Boat test: Anglapro Escapade

from Fishing Monthly Magazine | October 2021

Broome

Anglapro Escapade 554 Elite with Yamaha 130hp

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FMG Steve Morgan

s.morgan@fishingmonthly.com.au If you are after a Brisbanebuilt aluminium cabin boat that ticks plenty of boxes with trailability, family friendliness and price, then your path down the rabbithole of searching has brought you to the right place.

The Anglapro Escapade is the smallest of this model of cabin boats from Anglapro. There’s also a 584 and a 624 on the books. All of the models in the range are made with 4mm bottom sheets and 3mm side sheets.

And let’s get this in early – there’s a 5-year hull warranty if you package it with a factory-fitted Dunbier trailer. That’s a 5-year warranty on the hull and the trailer if you let the factory get it right for you. That’s pretty big news.

The test boat was supplied with a Yamaha 130hp 4-stroke outboard, which didn’t disappoint when it came to power. With a maximum horsepower rating of 135 on this hull, the Escapade didn’t suffer from lack of power. It’s actually a pretty fun ride!

Drop the throttle and this boat did 72km/h at 6,300rpm with an economy of 1.5km/L. With 110L underfloor, that gives a theoretical range of just over 150km, and you have the ability and ambition of driving everywhere like a lunatic. Drop down to the most economical cruising speed of 36km/h at 3,500rpm and that economy jumps to 2.8km/L and the range virtually doubles to nearly 300km. Plenty enough get you into some action of one kind or another.

As expected, this rig is a balance between comfort

SPECIFICATIONS

Length................. 5.6m Beam................. 2.29m Max HP ............. 135hp Fuel ......................110L Capacity ..... 5 persons Hull......................4mm Sides ...................3mm Hull only............ 595kg Main: The 554 Anglapro Escapade is the baby of the threeboat cabin range. Its bigger brothers are the 584 and 624. Above: With a maximum horsepower of 135 listed, Yamaha’s F130 is a great match for this rig and delivers economy of up to nearly 3km/L at 3500rpm.

and fishability. If you’re after a massive cockpit to fish several people, you’ll be disappointed by the rear offset seat with lots of storage inside it – you can’t move it and it deletes some of the available space.

But if you’re looking for somewhere to stash all of the wet gear from when the kids went for their 10th swim of the day, you’ll love that you can localise this out of the cabin.

Everyone will love the transom door and bulletproof folding aluminium stairs that’ll make it easy to get in and out of the rig when it’s on the trailer or on the water. In both situations, egress from the back of the boat is easier than trying to do it from the bow – even though this boat is reasonably low. This rig draws little water, so spin the transom around and jump in that way. There’s non-skid on the step as well.

The cabin is wide and open. There’s no cabin door, so it’s not 100% private. Interestingly, the cabin remains the same size as the boats get bigger in this model – it’s just the cockpit space gets longer. So proportionally, there’s more cabin space in this boat than in the others in the range.

The helm features a couple of comfortable seats with storage underneath. You can fold back the padding on these seats to make it a leanseat for when it’s rougher. This is an option that’s become popular in rigs like this because of the practicality. There’s room on the console to flush mount plenty of electronic accessories and although comfortable, there’s nowhere to rest your arm while wrangling the throttle.

We did like the bimini setup. It gives plenty of shade and there’s a lot of room between it and the windscreen. There’s nothing worse than when you have to pick ‘over or under’ when the top of the windscreen is right in your eye line. They’ve got this right, for my driving style anyway.

Naturally, there’s some wet storage under the floor that you can fill with fish or with wet gear.

Overall, it’s a comfortable family rig, a decent fishing boat and it’s at a price that you’ll love – not just because you won’t have to upgrade your standard suburban SUV to tow it. The test boat came in at just over $50,000, although base packages definitely come in at under the $50,000 mark.

For more information or your nearest dealer, visit www.anglapro.com.au or check out their socials by searching Anglapro on Facebook or Instagram.

PERFORMANCE RPM......................km/h .......................km/L

1000............................ 7 .......................... 2.8 2000...........................11 .......................... 2.5 3000.......................... 27 .......................... 2.7 3500.......................... 36 .......................... 2.8 4000.......................... 43 .......................... 2.6 4500.......................... 49 .......................... 2.4 5000.......................... 56 .......................... 2.1 6000.......................... 69 .......................... 1.7 6300.......................... 72 .......................... 1.5

A relatively new addition to the Yamaha 4-stroke range, the F130 is pretty much an ideal fit for this hull. Like most cabins, there’s no super easy way to board the boat from the bow.

The helm is pretty simple. If you juggle the engine gauges around there’s room for a larger flush mounted sounder.

The bimini is a pretty important piece of kit in this rig – if offers plenty of shade and it’s high enough so that you can stand at the helm and look through the gap between it and the windscreen.

Left: Rugged, aluminium factory fold-up steps are standard. Right: A transom door always makes it easier to get in and out of the boat, whether you’re on the water or on the trailer. Both helm seats have the fold-up base so you can convert them to be very suitable backrests for standing in position. There’s storage under both.