30 • MARCH 8-9, 2014 WEST WHEELS THE WEEKEND WEST ON THIS WEEKEND! PERTH’S SUMMER BOAT SHOW! FEATURING New BOATS - TRAILERBOATS - FISHING GEAR - DIVE GEAR - BOAT TRIALS - COOKING DEMOS - LIFESTYLE PRODUCTS - AND MUCH MORE! SHOW DATES & TIMES TICKETS Celebrity Chef Peter Manifis A Hobie Quest 13 kayak thanks to Getaway Outdoors - The exclusive Hobie Fishing Kayak Dealer in WA. Get your entry at the gate! Win! On the WATER BOATING, FISHING THE concept of building a boat that otherwise resembles an inflatable in moulded plastic isn’t new but the Whaly has a whole set of design features that make it unique. One possibly unique feature is its place of origin: I can’t recall any other leisure boat imported from the Netherlands. But if those people don’t know a thing or two about building boats, who does? UV-stabilised polyethylene has some great advantages over other materials. Softer than fibreglass, it is also naturally slippery and tends neither to damage itself against jetties nor other boats it comes alongside. It is far more resistant to damage than an inflatable and vastly longer lived. It is actually enormously resistant to damage, yielding rather than cracking or tearing and scratches are no problem because the colour goes all the way through the material. If some unthinkably powerful impact pierces it, the Whaly is double hulled for safety and the hole can be simply repaired by plastic welding. The tough, nearly maintenance-free properties have made it the material of choice for fish farm workboats and oil spill response boats. An obvious local application is as a tender to a larger vessel. The review 435 (a little over 14ft) is the biggest in the Whaly range and might sound on the small side. But under European certification it can carry from eight to 12 people depending on area of operation. The significant beam of 1.73m and vast volumes of buoyancy have much to do with this. Our 435 had the maximum size of outboard, a 30hp Honda. This was controlled from a side console but the Whaly’s ingenious internal arrangement allows for an alternative of tiller steering. The main seating is provided by fore and aft side benches, each with four slots each side of the benches’ vertical inboard face. These accept drop-in box thwarts and a drop-in console. We had just one thwart in place for the driver’s seat. This was pierced for steering, throttle and power cables, the battery fitting neatly in the half thwart next to the console. The Whaly is fitted with a grab line for passenger safety , inflatable-style. Unlike an inflatable’s loose beckets though, this is tightly stretched quarter to quarter via the bow. Held in place by 17 mounting points it provides genuine security. There is not a lot of storage available; take out the thwarts and there is none beyond the lidded anchor well. In tender mode, so what? Space is the thing for that job. With the driver’s thwart in place there is storage for all the vital stuff, and in a no-nonsense boat like this frivolous stuff would be out of place. A boat this practical should be serious-minded but instead it turned out to be a fun package: 30 horsepower gives it real performance and it manoeuvred like a sports boat. This is not an offshore boat but the hull has useful deadrise and coped well with the Swan’s chop and assorted wakes. Although the obvious role for the Whaly is as a tender, it would fit the bill for most things you do with a 5m open boat. Its lack of crevices suits it to some of the noxious substances that come aboard in crab nets; divers would favour the low sides; the phenomenal stability is just as acceptable for inshore fishing as it is for passenger carrying. A couple of tasks that would use its special properties could be hire boat fleets and sailing dinghy rescue boats. For a boat likely to last a lifetime or more the Whaly 435 is not expensive. Powered by the Honda you need to part with $16,550 but you can shave off more than $3000 by substituting a Tohatsu two-stroke. That’s cheap boating. Ingenious internal arrangement allows for an alternative to tiller steering. WHALY 435 Price from $13,500 (as reviewed $16,550) Length 4.35m Beam 1.73m Hull weight 165kg Motor fitted 30hp Honda four-stroke Agents Dinghy World, 250 Canning Hwy, Como Phone 9367 6555 If you see people with clipboards at a boat ramp, they’re carrying out important research — and you can help. Researchers at ramps in Esperance, Albany and between Geraldton and Augusta are counting, weighing and measuring key species caught. They’ve already completed ramp interviews in the Gascoyne, Pilbara and Kimberley regions. These ramp interviews are part of a second survey to collect recreational boat fishing data from around WA’s coast. Researchers are following a similar procedure for this 2013/14 survey as for a groundbreaking 2011/12 survey — the first in WA using multiple methods at once to gather fishing data Statewide. Recfishwest and Edith Cowan University are working with the Department of Fisheries on this survey , which ends in April. A similar survey will be completed every two years, allowing researchers to compare the findings with previous results. By the end of April, the researchers expect to have interviewed about 6000 fishos.There are also about 3000 recreational boat fishers around WA recording their catches in log books, then giving the details to researchers from the university. To find fishos to take part, researchers used the database containing the names of people with a Recreational Fishing from Boat Licence (RFBL). The database, created a few years ago when the RFBL was introduced, now includes 130, 000 names — a very handy resource. The survey adds to the many other assessments the department carries out to provide information to help manage fish stocks. Keeping stocks healthy and sustainable is a must for many reasons — including making sure recreational fishing in WA remains world class. The 2011/12 survey found WA fishos caught more than 3.7 million fish, sharks, rays and invertebrates. The most commonly caught aquatic species overall was the blue swimmer crab. When it came to fish, school and King George whiting topped the list, followed by herring and pink snapper . The survey also tracked the number of fish released and showed most of us fish responsibly. For the other findings, see the full survey report or the summary leaflet at the Department of Fisheries website, fish.wa.gov.au. The researchers could not have achieved the results without your support, so keep up the good work. If you have any questions about the current survey , call 9203 0111 or email research.survey@fish.wa. gov.au. The Department of Fisheries will have displays at the Hillarys Boat Show (today and tomorrow) and Mandurah Crab Fest (March 15-16). Note the West Coast zone of the recreational abalone fishery closed for the 2013/14 season on March 2. Y ou can help with fish stocks research LOWDOWN GLEN JAKOVICH Whaly will last lifetime The Whaly is fitted with a grab line for passenger safety , inflatable-style. MIKE BROWN Moulded plastic resistant to damage and very durable THIS COPYRIGHT MATERIAL MUST NOT BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION OR PASSED ON TO ANY THIRD PARTY. CONTACT: [email protected]