What's the best hybrid fishing/cruising boat for the bay? Want something around 20ft...no more than 22ft.

Will be used mostly for fishing, but also cruising with the wife and young kids. Don't want anything with shallow rails...gotta keep the kids in the boat.

Anyone had experience with the Blue Wave - Pure Bay series? Thoughts?

Where will you be fishing?

See a lot of blue waves on the water, only been on one, and it was a nice enough boat. If you are looking for a v hull you may want to consider a pathfinder. We ran one for a long time over a lot of water with zero complaints. Only reason we went another route was we wanted to be able to run a little skinnier. If that's a consideration there are a lot of Texas options like Majek, ShallowSport, or Shoalwater. We now have a Shoalwater cat and couldn't be more pleased. We gave up some top end from the Pathfinder, but can run skinny and get on plane way shallow. It also eats chop surprisingly well.

We have a 24.4 transport, by far it is the driest and smoothest riding bay boat I have been in. They make several models and can adjust the height of the sides as you want. we have medium to low sides because we wanted to be able to still run out to the first rigs and do a little offshore.

You going to run shallow or keep it in 2+ feet of water? Aside from that, a CC with a lot of fold down seating in the back end is the most flexible layout. You shouldn't have to worry too much about the height of the gunnels over the sole but having something knee high or so does help keep the kiddos constrained when they are small enough for it to matter.

I don't think there's a "Bad" boat manufacturer out there, but there are lots of average ones. You mostly get what you pay for, but that doesn't mean that inexpensive is bad, it's just not as good and has less attention to details.

You might consider a walk through console boat if you're doing more cruising than fishing.

Shoalwaters and Majeks are awesome boats but it sounds like he wants a little more siding around the boat than what I've seen on those types. Not sayin that those brands don't make a higher sided boat, but I've never seen one. They seem to all be flat bottom and super low sided, the kids would need to be watched like a hawk. Just my .02 cents.

Yeah...if you want fairly high sides, and still run skinny a Carolina Skiff may be worth looking into. They aren't real pretty, but are very useful. The ones I've been on have a ton of room too. Without more info though, I'm betting something like a Pathfinder 2200 Tournament would fit the bill best.

Or a Haynie Bigfoot to stay Texas. I think they are built to order, but every now and then you can find a used one

Where do you plan on fishing and "cruising" mostly? Your main question is do you want a V hull or tunnel hull? The bay system you plan on fishing most will help narrow your boat choice down.

DVM

Fishing in the west bay mostly...might attempt a run about 10mi out occasionally, but not often. I looked at pathfinders but not sure I want something that big. I'm open to 22ft, but would like to keep it around 20.

Not looking to run real skinny, but it would be nice to be able to clear 18inches if need be.

Just curious about the Pure Bay because I saw one at a local dealer that looked real nice and seemed to fit what I'm looking for.

Don't want to buy one if someone has had serious issues in the past though.

[This message has been edited by Mt3950 (edited 3/26/2014 10:14a).]

Don't have any experience with that particular model, but blue wave has a solid reputation. Most boat builders will have a model around 20 feet, Pathfinder's is 19...from experience it gets pretty small trying to fish multiple kids/wife out of. If you are considering going out 10 miles I'd stick with a v hull, and going out that far I would recommend reconsidering limiting yourself to 20 feet. Just my .02 though.

I loved my Blue Wave. I bought it at 6 years old and sold it 3 years later for what I paid. Only real complaint was the draft was too deep for the bay system I fish. I never really met anyone with a Blue Wave who didn't like them

Haynie Bigfoot would be perfect.

Blue Wave is sort of like a base model Ford F150. Excellent vehicle. Pretty much bullet-proof. Not necessarily the nicest looking but extremely utilitarian.

You'll easily be able to float in 18" in a 20-22" Blue Wave (or Pathfinder) but you'll need to either drift or use your trolling motor to get deeper in order to get up on a plane.

have owned blue wave, pathfinder and haynie.

I would go Haynie (4-5 yrs old) all the new shine not worth the extra $$.

dba, did you put any extensive money into it? New engine, re-wiring?

I thought all Haynies had pretty low sides, no?

My dad has a Hayne HO he got recently and its probably the smoothest and driest boat I've ever ridden in. Plus, it cruses at about 50mph which is awesome for getting from spot to spot. It's a 23ft which is long, but it has lots of storage and the extra length helps reach across the trough of the waves to the next wave for a smoother ride. The biggest downside is that it can't run shallow at all. If you are willing to sacrifice fuel economy and speed, than you can look at a Hayne Bigfoot which runs shallower. Other good boats that Ive ridden in and that have been a pleasant experience in ruff water are the Majek Extreme and the Tran XLR8. Both these boats should come in I think a 21ft size.

No, the Bigfoot has sides comparable to blue waves/pathfinders, the HO also has decent height, although I don't think as much as the Bigfoot. It really is a heck of a boat that can do things boats of comparable size and v hull cannot cause its so light.

mt,
I have similar requirements that you are asking for. I went with a Parker Big Bay 2100 Tunnel almost two years ago. I have been well pleased with it for the Galveston bay system, and have done some light offshore in it, too. Great, solid boat with a full liner. Would buy again.

http://parkerboats.info/blog/2100-big-bay-2/

We fish off of my buddies Dargel ProSkout 240 most of the summer and its the smoothest boat I've ever been on.

Trident- my company security is rejecting the Parker site as a malware site???

Finn,
I just double checked it...not malware, site is good. Look at it on your cell.

look at nautic star. i did the bay boat shopping research 2 years ago and ended up buying the 2110. i love mine.

24' Nautical Star here. Went 24 instead of 22 because of the room. We ski and cruise more than fish so I put a T top on it for shade and had custom cushions made for the entire front and back decks. Daughter and her preteen friends love it. When it's time to fish we unsnap the cushions and pop the trolling motor on in about 5 mins. Pretty sweet setup...had it for a little over 2 years and we are happy so far.

Edit: don't know how the po'd face got attached but it was a mistake. Should've been a thumbs up.

[This message has been edited by Texasduffer (edited 3/26/2014 9:38p).]

Gulf Coast high side with a tunnel

Texasduffer, who did you have do the cushions?

Wow, my little 15' skiff makes those boats look like battleships.

We had a 22' Pathfinder that we used for bay fishing, offshore fishing and water skiing. We opted for the V hull since we didn't find ourselves running skinny on plane hardly ever in our prior tunnel hull. It seemed to work well for a multi-purpose boat.

In the same market as OP for use out of Port O'Conner. Want a not too deep V so we can fish the bay wells on not so smooth days. While we also fish the back bays, we're usually walking. Considering 4-5 year old in the 22-24' range, vs extensive rehab of a 20 year old Angler 22. Plan to go by transport in a few weeks to look closer at F23 & XLR8.

So keep this thread going.

[This message has been edited by TheAccidentalAg (edited 3/27/2014 12:57p).]

This is our 24.4 Transport

Nice boat Cletus. I've heard only good things about TranSport, xcept that if you try to negotiate from the mfgr., the price goes UP, and they are already not cheap.

Duffer, I checked out the Nautic Star website and assume you are talking about the 2400 sport since the only other 24 comes with a T top standard. Curious to see what yours looks like with the cushions. I've been thinking along the same lines since cruising will be more popular when the kids are young. Post a pic if you have one.

Yeah couldn't argue too much on the price it was already priced right. We got the boat with 5 hours on it for $30k cash, from a family friend who had ordered it.

PATHFINDER OR BUST

http://www.bateau.com/proddetail.php?prod=PH18

How about you build one?

http://www.bateau.com/proddetail.php?prod=PH22

http://www.bateau.com/proddetail.php?prod=C21

[This message has been edited by MouthBQ98 (edited 3/28/2014 12:35p).]