Aluminium walkarounds are not common and that surprises me. They are great boats, very practical and perfect for fishing. However, Everyman Boats has taken on the walkaround challenge and what a boat!
This Everyman 650 Profish Centre Cab is the first boat off the rank in this walkaround configuration for Everyman Boats and was built in conjunction with Adam Clancey of the Fishy Business TV Show.
Clancey says that he’s had some good boats in the past and with a few ideas in his head and an eager builder, Russell Spiers of Everyman Boats, this 650 Profish Centre Cab is the result. I’ve been on a few walkarounds over the years and have always loved them, and this 650 Profish Centre Cab is one of the best.
Fishability
Fishability is the key design criteria with walkarounds, and the 650 Profish Centre Cab is no different, it has fishability and functionality in buckets.
Aft, there is a sizeable swim platform on either side of the outboard, with a guard rail around the sides. The starboard side see’s a boarding ladder drop down as part of the guardrail, and Clancey tells me it’s a great place to fish if you don’t mind getting your feet wet.
In the centre of the transom, is a very large live bait tank – 120L in fact! It comes complete with a viewing window on the front side, and has a handy pull out drawer below, that Clancey uses to house clean up items – keeping them within easy reach of where they are needed.
Two rod holders are built into the top of the transom, either can handle a bait board, and there are additional rod holders in the coamings.
In the cockpit, there is a side shelf on either side which provides storage for gaffs, tag poles, etc. while above a rocket launcher provides storage for a further six rods.
A Scotty downrigger can be mounted onto a fitted bracket in the port corner of the cockpit, and the coamings are fitted with a Seadek soft padded finish throughout the boat.
The walkaround of the 650 Profish Centre Cab is incredibly well designed, and constructed. There are two steps on either side and navigating your way to the foredeck is extremely easy. You can walk forward and around the wheelhouse without ‘shuffling’ as you traditionally would on some boats.
On the foredeck, is a Watersnake electric trolling motor which has 80lb of thrust, meaning it will keep the boat on station in even the trickiest conditions.
A Quick rope/chain windlass takes care of anchoring duties and runs off two anchor lockers. Clancey has the boat set up with a couple of different anchoring options depending on the types of fishing he is doing at the time.
The sides are high, and the bow rail makes you feel safe while still giving you enough room to be able to cast out baits, or play a fish. Handrails on the top edge of the roof and cabin sides make navigation around the boat even easier.
At the helm, there is a single upholstered Softrider pedestal seat for the skipper, while the passenger has a drop down bench seat. The seat folds up out of the way to not only provide easier access to the forward cabin area but also frees up space in the cockpit for the production crew to work while filming the fishing show.
A forward cabin area is just a secure place for the crew to stow gear out of the way, however, with a few modifications you could overnight in the boat. If you extended the lower sections of the cabin out, provide more leg room. But in all reality, it is more of a day boat set up for fishing.
The helm area is quite plain yet functional. The most notable feature being the truly enormous 15” Simrad multifunction display which is hooked up to the sounder, chart plotter & radar.
The forward section of the windscreen is acrylic, and because you can’t use a wiper on acrylic, is treated with a coating to repel water. Sliding side windows on both sides provide extra ventilation for the helm area.
The rest of the helm has a warm and cosy feel aided by the carpeted finish on the dash and the roof lining above.
Enough Grunt
Our test boat was powered by a 150hp Honda four stroke outboard swinging a four blade 15” propeller. Clancey isn’t too fussed about top speed, given the amount of gear that he hauls when filming the show. The outboard just has to be capable of getting the boat up on the plane and provide enough punch and torque when needed, especially in those tricky bar crossing situations.
Our test day conditions were quite rough, with 20-25 knots of wind producing a 1m chop in Auckland’s inner harbour, allowing us to really put the hull through its paces. At a trolling speed of 7 knots, the 150hp Honda delivered 4.8 lph @ 2000rpm.
Slow it down slightly to 6.5 knots and you’ll see a fuel burn of 4.5 lph.
We achieved a cruise speed, despite the rough conditions of 20 knots at 4000rpm, with the Honda using 21.0 lph.
Clancey relayed to me that with the boat fully loaded with gear, three passengers and a full fuel tank of 180 L, the boat will still hit 35 knots @ 6000rpm.
I was pleasantly surprised at the performance of the Honda 150hp. The boat is rated for outboards up to 200hp, but given the experience I had on the water with this one, the 150hp option performed just fine.
The ride was excellent, in fact, the boat seemed to go better the rougher the water conditions. The Everyman 650 Profish Centre Cab has a fine entry that flattens out to an 18-deg deadrise at the transom, essentially meaning it can slice through the rough stuff while remaining stable at rest.
Having spent half a morning on the water, the boat certainly does the business in the rough. We took it from all sides and on a whole the ride was great. What was even better, was that at the helm, we remained seated, the Softrider pedestal doing its job absorbing any impact.
The 650 Profish Centre Cab also boasts a 6mm bottom in the hull, with a standard cross member and girder system under the floor holding it all together. Russell Spiers of Everyman Boats, says that they over-engineer the boat to increase the rigidness on water performance.
Back at the ramp, the boat was easily handled back onto the Voyager trailer with the help of the Balex automatic boat loading system which indeed makes the launching and retrieving of the boat a one person job.
More Walkarounds
This is the first walkaround model for Everyman Boats, with a second 650 Profish Centre Cab already sold and delivered to Noumea and another couple in the pipeline. A large 750 model is also on the drawing board.
So why aren’t more builders doing walkarounds? The question, I asked Russell Spiers.
“Well, I don’t think a lot of alloy manufacturers have worked out how to do them properly. They are quite tricky to build; this first one took us four months. The walkaround part you can’t design and cut out, it has to be all engineered by hand. But in saying that, we built the second one in half the time.”
Overall, a great boat. The utilisation of space was superb, essentially taking away unused space of what would be a traditional hardtop model and turn it into a boat that provides 360-degree fishing.
What’s more the price! At $139,945 it’s very good considering the amount of gear and extras aboard this boat. I was expecting the price to be at least an extra $20,000 more, so for this rig to come in under $140k, is outstanding.
TECHNICAL
- Model: Everyman 650 Profish Centre Cab
- Priced from: $NZ91,778
- Price as tested: $NZ139,945
- Type: Walkaround
- Construction: Aluminium
- LOA: 6.5m
- Beam: 2.45m
- Deadrise: 16 degrees
- Power: Honda 150hp
- Propeller: 15” 4-blade
- Power options: Outboard only
- Fuel capacity: 180L
- Trailer: Voyager
