Boating New Zealand — December 2017

78 Boating New Zealand

their latest Bluetooth stereo head unit and a range of speakers,

including a 10-inch sub-woofer: “to pull the game fish!” The

vessel is also extremely well-lit: see Hella sidebar on next page.

The 150hp Honda four-stroke had only 15 minutes on its

clock when we took Bait Balls for a spin. Consequently, we didn’t

push things too hard. The weather was less than ideal, but we

found flatter water in the lee of Rangitoto. Even so, it was hard

to escape 20-knots-plus of easterly wind.

Fortunately, the Extreme Game King is a very competent

vessel and it handled the sloppy conditions with ease even

though the trim tabs were not operating. We took it relatively

easy in the tidal races where the sea was particularly steep,

although the boat was unfazed by the awkward wave pattern; in

flatter water, it couldn’t wait to stretch its legs.

In the rush to get the boat ready, Josh hadn’t finished all the

electrical work, so we couldn’t read speeds off the GPS, but Bait

Balls felt like she had good legs. Josh has subsequently seen 34

knots on the Raymarine Axiom Pro MFD and the boat cruises

very comfortably at 26 knots.

Honda Marine settled on an 18-inch pitch four-bladed

propeller for this rig. Acceleration is good with no detectable

slippage or ventilation in turns. With an oversize 190-litre

underfloor fuel tank, an Extreme Boats option, Bait Balls has

ABOVE The Honda 150hp runs an

18-inch pitch four-bladed propeller,

which works very well for this rig.

BELOW Bait Balls handles very

nicely and is soft riding too.