Cobra 626

It was a touch of Out of Africa for me when I dropped in to sunny Tenby to test a 20-foot catamaran. Cat's have poked a toe in the angling market over the years here, but nobody seems to have really had a go at marketing this design properly towards anglers which, having had a little experience of cat's when I lived in Australia, surprises me.

The arrival of the Cobra 625 in Wales is quite a story. The lads at Caldy Marine, all very keen anglers, especially for the bass, had gone through a range of different boats trying to find the most suitable for their fishing, which needed to include the ability to push 15 miles plus out towards the Devon coast. Doing some homework, they realised the 625 might be just the job, so they booked a trip to South African to test them out.

Now these SA anglers are slick at launching boats straight in to a high surf at speed, and even better at dry landing a boat using the surf and the motor to drive the boat up the beach and on to dry sand. That demands that a boat be strong, and strong in the true sense of the word. But equally so, those African seas can be huge, and these boats are built to take the worst those seas can offer. In other words, their credentials are good.

CHECKING HER OUT
Jumping aboard the first thing you notice is the beam of the boat. At 2.65 metres it's generous when allied to the 20-foot length. If you're trotting live sandeel off the back of the boat, then three of you could stand shoulder to shoulder comfortably.

There are two fighting chairs positioned in the deck by the stern. I considered these being a potential problem for UK anglers, but then noticed that the seats and pedestal bar lift out of the deck from ferrules giving you the option of removing them altogether if desired.

Intentionally placed within reach either side of the two chairs are deep live wells set below the deck and accessed through lift up hatches. These are big enough to keep 30 plus sandeels alive all day.

In the deck but running forward down each side are two long and deep fish holds accessed by hinged hatches. These obviously have a drain facility. Put a layer of ice in the bottom and your fish will keep fresh all day.

The storage space on this 20-footer is awesome. In the middle of the deck is a large square shaped locker with a cushion seat on. This is deep and has masses of room for storing spare fenders, ropes, etc, and it's easy to access. Up for'ard, are two storage lockers, port and starboard, utilised as seats for the helmsman and companion. These take the portable fuel tanks, but there are acres of space in there for adding custom made tanks bigger than the standard 25-litre type.

Sit on these seats and right in front of your legs is another storage locker. The starboard side is just for general storage and is deep, I guessed about 6-foot long and wide enough to kip in if the missus chucks you out. The port locker is the same, but
has slide out wooden shelves on the left side to take spare tackle items.

Looking at the console, in front of the helm is a lift up locker to take ancillary items and other on the port side. Also fitted by the co-drivers seat on the gunnel is a wooden four-rod rack to store rods upright.

The slope back screen is heavily tinted and bolted in place with a tough stainless steel frame around the edge. You can deliberately get your hands around the stainless bar along the top for grip when needed.

There is a walk in access in the middle of the console and screen allowing you to reach the bow section from waist height. This walk in has a bow locker access hatch for anchor rope storage. Hauling anchor is via an electric capstan. The bow itself has a T cleat and bow roller combined as one unit, and a safety rail running right around the bow from the cabin sides.

Inside the gunnels there are cut our brackets capable of taking oars, gaffs, boat hooks or spare rods. In position these sit inside the line of the gunnel and are well out of your way when you're moving about on deck.

The gunnels topside have a stainless rod holder front and back, with a grab rail positioned rearwards on both sides.

Looking at the stern, guess what, there's three more hinged door lockers, the middle is for storage, but the port and starboard lockers take the two batteries separately. There is also room underneath the lockers between the deck to push small tackle boxes or loose fenders you might need in a hurry.

The stern houses two large stainless steel elongated U shaped frames with a wooden strip attached. On to this are added stainless trolling holders for rods. Some anglers will like this, but some may prefer to remove the frame for easier stern fishing.

The splash well is deep and wide, but in the middle is a standing platform, useful for getting at the engines if need be, as well water access to the props. There is also a stipple finish for grip on the platform and gunnel tops.

When I first jumped aboard I noticed that the whole deck area and inside the gunnels was carpeted. With fish being a tad on the slimy side, and predators like huss and tope prone to chucking up their lunch all over the place, I figured such a plush layout might be a problem. It turns out that the carpet fabric used is an industrial type designed for use in hospital operating theatres, reassuring for fishing, but not if you're heading for an op. It can be scrubbed, hosed down and is said to be resistant to ripping. I checked with a South African friend and he assures me this stuff is good!

All the lockers and edges are trimmed in a mahogany coloured wood. This is from an African tree (there's a surprise) that needs no maintenance due to natural oils, but adding a coat or two of natural wood stain oil brings it out in the most beautiful colours and enriches the looks of the boat.

ALL FIRED UP
She was fitted with twin Tohatsu TLDI Two-stroke 90HP motors. These are recommended as the minimum power units, but she can take twin 150's for real wig off performance. I also checked out the battery system, which is rightly independent to each motor on fully separate systems.

