Extreme 620 Sportz Fisher

Does it ride well? An unequivocal yes! I had the opportunity to give the Extreme 620 a good test in a variety of sea conditions in the Bay of Islands, where the waters changed from mirror calm to a short 1.5m breaking swell. Local dealer Doug Brown of Bay of Islands Marine provided an Extreme 620 Sportz Fisher – the higher spec’d version of the base 620 Fisher – complete with a Honda 130 and let us loose to do our worst. According to Brown, this was the best conventional deep vee 6m monohull he had ever driven.

The Honda 130 I found a little shy on top end speed, delivering a GPS reading of 42 mph @ 5600 rpm, swinging a stainless 17” Honda prop. The same boat with a Yamaha 115 4-stroke has been clocked, also with a GPS at 44 mph. With a recommended rating of 100hp – 225hp, the Extreme 620 would be well matched with 150hp – 175hp and have a predicted top speed in the 48mph – 55mph bracket. It’s a boat that loves horsepower!

Testing the Extreme 620 around Tapeka Point, just around the corner from Russell, I found myself punching into constant sets of very close together 1.5m swells, with just enough wind to whip the tops off. In the head sea, I started off with the throttle hard down and too much out-trim, which left me pointing skyward. However once I got it settled about midway on the gauge and the speedo on 35 mph, I discovered an extremely comfortable, soft riding, 100% dry and quiet boat, that was responsive to the helm and didn’t do anything unexpected. It was the sort of water that at that speed was more than acceptable, although given a little more time I feel I could have had the hull absolutely flat out and riding even better.

In the following sea the ride was equally as impressive with the boat barrelling down the faces at full throttle and thanks to the full bodied bow sections and the spray chines carried well forward the hull lifted early, never once steering by the nose. With no strakes and a 5mm plate bottom there was virtually no ‘tinnie’ slap. There is a flooding keel section running almost the entire length of the keel line, which adds to the boat’s stability at rest and is quickly expelled when the boat accelerates onto the plane.

Playing in the side seas and generally making a huge attempt to get the hull to do something badly wrong also proved fruitless, although I think tabs would be an advantage in the windy conditions, especially if you had a full canopy or  hardtop fitted.

As for the driving position when standing, I have to be critical, although it is something that could be easily changed. I found the aluminium seat base about 500mm too far forward, which meant when standing to drive I was in danger of losing my family jewels on the steering wheel and my teeth on the aluminium handrail around the inside of the screen. The screen handrail also needs to be cut short on the starboard side as it rubs constantly on your arm. Simply fixed with a repositioning of the seat base and putting the drivers seat on an adjustable slider. Apart from that the driving position when seated was fine with the screen at a good height. On the 620 Fisher the seating arrangement is completely different with two single seats on pyramid type pedestals.