We may need a separate bay boat section, but trying to avoid redundancy and asked and answered stuff, but anyone have experience with blazer bay boats? was starting to look around and the prices on bay boats are nuts these days. Used to have a parker big bay 15 years ago but have not had a boat in a while and its getting my interest picking up. I don't even know what a good budget should be these days, but was thing +50 / -75 range.

Limited experience with Blazer Bay boats, fished with a guide in Grand Isle, La. that ran one and it wasn't a bad boat at all. We were able to fish three people and a guide comfortably. Seemed like a well made tub in the couple days I fished out of it, not a wet riding boat and didn't beat you to death in chop.

Buddy built his guide service off of the Blazer Bay 2400. Ran 4 or 5 of them because they could go into the bayou, handle the jetty swells, and do 50 mile offshore trips. He now uses Contenders for offshore but still have several BBs.
I fished Redfish tour in one with zero regrets. Its a great boat.

I own a Blazer Bay 2220 with a 200hp 2 stoke Yamaha,

It runs greats, stays dry, and gets me and my family where I want to go. I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old, so I wanted something with tall sides. As they get older, that could change, idk.

Ask me some questions, and I will see if I can answer them.

Go to the factory and watch them build one. See what their factory looks like. Check out the number and quality of the dealers they have. Dealers seek out and want to sell the most sought after brands. Check out resale value. Do some research and find out their market share numbers.
I'll repeat... go to the factory and get them to show you their lay up procedure, and what the hull looks like inside....all boats look good on the outside. ..... also closely examine their warranty.
Usually it's given, that in fiberglass boats you get what you pay for.
There are cheap resins and expensive resins,
There are cheap glass and expensive glass.
There are cheap components and expensive components.
Do your own research with due diligence and you can learn a lot about quality of brands.

ETA. Blazer has been building boats since 1978 or so. Has been owned by the Craft family. Built in Florida and started out to compete in the bass boat market. They were not very successful in the bass market and ventured into the bay boat market when that market grew greatly in the late 1990's.
They have never grown much nationally and are still considered a regional boat brand. Dealers that sell them usually handle the line as a secondary or third line to offer a lower price alternative on their showroom floors.
In the bass market they have always been considered as a low end product to compete against Nitro.
They are typically positioned in the bass and bay market by dealers as a mid to entry level product.

Their 2170 and 2200 are the old kenner 21V. Best bay boat hull design ever made in my opinion. The concave deep V in the bow does wonders for slicing chop. The 2400 is the old kenner 23V. Same basic design but a step bigger. They can't be beat for handling chop while not sacrificing a bunch of draft.

I know they will do a semi-custom build for you like moving things around on the layout.

Lots of info on thehulltruth.

It's a fraction of what you're talking about spending, but everything you guys say you like about these what i consider "true" bay boats describes my striper 2101 (that i have for sale) to a t. I suspect dual console is a deal killer for many, but it works great for my blend of family boating and fishing

Not as sexy but I love my 19' express hyperlift with a 110. (Aluminum)Was 27k 6 years ago but gets me where I want and fishes 3 comfortably

We buddy boated with a blazer bay 24 35 miles offshore and our C Skiff 26UE seemed to handle the chop better. Our boat also supposedly has a 9" draft. When loaded down and reading 1.2 ft in depth finder never a problem until below 1 ft.

Thank you, gents. Kind of the information I was looking for.

Gunny, may need to possibly use a broker for a good deal if you are still in the market.

Just as background. I am a novice fisher but love the water. Used to live on clear lake and ran a 32' formula sunsport and had multiple Malibu ski boats. I inherited the parker big bay and really liked the versatility, but I remember it being real heavy and had a deep hull. well, work caught up, kids were going to college, and I decided to move into Houston in the heights area. miss the water but still have some friends down there to go hitch rides. I am at the age now that i have most of everything taken care of and started to think about a boat again. based on what i would want to do with it (fish gulf coast area, the occasional lake run around, and general stuff), i thought this would be the right fit.

So blazer popped up in some of my searches which is why i inquired. I'm probably 6 months out from actually making a purchase. they are damn expensive these days...

mAgnoliAg said:

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We buddy boated with a blazer bay 24 35 miles offshore and our C Skiff 26UE seemed to handle the chop better. Our boat also supposedly has a 9" draft. When loaded down and reading 1.2 ft in depth finder never a problem until below 1 ft.

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Yeah. My Carolina Skiff Sea Chaser will run circles around my buddies' Blazers, Pathfinders, and Ket West. It's heavier so you might like something that runs a little shallower. but if you want to ride in the open bay or light offshore, there is no comparison.

CaN you let us know where you primarily plan to fish? That helps immensely with this answer.