Tested | Stessl 7.3 CoastRunner with Yamaha 300HP with integrated DES

Statistics show that a third of new businesses stall within the first two years, and half close within the first five years. But in the fishing and boating industry, we have a much better metric for measuring the lifespan of a business. It has to do with how many boats you upgrade.
Gold Coast apparel company, The Mad Hueys is up to number seven. We think that this is pretty good, because Fishing Monthly is only up to #6.
Stessl’s Mark Johnson joined us for the test day.
“Innovation is our catch-cry and these are the biggest Platerix2 hulls that we’ve done to date,” Mark said.
The Animal 7 is a new model that Gold Coast builder, Stessl, has released. Based on its Platerix2 hull, it’s a 7.3m walk around hard top that’s powered by a 300hp Yamaha 4.2L DES outboard and it’s one in which not many ‘options’ boxes were left unchecked.
That’s how you get to a $200,000 price tag on a boat. Start by ordering the biggest Stessl that you can and then cram heaps of cool stuff into it.
For example the DES Yamaha means Digital Electric Steering. These are the outboards that can have the Yamaha HelmMaster system plugged right into them. Although adding nearly $20,000 to the price tag, you get joystick steering, auto pilot and the ability to lock yourself to a GPS coordinate.
And that's not the only thing you notice that is upgraded at the helm. You're sitting on some pretty cool shock absorbing seats, and you're looking at a 16 inch Garmin flush mounted into the console.
Interestingly, they’ve still opted for a Minnkota (powered by lithium batteries) up front. I wonder if t hey’ll fish more on the Yamaha or Minnkota spot-locking ability?
You also notice that this is a proper walk around rig. Even though it has a decent size cockpit, you can still walk and fish 360° around it and the gunnels are high enough for you to do this in comfort, with a decent fish on the end of the line.
As you would expect, this boat is not particularly cheap to run. At today's fuel prices it costs a fair bit to fill up to 350 L fuel tank. Drive this boat hard and you will achieve 0.73 km/L. The most efficient speed was at 38 km an hour (3500rpm) where the Yamaha delivered 1.4km/L. That gives you a theoretical range of just under 500km.
Given that the weather conditions were pretty close to perfect, the ride was still pretty good. The foam-filled hull rode quietly and you can see from the boat test video that the attitude looked great. You can watch the video test by scanning the QR code hereby.
I was kind of surprised that they guys had opted for galvanised steel, twin axle trailer for this rig when there’s definitely an aluminium option available. But when you consider that this rig falls easily under 3t, maybe there’s no need to skimp on weight underneath. You can tow it with a standard twin-cab ute if you don’t overload it.
Also a function of modern times are the drive away prices on the iterations of this rig. Although the Hueys’ boat came in at around $200K, you can get a down-spec package for closer to $150K with a 250HP outboard and a lot fewer options boxes ticked.
You can get more information on www.stessl.com.au or by asking your nearest Stessl dealer.
SPECIFICTIONS
Length (bow-transom) 7.3m
Beam 2.5m
Depth 1.5m
Bottom 5mm
Sides 4mm
Hull weight 1,400kg
Max HP 300
Fuel 350L
Capacity 7 persons
PERFORMANCE
RPM Speed (km/h) Economy (km/L)
Idle 5 2.2
1000 9 1.8
2000 14 1.1
3000 26 1.3
3500 38 1.4
4000 48 1.3
5000 62 1.0
6000 74 0.73

[@kobyhubbs6105]

How do you like the Yamaha DES?

[@chrismarch6829]

After seeing what TMH did to this boat, it would want to be “bullet proof”.

[@jimbob1427]

room to sleep 2 in the cabin ?

[@6knots6]

Weapon of a boat and engine

[@ianswaby7197]

For that money it should be.

[@rp3874]

Unbelievable the money charged for bottom rung "plate" boats these days, the finish on them looks terrible. Similar money ($200k) will get you in a 725 cruise craft or 2400 Kev or Noos cat. The ride and finish in all of those 10x superior...

[@johnboy5167]

You can have your fibreglass junk they are crap 😅