Power Boats & Water Skiing

The Tunnel - built by Gary Page in Cairns it was supposed to be a replica of Bert Hines "Waltzing Matilda" but lost something in the scaling of the project. Gary fell on hard times and mate Martin Hadley bought this pretty cheap. We ran a 235HP Evinrude which was good for about 70 mph. It was good fun on a calm morning taking it for a quick spin 30km offshore to Green Island with a couple of skiers, out and back in an hour before work. See photo below of the real Waltzing Matilda - it is pretty easy to see the difference in scale. The effect was our tunnel was pretty good in a straight line and probably much better in fairly mild offshore conditions but it could be pretty challenging if hooked in on a turn or rounding a corner into a breeze when trimmed out.

This is a Kit Craft copy of the Bertram Bahia Mar 20ft. Martin bought a couple of these. This was our entre into the boat building industry. They were bought as hull and deck then assembled and fitted out under the car port at the Golden Fleece Roadhouse in Cairns - much to the dismay of the local GF rep, as the car port was for shading the customers cars. We modified this one to have an outboard well and powered it with a 235 HP Johnson. The rig was a vast improvement over the standard set up with a stern drive. We had a direct comparison because we had kitted out an identical unit with a Volvo Penta 307 Chev based stern drive. The outboard was quicker out of the water and top speed, it rode flatter and was a lighter more nimble rig in every respect.