Firing up the motors and gently pushing the throttles forward we pushed slowly out through the mooring buoys to the open sea. I jumped on to a spare boat to get a few pics of the 625 at speed. Interesting to watch how the catamaran hull works. You get a low wash of water lifting towards the centre of the boat that might just get the transom wet, but no sign of water accessing inside the cockpit. There's also a wooden strip low down at water level running towards the stern that adds lift and deflects water. Heading straight at you you can see the big bulb of air that gets deliberately trapped underneath and between the twin hulls adding to the boats performance.

Me at the helm we headed out towards Caldy Island aiming to find some bumpy water. Easing the twin throttles forward she does not give a sudden and obvious surge of speed, but a gentle increase as the nose comes up. The real speed comes when the air bubble gets trapped and she hits the full plane. I was belting along at around 22-knots pulling 4500 revs. She'll exceed 25-knots with this twin motor package at 5000 revs. I'm salivating at what the performance would be like with twin 150's on. Awesome!

Sure enough west of Caldy and the sea roughed up enough for some real sea trials. Maintaining that 22-knot speed I pushed her head on in to the waves. She meets them slightly nose up cutting through the top of them. This gives a really easy ride for the conditions and without any heavy slamming. She also maintains her speed really well, even when coming up against a bigger than average growler. Attacking the waves at an angle also proved she was extremely stable with only slightly perceptible lift as the lead hull hit the wave first.

Turning her around inside the wave troughs she really digs in and showed no sign of slewing, and remains very stable for the crew inside. Add the power and she bounces straight out of the hole and back on the plane.

With the power off I waited for a good wave to come our way, found reverse and backed her in to the wave watching to see how the wave built up on the stern. It climbs almost to the top of the stern but did not come in. Back in forward gear and just minimum power to see how she was with the sea pushing her. Given South African conditions I figured she's be happy in a following sea and so it proved.

Back at 22-knots I started to throw the boat sideways and make tight turning circles. These manoeuvres are way in excess of what you'd do normally, but these are useful to prove what a boat can do, and may have to in certain circumstances. The boat is reliable in how she reacts and makes life easy for the helmsman.

With safety in mind, I also shut down one engine and ran on only one unit. The boat takes her time as you'd expect, but does reach planing speed at around 5000 revs on the one engine. Nice to know should one engine ever suffer a problem.

While testing this boat, I found the lean-on locker seat very comfy, and all-round vision perfect given the low but very dry screen. The wheel is a round stainless type with hard plastic grip and proved comfortable. The instruments are placed on the wheel console to the right and easily viewed when under way.

You might also wonder if the lockers on the deck restrict your room. They don't! There is stacks of room for fishing and landing fish, though I must admit I would personally prefer to fish without the fighting chairs in place.

During my evaluation of the boat I'd also noted the rugged build characteristics. One of the lads who's finished fitting the boat out told me that they'd found that the heavy thickness of fibreglass surprising. I didn't 'cos I know what those SA anglers put these boats through. Any weakness and those SA seas will find it and that design goes no further.

Another interesting point is that the buoyancy is by loose 1-litre plastic bottles filled with Sagex beads that fit inside the flotation cavities.

I did pick one problem and that was that the gunnels don't have the height ideally needed for full safety in a rough sea. I'd be adding a safety rail about 6 to 8-inches high to guarantee you stay on deck if it got really nasty or leant over too far. I mentioned this to the lads, and they'd already come to the same conclusion and will be adding this feature in future.

A BRIEF WORD ON TOHATSU ENGINES
These new Tohatsu motors are getting rave reviews worldwide. They are very lightweight, and through a low pressure injection system are said to offer greater fuel economy at trolling and cruising speeds than conventional two-strokes and four-stroke motors of comparable size, have lower emissions, plus you need no choke for starting. You can also adjust the revs on the key for trolling speeds. We battered the ocean for well over an hour and figure we used around 5 gallons of fuel.

LAUNCHING
Two people can launch the Cobra 625 easily. That was something the lads at Caldy marine made sure of& as it's them launching their boat all the time. If you require a trailer it will be a break back fully braked trailer with all rollers.

DETAILS
Price wise, then the test package with the two Tohatsu's retails at £27,842 including the trailer and VAT. Caldy have also organised a finance package subject to status.
Contact Caldy Marine, Ilford House, Broadwell Haze, Tenby, South Wales SA7 8DC. Tel: 01834 845067

SPECIFICATIONS
Length: 6.25 metres
Beam: 2.65 metres
Flotation: Bottles
Weight: 900 Kgs

CONCLUSION
Cats, as I mentioned, have been slow to catch on here, but you can't ignore the sea keeping qualities of these hulls in equally tough and even worse conditions than we have here in the UK, such as South Africa and Australia. An Aussie mate of mine in Perth, WA would not fish in anything else, and when that Freemantle Doctor (a daily afternoon wind) comes in, boy do their seas get big!

This is a tough, stable and fast boat built to tackle big fish in difficult seas. The advantage is that they have economy and speed, large working deck areas and are ultra stable. Three of you can lean over along one side of the 625 and she barely moves. If you regularly fish four anglers or like your space, then this boat could be for you.