Haines Signature 550c

Standard tacklebox in transom locker; roomy, well finished cabin.

The hull lifts well clear of the water when running at speed. If launched off a wave, as pictured, it lands softly.

Removable seats and optional stereo; cockpit is smart-looking and versatile.

Story by John Eichelsheim, photos by Mike Hunter

John Haines’ Signature Five-50 Cruiser is the company’s biggest seller in New Zealand and has been for some time. Yet this is the first time the New Zealand-built boat has been reviewed in a national publication. According to PRB Marine’s Peter Blick, the Five-50 is his best-kept secret. Consistently the Auckland dealership’s bestseller, thanks to a happy combination of size, quality, performance and specification, 550Cs leave his showroom as quickly as he can rig them.

Most Haines Signature boats sold in New Zealand are manufactured by Reflex Products Ltd in Christchurch. They produce the boats under licence to Haines Signature Australia, that country’s biggest manufacturer of fibreglass pleasure boats. Reflex-built Haines Signatures differ considerably from Australian models, even when they share the same hull. Topsides are specific to New Zealand and Reflex-built boats are finished to a standard Australian made boats struggle to match.

The Five-50 is no exception. The current model has a fully moulded one-piece interior liner, setting it apart from its Australian cousins and bringing it into line with the latest Reflex produced Haines Signature models. The roomy cabin, well-finished interior, generous equipment and versatile layout is proving popular with New Zealand families, as is the 550’s big boat ride delivered by an easily towed, mid-size rig.

The review boat is a 550C marketed by PRB Marine as a ‘Super Value’ package with a $5,353 upgrade to a Mercury Optimax 115hp DFi engine. The same package retails for just under $44,000 with a standard Mercury 115hp XLPTO two-stroke engine.

For some of the interior photographs in this review, we used an identical 550C Blick had finished preparing for a customer. This boat was fully optioned, fitted with electronics, Smartcraft gauges – available with the Optimax 115hp engine – Bermuda bait board, marine stereo, 54-quart igloo chilly bin-seat, portable chemical toilet, canopy and interior trim upgrade.

The boat we used on the water was a standard Super Value package with the Optimax option, so while it is less well specified than the first boat, it is still packed with standard features. Most importantly, the performance and handling of the two boats should be identical.

The boat’s lines are curvaceous. The cabin top looks a little bulbous to my eyes, although this allows plenty of sitting headroom inside, and seems to dominate the boat when it’s on the trailer, perhaps because of the hull shape. On the water this impression disappears and the 550C looks much more in proportion.

Haines Signature boats are difficult to mistake for any other. The hull designs are exclusive to the brand. Termed Signature Variable Deadrise Hull (SVDH) by the company, the design is characterised by compound curves and no flat surfaces. The 550C incorporates a fine entry, generous strakes, a reverse chine and a concave section aft which combines a deep-vee with plenty of lift. The result is a soft, dry-riding hull that still manages excellent stability at rest.

Interestingly, all those curves, strakes and reverses mean that hull is never silent. Not that it’s noisy – Reflex uses its Pu.FF system to polyurethane foam-fill spaces between the hull and integral liner, which not only make the boats safe, it also helps to deaden any noise. But it’s an active hull and it sounds busy, particularly when traversing a low wind chop like that we experienced on the Waitemata Harbour.

The 550C’s ride impresses. We didn’t have a lot of sea to contend with, though I had a bit of fun with a Fuller’s ferry wake and we managed to find some steep wind against-tide waves off Kauri Point, which were large enough to launch the boat skywards at times. The 550C feels very composed, lands softly and shows no tendency to duck off line or squirm around in confused seas. I did back off slightly in the worst of chop, trimming the engine down a little, more to keep the boat in the water than out of concern for my comfort or the boat’s directional stability.

Mercury’s 115hp Optimax is a good match for the hull. It’s a punchy engine, which was less than an hour old and still tight, but gave good acceleration and was able to maintain its revs in the turns. A handful of throttle out of a sharp turn propels the Haines forward and there’s sufficient torque to hold the boat on the plane at 2,500rpm, helped by the hull’s lift characteristics.

PRB Marine had gone to considerable trouble to ensure the boat-engine combination was properly set up and it showed in the rig’s performance and balance. The boat responds well to adjustments of trim and communicates beautifully through the helm: trimmed correctly, the cable steering lightens up nicely, feeling just firm enough to be reassuring. Trim it out too far and the prop will break out if you throw the wheel hard over, but for the most part it’s very forgiving, hanging in on the turns with minimal trim adjustment.

The standard Mercury speedometer showed 45mph in a short burst over 5000rpm; a little more speed is likely once the engine is run-in. Forty miles-per hour at around 4,500rpm was comfortable, covering a lot of ground quickly, 35mph felt totally relaxed, and because the hull holds the plane right down the rev range, picking your way through big seas shouldn’t be a problem.

The Cruiser is designed as an all-purpose family boat. The layout reflects this, compromising cockpit space for a roomy cabin and comfortable seating. But it’s still extremely versatile. Carpets are domed to the non-slip moulded floor and quickly removed if fishing is the order of the day, rear bucket seats are removable for better access to the transom, and the king-queen seating arrangement offers lots of dry storage under the squabs.

The boat is equipped with a solid looking dive ladder on the swim step, plenty of grab-rails on the transom and strategically placed elsewhere in the boat, full-length vinyl-faced side shelves and cubby-holes for odds and ends for driver and passenger. A built-in tackle box is a nice touch and the live bait tank across the transom is standard.

The test boat was supplied with tote tanks. Totes fit neatly under the rear bucket seats, one each side, hidden from sight by vinyl curtains which also conceal the battery box and bilge pump in the sump. Alternatively, three tote tanks fit snugly in the boat’s huge underfloor locker with space leftover for other items. The lid is moulded to close over the fuel line. The boat can be ordered with a 140L underfloor tank at the expense of the locker.

The driving position is good. A gas-strut pedestal seat is adjustable up and down and fore and aft. There are moulded footrests both sides of the cabin and Haines has designed a roomy dash, though flush-mounting GPS/sounders may be a little tricky. The wrap-around screen is tinted acrylic, topped with aluminium for a secure handhold. At acute angles it distorts your view of the water, but this is common to every acrylic screen I have experienced.

The moulded bulkhead between cockpit and cabin is open to let in as much light as possible and to ease access into the cabin. A canvas curtain is available for privacy. Cabin décor on the test boat consisted of black and gold upholstered vee berths, in-fill squab and seat backs. The cabin is Verticell-lined and equipped with wide shelves, acrylic side windows and a flush acrylic hatch. Access to the anchor locker, fairlead and foredeck is via the ceiling hatch, although the boat’s side decks and stainless steel bowrail should allow careful negotiation outside the boat.

Trim quality, upholstery, beading and other trim details are first-rate throughout. PRB Marine also ensured that the boat's presentation was spot-on and that it was equipped exactly as it would be for a buyer interested in this package. The 550C we first examined in the showroom is an example of a boat equipped with virtually every factory option and fitted out to suit the new owner’s particular requirements. Many buyers might consider some of these options over and above those already offered, including a canopy, toilet, underfloor tank, spare wheel, hydraulic trailer brakes and factory fitted electric capstan.

The same boat is available from PRB Marine with a standard Mercury 115hp XLPTO two-stroke, which should provide comparable performance, for more than $5,000 less. PRB’s standard package is based on this combination. Other dealers may offer different engine and equipment packages.