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Powered by a Mercury Verado 225, the Vetus-Maxwell 690Ht runs to
around 45 mph.
This Vetus-Maxwell bright blue McLay 690 Cruiser hardtop is
destined to be a showcase not only for Vetus-Maxwell, but also
for its builder, McLay Boats. In the first of a two-part series
Barry Thompson looks at what makes this 690 so different from
all those that have gone before it. In part two he will experience
just how good a platform it is as a serious diving and fishing boat.
SHOW & TELL
W
hen Ron Czerniak, sales manager
for Vetus-Maxwell Indo-Asia, went
looking for a suitable promotional
boat to showcase some of the wide-ranging
products offered by the company, he had some
reasonably firm criteria. It had to be Kiwi made,
it needed to be around 7m, a hardtop for
weather protection, aluminium construction,
have a big cockpit and suitable layout for diving
and fishing and had to have the style and flair
that would properly portray the Vetus-Maxwell
brand. It also had to have the space to fit what
he considered appropriate products for a trailer
boat from the Vetus-Maxwell catalogue!
It also had to be a boat designed for fishing
and diving, both particular passions of Ron and
co-owner Peter Teensma, and it also needed to
be a weekender. Once you start looking at all
the Vetus options aboard you can see why the
McLay 690 is such a practical and well-suited
boat for the tasks required of it.
When we tested the McLay 690 Cruiser hardtop
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after last year’s Hutchwilco NZ Boat Show, we
knew it was going to be a success, but we didn’t
envisage by quite how much. Since the show,
Milton based McLay Boats has delivered six 690
Cruiser HTs, with this very special one in the
Vetus-Maxwell colours being number six.
The layout of the Vetus-Maxwell boat is very
much standard and follows the proven design
of a large enclosed wheelhouse and forward
cabin, plus a big workable cockpit. From its
predecessor, the McLay 680, the 690 received
Vetus-Maxwell chose the McLay
690HT to showcase some of the
wide-ranging products offered by
the company.
a whole heap of upgrades and they all seem to
have worked well.
“Since that first boat we have made very few
changes, as the feedback we have had from our
customers is that the boat’s just about perfect
for what they require”, says designer and builder
Steve McLay.
Winner of the Aluminium Fishing Boat, 6 - 7
metres category, in the 2011 Hutchwilco New
Zealand Boat show, the McLay 690 Cruiser
Hardtop is one of ten boats in the McLay
The cockpit has been set up for fishing and diving.
Hardtop Cruiser Series, which ranges from the
6.1m/600 through to the all-new 11m/1100
Walkaround.
Vetus-Maxwell Package
However, the difference in this boat over
all other 690s, is the equipment list. As the
intention was always to set the boat up as
a sort of waterborne showroom, albeit for
products that are both practical and applicable
for trailer boats, there is hardly a space left that
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hasn’t been fitted out with a Vetus-Maxwell
product. This boat is loaded! There are over 50
Vetus or Maxwell branded products on the boat
and while Ron admits they could have put more
on he didn’t want to ‘overkill’ the McLay with
items that were not really appropriate.
The main aim of this boat is to dispel the misconception that Vetus products are really only
suitable for boats over about 10 metres. As Ron
explained, and as this new Vetus-Maxwell boat
shows, there is a plethora of Vetus products that
The 60-litre capacity Vetus waste
water holding tank system will
macerate the contents and evacuate
it in about 7 secs.
The bow thruster at work.
Seating in the wheelhouse is provided with twin adjustable helm seats on gas
pedestals.
All the deck hardware is out of the
Vetus range.
A Vetus anti-splash back unit, Splash Stop, is fitted in the fuel line to totally
avoid any spillage while filling the fuel tank.
A 60-litre Vetus fresh water tank
system comes complete with its own
pump and even a tank level sensor.
The boat would not be complete without a Maxwell MaxSet 10kg anchor, Vetus
stainless steel bollard, and Maxwell RC8 rope/chain windlass.
should be of serious interest to the boat builder
and the end user of any trailer boat.
Starting at the bow you have the Maxwell
MaxSet 10kg anchor, Vetus stainless steel
bollard, and Maxwell RC8 rope/chain windlass,
controlled by the Maxwell AA560 auto anchor
controller/counter installed inside on the helm
station dash.
The foredeck has been fitted with a new Vetus
Magnus 5151 hatch (previously sold as the
Maxwell Offshore); the windscreens have Vetus
wipers which come complete with a Vetus multifunction helm station control and freshwater
washing kits. Even the stainless cleats and
deck filler caps for the freshwater and sewage
discharge are from Vetus..
“We were conscious that the items we fitted
were in keeping with the size of the boat
and I feel that there is nothing on-board that
shouldn’t be there”, said Ron.
