Stacer 569 Easy Rider Review

Fishing, family cruising or watersports ? Stacer’s all-rounder covers it all.

Once upon a time tinnies were plain old, no-nonsense, fishing workhorses whose looks and general standard of finish were unimportant. Stacer’s new 569 Easy Rider is a long way from there! It’s so well finished you actually have to go looking to find an aluminium hull’s characteristic welds, and in fact a bystander while we retrieved it onto the trailer at the end of our test summed it up quite well when she exclaimed, “oh, it’s aluminium is it?” 

That it’s built from aluminium is irrelevant. The 569 Easy Rider is a stylish bowrider, the type of boat that’s understandably popular with boating families who enjoy a range of activities in their boat. Social boating is well taken care of in the standard package powered by a 150hp V6 two-stroke Mercury and sitting on a Stacer aluminium trailer. There’s room for three couples or two couples plus a rabble of kids in the bow and aft lounges plus bucket seats for helm and navigator. 

THE SAFETY FACTOR
Family boating brings me to this Stacer’s greatest asset, safety. It has a self-draining deck and if you put more water aboard than it can handle, its level flotation will keep the boat floating upright, even if completely swamped with six adults (or a payload of 796kg) aboard. Modern Boating feels especially strongly about family boating safety and suggest this is a major factor to consider when comparing this boat against competitors.

The standard package includes a bimini shade top (not fitted during our photo shoot), hydraulic steering, a Navman 4431 DST sounder and 7000 VHF radio, a Ritchie compass, a telescopic boarding ladder and transom door, and all the upholstery and paintwork you see here. More specialised boating needs take you to the options list.

FISHING OPTIONS
Serious fishos will appreciate the self-draining deck, the 118L fuel tank, the substantial grab bar over the windscreen and the high cockpit sides before turning to the options list for specific equipment. This includes a live bait tank, a transom workstation, a Navman GPS and sounder upgrade, a berley bucket, and an infil to convert the bow lounge to a casting deck.

A pair of rod holders set into the side decks come standard, however, don’t ask me where the rest of the rods fishermen habitually bring aboard go, because extra rod storage isn’t on the options list. It’s one of precious few details Stacer hasn’t attended to and something of an oversight in my opinion. The boat has a standard rotomoulded under-floor locker long enough to contain skis and wakeboards and the navigator seat can either be swivelled aft or the back rest flipped over for an observer, plus there’s a boarding ladder and transom door, not to mention a pair of strategically placed rails to facilitate boarding from the water.

A ski pole is optional, as is the sound system skiers and wakeboarders seem to insist upon. 

PERFORMANCE

Our speed tests conducted with three adults aboard found a top speed of 39.4 knots with a 150hp EFI Merc two-stroke, this and an eager throttle response that had the boat up and running in a few seconds are more than adequate for social skiing, and towing kids (of any age) on wake toys. Stacer’s latest generation Evo hull handles outstandingly well. Perhaps it falls somewhere behind deep-vee ‘glass hulls (better ones anyway), if used offshore in rough conditions, but in bays and big estuaries it leaves nothing to be desired.

Stacer’s choice of hydraulic steering is to be applauded and this certainly contributes to how effortlessly the 569 Easy Rider can be tossed around. The helm seat adjusts fore and aft, catering for height and reach differences between your 170cm tester and petite Jacqui from Stacer who drove the boat for our photo shoot. Both of us were well out of the slipstream behind the screen at higher speeds too, and thankfully this has been achieved without compromising too much visibility to the boat’s extremities. 

I didn’t find it comfortable running the boat while standing at the wheel. This is the price you pay for the good looks of the bowrider’s low seating position, if you see it as a price at all. Frankly, if long distances over rough water are on your agenda you should be looking at a boat with a higher windscreen line you can stand behind and not a bowrider at all. Bowriders are probably the best compromise there is between the complex boating demands of family members. At 5.9m, the 569 Easy Rider is one of the larger versions built locally, although sheer size is far from the only thing which makes it stand out from the crowd. 

WORDS & PHOTOS:
WARREN STEPTOE