The History of Bonito Boats
| Originating in New Zealand in the early 1970's, the Bonito hull was designed by Frank Pellan to cross the choppy bays and open waters to get from island to island. At 4.8 metres long, the MK3 soon proved to be an extremely capable little hull with hundreds of boats made. The hull mould came to Australia in the 90's, and again proved its worth, mainly with the commercial fishermen in South East Queensland, whose demands of a small working boat soon put it to the test. After being purchased by Roger Barnes, the original mould was extended to 5 metres with the addition of a half pod. This improved what was already a great performing hull. In 2013, Martin Slennett joined Roger and the Bonito 560 was created. New deck mouldings, cast platforms and an huge array of optional extras were developed. The Bonito 500 was also re-tooled to bring it in line with the new standard. In July 2021 Adam Gunton and Greg Reynolds purchased Bonito Boats from Roger Barnes. Adam and Greg both live and breath fishing and boating. Since taking over Bonito Adam and Greg have continued the constant development program introducing the "XT" Performance Pack enhancing the performance of the already legendary Bonito 560 and keeping our hulls on the leading edge. Adam and Greg have also expanded the range of model sizes to including more high performance offshore hulls in both runabout/half cabin and centre console configurations. The Bonito 660 was the first new hull to be introduced by Adam and Greg. Following the success of the 660, the 620 was developed, and the latest model to join the growing Bonito Fleet is the 760, which is coming soon!
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