MAKOCRAFT ESTUARY TRACKER 440 & 480

By Warren Steptoe

The curved chine of the Makocraft Estuary Tracker hull allows a finer entry at the bows while maintaining at-rest stability with a shallow deadrise aft.

People seeing these Makocraft boats for the first time might be feeling a tad confused. It could be because Makocraft is a brand spanking new aluminium boat building company, although as you've probably noticed there is something quite familiar about them!

All is explained when you learn that Makocraft is a totally new boat building company founded recently by Tim Stessl and his sister, Nicola. As it turns out, Makocraft designs probably appear familiar because they come from the pen of Tim and Nicola's dad, Alf. Alf Stessl, that is. Ah, you say… they're Stessl boats. Well, yes, but no! Tim and Nicola have started Makocraft boats and Alf is helping them out with hull design.

Before Alf's recent retirement from the original Stessl boat company, Tim had been designing their interiors for some time. Indeed, considerable credit is due Tim (a young man as badly infected with the fishing disease as anyone I know) for turning what were reasonable fishing boats into really good fishing boats.

Estuary Trackers offer a soft ride.

These new Makocraft boats then, are Alf Stessl hulls with Tim Stessl interiors. Let's have a look at a couple of their barra, bass and bream rigs. The hulls tested are what Makocraft call Estuary Trackers and come in a variety of types and sizes eminently suited to our particular style of fishing.

Firstly, there's the Topper Tracker — a lightweight car top dinghy. Topper Trackers come in 3.05, 3.45, and 3.75 m sizes, which translate to Makocraft's 305, 345 and 375 model designations. They're built from 1.6 mm material and are as basic as car toppers need to be to keep their weight as low as possible.

Then there's the Estuary Tracker 'Open’. It comes in 380, 420, and 440 models. The Open series are more sophisticated, have a checkerplate foredeck, low rails, tank and battery rack, and a braced transom to up-rate them for bigger motors. For example, the 375 Topper Tracker is rated to 18 hp, and the 380 Estuary Tracker Open to 30. Estuary Tracker Open hulls have a thicker 2 mm bottom.

This overhead view shows how well interior space in the 440 Estuary Tracker Tournament has been used to maximise casting deck space.

These are the bare bones boats so many of us fish. Ownership of bigger (and cooler) boats is increasing dramatically, but a lot of barra, bass and bream fishers catch plenty from basic boats like these. They're the bargain basement of fishing boats.

Next in Makocraft's range comes the Estuary Tracker 'Tournament.' It comes in 380, 420, and 440 sizes.

One of the test boats for this issue is an Estuary Tracker Tournament 440. This is a very popular size amongst our ranks because in some ways 4.4 m is an ideal size for the many people who like to fish from a fairly sophisticated boat, but don't have a million bucks to spend.

Tournament Estuary Trackers have a higher power rating again: the 380 is rated up to 40 hp. Standard with Estuary Tracker Tournaments come side decks, raised casting decks fore and aft with a lower flat cockpit deck between them, and a pair of pedestal seats with 4 different mounting points. Tournament models come painted and with carpeted decks, a transducer bracket, and a false floor in the storage compartment under the bow deck.

Our test 440 Estuary Tracker was fitted with a side console, which isn't standard. Most 440 Estuary Tracker Tournaments are tiller-steered, the console being optional. All hulls from the 440 tested here and upwards have 2 mm sides and a 3 mm bottom.

As you can see, our 440 model has its motor mounted directly onto the transom. Personally, I think this is preferable in boats this size, because it allows more rear casting deck space than if the motor was mounted outboard on an extended transom with a full height bulkhead.

The advantage of full height aft bulkheads is increased freeboard, but because of their intrusion into interior space, they work best in larger hulls with more interior space like the 480 and 520 Estuary Tracker Tournament Side Consoles. These have what Makocraft call a Soft Rider transom, mounting the motor outboard on a full width pod formed as an extension of the bottom sheet.

There is some cost in terms of space comparative to a standard transom like the smaller 440s, but in a 4.8 or a 5.2 m boat there's ample room inside to allow for it. It does, of course, make for a neater looking transom area, too.

As you'd expect, out on the water the larger test boat rode chop noticeably better than the smaller. Another 125 kg of hull weight can be quite an advantage.

The distinctive curving chine line at the bows of an Estuary Tracker hull is seen in most of the better aluminium BBB boats nowadays. Virtually all leading metal boat builders have adopted it because it allows the bows to form a finer entry. This produces a substantially better rough water ride than bluffer-bowed pointy punt hulls.

At the same time, in these Makocraft hulls at least, the curve in the bows at casting deck level can be kept nice and full. This gives the boat virtually the same amount of deck space as a pointy punt and considerably more than a conventional pointy bow dinghy hull with a casting deck.

We still haven't mentioned an Estuary Tracker hull's unique bottom shape though, and it's here that this hull steals a march on its opposition. Around half way along the hull, an Estuary Tracker's chines turn fairly severely back downward to become a sort of mini sponson. The concept is to form a cushion of air/water emulsion between hull and water, and to hold that in place at planing speeds.

This achieves several things at once. Normal drag between the water and the hull surface is reduced, which pays dividends of reduced fuel consumption and increased performance. And having this cushion of air and water mix trapped beneath the hull softens the ride noticeably.

The end result is a better-riding, more fuel-efficient and faster boat than a conventional hull the same size with the same power. Anyone wondering how much better Makocraft's Estuary Tracker hull can be is advised to take a ride in one and compare for yourself. I'm confident you'll be impressed!

As a value for money package, a tiller-steer 440 Estuary Tracker Tournament with a relatively cheap conventional 2 stroke is as good as you'll find. Our test boat though, ran a 50 Honda 4 stroke.

Honda's 50 has always been a lovely little donk and it matched the Makocraft beautifully. It's not a motor noted for high performance, so it was interesting indeed to record a top speed of 29.2 kts with a 13” pitch Honda aluminium prop.

What this indicates is that a 440 running a 50 conventional 2 stroke will have plenty of speed available, even when carrying a load. I suspect that people who habitually travel lightly loaded should find themselves happy with a 40 hp 2 stroke. The suggestion being that the lower cost of a conventional 2 stroke leaves room in the budget for a better electric or to upgrade electronics… unless of course you can afford a 4 stroke!

The 480 Tournament SC was comprehensively equipped, to a point where dedicated tournament fishos would basically only have to add an electric of choice to the bow, plus whatever their poison is in electronics.

Our test boat ran a 70 hp Suzuki 4 stroke to produce a top speed of 32.9 kts and sprightly acceleration up to that. Serious tournament fishos may well consider even more power. The hull is rated up to 80 and a little speed being the advantage it can be in tournaments sometimes, with a maximum transom weight rating of 176 kg, an 80 would be a bit more exciting.

I'd suggest we get used to the new Makocraft logo — seems to me we're going to be seeing it on the water a lot!

For further information visit the Makocraft website: www.makocraft.com.au