Digital switching

LUSTY AND BLUNDELL’S new Empirbus digital switching offers the convenience of advanced home automation in an affordable, easy-to-use system suitable for trailer boats and larger vessels.

Empirbus digital switching allows skippers to control their electrical and electronic systems – lighting, nav lights, wipers, horns, entertainment and security systems and even airconditioning – from a single multifunction display, smartphone or tablet. It replaces mechanical circuit breakers and switch panels with reliable and convenient digital power distribution and advanced self-powering wireless switches and sensors.

Empirbus is quick and easy to install, easy to operate and cost-effective. Lusty & Blundell 09 415-8303 www.lusty-blundell.co.nz

they taper quickly towards the bow to minimise banging.

The entry is fuller than traditional Lazercraft models, which were a bit twitchy in a big following sea, but finer than a Southern. The 640 GT Sport’s high sides are very Southern Boats-like, but they add security to the cockpit. Strongly-built with 5mm hulls and 3mm sides, the Lazercraft 640 hull features two integral buoyancy tanks either side of the fuel tank, 5mm longitudinal stringers and a sealed, welded aluminium sole. The hull and cockpit are painted down to the prominent spray rails, which direct spray away from the boat.

FISH AND DIVE

Lazercrafts were always regarded as cockpit-oriented bluewater boats, even the smaller open models with no more than an alloy

dodger for weather protection. These were popular with divers, especially in Northland.

The 640 GT Sport fits the offshore mould nicely with its big, spacious, painted and Frontrunner-lined cockpit and high sides. A 200-litre underfloor fuel tank provides ample range for day-trips, the intended role for this model; the hardtop version might be a better candidate for overnight trips.

Divers are well catered for; the transom cutout and boarding ladder are on the starboard side so the helmsman can monitor anyone entering or exiting the water – an important safety feature. The boat’s 100-litre underfloor wet locker is big enough for dive bags or a

couple of dive bottles, as are the cockpit’s full-length shelves, and the pipe shelf supports should make useful tie-down points, especially in pedestal seat versions of the 640 GT.

For fishers, there’s a basic Manta bait table, four throughgunwale rod holders, a six-position rocket launcher and extra rod holders – one each side of the bimini top frame and four more on the bait station. A plumbed transom livebait tank has a clear window for monitoring the health of its inmates and a washdown pump is an option. The battery is on the floor, but it is well protected behind a painted aluminium transom door along with the fuel filter. There’s plenty of room for two batteries.

The bilge pump in the sump was on a float switch; it cut in on occasions to deal with rainwater that had collected in the boat overnight.

Marine carpet normally covers the chequerplate aluminium floor, but it can be removed in a few minutes if serious fishing is on the agenda. The wet carpet had been taken out for our run. The cockpit floor is flat; there’s good toe-room and the high sides provide a sense of security.

A generous application of grey neoprene non-slip on the coamings, transom, side decks and swim steps looks nice and adds comfort when sitting on the gunwales.

LAYOUT OPTIONS

This 640 GT Sport was fitted with two sets of king and queen seats on composite bases with storage inside. A more usual layout is likely to be a single pedestal helm seat with a king and queen on the port side. A pair of pedestal seats is another option, giving even more uncluttered cockpit space.

The king seats swivel and are adjustable fore and aft. Notably absent are footrests, but these are fitted once the boat is sold to ensure they’re the right height for the new owners.

Inside the fully lined, composite-topped cabin, v-berths provide limited storage beneath the squabs, with more on the shelves. A custom acrylic hatch is large enough to make working the ground

aluminium with fibreglass cabin

1700kg Yamaha F175 four-stroke outboard

Reliance S/S 14.5-inch x 15-inch 200 litres