Stabi Baby

WORDS by Mike Stenton IMAGES by Stabicraft STABI

BABY UPGRADE

BEST OF THE BEST: The best-appointed sub-5m production boat on the market? We reckon so.

BOAT SPECS STABICRAFT 1450

Length: 4.42m (14.5ft) External beam: 1.89m (6.2ft) Deadrise: 15° Tube thickness: 3mm Hull thickness: 4mm Dry hull weight: Explorer 205kg (452lb) Frontier 260kg (573lb) Recommended HP: EX25HP/FT30HP Maximum HP: EX40hp/FT50hp Fuel tank: Tote tank Max adults: 4 MORE INFORMATION: www.stabicraft.com

The Stabi baby that John and Stu Sutherland built — the 1410 — has been beefed up. It’s now called the 1450 and we reckon it’s the best-appointed sub-5m boat in its class. The new version is longer, wider and more solid than the previous model. In fact, there’s not one part the same as the 1410.

For starters, there’s an extra 120mm in length and

190mm of beam width. The 1450 also features Stabi’s

Arrow pontoons in 3mm alloy, adopted from the 1850SC. The treadplate floor has been upgraded from 3mm

to 4mm — and is now extended the full internal

width. There are wing-style coamings, shared with the

1550FT/2250CC. Forward seating is a standard feature, plus, you get four Stabicraft multiholders, four alloy

rod holders, two weld-on cleats, travel rod storage and a transducer mount as standard.

THE DUCK’S GUTS: The Frontier Profish features extra rod holders, windscreen and dual boarding platforms.

The new 1450 is available in three packages:

1EXPLORER: The tiller option, featuring a forward-facing rear seat.

2FRONTIER SPORTFISH: Featuring a side console and an upholstered seat as standard, and a 70L Icey Tek chilly bin/esky. There’s also the option of a bolt-on live bait tank and removable baitboard.

3FRONTIER PROFISH: A step up from the Sportfish, with additional stainless steel rod holders, paint, windscreen and dual boarding platforms as standard features.

1450 timeline

1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020

1987 — Stabicraft is born. The company’s first child is the Ally Duck, which sparks a revolution in the small-but-rugged boats department . 1994 — Paul Adams engineers the D-shape pontoon into the workhorse known as the

Stabicraft 430. 2001 — The 430 gets a facelift and is replaced by the 389, the longest-running design in Stabi history. 2012 — The 389 is renamed the 1410. Same design, same awesomeness, different name. 2018 — Paul, Mike and the team begin a major redesign on the 1410. 2020 — The 1450 is born. It rocks innovative new features such the Broadhead Coamings.

THE LITTLE BOAT WITH BIG BALLS WORDS & IMAGES by The Captain

Motor mechanic Ben Zebic has kept it old-school. He still rolls in an original Stabicraft 1410 Explorer with a Yamaha F40 tiller steer. Racked in the rod holders is enough Shimano bling to make a game boat skipper blush, but Ben shows no shame. Many people think tinny fishing is for estuaries or rivers, but Ben is living proof you don’t need a big trailerboat for big game hunting.

Not that he’s got anything against shallower waters. One of his favourite haunts is the Barwon River in Victoria, which at low tide is a no-go for bigger boats, but good news for Ben — it means the boat ramp is empty, as are his favourite fishing spots.

He’s always had a thing for metal boats. “When I was 18,

I bought a 3.8m (12.5ft) tinny,” he says. “I’d go from one side of the bay to the other and catch 7kg (15lb) snapper.”

Eventually, Ben decided on an upgrade, as he wanted to get offshore chasing tuna and kingfish. “I wanted something a bit bigger, while still compact, cheap to run and easy to maintain,” he says. “It also had to be safe and stable. The Stabi has never let me down.”

Ben dropped in a bigger fuel tank and fitted extra gunwale rod holders to hold all his reels. He uses rod riggers to give his spread a little more width when trolling for bluefin and runs a seven-inch Garmin sounder with a GT51 transducer.

He says he gets weird looks when he’s trolling 25km offshore. “People get their phones out to film me.” But his Stabi 14-footer has nothing to prove. Ben’s 107kg (236lb) bluefin, hooked the first time he took the boat out, almost broke the internet. “The plan was always to land a barrel in this boat,” he says. “When the Stabi arrived, I had my skirts rigged and Tiagras ready to go. I towed it out of the shop, trolled all the next day off Portland, hooked the barrel and landed it after a 2.5-hour fight.”

FOLLOW BEN Check Out Ben’s Adventures On Instagram @Tinnyvsocean

BOAT SPECS STABICRAFT 1410 EXPLORER

Length: 4.3m (14ft) Beam: 1.7m (5.6ft) Deadrise: 16° Passengers: 4 Tow weight: approx 390kg (860lb) Fuel capacity: (external) 45L (12gal) Standard HP: 15HP Maximum HP: 30HP ENGINE SPECS Model: Yamaha F40 Type: SOHC in-line 3 Displacement: 0.74L Weight: 98kg (216lb)