History of the Charter boat Auckland: Double Rum

The Auckland Charter boat Double Rum was launched in 1987 at Milford Marina Auckland. Built by John Gladden Boat Builders, designed especially for family boat trips. Brett and Sandra Fleetwood purchased Double Rum in July 1999 and immediately started work, turning the vessel from a rock solid recreational boat into an operational Auckland Fishing Charter Boat, fishing Aucklands, Hauraki Gulf is what we are about.

The first stage of the work was all completed by December 1999 through the efforts from Paul Tucker Boat Builders, Advanced Trident Ltd, Sea Quip Marine, Gloss Boats and numerous others. The Fishing Vessel then took on a new personality once all the new stainless steel railings were put into place by Pete at Marine and Architectural Stainless. Brett then became a fully operational skipper in 2002, after which sports fishing and overnight fishing charters began, starting Doublerum as one of the longest Fishing charters in Auckland, which now spans 25 years.

Brett’s local fishing knowledge of the Little Barrier, Great Barrier and Mokohinau’s waters, meant most weekends Double Rum fishing charters would be fishing its trade to and from these fishing areas in 10 and 35 knot winds. During this time Brett and his team had many golden seasons, where the crew and guests of this Auckland Charter boat, constantly had busy lines and caught some of largest snapper to date. George from Great Barrier Radio often would frown when he heard them hammering into three meter waves at the top of the Needles.

In 2005 Double Rum had another serious refurbishment, with the fitting of new Volvo engines, plus new props and shafts. This investment gave the boat extra power and the chance to have trouble free running during our Auckland fishing charters which we still enjoy today.

Doublerum is one solid platform to fish from, making it now one of the best fishing charters in Auckland

We continue to invest in new technology aboard Double Rum, including the latest GPS and fish finding equipment.The Team at Diawa still continue to help us maintain the highest standard with our fishing gear, ensuring our fishing charters are trouble free and action packed. In 2010 we noticed an amazing turn around in our fish catches and our crew members were really doing a fine job using lures and braid , the quiet seasons were over.

We then took Double Rum up on the hard stand at Fusion Marine, Silverdale in 2012. There the team took the Hulls apart led by Neal and reconfigured them to make the boat go even faster. The first sea trials peaked our top speed at 19 knots. Since then our half day Gulf Harbour fishing trips have become increasingly popular due to quicker travel times to the fishing spots

2016 Winter off season , we again took Double rum out to the hard, Changed the propeller system around and did much required maintenance. We have started redoing paint around the cockpit area and reinforcing deck fittings.

2019 we once again put in new engines x 2 , new shafts and propellors , by David Smyth and John Imoff

Our fishing charters from Gulf harbour are something special, you want nice fish , book us.

We also can pick up from Auckland but prefer Gulf Harbour pickups as we are close to the fishing grounds

If you would like to be a part of the Double Rum history send us an inquiry, and you too can build some amazing memories on our fantastic fishing charter boat from Auckland.

Brett Fleetwood

Brett was born to the sea. Being brought up in Campbell’s Bay, fishing, surfing and diving are in his blood. He knows almost every rock in the Mercury Bay region, the pinnacles around Great Barrier and the Mokes. This makes him a pretty knowledgeable man to go to on a fishing charter with. He always wanted to be a marine biologist and takes a special interest in the types of life living within the ocean. Brett has been a full skipper since 2002 and has 25 seasons running his Charter Fishing boat Double Rum.

“Fishing the Hauraki Gulf, every day, I found that each group brings about a very different experience. I sometimes get more excited than the guys pulling in the fish. The best days are the ones when everyone catches a fair few keepers. We try our hardest to achieve that result. We keep our lines tight and our crews never give up.”
Keep on fishing

I wish now to take this opportunity to thank the various skippers and crew which have helped Double Rum fishing Charters since it has come into survey. Garry Hull, Jeremy Short, Teagen, Russell, Steve and Tony Wongkam, Richard Neal, Jason, Rob Delacy , Scott and John Wallis, Ben, Big Karl ,Courtney and Conrad , Kent, Kale , Oli , Leon and of course Sandra. They have all boarded Double Rum over the last 2 decades and helped to make our vessel into a success. Without their persistence, knowledge and time donated we would not be the well-established Auckland charter fishing boat we are today. Thanks everyone.

Keep those lines tight.

History of the Charter boat Auckland: Double Rum

Brett Fleetwood

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