Tested | Formosa SRT 550 Centre Cab

South East Queensland built Formosa boats have consolidated and simplified their range. Their new SRT platform retains the distinctive Formosa shape and the configuration varies according to needs.

We test a Formosa SRT 550 Centre Cabin here from North Coast Boating Centre in Coffs Harbour. Powered by a Lean Burn 150HP Suzuki 4-stroke, it's an ideal rig for the fishing that this part of Australia has to offer.

Here's the written test from the magazines....

After hundreds of boat tests, we finally made it to Coffs Harbour to get some hulls wet. Hosted by Dayne Taylor and the team at North Coast Boating Centre (NCBC), it’s definitely a part of the world that offers lots - not just for fishing but for a compact array of conditions to test the abilities of hull and motor combinations.

NCBC is a Formosa and Suzuki dealer and both come from south east Queensland - the hulls are manufactured there and Suzuki’s local head office is also located there.

And although the quality of the main Coffs Harbour boat ramp is a bone of contention amongst locals, on the test day it coped fine with the launch and retrieval of a black and grey 5.5m Formosa Centre Cab, loaded with features and turning heads with a new Suzuki 150 bolted to the back.

“The locals here love the Formosas and we sell plenty of them here,” said NCBC’s Dayne Taylor, “and we always make sure that we order the boats with the features that local anglers want.”

The 550 is the smallest Centre Cab that Formosa make - with models extending up to 7.4 metres in length and with the simplification of the Formosa range (these SRT hulls were released on the 2019 boat show circuit), navigating their lineup has become a lot easier.

There’s a surprising amount of room in the centre cab - as much as in some 7m models that I’ve tested in the past, however the flipside of that is that the front deck space is compromised in this model. If front deck space is important to you, then check out the longer models in the lineup.

Exiting the ramp, there’s a fair expanse of semi-sheltered water that we could use to do some speed runs in. Although the specs show economy of 2km/L I’m sure that with more granular metering that this would actually register in the low 2s.

It’s no slouch, either, with a flat water test yielding 74km/h one-up. Conditions didn’t allow us to run at wide open throttle on the test day - that was a quoted reading from the guys when they were prop testing in the local river.

Creeping out of the harbour the calm day belied the decent ocean swell that rolled through. Indeed, it was fun to do a few jump shots off the colourful south wall and sneaking up along the coast we took the opportunity to do some running and fishing shots in the slop - you can check these out on the Fishing Monthly YouTube channel or by scanning the QR code in the header of this test.

The other compromise in this boat is stability versus ride. With a near 2.5m width and the four-tube Quad4 water ballast system in play, the hull was rock solid in the water and even with 19 degrees of transom deadrise, the hull tended to ride over rather than through the swell.

Add a deeper vee in the hull and you lost stability in favour of a smoother entry to waves. It’s the perernnial boating dilemma.

Otherwise, the boat is well finished and definitely turns heads at the ramp. Its practical features, such as the removable underfloor kill tank, an entirely practical transom and transom door coupled with a folding bench seat that redefines simplicity shows that this rig has been designed by anglers - or at the very least builders who listen to their customers.

Want to find out more or go for a test drive? Cann Dayne and the NCBC team on (02) 6655 7700 or look them up on www.northcoastboatingcentre.com. You can Like their page North Coast Boating Centre on Facebook.

Price-wise, this rig is right in the ballpark for those looking to move into a plate boat and not have to sell the house to do it.

As tested, this rig comes in at under $60K and it you want to drop to a 140HP outboard, you can shed another 5 or 6 grand again.




SPECIFICATIONS

Length 5.7m
Beam 2.45m
Bottom 4mm
Sides 4mm
Fuel 150L
Dry hull weight 840kg
Max HP 150
Transom Deadrise 19°
Capacity 6 persons

PERFORMANCE

RPM Speed (km/h) Economy (km/L)
Idle 5 5
1000 7 3.3
2000 12 2.5
3000 28 2.0
3500 30 2.0
4000 46 2.0
5000 59 1.4
5900 74 n/a