How fast can someone put a Quickboat together? Read on to find out...

by Gary Brown on 14 Sep 2013 During my early years all I wanted to be was an open road push bike rider like my dad. He was a WA Champion for a few years until he broke both of his collarbones while competing in a race. Back then there wasn’t as many cars on the road as now, but my parents made a decision that there were too many cars and that the money I had saved for my first racing bike should go towards my first boat. So it was decided that if I could save up enough money I could get my own boat. Mum and dad thought that this would take me a few years. Little did they know I had enough within six months.

So at fourteen I brought my first boat (made out of masonite and waterproofed) from my cousin for 125 pound and the only way that dad and I could get it to the water was in the back of his ute. It wasn’t long before I had enough money to by an aluminium boat from a Walton’s store at Bankstown Square. But once again I didn’t have a trailer or a drivers licence so dad use to drive us to the ramp with the boat in the back of his ute.

I can’t remember a time in my life since then when I haven’t had a boat sitting in my back yard. When I think back on how many hours I have used my boat or boats it’s huge. Not only the time that I have spent fishing out of them, but the time that I have spent washing and cleaning them, servicing the trailer, adding accessories to them, charging the batteries and getting ready the day before to go fishing.

What about if you could own a small, compact, user friendly boat that you could hang up on the wall of your garage or store under the house? What about if you could transport a boat on your roof racks to your next fishing or boating designation and with a team of two of you put it together complete with outboard motor in less than five minutes after taking it off the roof racks. Even if you don’t have anyone to help you a Quickboat can be put together in a very short time, and you don’t need a trailer or a boat ramp. You can just pull up near your nearest waterway and within a short while be on the water in your Quickboat.

Quickboats was officially launched at the Sydney International Boat Show on the first of August 2013 and Deryck and James stated that they had a huge response to how quick the boat could be assembled ready for use.
In fact, the boat is so easy to construct says Deryck Graham, the Managing Director of Australian company Quickboats stated that one person with a drink in their hand could assemble the boat in three minutes even with friends around to distract them.

This 3.7m x 1.7m wide folding boat comes in two bags. One bag weights in at 18kgs and the other weights in at 35kgs giving it a combine weight of 55 kilos. The bags come with multiple handles making it easy for someone to carry the bag to where you are going to assemble it. It has a maximum rating of 10 hp for the outboard and the boat is rated to carry four 75 kilo people. All the parts click into place during assembly. It can cruise at a speed of 20 knots (37 km/h / 23 mph) when powered by a 9.8 hp motor. On the day that I tested the boat there were two of us in the boat at an average of 95 kilos each and I reckon we got up to about 16 to 17 knots with the 8hp outboard on the back.

The design engineers used advanced composite materials such as Kevlar, high-end glass and foam cores in its construction. Armour skins were also thrown in as top sheet materials to make the boat hard to penetrate and give it the ability to slide over sand and pebbles like Teflon. The Quickboat has a number of features: a semi-flat non slip floor, multi use rail, advanced composite panels, extensive built in panels, dry storage area, grab and go handle, easy lock latches, waterproof transom and comfort moulded clip in and out seats.

Talk about being impressed. It blew me away on how long it didn’t take for Deryck and James unzip the bags and remove the parts. Then unfold the hull, lock in the transom, click in the seats, attach the nose cone and foredeck. Then lift the boat down to the water, then attaches the outboard motor put in the safety gear and then take off was nothing short of amazing.

What even impressed me even more was that when James and I took it for a run the only part of the boat that showed any flex was the small amount that occurred in the bottom of the boat. The sides of the boat did not flex at all, even when we were motoring at about 16 knots.

Just think of how easy it would make it if one morning you woke up and thought to yourself I might go for a fish and all you have to do is go to your garage, throw to two bags on your roof or into the back of your roof. Grab the motor and some safety and fishing gear and off you go. You too could be out there chasing bass in a small creek or dam that doesn’t have a boat ramp. The Quickboat could be used for trolling lures, casting at snags, drifting over drop-offs or just getting you from one spot to another.

James Graham is an avid angler who couldn’t wait to take the boat out and have a fish out of it the first time he saw this boat. From what James has told me he has used the Quickboat for casting at snags and banks for bream. He has also used the boat for trolling for trout as well.

While I was out on the Georges River near the Taren Point Bridge I didn’t get the chance to have a fish, but what James and I experienced was a pod of between forty to fifty dolphins played surrounded the boat. When I am out on the water I can’t get enough of seeing the wildlife that we have and seeing this pod of dolphins with dads, mums and their youngsters was totally unbelievable.

So not only can you go boating and fishing out of a Quickboat, you can also go wildlife spotting as well. This is a way that you can spend more time having fun with your friends and family outdoors. The guys from Quickboats have also informed me that the Quickboat can be delivered right to your door. For more information you can go to their official website at http://quickboats.com/ . The price is set at AUD $4,375.00

The cost of a boat or the challenges of boat storage are now no longer a barrier, thanks to the Quickboat. Even if you've never owned or driven a boat before, this is the boat for you!

For more information, images or video of a Quickboat being assembled and in action, please contact Ben Rawling at Polkadot PR – ben(@)polkadotpr.com.au (02) 9281 4190 or 0424 644 518

If you would like to see how quick and easy the Quickboat is to put together and then use go and have a look at these videos: