The Stacer 469 TS Nomad Elite is a perfect example of why, these days, you don’t need to go to the top of the range to get a damn fine fishing boat. Coupled with the updated Yamaha F60, it’s a rig any barra, bass or bream angler would be proud of.

Stacer’s top of the range MP Nomad has its Mod Pod extended transom and, with nice looking, new-age pressed plate sides, is undoubtedly a highly-desirable boat. But apart from the distinct advantages on treacherous water of a full-height transom as opposed to our test boat’s traditional cut away style, no way will it catch you more fish than this simpler and significantly cheaper version.

So what we’ve got here is a thoroughly-thought-out and well-executed pointy-bow tinny with a pair of comfortable bucket seats. It has casting decks bow and stern, a plumbed live-bait tank central underneath the aft one and a roto-moulded fish pit under the bow one.

The deck is flat, uncluttered and covered in carpet bow to stern and, hallelujah brothers, even a rod rack that holds 4 rods standing vertically across the front of the side console.

In short, this is an entirely workable fishing boat with basically all you need and then some as standard equipment — including the bimini shade top you see in the pics. Personally, I’m not a great fan of biminis when you’re busily casting but, like everyone else with any commonsense, I have to agree they’re a great asset on hot days without mentioning the all too real concerns about minimising our exposure to skin cancer. In any event, the bimini comes off completely with the simple removal of a few bolts or can be folded down and stowed across the stern end in seconds.

For ’09, Stacer has updated the TS version of its 469 Nomad by moving the console and helm position forward a little, and locating the battery in a
roto-moulded well below decks just forward of the aft casting deck. These changes are subtle, but make for a noticeably better-balanced boat on the water and free up the entire aft casting deck for fishing whereas before it had the helm seat planted centrally in the starboard side.

Going back to a comparison with the more upmarket MP model for a moment, in a same-sized hull, the flat transom TS model offers considerably more casting deck space; all of which I think backs up my initial point about not needing a top of the range Stacer these days to get yourself a damn fine fishing boat.

Interestingly, the side console you see here is actually an option. Now I know I’m demonstrably biased towards tiller-steered boats because, given the choice of how I built my current boat, I went for a tiller. And that brings me to the exciting things about this boat test which don’t so much have to do with the boat as they do the outboard powering it.

Yamaha’s F60 4-stroke is — or at least it is since Yamaha introduced the new fuel injected version — an outboard of particular interest to barra bass and bream fishers because it’s certainly one of the best and arguably the pick of the current crop of motors in this perennially and deservedly popular size. I say arguably because, if you buy a 60 without thoroughly checking out the latest Honda and Suzuki, as well as the Yamaha, you’re a bloody idiot. Although that’s another story even while there is an argument that the F60 Yammie’s 4 cylinders offer more torque and smoother running. From there, I’m not entering into any more arguments except to reinforce my suggestion that potential 60 buyers do their homework very thoroughly.

Regardless of any of the above, the motor on our test boat features an updated digital electronics package now available from 30hp (4-stroke) upward through the entire Yamaha range. What this does in a nutshell is to allow compatible sounder/GPS units to display engine information.

Exactly what can be displayed varies between brands of NMEA 2000-compatible sounder/GPS units. Our test Stacer had a Lowrance HDS5 which was both colour sounder and mapping GPS before the latest Yammie was plugged in.

By using the Lowrance’s split screen options, you could have full screen engine instrumentation or various combinations of sounder, GPS and engine information. I’m told other brands may or may not be able to communicate as completely with your outboard as the Lowrance seen here.

In full screen engine info mode, we had an analogue-type display of tachometer, engine-operating temperature, alternator output, a trim meter, fuel level, two fuel consumption displays, litres per hour being used, and distance travelled per litre. Any engine alerts will also come up on the display.

It won’t replace separate instrumentation but, being able to consolidate fish finding, navigation, speedo functions, and engine information all into the one unit is pretty exciting; particularly so when all of this can be fitted to tiller-steer, Yamaha 4-strokes from 30hp on up (it’s now standard on
forward-control models).

No need any more to find somewhere for a tacho (or any other instruments) in tiller steer boats which usually don’t have a dash. Mine lays horizontally in the side deck where it’s hard to see — and where it collects water in the bezel.

Changing between the various displays is as simple as a few presses of a button; which I think it fair to say we’re all familiar with by now. About the only doubt I was left with after several hours on the water with the updated F60 and Lowrance HDS5 was that it’s an awful lot of info to pack into a fairly small screen.

Once you got used to which buttons to push, going from one to the other was simple enough but, even with just the sounder and GPS map on display, you had to look closely to see details. Funnily enough, the digital engine instrument display was the easiest of the three to read when travelling at speed.

An increase in physical size of the navigation/fish finding units we’re using is already happening so I guess using the same unit as engine instrumentation too will only accelerate the trend towards bigger sounder/GPS units in barra, bass and bream boats.

www.stacer.com.au                www.yamaha-motor.com.au