Wayne Osborne once created a revolution in fishing trailerboat
design, then sold his thriving business and retired from the
boatbuilding industry. Decades later he’s returned, appalled that
the industry hasn’t advanced with the design and materials that
he believes can greatly improve your fishing functionality while
also slashing running costs. He’s now back on a mission to
revolutionise the gamefishing boat industry once again.A
fter a lifetime of serious sportfishing and a successful career designing and
manufacturing purpose-built sportfishing boats, I’d now like to share my views
on what makes for a functional fishing boat.
In this and the following series of articles, I will outline in detail my beliefs on
the capabilities required – and why you’re not getting it in today’s market.
These articles will cover the needs of fishing-specific craft, ranging from single-engine
trailerboats to twin-screw gamefishing cruisers. I’ll also outline how the design of these
boats can be significantly and easily improved, and how with today’s technology you can
power your boat with far less horsepower and run it with substantial savings in fuel costs.Wayne’s original concept drawing for his 7.6m
trailerable gameboat, which is soon to begin
construction. In the upper drawing you can see the
shaded walkway enabling anglers and crew to follow
fish all around the boat. The cockpit provides space
to swing a full-size heavy-tackle gamechair. Although
easy to tow, this vessel will be a serious gameboat,
even providing a full-size transom door capable of
landing world record size gamefish.bluewatermag.com.au 55