When Adam Krajc pulls the trigger on his Cootacraft Gun Shot he’s pretty confident of hitting the target.
Adam Krajc fits the description of most Cootacraft owners. He works hard, plays hard and shoots straight. His day job is building houses around Sydney, but on weekends he can be found peering through the telescopic sight of his rifle while stalking deer in the New South Wales ranges – or firing up his Cootacraft Gun Shot for an offshore spearing mission.
Adam was looking for the bestperforming 18-footer on the market that he could skipper single-handed. He checked out the Gun Shot with Mallacoota boat builder Mark aka ‘The Mad Russian’.
“I went for a test run and found the hull was responsive through turns and it didn’t mind getting the props out of the water when pushed. The performance was best in class.”
That sorted, it was then simply a case of moving Adam’s money into Mark’s bank account.
The Cootacraft brand is well known in Victorian waters, but something of an enigma elsewhere. Whenever the Gun Shot is discovered by a boat fiend, the first question is always, “How does she handle?” Adam’s response is always glowing, but he notes, “the only downside to having a deep-vee hull that performs like this is that it can be sensitive to weight distribution, and also be a little tender at rest. However, that’s a trade-off I’m certainly more than willing to make.”
Adam is fond of the timber-free hull and its performance, but his favorite part of the rig is the F200 Yamaha. He considered a few big V6 outboard options, but under advice from Mark decided on the lighter, in-line four cylinder. It’s been faultless, slurping only 0.6L of fuel per km when cruising at 4000RPM/30 knots. The Yammie is fed by a 200L fuel tank.
Adam’s other favourite bolt-on is the NSS12 evo2 with a 1kW high CHIRP transducer. “All the research pointed to Simrad. I’m amazed at the details I get on bottom structure. Finding bait is easy and seeing predators around the bait ball is something I haven’t experienced before.” Adam’s boat fit-out is complemented by his penchant for speedy spearfishing – there’s no hatch upfront (to keep water out and improve structural rigidity) and the side pockets are wide, deep and the perfect length for his spearguns. Any prey slow off the mark will likely become acquainted with Adam’s slip-tip before ending up in the 400L kill tank.
ANOTHER GUN SHOT HITS THE MARK
Three southerners got more than they bargained for when their swordfish bait was picked up by a 116kg bluefin tuna.
Image credit: Dave Standing.
Stu Pentin, Ben Donegan and Joel Ryan were fishing off Lakes Entrance in Ben’s Cootacraft Gun Shot when their arrow squid took off. After 40 minutes of frantic fighting and gaff straightening, a tail rope was slipped over the furious fish. That’s when the real fun started. With two blokes trimming out the mini deep-vee on one side and the other tugging faceto- face with the beast, it was eventually hauled in. The Captain salutes you, lads! We can only imagine it was like riding a unicycle over a humpback whale!
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