Mustang 1450 Centre Console - A Top Little Fishing Platform Gary Howard. THE Mustang boat company has been building boats on the Gold Coast for many years, primarily larger luxury boats. I’ve been in a couple of their larger boats and I’ve been more than impressed with the smart layout of these palaces on water. A few years back they produced a few smaller trailerable boats. While they had pretty good hulls, I thought they were a bit lacking in the internal fit-out for what you got for your money, compared to competitors of the same class. This surprised me a bit as their bigger rigs are superb. I boiled it down to the company being more suited to building bigger boats, and the smaller rigs were just a bit of a fill-in between bigger orders. Whether this was the case or not doesn’t really matter as they have now sold off the small side of their boat building, with the range undergoing a bit of a re-vamp and with a few new ones added to it. Cunningham’s Marine at Redcliffe have dealt with the smaller Mustangs for a while and have a pretty good selection in their yard. Bruce Cunningham asked me to take out the first of the 4.5-metre centre consoles before the owner picked it up. As it turned out, the owner came for the test run with me. There are currently very few boats of this style to fish from. I suppose it is basically a fibreglass version of a barra punt, though a little along the Whaler design in hull concept. A reasonable sort of centre ‘V’ flares out to substantial outer chines. In doing so, it forms a tunnelling effect either side of the keel. This style of hull design has been shown to have superior stability, while providing a platform that doesn’t bang all over the ocean ever time you hit a bit of a bump. There is no denying that you are still going to get wet when the going gets a bit rough, but show me a fifteen-foot open boat where you won’t. Fitted with one of Mercury’s 50hp four-stroke outboards, the rig becomes very practical for use in freshwater and tropical, estuary and impoundment work. At top speed, you are zipping along at over 30 miles per hour while, at the opposite end of the throttle, you can quietly tick along at a snail’s pace and 600rpm - ideal for trolling. Being a four-stroke, there is no need to worry about adding or carrying oil with you. The boat is a little light in the bow and, should you push the hammer down a bit hard with only one on board, the boat lifts up quickly in the bow before settling back down. Take it easy and the progression from still to go is quite level. With the weight of a second angler on board, this doesn’t become a problem as long as he doesn’t sit at the transom. As we moved about the boat for one reason or another, you couldn’t help but be impressed with the stability of the boat. Small boat stability makes fishing so much easier when casting lures or moving around while trying to boat a fish. Have you ever been in a small boat when your mate leans over the side to net your fish, and thought that both of you were going to end up in the water with the fish? The same stability was felt while motoring around, running well with and quartering the sea, but with the boat being a little light in the bow, when you head straight into a chop it does bounce about a bit. The beauty of this particular rig, though, was that you can slow right down and still maintain a smooth, comfortable planing speed. I’ve been in plenty of boats where you are either up on the plane, or down off it, with nothing in-between. When you are on your own, it’s nice to be able to just slow down and take the chop at a comfortable pace without feeling it is going to take you all day to get home. The front deck of the boat has a raised platform, ideal for casting, which doubles up as a seat with storage area below. A fair amount of gear, but no large items, will fit in here, and there is another smaller hold in the deck of the boat. Other items are stowed in the side pockets of the boat. Behind the centre console, an esky has had a padded lid and a tilting back rest added to it. Both are more than welcome in a boat of this size and are well used. One well in the transom is used as a live bait tank while the other has a slightly different set-up, with fuel lines and cables in it. The battery is found in the lower section of the centre console. One point I didn’t like about the centre console was the small hatch in the front of it. It was barely big enough to fit the battery in and left little room to get anything else in or out of the console. A bigger hatch in the front of this small centre console is a must. On the dash, you have your few basic instruments and room for a sounder and small GPS. It’s only the first boat of its kind out of the factory and will no doubt see a few modifications to the internal layout as subsequent boats are fitted out. The hull, however, is a top little fishing platform which is most suited to working rivers and inland waterways. For further enquiries, contact Cunningham’s Marine on (07) 3284 2342.