Bertram33 User Forum

Gday all, I am considering a 1979 FBC here in Australia and I am still at the looking stage. I haven't been down to see the boat yet (it is nearly 1000mi from where I live). My first questions is, what are the cockpit dimensions. Length and width? If you measure from where the house meets the covering board to the transom, and the width. Also, with the forward helm in the bridge on the early ones, how much of the cockpit can you see when standing at the wheel, backing down on fish type of deal? Than you all in advance for your comments. I look forward to reading much more about these boats on this forum. Cheers, Myles

Myles, Welcome to the sandbox. I'm going to guess just over 9' wide by 8' deep.(You can do the metric conversion)My 1978 FBC does not have the folding bench seat back & I am only 5'6" tall. Consequently I can only see the port side of the cockpit to the transom. The rest of the cockpit & the transom are hidden to me. Al

Gday Al, Thanks a lot for your reply. That sounds like plenty of cockpit space for fishing. They just look a bit short in the bum compared to a 35. I am really after the length of the covering board from where the cabin meets the covering board to the transom. What I am wondering is, is there sufficient room there for 2 crew to stand there side by side when dealing with a fish. Dehooking and swimming a Marlin while idling forward for example? Re the view from the bridge, if you did away with the bench seat, I take it you would be able to see most of the cockpit and all of the transom? Cheers, Myles

Myles, I'm sure you don't have a lot of choices down there but at some point in time ( early eighties) Bertram went to what they called a tournament style flybridge. What they did was to move the captain's seat to the rear of the bridge with a bench in front. This greatly improved the cockpit view. The other option you have is to look at a Sport Fish model which gives you a larger cockpit with a slightly smaller cabin and is less tall by almost a foot which gives it a slightly more stable fishing platform.

Thanks Frank, There are only 2 33 FBC Bertrams for sale here that I have found. One is the 79 I have mentioned, and the other is an 82 with the Flybridge design you describe. I have never seen a 33 SF here. The 35 is very popular here as they were made here under licence, along with the 25 (which I currently own, single Volvo diesel powered), and the 28's. I haven't really looked into the later model boat as it is no where near as clean looking. I would much prefer the later style bridge, but I am swayed more by the vessel condition and its service history etc. I can always remove the bench seat or come up with another arrangement there if need be. Maybe I will check out both boats and go from there. Cheers, Myles

Myles... Welcome to the best site on the internet to find information on Bertram 33s and 35s. You might find it beneficial to make contact here with Aussie Syd, who owns a Bertram 33 in Perth. He bought a B33 Flybridge Cruiser here in the US a couple of years ago and had it repowered here before having it shipped to Oz. I suspect he searched as you are now. I am not sure of the costs involved, but with the US prices of all boats as depressed as they are today you might be able to do what he did. He is a great guy and I am sure he would be a good source of info. Again.. welcome to our sandbox, where the big kids play with their toys!

Thanks Frank B, Thanks for the welcome. This certainly looks like a great, friendly forum so far and I have found some great info from previous posts already. I will see if i can get in touch with Syd for some more info. Cheers, Myles

Welcome, I have the tourneyment style so I can't comment on the flybridge. But I have caught giant BFT and there is room for two guys side by side to wire and gaff a fish. Buzz

Ditto. I've caught all sorts of big game from my FBC and while it is smaller than I'd like... it's certainly manageable. If the boat has a swim platform it is a great space saver to set up your fish box such that it easily mounts/removes to/from the platform... I put a huge cooler back there when we run offsore and it's made my cockpit feel much bigger

Hey Frank Syds has the Sport Fish model, not the Flybridge Cruiser, and as I recall, it's post 1986 I believe.

Thanks a lot fellas for all the advice, much appreciated! Re the cockpit space, I think I would remove the game chair and continue to fish 80lb stand-up gear as we do now on my 25. That should free up some room. And I will look at making a custom fibreglass icebox for the swim platform. Thanks again for the tips Cheers, Myles

Brian... Thanks.. I could well be wrong. At my advanced age I suffer from CRS. I am almost as old as Al you know!

Hey Frank, I just looked, and his boat is in the images section, it's a 1988 Sportfisher. Either way, it's a BERTRAM!

Hi Myles, If I can help in any way my E-mail is, meyer@iinet.net.au Regards Syd

Thanks very much Syd, I will be in touch. Cheers, Myles