I’m no different, it’s human nature, and the first thing that I do when I look at a boat is determine the type of person that I can see using that particular boat.

For Rebel’s new 4.9m tiller steer, it was a keen fisho that doesn’t mind a variety of fishing applications and likes to have his own little personal touches on the boat. More than likely he’s had a boat before and is just looking for that bit extra this time around.

The Rebel, as with most plate aluminium boats starts off with a basic hull and the upper lay out can be of standard format or customised to suit the anglers needs. With in practical reason of course!

I often use the term, "Big little boat", and this one fits such a category. Being under five metres it is not what you would call a big boat yet the room in it and the places that you could possible take the boat are greater than that of a few five metre plus boats.

The solid construction of a plate boat and it’s design is firstly what allows you to do such things and that’s not just on the water either. A solid construction allows you to take the boat on rough roads or for harder commercial use.

The sides on the 4.9m Rebel are nice and high at 580mm. Sides that are slightly higher do make a difference to your safety in the boat and for the security of children which can easily over balance.

It’s all right in calm conditions but imagine trying to keep your balance while fishing in rough conditions trying to pull in a good fish and leaning against the side to brace yourself. If the side only come half way up your shins you are not going to feel too safe.

So what we’ve got so far is a good solid hull with nice high sides. To be a good fishing boat you do need room to move around and fish as well as room to put your gear. The basic tiller steer version has the two corner seats against the transom, one of which you sit on to drive. Underneath here is storage for batteries and oil bottles depending on what size engine you have on the back. If the oil is mixed with the fuel there’s no need for an oil bottle and you gain a little more storage area.

Apart from side pockets, the rest of the deck area in the basic boat is all open space which is great for so many applications. The only thing you don’t have though is storage space and this is where the advantage of customising the boats layout starts coming into play.

The demo boat is Warren’s own boat so he’s decked it out to suit him and I must say I quite like the way he’s done it.

To start with, a big Evakool esky has been placed in the centre of the deck. With corner mounting blocks secured to the deck the esky doesn’t slide all over the place and it can be easily lifted out. Aside from it’s obvious use of keeping the catch cool, the bigger size of the esky is the perfect height to be used as a seat while fishing or travelling.

A little further forward of this is the storage unit. The back section of the unit is left open allowing for the placement of larger items such as buckets and life jackets. Here they are easily accessed at all times. The front section of this unit has storage under a lid in it’s top section which can be used as a live bait tank. The under section is a decent size and has many application for dry stowage of gear.

The fitting and location of both esky and storage unit has been done in a manner that it still gives you plenty of room to move around the whole boat. In fact it makes the boat more fishable because it gives everything a place keeping a clear and tidy deck area to fish and move around in.

One other thing that you don’t really appreciate until you are in the position is that this front console unit if you like is built in such a way that you can brace yourself against it while fishing.

There’s plenty of times where there’s someone with a decent fish standing up the front and half the problems are bracing themselves in a choppy sea. Here, just lean back and hang on.

With side decks down along the sides there’s no shortage of space for rod holders. On this boat a folding bimini top has been secured to the side decks as well. It’s quite a big top and offers a load of shade. When not required it just folds down out of the way.

The self draining deck has scuppers out the back and a hundred litres of fuel under the floor. All most a must for the keen angler is the under floor wet tank which can be flooded and drained of sea water. This version sees the room in the wet tank extend further up under the floor giving it the length to slip in longer fish such as mackerel. It’s not a bad place to keep your crabs either as you can keep them cool, alive and in top condition with the constant flow of sea water in and out of the tank.

With a 40 hp two stroke Yamaha on the back the boat gets under way surprisingly easy with little power required to get on the plane and keep it there. Fitted with this engine top speed was 45kmph which isn’t bad at all for the calibre of the boat.

A modest fifteen degree deadrise delivers a smooth ride in the chop and it was quite noticeable how quite the hull was in the chop. A definite lack of thumping and banging. You can’t really tell by the pictures as we took these in calm water. But just around the corner we had a good 25 knots of wind blowing and while you do get wet from wind blown spray in these conditions the boat still handles well and you feel quite safe.

The hull is rated to 75hp and with an engine this size the boat would well and truly motor along. There is plenty of fuel in the tank below the floor to accommodate a good day out on the water, even with the larger engine fitted.

The same hull is also available in a centre console and a cuddy cab. The cuddy version I had a quick glance over in the factory and it’s hard to believe that it’s the same hull. It just goes to show how versatile a sixteen foot boat can be.

BMT packages from $16,000. For further information phone (07) 3283 3373.