Whittley Sea Legend 27 with twin Mercury 225hp

Let us introduce the Whittley Sea Legend (SL) 27, the biggest SL hull they have made to date. Debuting at the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show, the team from Whittley were excited about this flagship model, and rightfully so, she’s a great looking boat with plenty of chops on the open water.

We took the opportunity to take a spin in one of the first SL27’s delivered, with Alan Whittley and owner Andrew from the Gold Coast.

The SL27 is a freshly minted hull with a swathe of accessories and options that truly makes it a workable blend of fishing and cruising boat.

There’s no doubting that the new Whittley 2700 is a slick looking rig when paired with the black Mercury V6s.

Of course, nobody is pulling up the anchor on a 27-footer by hand!

For those who want to trailer the boat, there’s a bunk and roller system which is a great compromise between ease of loading and stability while towing.

Economy was about as expected, although the best cruising speed of 0.95L/km was achieved at quite high rpm – 4,500 and at 62km/h.

The black rubber decking with teak accents matched the colour of the rig and adds a bit of class.

That’s a 19” Simrad fitting flush in the console right there.

Whittley is famous for clever seating solutions. These aft-facing seats are more practical than you’d think for fishing.

This is the first boat we have been on with an electric-deploy sunshade. Granted, it’s not the quickest to extend but it does offer necessary shade to the cockpit.

Keep your catch cool and contained in these.

There’s a massive underfloor wet area in between the two kill tanks that’s accessible by a smaller door-in-door.

Several motor iterations are available on this hull, but the customer chose the twin V6 225hp Mercury 4-strokes with Joystick Piloting.

The dive door is standard and there’s a deck wash that pops out of the round access hatch to the left.

There’s some tech available to the right hand of the driver, including Joystick Piloting and the new Next Gen digital throttle system.

The SL25 is at the maximum allowable beam for unhindered trailering – 2.49m both on and off the trailer.

The cabin’s well-appointed with toilet, fridge, stove and plenty of room for a couple of adults.

That’s a lot of head room for a trailerable 27-footer. See what I did there?

Whittley’s Cruiser heritage is plain to see here.

Want to hear this boat run? There’s a length of raw, running footage at the end of the boat test video.

The hull measures in at 8.55m with a 23º deadrise at the transom, but importantly, has a maximum beam of 2.49m. This means it’s legally towable at any time across the country, as long as your tow vehicle can handle it.

And although on paper, it’s towable by a twin-cab ute, you’d need to be careful with loading it, as it runs close to the line with anything more than a basic build.

Jumping on board with the new owner, and he was thrilled with the outcome. The test happened just after the boat show and there was no buyer’s regret from his corner.

“There’s nothing in the market in this price range with the features that the 27 has,” he explained, “I bought this boat with both fishing and the comfort of my wife in mind and there’s nothing else around with these features until you get into the bigger imported brands and the price of those is right up there.”

And with no kids to cater for, Andrew ticked a lot of the options boxes, adding to an already feature-filled rig.

The best way to get a feel for it is to watch the video boat test by scanning the QR code hereby, but let’s run through a few here.

At the transom, twin Mercury 225hp 4-strokes are digitally controlled and they’ve added the joystick piloting option to make docking a breeze. This is important because this boat will live in dry storage.

“I live in an apartment, so it’s more economical to dry store the boat rather than have a trailer and a big rig to tow it. I also don’t have to put up with the crowding at boat ramps on the good weather days,” Andrew continued.

Andrew’s favourite form of fishing is slow-pitch jigging, so there’s plenty of rod and tackle storage space, as well as a 19” Simrad to make sure he’s right on the spot. The sounder flush mounts into the dash, impressive for a unit this size.

The cockpit is spacious and there’s several kill tanks under the floor and rubber decking. The dive door is standard and the battery isolators, live bait tank and deck wash are neatly concealed but accessible.

Is the electrically deployed cockpit sun shade an overkill? Not in a Queensland summer. It stretches out to cover Whittley’s clever, rear facing seating with plenty of storage underneath.

The cabin is luxurious. There’s a stove, fridge, toilet and a whole lot more. It’s lockable with a solid door and offers a level of luxury often seen in boats a lot more expensive.

“After a morning’s fishing, I can see us relaxing in a quiet spot and enjoying some time away from the hustle and bustle,” Andrew concluded. This is my happy place and I was determined to get it right.

A few minutes behind the wheel and it sure feels right. The economy isn’t great at around 500m/L at WOT (6,000rpm), but drop down to 62km/h and 4,500rpm and it delivers a much more acceptable kilometre-per-litre class burn.

Want to know what one of these is worth? If you’re too shy to call your Whittley dealer (their contacts are on the Whittley website), you can get dreaming with the Build-a-Boat page on the same site. Option up basic packages to your heart’s content and get a quote.

We’re sure that Andrew and his wife will get years of happiness out of this rig. Thanks for the ride!

Specifications:
Length 8.55m
Beam 2.49m
Length on trailer 9.70m
Height on trailer 3.20m
Transom deadrise 23°
Fuel 380L
Water 120L
Max hp 450

Performance:
RPM Speed (km/h) Economy (km/L)
600 6 1.40
1500 13 1.10
1600 14 1.10
2000 18 0.85
3000 37 0.95
4000 53 0.80
4500 62 0.95
5000 68 0.73
6000 84 0.54