Blue Fin boats are built on Queensland's Gold Coast and are now distributed widely right around the continent. A discerning eye can see in a few minutes that these are exceptionally well-built boats and, unlike most boat builders, Blue Fin isn't fixated on the colour white so the excellent paintwork is one of the first things to catch the eye.

Not so obvious though is that, unlike just about all their competitors, the entire outer skin of a Blue Fin boat is 3mm aluminium sheet. Some others use 3mm in their bottom sheets but the boat's sides are often as thin as 1.6. Calling Blue Bins brick outhouses is unkind, an not at all accurate of course - they're made of metal, not brick, but short of full-on commercial grade plate constructions of 5 or 6mm, built like brick outhouses they are.

 

The 4.4m Blue Fin Barracuda 4.5 is a dinghy-style hull fitted with an interior many readers will identify as a Top Ender. Our test boat didn't have an aft casting deck, although there is one on the options list for the hull. Actually, the original Top Ender concept (which B&B Managing Editor, Alex Julius, was instrumental in creating) didn't include one either, the idea being that the aft end was for fishing open water where some support for the legs against the sides of the boat would come in handy at times. Although aft casting decks have become somewhat the norm in recent years, undoubtedly some barra and bass fishers (notably those who use their boat for chasing a few mackerel or tuna) might still prefer to do without one.

It's attractive blood-red paintwork aside, the 4.5 Barracuda is a simple, no frills boat with much appeal for that. Other options include a live bait tank, a tournament-type livewell and an under-floor fish pit. Our test boat was more or less a base model an any fit-up right up to full tournament specification is available.

The boat has a big side console, a full height aft bulkhead, storage underneath the forward deck, a big, wide uncluttered deck an a pair of pedestal seats with appropriate mountings strategically placed including one on the casting deck. The motor is mounted outboard on a full-width extension of the hull's bottom sheet to maintain the full aft-bulkhead height. Incorporated into the well-executed back end is a pair of shelves and our test boat had its battery up off the deck and tucked out of the way inside the bulkhead.

The same hull is available with a centre console. Some may prefer that but our test boat with its side console an d a pair of pedestal seats set aft made good use of space. Blue Fin builds similar boats in sizes between 4.2 and 5m.

In terms of the final fit up of the boat including the motor an ancillaries, I must compliment the dealer who set this boat up for us - Mr T's Tinnies from the Brisbane Bayside suburb of Cleveland. Theo and Michael Theodorou are the Mr T's - a small family operation which prides itself on talking to the clients to ensure they're getting the boat they need fitted up how it's best for them.

The 50 hp two stroke Mariner powering the boat you see here isn't a lot of power for a big heavy boat like this one. With three aboard it felt pretty good though. Fair enough, we only had safety gear and cameras and no fishing paraphernalia but our motor had only done a couple of hours and was still on double oil mix. Obviously, we weren't going to hold it at full throttle to record ultimate top speed. A quick burst showed 28.5 knots at 5400 rpm so, with a couple of hundred revs yet to come, a 50 two stroke looks like quite a reasonable power choice.