Bill Corten Bush and Beach

 Bill

Bill Corten Bush and Beach Magazine

We had run out of fillets at home, so decided to use that as a good excuse for a boys fishing trip away, but in reality it was a trip with a purpose in tribute to a good friend who is no longer with us.

This time we took a very special boat I had been renovating for a month, a Cruise Craft Explorer 685, named “Prime Time’.

She had belonged to a very good friend Chris Barnard and had sadly spent a lot of time growing sad on a marina rack since Chris passed away two years ago.

His last offshore trip was out to the Capricorn Bunkers with George and myself on “Reel Affair” in March 2017, describing it as his best offshore trip ever.

By coincidence I acquired “Prime Time” from Chris’s wife Helen and set to work on a massive make over and made a few small modifications with the intention of giving her a new long term lease of life that Chris would have been proud of.

The name “Prime Time” has been retained too as it had special significance to Chris and to his friend George Baumber of Wynnum Marine fame and besides, it has a nice ring to it for its intended purpose.

I needed to buy a solid trailer to put under this graceful lady and after plenty of research settled on buying a Sea Trail trailer from Lytton in Brisbane.

What really impressed was the quality of what they build and their willingness to make some minor changes to deliver a heavy duty trailer that fitted under the 685 like a glove.

With 15 inch wheels and top of the range stainless calipers matched to 12 inch stainless rotors it tows like a dream out on the highway and is a pleasure to launch and retrieve a heavy boat so easily and single handed too thanks to the solid axle rollers and the fact it is also supported on the keel rollers.

For the record it was the in depth knowledge and experience of Ray and Matt Dial at Sea Trail trailers that gave me the confidence to proceed with them and the way they adjusted the trailer to make it a perfect fit and move the suspension to get the balance and tow ball weight just right after it was loaded with fuel and gear was the absolute icing on the cake.

After what seemed an eternity “Prime Time” had some sea trails on the bay and after calling in the marine electronics experts from Trymax Marine Electronics to properly calibrate and fine tune the auto pilot, it was time to take her offshore."