Scapa Hunter

Some of you need a craft for fishing inside estuaries and for working shallow ground just offshore for shy feeding bass and smoothound. Something that's dead easy to tow, and a piece of cake to launch on your own.

The Scapa Hunter 420 from Orkney Glassfibre based way up in the Orkney Islands of North Scotland may well be just what you're looking for.

When I first set eyes on the 420 I got a flash of a Viking longship run through my mind. It was a good gut instinct because this craft is based on a Scandinavian design and still carries the history proven attributes learnt and perfected by our master mariner Viking ancestors.

I visited the factory up in the Orkney's and got to see these boats being built. They are beautifully finished to a very high standard in GRP in simulated clinker style. The length is 14ft and the beam 3.6ft. Without an engine the craft weighs in at a 158kgs.

She is a traditional sharp bow, blunt stern displacement hull tapering from amidships only slightly towards the stern. Looking underneath there is a nice deep full-length keel to give added stability. The keel is protected by a thick strip of high-density polyethylene band. This is high tech material capable of take a real bashing when launching and recovering and will fully protect the keel from all normal wear and tear.

Top quality PVC fendering runs the full length of the boat right to each side of the splash well. I've noticed some really cheap fendering appearing on some boats of late, but not on the 420.

Looking at the splash well you have a deep protective engine mounting plate to help protect the transom area, but there was no protective plate to cover the GRP strip left above this plate. Orkney Glassfibre, realises this as a potential small problem and will be fitting a protector plate on future models.

On the inside and working from the bow the bow topside has been strengthened to take the weight of clambering aboard. There is no anchor locker, you don't need one on a boat of this size and would tend to work with your anchor rope straight out of a moveable plastic bucket, but a bow eye is fitted as standard.

Inside at the bow end you have a forward bench type bow seat built in to the bow structure. There is a traditional thwart seat across the middle of the boat. This has been substantially strengthened where the seat meets the gunnels and is best described as heavy duty. It also sports a non-slip finish.

What Orkney Glassfibre have done with the rear deck area is ideal. They have stern quarter seats either side, but have left a recessed area in between to take the fuel tank. This gets the tank out of your way and leaves the deck area clear for working from. You also have a narrow splash well between the stern seats and transom.

The finish on the inside of the hull is one of the best I've seen. Smooth and easy to keep clean with no rough areas evident to trap dirt. Some deck finishes can leave a lot to be desired, but as I said, the overall high standard of finish in this vessel is evident throughout.

Also as standard come stainless rowlocks and a motor safety bolt to attach a lanyard to the engine.

The hull is white with the interior GRP a mid blue colour. Mid blue is a good neutral deck colorant as it does not reflect sunlight back in to your eyes when sat in position for long periods.

The trailers for these boats are locally made by Total Trailers with keel rollers and adjustable side stabiliser rollers.

LAUNCH TIME
The boat was to be launched at a slipway just outside Kirkwall and be put through her paces in the deep water just outside the harbour.

We dropped her off the trailer on to the slipway at the edge of the rising tide to get a few shots prior to launch. Two of us easily lifted her up and edged her in to the water and afloat straight off the concrete.

Stepping in to the boat off the side of the slipway she was surprisingly stable as I added my 13-stone to her burden. No sudden drop in the water, nor alarming angled shift to one side.

She was fitted for the day with a 15hp Yamaha outboard on. This fired up, we swung her nose out in to a very choppy sea courtesy of a strengthening force 5 wind gusting 6 at times. The sea had a short shift on it but with some height at times, and occasionally added to by big boats moving in and out the harbour creating big bow waves. Most anglers would not be out in weather like this, but it would be a true and genuine test of the boats potential.

Adding the power and punching in to the wind and waves proved that spray getting back in to the deck area was amazingly good for an open boat. At the bow you're pretty much dry and only get the occasional splash of water when steering at the stern.

Taking the tiller I swung her in to wind. She rides quite shallow in the water but does not have that common dip and rise at the bow as the bow hits an oncoming wave that some traditionally shaped hulls have. She tends to have a combination of riding through and over waves giving a very comfortable and reassuring ride.

Swinging her around in to the middle of a wave she cants over to one side only a fraction before stabilising. I did this both with a reasonable amount of power and under next to no forward motion. She is predictable on both counts with no fear of an angled shift that puts the gunnel tops uncomfortably close to the sea.

Knocking off the power altogether I let here drift to the whim of the sea and wind. She drifts in line with no bow turn at all and is very stable making her an excellent boat for drifting for bass or working the inshore flatfish grounds.

I also ran her with the waves under low revs without drama, she stays on her course and showed little sign of stern shift to the side as a big wave came against the transom and passes underneath.

She is built to take engines up to 15hp, as we tested, but a 5 to 10hp is ideal. I think if I was going to sea with her frequently and fished areas where tide runs might be fast, then I'd go for a 12hp unit just to give me that bit extra power to push back against an oncoming tide. The 15hp as tested seemed to suit the boat well though, and you don't have to use all the power available.

Fuel consumption for well over an hour's hard work was probably a couple of pints. That's cheap boating!

Getting the boat back on the trailer was easy for one man and the boat manoeuvrable on the trailer for putting in to a tight parking place or your drive.

CONCLUSION
A fabulous little boat ideal for two guys who prefer to fish quieter waters such as harbours, estuaries and inshore reef ground. She is easy to launch and retrieve without risking a hernia and requires nothing more than an ordinary small car as a tow vehicle.

She has been designed and tested to achieve EU Recreational Craft Directive 94/25/EC category C, which equates to working in any waters in conditions up to and including winds to force 6, exactly what I had on the test day, and in waves up to 2-metres. Way beyond what you'd normally take a vessel of this size out in, but a nice factor to have in your mind if you need to come back home in just such a sea.

The builders are thinking of making available a short cuddy for this boat, and I think if I was buying the 420, then I'd go for that option given that you'll be using the boat at sea. They'll also build the boat pretty much as you want regards interior seating.

PRICES
The basic boat costs £2050, which includes carriage to the UK mainland, plus oars and rowlocks.

The galvanised trailer costs £500, and you have a choice of engine packages from a Yamaha 5CMH 5hp short shaft at £789, right up to the Yamaha 15FWC 15hp short shaft model costing £1879.

All prices are inclusive of VAT.

CONTACT & INFORMATION
Orkney Glassfibre, Scott's Road, Hatston Industrial Estate, Kirkwall, Orkney KW15 GR1. Tel: 01856 872411 Fax: 01856 874094. Website: www.orkneyglassfibre.co.uk