21.

Supplied Courtesy of Fishing Monthly Magazines

TOP-SHELF CRUSHER
Author: Col Buckley

The Bar Crusher 640 Hard Top is the flagship of the fleet.

It's big, it's bold and it's brassy as well, aluminium-y and there's plenty of it.

The latest Bar Crusher 640 Hard Top is one mean offshore machine for those who fish blue water in search of large fish. I love driving around in big boats and taking the helm on this brute was no exception. Although having a transom rated to 200hp, our test boat sported the new-technology twin 90hp Evinrude E-TECs spinning 19" props and I found this combo gave more than enough grunt with us three hefty blokes on board. This is not a boat for pussyfooting up estuaries or pottering around rivers. This is a boat designed to get you out there, hook into some big fish and get you back even if the weather turns sour.

With a semi-enclosed cabin, all occupants are well protected from the elements and the hull can take the sharpest chop with ease. Enough has been said and written about the deep-vee hull the "Crushers" are famous for and the 640HT is no different.

So what comes with the boat and what do you get for your buck? Standard inclusions include transom ladder, bait and rigging table, plumbed live-bait well big enough for a crowd of slimies, eight rod holders, rocket launcher and SARCA anchor. These are not basics but necessary items for the serious fisho who wants everything functional and within easy reach. My one main complaint was the trim buttons. These are both on the port motor throttle handle and are difficult to locate, especially when in neutral when the buttons are directly underneath. With the Bar Crusher sporting twin motors, I would have liked the trim switches on the dash so one hand can operate the throttles and the other can play with trimming out the boat for best performance.

ROOM FOR FOUR

With a huge cockpit of 3.1 x 1.8 metres, there is room for four to fish comfortably. Things can get a bit rocky outside and the high cockpit coamings (720mm) give a feeling of stability when locked in against a rampaging fish. The small cuddy, although having padded cushions, is really a bitcrapmed for overnighting but it could be done at a pinch. Under-bunk storage is more than enough for all things that don't get used often. Don't put life jackets in there because they will be hard to remove in an emergency, when they're needed quickly. A small bowsprit has rollers for the specialised SARCA anchor and the open, fast-draining anchor well will store kilometres of anchor rope. I found the lift hatch to access the ground gear a little squeezy to get through but, once up and standing on the bunks, I had no problem working the anchor. Passenger and skipper enjoy sliding seats and the passenger has a tiered set of vertical carpeted pockets in front, ideal for lure storage or just knick knacks. Along the length of the boat, wide deep pockets under both gunwales swallow a heap of fishing paraphernalia as well as rods for storage when travelling on the bitumen.

For those nimble enough, the hardtop is robust enough to stand on and incorporates a nine-holder rocket launcher. Grab rails are there for standing passengers and there are four plates of toughened glass in the windscreen to protect from the elements. An electric wiper is a vital option I would have installed to remove the spray that gets thrown up in a beam sea or for the squally days this boat is built to take. The huge cockpit is self-draining and has a massive bilge pump that sucks out any water that gathers in the small drop down sump in the floor. A huge, drained kill tank is also supplied as standard and opens north/south near the transom. Two batteries, four-way battery isolating switch and water-separating fuel filter all come as standard, as does a full-width transom seat that folds up out of the way to give clear cockpit space.

Because of the acute hull deadrise (which can make boats tender in a sea), Bar Crushers have a water ballast system running the full length of the keel that fills with water when stationary and gives the boat stability at rest. On acceleration, the ballast cavity empties, allowing the boat to fly up onto the plane. Another feature of Bar Crusher is a lack of planing strakes on the hull. Planing strakes aid a boat onto the plane as they provide lift. However, the down side is that they can cause a thumping, bouncing ride in rough sea conditions. The deep vee of the Crusher slices through chop like a knife through butter.

SOFT LANDINGS

After arriving at our testing destination, there was plenty of rough water from big boat traffic to test the boat's seaworthiness. When gunned at a large, backless wave, the first thing I noticed was how soft she landed for a boat that weighs around 1500kg. The Bar Crusher is a tad noisier than the same size glass boat but after awhile the noise becomes background and is hardly noticeable. Down waves, the big hardtop stayed on track and even under power with sudden helm input, showed no inclination to broach or side walk. It turns up a fair bit of spray on beam seas but I remained totally dry throughout the test, thanks to the enclosed cockpit layout.

Hydraulic steering made turns a snack and although the engines were not counter-rotating to negate torque, there was no pull on the helm whatsoever. Switching off one motor, I gunned the live engine and was surprised to see the hull rise on the plane and cruise around 20 knots with ease. That's an important safety factor if one donk dies. Three blokes hanging over one side dipped the gunwales a bit but there was no feeling of acute heel. Closing down one engine, the boat will troll all day slow enough not to barrel-roll live baits. Accelerating out of the hole, the Crusher remains level with no serious bow lift. I just loved the room this boat offers and with rod holders everywhere, there will be no problem in getting a lure spread.

The wide coamings are also a feature of all Bar Crushers making them comfortable brace against whilst fishing. I've said it before but it's worth a mention again. I get a gut feeling about a boat; how it performs, how safe it is. Reliability, seaworthiness and the like is more feel than statistics. The Bar Crusher 640 Hard Top passed all tests and I would have no compunction in fishing the continental shelf in this set-up.

It's a pocket game cruiser that can be towed to fishing locations with a large six-cylinder car or, preferably, a solid 4WD. Driving the boat back on the dual-axle trailer was a breeze and it wasn't long before we had her ready for the haul home. Power brakes make for safe transportation on the highway, as do standard extras like a spare wheel and fully submersible lights. This boat provides great value for money at somewhere around $60,000 to $80,000 depending on engine choice, options and final package choice but it's one of those classics that will still be sought-after by family fisho's in 10 years time.

Legal Note: The statements, observations and opinions expressed in the above excerpts are those of the boat tester and were formed after inspection and testing of the Bar Crusher boat described in the test. The opinion is provided by the author of the test and not the directors of Bar Crusher boats.The information in these excerpts is offered to assist prospective buyers to do their research. Bar Crusher Boats confirms that the information above may contain factual errors and no responsibility is taken for it's accuracy or completeness. Please refer to the legal notice by clicking on the words "Legal Notice" at the bottom of each page.