My name is Tom Frain and I live in Launceston Tasmania and I am the owner of a Southern Formula 2300. I previously had a 5.7m Tabs which I brought at the Melbourne bout show some 13 years ago and it was time to go for a bit larger boat with a few more creature comforts hence the decision to go fibre glass and ultimately the Southern Formula 2300.
In 2019 we set off to the Melbourne boat show with intention to acquire a new boat. I had research what was on the market so as to compare apples with apples at the show. I’d seen the Southern Formula 2500 but at that stage had no idea they made a 23ft version as the Southern Formula 2500 was just too big for 1 storing and 2 towing for me that is.
We set up the boat on an Easy tow aluminium trailer which I had fitted a Boat Catch and it works perfectly as drive on drive off trailer. We chose the Mercury Verado V8 300HP with Fly by Wire controls incredible piece of engineering and perfect fit for this boat. The electronics I had chosen are Ray Marine 16” Axiom Pro with through hull transduces, Fusion stereo, Ray Marine Auto pilot and Ray Marine Radio. We also fitted Outriggers, Deck wash, Lenco trim tabs
(a must for all boats) large pie heater as it is Tassie and currently making and fitting a pot hauler for when we long line for gummies. I’m also in the process of fitting a battery management system (Pro Tournament 360 Elite Series) along with a third battery to power electric reels and pot hauler and fridge which all fits perfectly in the spacious battery bay
We fish Bass Strait of Weymouth to Eddystone Point and the East coast Tasmania We mainly fish Bass Strait and target Flathead, Gummy shark, Mako and Crayfish. East coast Crayfish, Tuna, Blue Eye Trevalla and Stripy trumpeter.
The ride and performance are on another level and as we do a lot of bottom bashing the stability is quiet good as there is always a trade-off for ride over stability but all in all I’m extremely happy, the high gunnels give you a sense of safety and the boat feels hugh for it dimensions, it’s a big 23footer but still very trailable.
I’m extremely happy with the excellent finish and overall quality however I did have to modify a few things IE: seal side door with rubber seal replace plastic side door latch tongue with custom made s/steel latch, put rubber seal around cabin door to stop rattling all minor details and easy fixes.
We were extremely impressed with the whole team at Southern Formula, John and Leanne from the outset were never pushy and were very open throughout the whole process, access to workshop during build stage was excellent.
It certainly turns heads and it performs as good as it looks and I would be more than happy to recommend anyone to take one for a test run and make up their own mind, but for me it’s the perfect fit for my type of fishing.
Thanks to the whole team at Southern Formula and hope to see you down here in the near future.
Happy customer
Tom