Mac 570 Cuddy Cabin
Mike Evans, a keen fisher and hunter in
Scotland, came to us with a request for an all
green Mac 570 cuddy cabin boat. His craft
shown below, incorporates all his ideas and
fittings to produce a versatile, practical and
user friendly boat.
Scroll down or click
here to see
Mike's comments on why he chose the Mac
570 over the competition.
Images are the
property of our customers. Permission is
required to reproduce or copy.
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Customized heritage green
hull and cabin |
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Rear transom seats, rod
holders and HD towing/mooring eyes
fitted |
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Low level red LED deck
lighting |
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Mike's Choice
of Boat - Requirements / Considerations |
The
Mac 570 - practicality and peace of mind |
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Feel "safe" |
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Tough /
unbreakable / durable |
With a hull
thickness of 18mm (3/4") and sides of at
least 10mm, it can take a knock or two,
without any damage other than a bit of a
scuff mark. No second thoughts about
beaching this boat when necessary other
than looking after the propeller. Having
owned GRP boats previously, it doesn't
take much of a knock, particularly when
mooring alongside in adverse wave and wind
conditions, to crack or split a GRP boat
even with fenders - not so with this
polyethylene boat. Shock absorption is
great - the material flexes without
cracking or splitting (witness the
manufacturer's results of shotgun blast
testing) and it won't suffer from osmosis,
corrode, rust, or rot. After all,
polyethylene is what they make wheelie
bins from - it's tough, virtually
unbreakable and durable! |
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Unsinkable /
self-draining / no boat cover req'd
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You can fill
it full with water and it still floats,
thanks not only to the natural buoyancy of
polyethylene, but also the inherent
rib-style built-in air tanks, together
with some built-in additional foam
injected buoyancy. When a self-draining
plug is added, it means it's self-draining
and you can leave the boat on a mooring
both without a boat cover and without fear
of the boat being swamped in your absence.
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Lack of
maintenance / low cost of ownership |
When you come
to take your boat out of the water at the
end of the fishing season, there's no
marine growth at all, just a 3" scum mark
which quickly brush washes off in clean
water, and that's it - no need for
antifouling coatings. No keel bands to
replace or screw down, no cracks in the
gelcoat to worry about, but if you're
really boat proud - it's out with the
hairdryer for 20 minutes to go over and
smooth out any scuffmarks or scratches.
Total simplicity. |
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Seat 2
comfortably, with prospect of 2 or more
onboard, together with dogs and
fishing/wildfowling gear |
CE rated for
9, I have 2 helmsman seats, together with
additional bench seating at the stern to
seat another four people if necessary,
with plenty of room still for dogs,
fishing rods or wildfowling decoys. |
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Shallow
draught |
About 8" at
the stern with a 30hp outboard mounted and
3" inches generally - much less than many
other boats of this size, it does enable
easy access to shore and into reedbeds for
shooting purposes. |
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Clear open
deck, flat & stable platform, both for
shooting and moving around |
Around 6 foot
square totally clear space behind the helm
seats that is flat provides both an
excellent shooting platform and room to
move about comfortably and safely, or
indeed somewhere to put down the sleeping
bags for a night afloat under the stars.
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Handling in
the water |
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"Dry" boat and
storage |
With a cuddy
upfront to soak up nearly all of any spray
off the waves keeping you nice and dry, it
also usefully acts as a windbreak to keep
the chill from any wind. Storage is
available both in the forward cuddy area,
as well as a helmsman's glove box and a
very useful aluminum locker forming part
of the outboard engine mounting, that
takes safety flares and fishing boxes or
shotgun cartridge bags. |
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Light to
launch / recover and easy to tow |
It's an ideal
trail boat - even at nearly 20' and having
a wide beam, it actually seems very light
and easy to launch and recover,
particularly with a bunked trailer, being
able to be single-handedly operated by me
(55 & having had double hernia ops!). Bunk
beds are easy as you only need to line up
and hitch on at the bow and the rest takes
care of itself. I haul the boat behind an
ordinary family saloon - a VW Golf Tdi -
and needed the peace of mind that the car
would stop when required - so chose a
galvanized Dixon Bate Rapide trailer, with
auto-reverse disc brakes, and actually
disc brakes are not that much more
expensive. The choice of disc brakes has
been well worthwhile, having had to slam
on the anchors a couple of time on narrow
single-track roads when suddenly
confronted by a bus or lorry - the brakes
are smooth, very powerful and stop you
without any forward pressure on the car.
Yes the boat is wider than the car, but
with an extra wing-mirror, it's amazing
how quickly you get used to the extra
width. |
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Colour
availability |
A wide range
of 14 colours are available or those nice
guys in Dundee and NZ will on request
customize a colour to suit. The pigment is
totally colourfast and runs right through
the material, so it doesn't show up any
wee scuffs or scratches. It also means
there's no need for ongoing paint or
varnish work to be renewed. |
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