Trade-A-Boat — February 2018

still safely tow from his Hills District
home up and down the steep climb
to Berowra ramp. Its 2.5m beam kept
it legal and the overall weight around
three tonnes meant his Ford Ranger
could tow it safely.
He also liked the idea of the
Caribbean coming as a well-equipped
package to which he could add his
options list for his ideal fishing
weapon. And although Sylvania
Marina has a solid reputation for
custom work, the fitout was handed
to Spiro Demopoulos at Blue Bottle
Marine because that Dural workshop
is handy to where Barba lives and
he wanted to be involved with the
outcome as much as possible.
Fresh from the factory the C2300
is equipped with desirable features,
like an upholstered V-berth and
marine toilet in the carpet-lined
cabin, underfloor kill tank, livebait
tank, remote winch with 50m of chain
and 80lt of pressurised freshwater,
removable rear lounge and adjustable
seats on fibreglass boxes with inbuilt
esky and storage.

ELECTRONICS SUITE
It’s a great base to establish a
gameboat to the customer’s desires,
and Adam has turned it into
something extraordinary with the

addition of a ute-load of Simrad

electronics and more. A 16in NSS

evo3 screen connects through Airmar

xSonic SS175H-W and SS175L high

and low CHIRP 1W transducers for

sounding and a GS25 antenna for an

accurate GPS fix. Matched also to a

4G Radar and an AP44 VRF Medium

Capacity Autopilot pack and the crew

should know precisely where they

are and what’s around them, even at

night.

Communication is through a

Simrad RS20 VHF radio and the

music system is a fully featured JL

Audio package of an MM100 marine

head unit with LCD display, a mix

of 196mm and 185mm waterproof

speakers and subwoofer, powered by

a 100W M600 Marine amp. That’s an

impressive setup.

FISH READY

Enough of the nerdy stuff, what

about the fishing setup? The factory

included the optional six-hole

stainless steel rocket launcher, and

Blue Bottle Marine plumbed the bait

tank and fitted a set of 4.5m Reelax

poles on 450 bases.

Demopoulos also tidied up the

electrical switches, replacing the

old-style standard toggles with touch

panels at the dash and adding a set

for pumps and hoses at the transom.

Then he stuck it on an Easy Tow alloy

trailer to help keep weight down and

installed a set of Lenco trim tabs to

steady the ride.

Launching from Berowra means a

15nm run to the ocean at Barrenjoey,

so a maximum allowable 300hp

Evinrude E-TEC Gen 2 was strapped

on the back to make the trip as fast

as possible. The two-stroke won it for

Barba because of its torquey power,

extended servicing times and the five-

year warranty.

Conservative as it is, the C2300

looks stunning courtesy of its classic

lines and beautifully integrated

narrow-profile hardtop combined

with the soft flowing lines of all

mouldings highlighted by a superb

gelcoat.

RUNNING HARD

The long run to the ocean gave us

the opportunity to experience the

speed and economy of the engine, and

once we were out of the slow lanes, I

opened the throttles to an immediate

blast of acceleration.

Interestingly, Barba’s mate has a

C2300 with almost the same setup,

which was along for the test as the

photo boat. But he had installed a

four-blade 15in x 18in RX4 prop to get

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Caribbean 2300