has a Boat Catch fitted, which means that you’ll be able to launch and retrieve it yourself.

On the water, there wasn’t much to criticise about this rig. It was one of the smoothest riding boats of this size range I’d been in. And the power. Crikey. Drop the hammers and this thing moves, even if efficiency goes out the window at that point.

And that dash…A 16” and 12” flush-mounted and still dedicated room for the Next Gen DTS binnacle box. Well done.

You can see a video of the

Performance

boat in action by scanning the QR code hereby with your mobile phone camera. And as for pricing? This rig with every option as tested weighs in at $317,000, however, packages with twin V6 225s start from $211,000 and with a single 300hp V*, packages start from $186,000.

Edencraft now has two dealerships, Mandurah Outboards in WA (mandurahoutboards. com.au) and Australian Marine Centre in Brisbane ( amcboats.com.au ) and they’re having a display at the Sanctuary Cove Boat Show on the 25-28 May. Make sure you drop in and check them out for yourself. Otherwise, their main site is edencraft.com.au.

Top: There’s plenty of real estate in front of the windscreen, but it isn’t really available fishing space.

Above: The transom workstation is simple and effective. It’s also removable.

Top: There’s some effective vertical rod storage adjacent to the side pockets.

Above: 600hp is the maximum rated for this hull and the twin 300hp Verados are surprisingly economical at cruising speeds.

We haven’t seen too many dashboards with a 16” and 12” sounders flush mounted. The spigot mounted rod station is usually a feature of larger game fishing boats.