Even so, it’s well out of the way when stowed. First off there’s that big comfy rear lounge, whether or not it is really of any use in a fishing boat is another question, but the drink holder on each side do s uggest certain uses. So with renewed interest, we took a detailed, albeit hurried, because it was getting dark, look at the 180 Dauntless. This capability can be used to cross rough water, when heading for a sheltered fishing spot, where the high casting decks and the subtle approach of an electric fishing motor really come into their own.Īnd we know plenty of places where using an electric is the only way to go. The 180 Dauntless has an exceptional ‘ in some ways unprecedented ‘ ability to cross open water safely. Perhaps here lies the key to situations where this boat’s rough water handling and fishing capabilities really do come together. So good was the ride offered by the 180 Dauntless that somehow it almost seems wasted on a boat with a fully moulded inner liner that offers precious little of the leg support that’s essential for comfort and safety when offshore fishing.Įven so, among the Boston Whaler 180’s options list was what they called a ‘trolling motor panel,’ in other words a bow mount for an electric fishing motor.
Weighing-in at 907kg, this boat is no lightweight and this also contributes in a positive way to her impressive over water performance. It is also noticeably quieter than other similar hulls, simply because of its foam-filled hull construction. The result is a very fine entry, which cuts through the chop cleanly and delivers a softer ride. The 180’s hull has unusually sculpted lines, particularly around the bow area where the chines curve upwards and inwards at the same time. As it was the high performance levels provided by the 135 OptiMax added some social mucking about with wake toys to the Boston Whalers 180 Dauntless’ CV. Swinging a 17′ Vengeance prop it literally rocketed the little Boston Whaler to a top speed of 38.5 knots, which indicated a smaller motor, or perhaps a less energetic one than the OptiMax, would be viable options for this boat. A 135hp Mercury OptiMax two-stroke outboard graced the 180’s transom. Very late actually, as you might fathom from the ruddy glow attached to otherwise bright white gel coat hull in some of our photographs. But not being at all interested in being shot at, we took a Boston Whaler 180 Dauntless out onto the Southport Broadwater late in the afternoon. It’s been demonstrated often enough in various stunts involving chain saws and bull dozers, so if Boston Whaler want to tell us their hulls can withstand being shot up by automatic weapon fire ‘ which is probably why they are standard equipment for most of America’s armed forces ‘ we believe them. We hardly need to remind readers about the massive structural integrity and indeed inherent safety of Boston Whaler’s fully bonded foam-filled construction. And standards are something Boston Whaler continues to set. What we discovered impressed the team greatly, because however imprecise her exact role in the Aussie boating scheme of things, is the Boston Whaler 180 Dauntless was a remarkable boat by any standard. So we gave up trying to categorise the Dauntless and simply took her out for a spin to see how she went. Other boats of this type normally have high sides, which allow anglers to lean against them for support while playing a big fish. Then, with a 5.63m overall length, this centre console should be sitting firmly in the realm of bluewater sport fishing machines, but the Dauntless has low sides.
#Dauntless fishing full#
Why? Well for starters not many of the 180’s peers have a full width aft lounge seat that lifts up to make somewhere a fly or lure caster can perch themselves. But this boat is quite different from other centre consoles. Normally, if a boat is configured as a centre console it’s simply shuffled off among the fishing boats and however debatable, the world of slime and scales is one place this boat should feel at home. It’s not often the Modern Boating team comes across a boat that refuses to be categorised, but all that changed when we got our hands on the Boston Whaler 180 Dauntless recently.
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