Col and Janelle Glass have been in the alloy boat building business for 20 years, and have gained a very high reputation for building a range of pressed alloy boats from 2.45m to 6.1m. Over the last 20 years, they have had many model changes and variations, and today, the current Seajay range boasts a line-up of family, fishing and work boats to suit all walks of life.
Until recently, Col had stepped away from building full plate boats and concentrated on his current range. However, following the recent financial crisis, many large plate boat builders have gone by the wayside, so Col decided to step up to the plate and build a plate boat.
First cab off the rank was the 5.3m plate Preda-King; the second was a 6.8 plate Preda-King. The people at Seajay took onboard what they had discussed with previous owners and designed and built a boat that would make all serious fishos happy.
BH Marine in Darwin has just taken delivery of the latest Honda-powered Seajay, a 6.8 Pursuit cabin. What a rig this is! At the recent Darwin Boat Show, this boat proved to be very popular; it had people crawling all over it all day, and there were many positive comments.
When BH Marine staff rolled out the first 5.3 Preda-King from the delivery truck, they were immediately blown away by the attention to detail that clearly went into its production. Visual things, like the welds, were all neat and tidy; the clean lines just make this rig look really smart. Other smart features include the uncluttered floor and interior space, self-draining, fully-welded decks, cleverly-designed folding canopy/hardtop and walk-through transom.
But there are a number of unseen things that go into the Seajay range of plate boats — additional stringers, bulk heads, 5mm bottoms, 4mm sides and 5mm plate floor — that just make them as bullet proof as any plate boat can be. With all the extra weight, the ride is just as good as glass boats the same size. Be warned, fibreglass manufacturers have been put on notice here as the ride in the Seajay range of boats is brilliant. And don’t forget the fuel tank in the 5.3m model — fitted into a holding tank itself — holds 170L. With the excellent fuel economy of the Honda engine, a whole day’s fishing can be had here.
On its Darwin debut run, we slid the Seajay Honda-powered Preda-King off the Oceanic trailer, turned the key and the Honda 90 just jumped into life with no hassles. I pushed the throttle down and, with very little effort, the Preda-King just jumped onto the plane. Facing the craft into a brisk 20 knot nor-easter, the “V” of the hull just seemed to smooth out the horrible chop that was coming at us and made the ride just that much more enjoyable. We pushed the 5.3 Seajay Preda-King into all sorts of waves, and from all angles, and I’m glad to say that this is one dry boat; even the wind spray had a hard time finding us.
When coming into some smoother water, we were able to push that throttle all the way down, trim the engine and look down at the hand held GPS to see that we were doing a very respectable 76kph, pretty impressive for a 5.3m heavy boat that weighs a tad under a 1000kg with full fuel…very impressive. Stability at rest was fantastic; we had three big blokes on board and we were all able to move from side to side while the boat just sat there. Now that’s good when you are pulling a sailfish up beside the boat to tag and release it — that stability is on your side; not the ocean.
For those who are looking for a boat that will take on the blue water, provide a good ride and has plenty of room, look hard at the Honda-powered Seajay 5.3 Preda-King. Priced as tested with a 90 Honda and trailer is $52,900, which includes hydraulic steering.
Why buy a Honda 4 stroke engine?
Honda manufacture over 1.5 million engines per year and is rated as the biggest engine manufacturer in the world today. Nearly one in every eight Australians own or have owned a Honda product. It was the first engine manufacturer to introduce 4-stroke technology into Australia and has since remained the innovative leader in outboard engine technology.
The biggest advantage of owning a Honda is the fact that, unlike with two-stroke engines, there is no mixing or filling up reservoirs with 2 stroke oil. All day long you can idle with a Honda 4-stroke engine without fouling spark plugs. The other main advantage is that the Honda 4 stroke is just so quiet that there are times you cannot hear the engine running.
All outboards by Honda are designed, tested, proven and manufactured by Honda. Honda offers unmatched reliability in the marine industry through utilisation of proven engine components which are backed by the factory 5-year-marine warranty. Honda’s complete range of 4-stroke engines meet the most stringent EPA 2006 and CARB 2008 emission regulations.
By owning a Honda 4-stroke engine, you are buying reliability, proven performance and fuel efficiency and, at the end of the day, excellent re-sale value.