What do you do the day after picking up your brand new custom Quintrex 630 Frontier? Drive 4000km by road the very next day, and embark on a 640km, 8-day fishing trip up one of Australia’s most remote and wildest rivers, that’s what!
We’ve received a glowing testimony from this customer from the first of many trips of a lifetimes aboard his new vessel which can be read below, but first, let’s find out about the boat. I think you’ll agree it’s one of the best inland and coastal ally boats in Australia.
The 630 Frontier SC by Quintrex comes standard as a side console, but that wasn’t going to last long. Although even from factory there wasn’t much standard about this hull; with an optioned second 120lt fuel tank, 2 tone stealth grey paint, a Muir anchor winch and a deck wash. After arriving from the Quintrex factory, the vessel was dropped off at Easytow where a heavy duty, NT ready custom trailer was constructed and fitted (with NT axles, foldaway drawbar extension, Boat Buckles, Boat Catch, 14” alloys with spare).
Upon arriving at Richardson Marine, we began the task of removing the console, wiring and flooring ready for a rear console conversion. This required the fabrication and painting of a brand-new aluminium console and T-Top, as well as associated flooring changes and re-wiring. This opened up a lot more room up the front of the boat for storage, and allowed for extra shade and roof storage for a solar panel; both essentials for remote Top End adventures. In front of the console, we constructed a custom aluminium box built to house twin Engel fridges, with a folding lid and cushion on top. Nothing better than cold beers after a long day sweating it out catching barra! And of course, a freezer to keep fillets cold on the long drive home to Victoria. These fridges ran off a 205ah lithium battery linked into the solar. The console was fitted with the usuals; GME comms, GME EPIRB, Garmin Echomap Ultra 2 105SV (one of two on board), Ritchie compass and Fusion stereo.
Up the front on the casting deck is where the real work is done on the water, and the gear fitted there certainly reflects that. We fitted a Garmin Echomap Ultra 2 105SV on the bow on a Hexx mount, a Garmin Kraken 63” 36v electric motor with quick release plate and foot pedal, and a Garmin Live Scope system for scoping those barra. The Live Scope transducer attaches onto the electric motor. There’s even a 12v flushing toilet fitted under a hatch on the starboard side!
A boat like this needs a good electrical system and there was plenty of work to be done here too. There’s dual house batteries for the motor and basic electronics, a 205ah 12v lithium for the fridges, a 36v 100ah lithium for the Kraken, with DCDC and 240v chargers topped up by solar linking the system all together.
And on the rear, things are spicy. A 200hp Suzuki four stroke with fly by wire controls pushes the big girl along, and that’s fitted onto a 6” Action jacking plate, something we are finding increasingly popular not only for control at speed but also manoeuvring over the famous NT rockbars.
The Boat
“Well, what a beast!”. This platform has purposely been set up for extended remote barra fishing. A very big shout out for the team at Richardson Marine to be able to make my dreams materialise. Ed, Matt, Corey, Joey, and others are definitely the go to team if you need a concept of rudimentary scribblings on a beer box developed.
A couple of visits once the platform was in shop was all that was required during the build. Matt was amazing with his ability to interpret my ideas and not only implement but able to upgrade them to functionality. Ed, with his lived Northern fishing and boating experience was instrumental in keeping the build true to the desired concept. Ed’s advice on fitting the jacking plate was gold, as we where to find out on its first trip. Corey with his knowledge on electronics, sounders and Kraken, all spot on.
The First Trip
8 days on the water, 3 not very small blokes and 640 kms! To say that the crew from Richardson Marine and myself were a little nervous regarding the scope of the first trip was an understatement. I was quietly confident of the platform as I saw the absolute attention to detail, workmanship and quality hardware that had gone into the build.
Well!
Absolutely gob smacked with this boat’s faultless performance on such an epic first trip. It was like a surgical strike! Everything was spot on, fridges, DC charging, solar charging, electronics, console ergonomics, anchor winch, jacking plate, 200 Suzuki and the toilet was well and truly run in! We took a Honda generator as back up to provide AC charging if needed, never started it! Testament to the charging set up. On board AC chargers were fitted as part of the build, used them once home to top up batteries, the solar on the T top kept the fridges running on the road trip home.
My naive budget was well blown, but I can tell you with all honesty I would not change a thing, you really appreciate the quality & workmanship on these extended remote trips where pretenders get found out! The crew at Richardson Marine, take a bow, as I cannot recommend them highly enough. Thank you for making dreams come true.
The Owner.