This reasoning extends right through to the
Vetus BOW25 model bow thruster, which some
would say is hardly necessary on a trailer boat.
However, knowing the windage factor a big
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Twin Vetus AGM 161Ah batteries and a
battery splitter switch are fitted in
the rear transom locker.
The electric marine toilet comes with
an easy to use electronic control
panel.
the cabin top features twin vetus
mushroom vents, a powerful
vetus spotlight and a helm station
overhead hatch.
hardtop like the McLay 690 is subject to, I can
see this being a great advantage getting on a
trailer in difficult sea and wind conditions at
the ramp, especially if you are short handed.
This particular model is the smallest in the Vetus
thruster range and comes with a 110mm wide
tunnel, weighs just 10kg and really doesn’t take
up much space.
Overhead a Vetus Z50 manual spotlight on the
wheelhouse cabin top can be hand operated
from inside and either side you’ll find a pair of
Vetus mushroom air ventilators. These are great
because even when fully open they do not allow
any water ingress. That is until you start taking
‘greenies’ over the cabin top! Then just wind
them closed.
Forward in the cabin there is a Vetus electric
pump head under the forward berth and this is
connected to a self contained 60-litre capacity
Vetus waste water holding tank system. The
toilet will macerate the contents and evacuate
it in about 7 secs. An exhaust fan in the cabin
helps expel any excess odours and a draw
curtain offers privacy. Any smells from the
holding tank are absorbed by the Vetus "No
Smell” filter unit.
Another really interesting addition that can be
found in the boat is Vetus SDP sound deadening
material from the chine to keel in the forward
sections of the boat. Construction is two layers
of polyurethane foam sandwiching a 4mm
anti-reverberation slab and is designed to both
absorb noise and insulate the vibrations. This is
a great product in a big alloy boat. According to
Ron it virtually eliminates any slap noise while
underway or at rest. I’ll comment when I get to
try the boat out in the next issue.
Inside the wheelhouse there are pair of Vetus
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seats complete with adjustable bases so they
can be transformed into bolsters. They are
mounted on adjustable pedestals with gas
filled cylinders and have full height and fore/
aft adjustment.
There is a complete self-contained 60-litre
Vetus fresh water tank system under the
forward centre section of the cockpit sole, just
ahead of the 200 litre fuel tank. This comes
complete with its own pump and even a tank
level sensor and is filled from a deck filler on the
starboard side. A dash mounted Vetus ultrasonic
level sensor allows you to monitor all your
tankage on board, be it fuel, water or waste.
Interestingly, all water and fuel hoses on the
boat are stamped with the Vetus brand.
Outside, there’s still more from the Vetus range,
with an adjustable cockpit table and removable
pedestal, coaming rubbing strake, plus twin
Vetus AGM 161Ah batteries and a battery splitter
switch in the rear transom locker. Even the
stainless steel deck hardware is all Vetus, as is the
glued-down antiskid tread around the side decks.
A neat item is the Vetus anti-splash back unit,
Splash Stop, which is fitted in the fuel line to
totally avoid any spillage while filling the fuel
tank. Vetus filters are also used in the fuel system.
McLay Experience
The Vetus-Maxwell McLay 690 is powered
by a Mercury Verado 225 which features
the SmartCraft Digital Throttle & Shift (DTS)
engine control system and Verado's exclusive
electro-hydraulic power steering system which
eliminates steering torque while delivering a
precise steering feel. More on that in part 2,
next issue.
Over the years I have had many occasions to
run a variety of McLay boats in extreme sea
conditions, so I can say in confidence that in the
rough or smooth, they certainly do the business
and the bigger they get the better they are.
While we had not yet been for a run in the boat
when I wrote this first part of the two-part
article, Ron informed me that during trials just
prior to the boat show, they had seen around
45mph on the speedo.
In Part 2 (Sept-Oct issue) we conclude the article
after a few days away diving and fishing, when
we get to experience the boat and all the Vetus
products first hand.
Technical Data
Model:
Builder:
Priced From:
Type:
Construction:
LOA:
LOH:
Beam:
Transom Deadrise:
Trailerable Weight:
Engine Capacity:
Power Options:
Fuel Capacity:
Engine:
Trailer:
McLay 690 Cruiser Hardtop
McLay Boats
$NZ89,000 (Mercury 200EFI)
Hardtop
5mm/4mm aluminium alloy
7.20m
6.95m
2.35m
18 degrees
2100kg (dry)
150-275hp
Outboard/sterndrive
200 litres
Mercury Verado 225
Toko
Notable Non Vetus Features on Test Boat
Lowrance HDS10 MFD, Uniden UM380 VHF, Fusion IP600, Mercury 225hp Verado.