A Magazine Editor’s Third Bar Crusher
When a fishing magazine editor buys the same brand of boat three times, it’s worth asking why. Fishing World’s Jim Harnwell has taken delivery of his second Bar Crusher 670HT, after previously running a 670C, and this project boat walkthrough shows how he’s rigged it for serious offshore sportfishing. Unlike the 670C’s folding roof, this boat is a fixed hard top, a change that reflects his shift towards all-weather offshore fishing.
Power and Performance
This boat runs a 175hp Mercury Verado, a supercharged four-cylinder four-stroke that pairs strong mid-range punch with the light weight that matters on a trailer boat. It sits at the entry point of the 670HT’s 175–250hp rating. For a boat built to cover distance to find fish and get home safely, that power-to-weight and reliability is the foundation everything else is built on.
Rigged for Sportfishing, Not Just Day Trips
This 670HT is set up for offshore sportfishing rather than general use. A livebait tank and a kill tank are both fitted. Pedestal seats with bolsters give the crew stable, comfortable positions for long runs and long fights, and the seat boxes double as tackle storage. Bar Crusher’s Game Lock coaming gives a braced position at the gunwale. The cabin still works for an overnight trip, but in practice it’s mostly given over to gear storage. That’s a realistic trade-off for a boat built mainly for offshore day trips.
Electronics Built for Depth
The helm, as fitted to this boat, is built around a Raymarine Hybrid Touch a-Series display linked to two sonar modules. A CP100 CHIRP DownVision module handles structure and bait definition in shallower water, and a CP450 CHIRP module handles deeper offshore sounding, reportedly tested to around 280 fathoms. Running two purpose-built modules instead of one general-purpose transducer suits a boat that fishes both inshore structure and deep offshore water. A Fusion stereo rounds out the helm.
Bar Crusher Engineering, Serious Add-Ons
Under the fit-out is Bar Crusher’s Waveslicer hull, Quickflow water ballast and the sealed Rigideck floor. This boat also has LED lighting, a bait pump, a saltwater deckwash and bilge pumps. A downrigger is fitted for deep-trolling kingfish, and outriggers are planned for later, so the rig is being built up progressively rather than all at once.
A Lighter Way to Tow
The boat sits on a custom-built alloy trailer, chosen to reduce tow weight. Bar Crusher’s alloy trailer option is built to save weight compared with a standard galvanised steel trailer, while still being more heavily built than typical alloy trailers. That matters for anyone towing a boat this size behind a standard 4WD. The current 670HT has a dry tow weight of 1,880kg, so check your vehicle’s capacity against the loaded rig. Every Bar Crusher trailer also comes with Bar Catch for single-handed launch and retrieve.
Built for Two to Three Anglers, Offshore
Set up for two or three anglers chasing offshore sportfish, this 670HT is rigged from real fishing priorities rather than a boat show spec sheet, by an owner on his third Bar Crusher who knows exactly what he wants. See how the latest 670HT performed in a rough-water test, or build and quote your own.
