We left Half Moon Bay with two-thirds of a tank of gas, four blokes and some fishing gear. The underfloor tank will hold 165 litres, giving the 550 a useful range—particularly when equipped with engines as economical as the FICHT. Although the hull’s rated rated to 150hp, performance with the still very tight 115hp was quite acceptable. Gerry in the 100hp model seemed well able to keep up, though we didn’t push the new Evinrude to the limit, considering its tender age. We cruised along happily at 30-some mph (indicated) with the tacho hovering around 5000rpm. While the boat is perfectly fine for family boating, it’s designed with fishing in mind. It’s well designed, too. Most things are in the right place and the cockpit is very fisher-friendly. An optional bait board, complete with two handy rod holders (ideal when you’re baiting up), drains out over the side through a flexible hose. Four good-quality stainless steel rod holders are well placed and suitably angled while gunwale heights are just about ideal. There are no sharp corners, either, and the moulded floor is textured to aid grip in the wet. Forward in the slightly raised ‘bridge’ area, washable pull-out carpets are fixed to the floor with domes. There’s a removable fish bin-seat which clips to the floor across the transom. We left it where it was but it’s probably best removed if you want to fish three across the back. It does provide seating, and extra dry storage, or storage for bait, berley and fish. A couple of rods can be stored along the boat’s sides in the special racks, the rest can go in the rocket launcher (five), the rod holders (four) and the bait board (two). The rocket launcher folds down to aid boat storage in garages or carports.
There was more than enough room for our rods on this day. I’d packed just two, which we had to share between four. After a decent run through a moderately rough Motuihe Channel, some photography work in the lee of Motutapu and then a run into a steep head sea up the side of Rangitoto Island, we stopped and anchored with the view to catching the Hamilton crew some Auckland snapper.
The boats had impressed all on board with their no-nonsense handling of the conditions. The hulls are soft-riding, dry and quiet so we were able to push on at a decent clip in comfort. For a boat of only 5.5m, the 550 is remarkably good in the slop. We shipped no water at all and our clears were all but dry at the end of the day. Even Gerry, without the benefit of a canopy, stayed dry. Into a head sea the 550 is really soft, slicing through the chop with ease, while on a quartering sea it is also pretty good— and dry as well.
We were especially lucky to come across a pod of bottle nose dolphins. We slowed to idle speed and the came over to investigate. We were able to get a really good look at them for at least ten minutes before they decided to move on. On several occasions members of the pod leapt high out of the water, sometimes twice as high as they are long. Since the bigger animals were at least four or five metres long, it was pretty spectacular! Because of the conditions and waves predominantly on the bow, I mostly kept the engine trimmed well in. On flat water, trimming it well out really breaks the hull free and lets it get up and boogie. In the turns, the 550 is secure and we had no cavitation problems.
The fishing was quite good, although Mark and Gerry in the other boat definitely outdid us in both fish size and numbers. School snapper and kahawai fell to our pilchard baits, although squid bait seemed to be the magic ingredient on the other boat. We didn’t have any, so we were unable to match their best fish which went nearly eight-pounds (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it).
The very new and extremely clean boat was quickly spattered with fish bait, slime and blood. The interior is easy to wash though, due to the smooth contoured finish. Water drains down into the sump where a bilge pump is activated automatically by a float switch or manually on demand.
The hull itself is foam-filled and built to meet CPC standards.
While the boat is meant for fishing, the 550 as tested is hardly a bare bones package. The cuddy cabin is well appointed with a light, tinted portholes, fully lined interior, shelves and adult-sized v-berths. A portable toilet nestles under the infill squab, there's some storage under the berths and there’s a generous cubby hole on the starboard side. Also useful is a chart pocket fitted behind the helm station. A Uniden VHF lives inside the cuddy and a lockable fold-down acrylic hatch closes over teak louvre doors for privacy and security. Other features include: A stainless dive ladder on the port side; bollards each side of the transom; a solid bollard forward; plenty of room in the anchor locker; a fairlead broad enough to accept a decent weight of chain; and good-quality stainless railings on the bow—essential for a walkaround.
The ride home reinforced the boat’s good qualities. It had been a happy day with a few fish in the bin and, despite the wind, we had thoroughly enjoyed the 550. Back at the ramp the tide was so low it looked like we might have trouble retrieving the boats— one boatie we saw successfully ground off a good part of his propeller trying to back off the ramp, the water was so low.
In the end it turned out be fairly simple: Gary backed down the tandem-wheeled DMW trailer until the back was just submerged, then winched the boat on keeping the car our of the mud. Gerry, on the other hand, was not so lucky and his trailer dropper off the lip into the mud. Fortunately, his Nissan four-wheel-drive was able to muscle boat and trailer back onto the concrete. I’ve never seen the water so low at Half Moon Bay.
The Buccaneer 550 is available in a variety of specification levels. The well-specified boat we tried will be on display on Rollo’s Marine stand at the Auckland Boat Show from June------. Rollos is sharing the stand this year with ENL, suppliers of Furuno and Lowrance marine electronics like those fitted to the boat.
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